The Master Toolkit: Body, Mind, and Spirit

One of the honors in coaching leaders - and what drew us to the profession - is the emphasis on coaching and working with the whole person. Leadership coaching looks not at problem solving, per se, but rather who you are and who you are becoming. It is the business of being AND possibility. Whole person leadership coaching looks for wisdom through all lenses - mind, body, and spirit. It recognizes that “knowing” can sometimes arise from places other than the mind.

As evolved humans, one of the tendencies we have when faced with a problem is to put a specific reliance on our mental functions only. And of course - we are evolved and all, and that prefrontal cortex is not going to waste! We are in our roles because we’ve been able to sort through and solve complex problems, bringing our teams and organizations to success.

But not every problem may have an immediate solution - and in a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous), we see this more often. The more we advance in our leadership journeys, the harder and more complex the problems are that arrive on our desk. If we think of ourselves as having a toolbox, as a three legged stool of mind, body, and spirit - is it possible that we are not using other tools that are in our toolbox? Are we sufficiently tapping into the signs of that gulp, that heart racing, that nagging feeling that we are missing something in our problem solving set?

There is inherent wisdom, and often success, in paying attention to how our body and spirit are responding to a certain problem set. Pause and listen to that sweaty palm, that pull towards an exciting project, or that gulp before a hard conversation. Expand your sources of data into body and spirit to elevate your decision making and success.