EI Case Study – Emma Whitten
Emma decided to undertake Emotional Intelligence coaching after talking with a friend-entrepreneur informally chatting some of the emotional and cognitive obstacles to performing well and with peace of mind. His friend mentioned a typology of coaching that he thought would be helpful and that’s how the referral has been made.
When I met Emma, on the very first Zoom meeting, sounded like everything was going great, a lot of new projects were booked for months ahead, her family working under the same company and everyone was very happy about this family business dynamic. I honestly thought “I cannot foresee any issues, why have we been introduced, what I can do?!”
As oftentimes happens with entrepreneurs, the point is not on the business but on the person that handles all the dynamics, from the payments to the employees, from managing all daily schedules in the micro-system to managing the annual prospect of the company in the macro-system, from accountancy to human resources and so on, the issue was, how do I slow down? How could I track a line and set personal boundaries that will allow me time to think, relax and recollect my mental, emotional and physical energies for me to perform at best without weights?
The coaching format was settled on a one-on-one basis, every fortnight, in-person meetings. No third parties were involved. We frame it as Personal EI coaching.
The approach we agreed together was the Holistic one, starting from considering the entrepreneur as a dynamic active human being, in continuous interaction with her environment which was frequently changing. The business-woman was not a different figure from the mum of two, from the sister, from the friend, and of course the business-woman too. How could we coordinate all of these different roles for ONE person to feel good and aligned with all her roles?
Once we discussed the current situation, the obstacles, the annoyances and challenges faced, Emma undertook a couple of personality tests to realize what were her main soft skills and inner strengths to consequently make them work for her in a natural effortless way. Specifically, she undertook the Emotional Quotient Self-Assessment test and the Inner Strengths Profile. Combining those two reports we have been able to create a set of alternative behaviours and thinking patterns aligned with those specific Top-Strengths and Soft Skills.
We introduced, time after time, activities that were resounding beneficial at that specific moment, for instance, meditation and mindfulness. Another concept we implemented was to “treat Yourself as Your own pet” which is funny at the beginning (we laughed at first too), but implementing it means taking care of You as You would do with a pet You love, ask her if she ate, if she slept enough and how was the quality of her sleep, ask her how does she feel constantly and try and help her to feel better, from an Observer point of view. By doing so, the Observer (or the pet-owner ironically) has been able to protect Emma from not-creating boundaries but instead recognising when she needed time, when she needed to rest, when was the time to push and to slow down, self-listening and providing consequent beneficial activities insights. We developed, step by step a different attitude towards Self-Care, Self-Listening and Self-Love.
Entrepreneurs are oftentimes at the mercy of the wind and may feel overwhelmed to have to attend to a myriad of diverse tasks without having anyone that tells them: Hey, is enough for today! You did enough work, now rest!
For business owners is very easy to fall into the “is never enough” trap.
Creating boundaries, prioritising, and having a strategic set of healthy routines is critical for them to be at one hundred per cent and from that positive emotional status, provide their one hundred per cent to their employees, friends, sons, siblings, and the business -holistically speaking.
Enjoy the Video Testimonial that Emma kindly allowed us to record and post, we hope more and more entrepreneurs and more broadly, more individuals, will care about their emotions and behavioural dynamic for achieving their targets with less effort and peace of heart, mind, and body.
Keep up the good work, I am proud of You Emma!
Blessings,
Nick
