The neuroscience puzzle: How neuroscience and coaching can support each other

That changed when my husband had a mild stroke that affected the back of his brain.  I became keenly aware of how little I knew about the brain, this organ that drives our thinking, decision making and emotional responses. I became fascinated with how the brain worked and what that meant for communication and behaviour. 

This led me to gaining professional certificates in the neuroscience, reading countless books and no doubt boring my friends and family with ‘interesting’ nuggets of information about their brains.  It’s also led to me changing my life in many ways; I no longer drink alcohol or caffeine, and I meditate every day because of what I’ve learnt. 

Aside from my own fascination, do coaches need to know about neuroscience?  

My honest answer is ‘yes and no’.  There’s no doubt that coaching is brain-friendly. When you work with your client, you’re getting them to think in a different way, taking into account new perspectives. You’re also helping them to get things ‘out of their heads’ by saying things out loud, and you’re helping them to plan creative ways forward. The brain responds very well to this coaching ‘workout’ which can lead to lasting positive change.  

I remember working with a client who wanted to get a promotion at work. She later reported that she not only got the promotion, but that her relationship with her partner and son had also improved. Quite obviously, as shown by her results, her brain was working in a better way.   

The quality of our questions, our ability to listen, and our partnership with our client is what’s key. However, a bit of neuroscience knowledge can enhance that relationship.  For example, we know that when someone is stressed, they are reducing activity in the brain circuitry that supports creative thinking. That stressed person also has a narrower perspective and more of a ‘me’ focus,  making them less able to see connections and possibilities. This is going to impact on how responsive they are in a coaching session.  

Recently I worked with a long-standing client of mine who presented as stressed. With good rapport, and my knowledge of the brain, I felt confident to say ‘Stop!’ to interrupt her long and negative narrative about how awful things were at work. We did some focused breathing together to help her recharge and shift perspective. She remarked at the end of the session that she’d really needed that. 

I suspect my former self, who didn’t know as much about the brain, would have just run with things as they were, and the outcomes wouldn’t have been so positive.  So, my question to you is, what do you think?

Do you need to develop your neuroscience knowledge to support your coaching? How might increasing your knowledge help you? 

If you’d like to increase your neuroscience knowledge, here are my top tips:  

1. Read books or attend courses, that are based on neuroscience for coaches.  Neuroscience is a huge and growing topic, so home in on what’s relevant.
2. Look at different sources for information and check the credibility of each source.  
3. Buy the most recent versions of any books as neuroscience is changing all the time.
4. Finally, be patient with yourself! Neuroscience can be a very confusing topic.

My neuroscience knowledge has built my confidence, both in the profession of coaching and myself as a coach because neuroscience is backing up what we coaches intuitively know.  Almost every day there are new research papers on neuroscience being published, and it’s captured many people’s interests.  

I lead The Coaching Academy’s Neuroscience for Coaches CPD course where I share all the need-to-know information and tools to apply it to your coaching - I look forward to seeing you there!  

Lisa Read is an award-winning coach who works with socially-minded organisations to help leaders and teams be mentally fitter and more effective.  She has led a successful coaching practice since 2006 and is a qualified DISC personality profiler. Lisa is co-founder of Real Clear, a coaching and training company that works with socially-minded organisations, specialising in leadership programmes, resilience and mental toughness. She is also the leader of Sheffield Coaching Exchange - a continuing professional development group for coaching professionals and a master member of the EMCC.