PurposefulListening

Spiritual Coaching Techniques for Career Development

Your presenterGail Liebhaber, M.Ed.

Career and Lifework CounselorConsultant to Career Counselors/Coaches

40 Cottage Street, Lexington, MA 02420Phone: (781) 861-9949

 Fax: (781) 863-5956E-mail: gail@yourcareerdirection.com

www.yourcareerdirection.com

An Invitation to Deepen Your Skills

• Purposeful Listening as an additional technique• Clearing out and letting go• Model becoming present and witnessing our clients, • questions for you to ask your clients to help them in

listening to themselves • roles that inspire hope• Tools to help your clients tell their story.

Poem on a bookmark

“No one listens,” they tell me and so I listen and I tell them what they have just told meAnd I sit in silence listening to them letting them grieve“Julian, you are wise”They say, “You have been gifted with understanding”All I did was listenFor I believe freely, surely, that G-d’s spirit is in us all• Julian of Norwich, 14th C. English mystic

(from book, Purposeful Listening)

The role of a career counselor

• Re-defining the “good-enough” career counselor

• Our need to be techno-savvy, problem solvers within tight time/budget constraints

• Old questions vs non- answers

Guiding clients to answer their own questions

• We do not have the answers, may have the questions

• However, we can be guides

• Silence, listening and accessing inner wisdom- needed by both client and counselor

Defining the essential ingredients

• Purpose: An understanding that accessing the authentic but perhaps hidden self will tap into spiritual energy and clarity

• Listening with an open mind, body and heart--without judgment, an agenda or possibly answers

Training the ear to hear the soul

Preparing to listen with purpose

• Providing a sacred space

• Getting present

• Listening with your heart

• Inviting the unknown into the session

• Trusting inner wisdom

Developing our presence

• Getting ready/clearing out• Using the breath• Short meditation• Mantra• Setting intention

Letting the Soul Express Itself

• Empty out expectations, shoulds and old rules

• Allow innermost yearnings to emerge

• Welcome the unknown

Create the environment for sacred space

• The power of the physical space

• Types of offices

• Creating trust on phone/in office– safety– comfort– Intimacy– professionalism

Asking new questions

• Sample questions to inspire hope and purposeful change:– What is my purpose in life? – How would I like to leave my mark in the

world?– What talents do I have that I am not using?– What am I yearning for in the future?

More can be found in the book

A holistic approach

• Tuning into their whole being:– Listen with your heart to their heart– Where is tension in the body?– Is their gut or intuition attempting to get their

attention?– Are things happening serendipitously?– The chakra system

Supporting Growth

• Encourage the development of their own unique voice from their own truth

• Giving permission to not know

• Support the will

• Acknowledge the workings of the universe

7 Principles of Purpose-Centric Coach

• According to Richard Leider,author/consultant, our roles can be:1.believing2.serving3.calling4.dreaming5.listening6.declaring7.doing

Tools for Purposeful Listening

(From the book)These exercises are designed to inspire purposeful listening for you and your client. Feel free to use them for your practice.

• Questions for your career journal……………………………5-2• Spiritual Landmarks………………………………………….. 5-3• Developing a Mission Statement…………………………….5-4• Questions for Goal Setting……………………………………5-5

To order the book

Purposeful Listening:

Spiritual Coaching Techniques for

Career Development Practitioners

• Cost: $10 plus $1.50 s&h

• send your check made payable to:

• Gail Liebhaber, 40 Cottage St., Lexington, MA 02420

• Be sure to include your address

Gail Liebhaber, M.Ed.

Career and Lifework CounselorConsultant to Career Counselors

40 Cottage Street, Lexington, MA 02420Phone: (781) 861-9949

 Fax: (781) 863-5956E-mail: gail@yourcareerdirection.com

www.yourcareerdirection.com