Coaches teaching winning ways

- By Ian Fairclough / Valley Bureau

New Minas - It may not be as well known as many sectors of the economy, but Success Coaching is becoming one of the fastest-growing businesses in North America. Success Coaching is all about helping people overcome issues they might feel are having a negative impact on their lives. It started 30 years ago in the U.S. but only recently began to take off there after years of popularity in Europe. "People come to us with a lot of issues," says Ronda Degaust, who along with her husband, Bob Clarke, runs Life Potential Developments in New Minas.

Ian Fairclough / Valley Bureau Ronda Degaust and her husband own a success coaching business in New Minas. Success Coaching is a growing industry in North America.

These issues range from desires to be more motivated and to stop procrastinating, to quitting smoking and overeating.

"One woman wanted to be able to say hi to her co-workers because she was so shy," Ms. Degaust said. "She called one day to say that not only had she said hi, she'd carried on a conversation."

Ms. Degaust and Mr. Clarke use a process called neurolinguistic programming to change how people see what it is they hope to change.

For example, a smoker may see cigarettes or smoking a certain way, and the process turns that image into something else, Ms. Degaust said.

"People code the smoking in their own mind, and we try to change that image," she said. "They're not going to want a cigarette if it disgusts them, so we try to change the code to something disgusting."

She said Success Coaching also identifies what led to behaviour that a person is trying to change and helps clarify negative emotions connected to it. Smokers, for example, might have started because of insecurity and a desire to fit in with a crowd.

"The process works really well - it works with everything that lies underneath," Ms. Degaust said.

She said neurolinguistic programming does not undermine other forms of therapy but offers another, faster, alternative to help people deal with issues.

"Once we find the trigger, we don't talk a lot about all the stuff that may be connected to it - we just go right to solving the problem," Ms. Degaust said.

Part of solving problems involves changing the way people try to deal with an issue, she said.

American Olympic diver Greg Louganis, after several bad dives, used a success coach to get a successful dive "coded" in his head.

She said that when he started seeing his good dives in his head instead of thinking about how to avoid bad ones, his focus was positive and his form returned.

Success Coaching is booming in Europe, Ms. Degaust said. "It's so big that in some places managers aren't being hired unless they have a certificate in neurolinguistic programming."

Having that certificate means supervisors can deal with any number of issues affecting productivity or morale.

Ms. Degaust and Mr. Clarke, besides doing Success Coaching on their own, also train people such as managers, educators and supervisors.

Her business has been growing, she said, with clients from the South Shore, Halifax - even from England and Malaysia when people from those countries come to Nova Scotia.

She has even dealt with clients over the phone from the U.S.

Success Coaching involves making people feel better about themselves, she said, and it can help people become friendlier, more open in relationships - even cure them of phobias.

"You can have so much fun making people change," she said.

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