Weird or insightful?

"Alison you're introducing us to a way of thinking we've not considered before" said one interviewer.

For over 20 years I've used nature as our coach and, since nature has no words, I've used her landscapes as metaphors for our lives. I called the process Landscaping Your Life.

This blog is awash with examples of how I've used the process myself, with coaching clients, and even with leadership teams. So too my YouTube channel and more recently Instagram.

Clients that know me expect the unexpected and unconventional - they also trust that I only introduce these tools because they're effective. Whether that's to solve problems, develop a vision, or simply obtain a different perspective to a situation.

As with any process people haven't used before, it can feel weird.

Recent interviews about my book Can't see the wood for the trees have led me to discuss the book with people who have never met me, never used the process and it's opened my eyes to a how insightful and different a process it is.

I've brought the very practical, logical and analysis skills that are me at my core. I've added the behavioural and language skills that I developed a little later in life to this, and then the final ingredient is the magic of metaphor and nature. That special ingredient indigenous cultures have known for millennia.

I'm so very excited that tomorrow, those in the UK, join those in America and Australia in being able to buy the book. I hope that the logic, language and magic contained within it helps you to achieve what you want in life.

Inspiring change inside and out

For the last year I've added the tag line 'inspiring change - inside and out' whether over on my Purchasing Coach site, on my LinkedIn profile, or when using nature to inspire change here on Landscaping Your Life.

"Why inspiring change?" is a frequent question.

It originated from my answer to questions asked in many PSA meetings "what's your niche Alison" "what's your USP? "why you, and not Sarah over there?"

The answer has always been that I help people get unstuck and back on track: whether that's through the purchasing work I do, or the coaching I do, when for example using metaphors, going for a walk, or picking up on the language used.

That is there's a gap between where someone, a team or project is, and where they want to be - along the lines of this graphic.

Yes I can, and do, get a project from A to B by my own actions but that's not my niche.

My niche is supporting and leading others on the journey from A to B.

To do that requires others to be motivated to let go of how they do what they do currently, and to do it differently. As motivation comes from being inspired that's where 'inspiring change' comes in.

The 'inside and out' is important because it's not just about 'doing' things differently on the outside, but also how you think on the inside - the emotional intelligence if you will behind the actions. Sustained changed can only take place if the beliefs and motivations are there to support that change.

My niche therefore is inspiring change inside and out - that in turn allows others to get to B, and learn from the experience so they can replicate that again.

Where I inspire change has predominately been in corporate organisations, often global, within procurement teams, and also more widely in personal development (direct with individuals, or via the organisation's they work for).

If you're wanting someone, or even a team, to move from A to B, and want them to be inspired to make changes, then do get in touch. Landscaping your life is particularly helpful when other more conventional tools have failed - like any metaphor it's great at avoiding the barriers we put up to change - especially when we feel it's been imposed by others.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards

Alison Smith
Inspiring change inside and out
alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 (0)7770 538159

The first Landscaping Your Life session

Landscaping Your life is a tool I use in my coaching and facilitation with clients. Since its conception in April 2000 there's been many different ways that landscapes and nature have been used to obtain insight on situations whether for teams, boards of management, leadership teams, individual managers or personally.

In this post I'd like to go back in time and return to the first time I ever used it - which involves choosing a picture that best describes the current situation and then making changes to it until it's just right. (you can do this in your mind but using real pictures and cutting them up adds something to the process).

I can't tell you how you'll know 'it's just right' but you will know. It's as if as you make the changes your mind makes sense of the original situation, and the changes you make to enable it to become clearer as a result.  

Here's an example.

I pick a picture that describes the current situation

I then decide what to add or take away from the picture

and then realise I need to cut even more away 

That's better - and then add something

and again

and again

You may end up with very little of the original picture left - there is no right or wrong - it's as if you've gone on a journey from where you are, to where you want to be, and your mind will now make sense of what that means in reality. Of course you may never know what it means - you may just feel differently and the situation may just change.

Have a go yourself and notice what you notice - and let me know how you get on. Just a word of warning I've found for 99.99% of people it's useful for the landscapes to be on earth rather than out of this world. That is the normal rules of gravity apply. 

I know a number of those early guinea pigs who still have their end landscape, even 15 years later, and it's on view in their office as a reminder of the insight they gained. A sign I always think of a truly profound process - even if I say so myself :-).

Individual coaching and group facilitation sessions using Landscaping Your Life or other tools are available - so do please get in touch if you've been grappling with a challenge for some time and would like a different perspective. alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 (0)7770 538159.

More on Landscaping Your Life can also be found on Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.