Natural Expression Coaching by Rick Nunn

“Former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray confirms Amelie Mauresmo as his full-time coach!” screamed the headline in The Guardian.

It got me thinking about the type of relationship they’re likely to have: a mother-child, a brother-sister or a husband-wife? Discovering their 9 Energy Expressions gave me the answer - but more on that later.

As coaches, the kind of relationship you have with your clients is of course critical. You may be the best coach in the world, but if your client can’t ‘hear’ you, you’ll not only be wasting each other’s time, but likely to be causing mutual-frustration or even animosity. Yes, we are all professionals and likely to pride ourselves on our ability to get on with people of all sorts; and yes, we know we don’t actually have to like our clients to provide top quality coaching, but sometimes it just doesn’t click. And often the harder we try, the worse it gets. So what’s going on?

Before I tell you that, let me tell you how I was introduced to the world of 9 Energy Expressions. My partner and I were having ‘difficulties’ in our relationship and rather than going to see Relate or a traditional counsellor we went to see someone who specialises in traditional Chinese medicine. He listened to my side; he listened to her side; and then spent the next half hour basically telling us exactly what was going on for us as individuals and as a couple. I looked around wondering if Derren Brown was in the room! It truly felt like a trick. On the way home, my partner told me that the counsellor had only asked one prior question and that was the date of my birth. If she had told me that before, I would never have come! But from being a total sceptic to a total convert, my journey into the world of 9 Energy Expression had begun!

The more I looked into it and the more I learned, the more it all seemed to fall into place. And it worked, over and over again. It gave clarity and answers, but it never judged. Clearly these ancient Chinese were onto something. The sages back then aimed to understand the reality of the world through careful study of the patterns found in nature and came up with the dualistic theory of yinyang to describe and interpret these patterns which manifest within us and all around us.

There are different characteristics or expressions relating to yin and yang. To give you an idea and in very simplistic terms, a person with a yang Expression will lead and a yin one will follow. You need both leaders and followers of course – at work and in your personal life. This 9 Energy Expression tool facilitates natural connection between the most suitable people and jobs thus reinforcing their effectiveness and impact.

So what does it say about how Andy and Amelie are going to get on? Well, it turns out this is a husband-wife relationship and specifically a Passive-Stagnant one. Andy is yin and Amelie is yang and Andy is the husband who will try to control the relationship because he’s both the man and the boss! But this is actually not a natural state for him and therefore long-term, it probably won’t provide the results Andy is looking for. He might end it by saying something like “this relationship just isn’t going anywhere.” And he’d be right! But it will be neither of their faults; it’s just the way they are. Interestingly, his former coach, Ivan Lendl, has the same Expression as Andy and their relationship is a brother-sister one: a relationship based on friendship and mutual respect and one that was better suited to their Expressions. It worked too.

So for coaches this is a model that will shed light on the dynamics of your relationship with your clients. But for your business and corporate clients, coaching them on 9 Energy Expressions will give them true insight to the people they are working with, their roles and motives and just as importantly I think; an insight into their true selves.

If you want to find out more, please feel free to connect with me through The Coaching Academy linked in group.