mindset change is integration
Margaret Moore, aka Coach Meg
Executive Coach; CEO, Wellcoaches Corp; Co-Founder, Chair, Institute of Coaching
In a recent keynote and new journal article - Ground Zero in Lifestyle Medicine: Change Mindsets to Change Behavior - we use the ground zero metaphor in a variety of ways that are helpful to all coaches who want to be catalysts for mindset change that supports behavior change. The mindset change we are talking about here is integration.
What is integration?
Integration?involves connecting to and integrating new ideas, thoughts, and perspectives.
A moment of integration can also be described as a moment of insight, an A-Ha experience, as though neurons just made new connections.?Insight is defined as “a sudden understanding that solves a problem or reinterprets a situation, but, due to its immediacy, seems to be disconnected from the immediately preceding thought.”
In a recent study comparing facilitative coaching to directive advising using an EEG headset, the EEG data and self-reports showed that more insights were generated by facilitative coaching than directive advising. Interestingly, the changes in brain waves and activation of brain regions involved in insight generation occurred just before (four seconds) the client pushed the button to mark a moment of insight. It seems that the biological phenomenon of neural integration precedes the moment of insight.
Self-determination theory views integration as the healthy and natural process of turning life experiences into well-being:
“People are active organisms, with evolved tendencies toward growing, mastering ambient challenges, and?integrating?new experiences into a coherent sense of self. These natural developmental tendencies do not operate automatically, but instead require ongoing social nutriments and supports.”?
Dan Siegel notes in his book Mindsight which explores the phenomenon of integration: “I’ve come to believe that integration is the key mechanism beneath the presence of mental well-being.”
All of our uncomfortable emotional and mental states, our normal and natural day-to-day human experiences, are signals of unintegrated states calling out for integration – for connection to new thoughts, ideas, and perspectives.?
What enables integration?
The best coaching and leadership conversations enable others to experience integration and insight generation - connecting an unsettled, unresolved, stuck mental and emotional state to a range of new ideas, perspectives, and possibilities until an A-Ha experience emerges.
A ground zero mindset is an important calling, with the higher purpose of healthy integration of lived experiences, integrating the ups and downs on the journey toward more well-being and impact.
There are opportunities in every conversation to till the ground - generate potential – and enable integration.?
The last A-Ha in this article is that the integration process is what brings us to mastery of a coaching mindset over time, being able to hold a generative space for another’s experience of integration. We till our own ground, generate our own potential, and enable our own integration and insights of what gets in our coaching way.?
We are all ground zero, modeling integration on the path to mindset and behavior change for the people we serve.?
Onward and upward.
Coach Meg
Resources:
Journal article: Ground Zero: Changing Mindsets to Change Behavior
Editor of Words, Human or AI-Assisted | Crafting authentic, compelling content that earns trust, builds loyalty, and inspires action for nonprofits, wellness, and senior living pros. Heart-centered & inclusive.
6 个月I love this concept and you've done a beautiful job of articulating it. I personally find this line, toward the end of the piece, one of the most important: "We till our own ground, generate our own potential, and enable our own integration and insights of what gets in our coaching way." We have to be a clear, well-integrated container to hold space for our clients effectively.
As a South-Asian Muslim American with 30+ years in nonprofits, I progressed from volunteer to founder and now partner with organizations to boost leadership capacity, deepen connections, and build resilience.
6 个月This was a truly enlightening talk that peeled back the curtain on what real transformation looks like for both coaches and their clients. I loved how you highlighted that at the core of high-level coaching, we're essentially expanding consciousness. It's a powerful reminder that coaches are more than just guides—they're the heroes working tirelessly to bring humanity and understanding to a world that often lacks both. Amazing insights!
Leadership Faculty, State University of New York | Leadership Coach, Einstein School of Medicine | Global Executive Coach & Facilitator | Harvard Business Review Contributor
9 个月I just read your article, Margaret Moore, aka Coach Meg, in advance of IOC's Northeast Roundtable discussion tomorrow and found so insightful. Thank you!
Global Wellbeing / Organizational Development Leader
1 年Thank you Margaret Moore, aka Coach Meg for this insight . While I focus on “integration” of wellbeing into organizational processes , you have opened my mind to broaden my integration definition of success and approach.