A Coaching Power Tool By Joanna Poplawska
Leadership Coach, UNITED KINGDOM

The mountain vs. Anthill power tool in coaching, in my opinion, a coach’s job is to help their client understand that their thoughts are only thoughts and not reality, to think about alternative explanations, to examine the available evidence, and to think about what they can do to handle the situation until they know the actual outcome. People can be pushed in the wrong direction by catastrophizing ideas, which can distract from new learning and instead waste it. The client acquires a greater understanding that a mountain might not actually be a mountain by recognizing that they lack the evidence necessary to accurately forecast other people’s behaviors, thoughts, and feelings as well as the fact that they are unable to read minds. Their unwarranted fear, worry, and negative behaviors can be released by de-catastrophizing discourse.