EXECUTIVE SHADOWING
Executive Shadowing: Discover your hidden potential
Shadow work is a psychological term coined by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, which refers to the process of exploring and integrating the unconscious aspects of the personality. These aspects often include repressed emotions, desires, fears and unresolved conflicts that the individual finds difficult to recognize, acknowledge or accept. One of the aims of shadow work is to explore these hidden aspects of the psyche in order to achieve self-knowledge, personal growth and emotional healing and to perceive and, at best, resolve the blind spot. This refers to all the things that others perceive but you do not. As a result, you cannot fully develop your personal and professional potential.
Executive shadowing is an advanced development method in which an experienced coach observes, accompanies and mirrors an executive in order to gain insights into their personality, blind spots, patterns, beliefs, blockages, etc. This method is often used for personal and professional development of board members, managing directors and executives. This method is often used for the personal and professional development of board members, managing directors and executives. The aim of the executive is to use mirroring and psychological-dynamic methods to gain new experiences about themselves, get to know themselves better and achieve a higher level of awareness. This enables many people to grow beyond themselves. Executive shadowing helps managers to literally “jump over their own shadow”.
When is executive shadowing helpful?
Executive shadowing is beneficial for all those who want to develop themselves further. They often have the feeling that something is standing in their way, but they can’t put their finger on it. 99% of our actions are subconscious. Our subconscious is also 10,000 times faster and smarter than our conscious mind. It can therefore be very valuable to deal with your darker side.
Some examples from our coaching practice:
- You are technically good, but have fears or too few social skills
- You are about to take the next step in your development, but don’t feel quite ready yet
- You are viewed critically by others, but don’t know why or what you can do about it
- You work like clockwork at work, but feel like you’re atrophying socially
- You want to get to know yourself better in order to make (life) decisions more consciously
The executive shadowing process is divided into four successive phases
Requirements for executive shadowing
In order to carry out successful shadowing, the following requirements should be met.
- Willingness and courage to change
- Trust in the coach and in the process
- Curiosity and the need to grow personally
- Ability to criticize and adapt
What can executive shadowing achieve – and what not?
Executive shadowing is a “black box”, as it is not possible to predict exactly what the outcome will be. At the same time, it is an unspeakably valuable process that allows the personality of the individual to mature and makes them more aware and also more secure. The participants know their weaknesses and can deal with them more confidently instead of denying them. They recognize new potential that they have not yet been able to exploit.
Executive shadowing cannot and does not aim to change people, but to create awareness of certain personality traits. Executives who have hardly reflected on themselves so far will generally find the executive shadowing process somewhat more difficult than those who already know themselves and their darker sides well.