My name is Dr. Catherine Wiberg. I prefer to be called Dr. Catherine. I am not a medical doctor. I am not a counselor. I earned a Doctor of Management degree in Organizational Development and Change. You might ask, “What a Doctor of Management has to do with individual women's empowerment coaching?” You might be surprised; I was.
Every organization is, in fact, made of individuals with individual traits, strengths, abilities, passions, and backgrounds. My passion is working with the individuals in order to strengthen the organization.
During my studies and research, I learned wonderful things that apply equally well to individuals as they do to organizations. It just takes a little reframing.
In order for an organization truly to develop, grow, and progress, the individuals within the organization need to be able to develop, grow, and progress.
Some of my favorite studies during my Doctor of Management program included appreciative intelligence, process consultation, change management, leadership, and organizational sustainability. All of these topics speak directly to the individual as well as to an organization.
Of all my topics of study, I daresay that Appreciative intelligence is my favorite. In fact, I feed appreciative intelligence into EVERY other aspect of organizational and individual development and change. I was using appreciative intelligence before I knew there was a body of study around it and a name for what I do!
Appreciative intelligence looks at an organization or in my case, an individual, and sees the strengths on which to build in order to become stronger.
There's a particular analysis approach in appreciative intelligence that I just love. It's called SOAR. It was created by Jacqueline Stavros and Gina Hinrichs. If you’ve studied organizations or business, you may have heard of a SWOT analysis. If you haven’t, that’s OK.
Many organizations use a SWOT analysis in their decision making and strategic planning process. SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Using the SWOT analysis, organizational decision makers consider both internal and external influences to help with their decisions.
The SOAR method looks at strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results. Of course, this can be applied in an organization. I like to use it for individuals to find the person's strengths, find the person's opportunities to use those strengths, understand the persons personal and professional aspirations, and define the desired results.
What type of legacy does this person want to create? What type of impact or influence in the world does this person aspire to create? Perhaps this influence is in the person’s family, neighborhood, community, or workplace. Finally, what results will occur when the individual pursues or meets these aspirations?
SOAR does not completely ignore the weaknesses that the SWOT analysis considers. Instead of ignoring them, it reframes them. Instead of looking at a person's weakness. It looks at how a person can find or create an opportunity to progress and excel by finding somebody else with a strength that the person doesn't already have.
This opportunity is where you can bring in a coach, a partner, or a friend who has the strengths to help you reach the aspirations and get the results that you want.
That's where I come in.
I have learned through practice, receiving help myself, and my personal efforts using my own system. I now teach others how to reframe past experiences and past perceptions in order to find the benefit and find the opportunities that will allow you to reach the aspirations and create the results that you want. We then can apply the same principles to present experiences and present perceptions.
Truly through reframing—putting things in a new light, looking at them through a new lens, or framing the picture differently—together we can rewrite your present story.
You are able to rewrite your present perceptions, change your current experiences, redesign how you want to create your future. SOAR facilitates the process. My Reframe, Rewrite, Redesign process is my approach to appreciative intelligence in a personal way.
I created the private Reframe, Rewrite, Redesign Empowerment Facebook group and Reframe, Rewrite, Redesign Empowerment podcast to help you understand how to Reframe your past, Rewrite your present, Redesign your future, and see how others have done the same.
I bring to your table the opportunity to help you soar by simply taking three months, six months, or a year to start reframing, rewriting, and redesigning your life to achieve true personal empowerment. Once you start feeling empowered, you’ll want to help others feel the same.
Schedule a time to chat with me about your personal aspirations.