We really thought about who would greatly benefit from the my manifesto experiences but might be challenged by the time involved or potentially deterred by the financial outlay required. One answer was a young adult who is setting out in life and may not be entirely sure of the direction which they might wish to take. In an attempt to reach this young adult, we have developed a version of our offerings which we have called, the Laser Direction Experience.
We adopted the term ‘laser’ because it captures the sense of streamlining the experience without losing its central value. We modified the existing Essential Experience from my manifesto, keeping in mind affordability; affordability both in the time invested and the costings involved. The investment of time is not just literal time, but the energy required as well. We are aware that there is an element of ‘work’ involved in the Zoom discovery session. This session involves deep reflection, requiring the young adult to really look into their lives. The process begins, as do all our experiences, with the pre-session revelation of their character strengths, in particular their top 5 or signature character strengths. These strengths indicate traits, which when worked within, feel effortlessness, essential and energising. With this knowledge, the coach in the Zoom session seeks to understand what really matters to the young adult and to tap into their hopes and dreams to uncover possible pathways or ‘passion’ areas that may be built upon. The time involved is reduced to not overly tax them and the outcome is a concise identity and purpose statement.
We have reduced the financial investment also, wanting to place the experience closer to the means of the young adult or the family who is supporting them. The nature of our work is that the features of what we do – the one-to-one coaching and the co-created statements – are essential for every level of our experience and therein resides an inherent cost. We do choose however, to be as accessible as possible, because we believe the benefits of focus, clarity, and inspiration which the experience evokes, are particularly relevant to a young adult looking for direction. We have arrived at a cost which covers our expenditure.
We have just completed our first Laser Direction Experience Young Adult. A 20-year-old male client completed his VIA strengths survey, followed by the 30-minute coaching Zoom session. When completed, he was quietly proud of his co-created identity and purpose statements; he recognised the increased clarity featured within his encapsulated statements. He chose a design he was happy with and which he could display on his watch, phone, or computer.
The most rewarding aspect for us: the completed statements capture his individual nature and the type of work which he is most likely to find enriching. The statements represent the needle pointing to his True North; the choice to begin the navigable journey, is his to make.