*This essay was originally written as a three-part email series in September of 2023, and has been re-shared here in three sections below.
Four types of support for important core issues: And key differences between the types →
In the very early days of my practice, I consulted with people daily. I took calls every day with people who were seeking a “service” – a service which I was able to perform. I am, after all, a certified clinical hypnotherapist. So it would make a lot of sense if someone wants hypnotherapy for us to have a conversation!
In my second year of practice however, I started to realize that the results I was creating with people went way deeper than a specific “modality”. The way my client results stood apart from others’ related very closely to the type of support I provide.
Every consultation became an opportunity for me to educate the person on the other end of the phone line, but also for me to learn and understand: What is this individual really seeking?
This brings me to the above diagram, the inverted hierarchy of value. It relates to problems that we aren’t actually able to solve all by ourselves (ones we need help with) – specifically problems that are happening automatically (controlled by our unconscious mind).
As you can see in the image, this simple model illustrates two things well:
Depth of results is depicted vertically, and the amount of time investment required is portrayed horizontally by the width of the diagram.
It’s an “inverted” hierarchy because both time and depth of results have value, so the highest value is at the bottom.
What do each of the four sections mean?
→ Information is DIY (do it yourself). No one can absorb new information for you but you!
→ Healing services however, are done for you. They are necessarily delivered by someone else.
→ Coaching is done with you – it’s a collaborative process for creating new awareness that is ongoing.
→ Transformation work is entirely different because it is facilitated for you, but done by you. Transformation work is the only work that exists which is truly 100% empowered as an approach. That’s the very reason why the results are so profound and, transformational. It’s a way to resolve issues through changing the one thing we can control: ourselves (or more accurately – our perspective and awareness) in such a way that we actually transform the reason for the issue and our experience of it.
The Potential of Services: And the limitations of each type of support →
Services should serve our needs – not just obligate our time, create work, or move shells around.
In my experience, the problem isn’t usually with the help itself, but when we use the wrong tool for the job.
Today we’re going to look deeper into the inverted hierarchy of value I shared last week, and briefly define each type of support shown in the model.
Understanding the difference between each area of the hierarchy will make it clear how, when, and why you might have had more success with certain support in the past, or been previously frustrated in attempts to hire support, and how to have more of the first experience and less of the second from now on.
*Remember, this hierarchy relates to a) addressing unconscious issues b) by accepting help from others.
Starting at the top of the diagram, Information is an important part of readiness for action. It also enables consent and conscious choices to occur. But gathering information typically takes a lot of time and can’t shift automatic problems. This is because automatic problems are not controlled by our logical mind, they’re controlled by our emotional body, physical body, and unconscious belief systems. For these reasons information doesn’t have a lot of leverage for creating change, and why it’s at the very top of the inverted hierarchy of value.
Next, you can see healing services and coaching are side by side in the model. This is because there are certain ways and times when coaching provides greater value (less time, more depth, more impact), and there are other circumstances when healing services provide greater value. What’s the difference?
Healing Services are modalities where the provider performs a service for the client for a specific amount of time. Examples of healing services may include talk therapy, breathwork, reiki, hypnotherapy, etc. With these services, the consumer sets the agenda and brings different resources together according to their own knowledge and discernment.
These services, whether wrongly or rightly, are often expected to “work the same” for everyone. The individual’s efforts, skill, or lack thereof should not be essential to the service being performed or taking effect.
Coaching, on the other hand, is a process of guiding actions, insights, and decision-making, so you could think of it as a “done with you” service: it requires the engagement of the individual to take its effect and create value.
The primary benefit of coaching over healing services in terms of value is how it is usually more focused on developing capacity and growth within the recipient of the service. But the benefit of healing services over coaching is how healing services are usually more focused on creating a specific outcome or effect, rather than being ongoing.
You see, even in the best circumstances, positive outcomes of coaching are dependent on the coaching continuing. Few coaches believe that coaching should be short term, or even of limited duration. Many coaches argue for long term—even unlimited—engagement duration. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s important to note. This is another differentiator of Transformation Work.
Transformation Work, the base of the inverted hierarchy of value, is different from the other three types of support.
There are four vital ways it’s different that matter to consumers:
– Depth of Results,
– Speed of Results,
– Completeness of Results,
– Permanence of Results.
How can these differences be? How is Transformation work different?
Next week I’m going to share with you what each of these comparative advantages really mean, as well as share with you exactly how it is that Transformation Work is capable of creating these valuable effects in a fraction of the time.
“Doing things,” versus turning a page: What Transformational really means →
Wherever you are right now, I hope you are having a beautiful autumn day, as we head deeper into the fall months! Over the last two weeks we’ve been discussing four types of services. The fourth type, Transformation, is the one we have spent the least time on, until today. And what a beautiful theme to unpack during this season.
Before exploring Transformation in detail today, let’s take a final look at Information, Healing Services, and Coaching Services through the lens of transaction.
This lens is so relevant because: what it is that’s actually for sale has everything to do with what it is that’s created or received through a purchase. Let’s discuss –
Information can often be delivered independently from a service provider’s time – but it takes a lot of your time. That’s why information is usually the least expensive thing we can buy.
Healing services are bought incrementally in units of time or “service” – you buy someone else’s time and labor and they devote their gifts and/or expertise toward the intended issue during that time.
There are no guarantees of outcome, because that is not the agreement. Transformation is not what is being offered – healing services are being offered: time, skill, and effort are exchanged for money.
In my opinion, this is the greatest missed opportunity in healing services, and in many cases it may be the sole but huge difference between healing services and transformation work: the fact that no one is guiding a transformation.
Coaching services are also sold in increments of time – that’s what the coaching is. The service coaches provide, is coaching.
In the coaching model as well, there are no guarantees of outcome, because that is not the agreement. Transformation is not what is being offered – time, skill, and effort are exchanged for money.
Similar to healing services, while coaching often has a “minimum term” commitment, there is usually no limit on the term of service. This is a hallmark of the coaching model: it does not strive to make itself obsolete.
With Transformation however, the opposite is true.
Transformation Work leverages coaching and healing services, at the right times and moments, to cooperatively guide another person to create the needed changes within themselves, for themselves, to create a permanent shift in one’s being. And as a result of this type of process, change becomes self-sustaining. Like giving us back tools that were lost, or keys to a room we got locked out of.
Transformation is about creating change such that there is no longer a need for services at all. That’s the beauty of it – that’s the agreement of it – to create an outcome or effect so that the services are no longer needed.
That’s why agreements about transformation are always limited term and relatively short, because of what it is that is on the table – what it is being sold. Doesn’t that seem like the right kind of answer for what’s been going on in your life?
If we can’t differentiate these four types of services from one another, we miss the opportunity of the consideration we are making. Discovery conversations make more sense with the context in place we’ve been discussing.
We hope this short series is helpful and inspires you to consider other possibilities for yourself!
Next week I’ll share a handy guideline you can quickly reference to judge the quality and viability of Transformation services in the marketplace.
In the mean time, if you want our support to bring your vision to life, book a Foundations Session for yourself. Together we will create an actionable plan customized to your desires.
2023 can still be the year you close a door on a certain chapter of your life for good. We’d love to support you.
Mandy Barbee Lanier, M.A., CCHt
Founder @ Palladium Mind
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Mandy Barbee Lanier, MA Economics & CCHT is a Performance Coach and three-time Founder with 20 years experience leading teams (large and small) in the military, corporate, and clinical worlds. She helps successful people, especially those leading their own teams, thoughts, and industries, to completely transform / convert anxiety, self perception issues, fear and disconnection into their unique advantage, and fully access their personal power in weeks not years, using her system & framework, Power Play™, combined with their innate capacity for imagery. Her company Palladium Mind Inc empowers and equips others to identify and permanently resolve the root cause of core inner blocks, and strategically edit and align behaviors, thoughts, and reactions with their highest values, in order to ENJOY success. Her work has been featured in prominent media outlets such as Newsweek, Forbes, Thrive Global, and more, and she hosts the podcast Calm, Confident & Deliriously Happy.