Assessment
I find out how you think in exactly the situation that matters: decisions, triggers, inner speech, mental images and how your body reacts.
FIEN
Personal coaching
When the stakes are high, the mind has to be clear.
Private coaching for leaders, elite athletes and professionals in demanding fields. I take on a limited number of personal clients so that there is time for each of them when it is needed.
Background More than 20 years and more than 10,000 coaching hours. Executives of listed companies, elite athletes, special forces soldiers from several countries and public figures.
Who I work with.
Many of my clients have no problem with their own mind. They want to be the best in their field.
Leaders
Decisions that can't be delegated. Change that has to be carried through people. Difficult conversations, your own energy and how to keep a clear head when everyone is waiting for your answer.
Executive coaching: how I coach leaders
Athletes
Peak performance at the right time and place. Focus, handling pressure, recovery and what happens in the mind just before you perform. Works in any sport.
Mental coaching for athletes
Professionals
Performers, entrepreneurs and experts whose work is visible and whose pressure is high. Performing, creativity, career and situations where the mental load has grown too heavy. I also mentor coaches and, for example, meditation teachers.
What the work is based on
First I map how you structure your thinking.
Every decision, fear and peak performance has a structure: what you see in your mind, what you say to yourself and in what order. Most people have never looked at that structure. They only see the end result. I look at the structure while you tell me about your situation: your words, your tone of voice, your gaze and what happens in your body.
Once I see how you think, I choose the approach accordingly. Some clients want to understand the structure themselves, and then we make it visible. Looking at your own thinking from the side is called metacognition. Research supports it: when people look at their situation from a distance, they think about it as wisely as they would about a friend's problem (Grossmann & Kross 2014). Some only want the change, and then we go straight to the change. Many of my clients have already tried thinking differently and found that it isn't enough. Fears, habits and automatic reactions arise in the unconscious mind, and they don't change because you decide they should. That is one of my strongest areas. You decide how deep we go.
I use what works: cognitive psychology, methods from psychotherapy, imagery work, language, hypnosis and somatic methods. If you already think too much, there's no point adding more thinking. Then we set thinking aside and work through the body or through imagery. The effect of mental practice on performance has been shown in a meta-analysis (Driskell, Copper & Moran 1994), and hypnosis enhances cognitive-behavioural methods (Kirsch, Montgomery & Sapirstein 1995). Coaching is not a substitute for therapy. I'll tell you directly if someone else is the better person for you.
How the work goes
The goal and the measure are agreed at the first meeting. With leaders, if you wish, we can also ask 3–5 close colleagues about the change.
Change
We change the structure at the point where it resolves. The approach is chosen to suit you: conversation, imagery, hypnosis or the body. Often the work is done at the level of the unconscious mind, which is why the change lasts. One right change can show up in many things at once.
Everyday life and the field
The new way is taken where it is needed: the meeting room, the competition or the stage. We follow the agreed measure.
Three ways to work.
Everything starts with a free 15-minute call where we see whether I'm the right person for this.
One day
Intensive
One big question and a whole day for it. Suits you when a decisive choice, a competition or a performance lies ahead, or when you want to see in one go how your thinking works.
Price agreed in the first call3 months
Programme
Regular meetings, messaging between meetings and a short call before an important situation. This is where most leaders and athletes end up.
Price agreed in the first callOngoing
Sparring
An outside thinking partner, when you want someone who knows your situation and is available before big decisions. We meet as agreed, for example once a month.
Price agreed in the first callExample
Traffic lights in an investor's mind
My client is a day trader. He knew instinctively when it wasn't wise to invest, but he invested anyway. A bit like a slot machine: at some point you get a feeling that you should take the money out, and many people still carry on.
We worked out what separated his good decisions from his bad ones, and with hypnosis we installed traffic lights in his mind. When he is about to make a bad decision, he sees a red light and stops. The coaching took two hours.
Confidentiality
Everything stays between us
I don't name my clients without permission. Many of them are public figures or work in roles that aren't talked about. A non-disclosure agreement is available on request.
Guarantee
You only pay if you're satisfied
If you're not satisfied with a session, I won't invoice you for it. That is how I have always worked.
It's not only that Ilkka is in the world's top five among experts and trainers of the mind. It's how his very broad, systemic approach gets significant results with serious business decision-makers who have already tried every possible coaching and leadership model. (Translated from Finnish.)
Ilkka's coaching doesn't only bring out peak performance at the right time and place; it looks at success from several angles. I've also learned skills for faster recovery and for staying healthy with the help of the mind's hidden power. I haven't experienced mental coaching like this for athletes anywhere else, and I warmly recommend Ilkka's coaching to all fellow athletes aiming for the top. (Translated from Finnish.)
For private individuals
Individual sessions €200 / hour
A lock in the mind can be costly. It can cost you a job or a relationship, even when everything looks fine from the outside.
I also coach private individuals. Typical topics are fears and stage fright, stopping a harmful habit, self-esteem, making a decision and the weight of an old memory. A few sessions are often enough.
In the first session we find out what it's about and what you want instead. If it needs longer work or suits another professional better, I'll tell you straight away.