The programme has been developed and evolved over more than 2 decades of working with professional traders at leading trading and investment firms, including hedge funds, investment banks, global asset management firms, major commodity and energy trading business, and professional proprietary trading firms.
The coaching seeks to help a trader move towards what would be considered ‘Ideal Trader State’ in terms of how there are from a mental and psychological performance perspective. This ideal trader state facilitates them being able to work and perform as close to potential as possible in relation to their approach, in their trading or investing activities.
The 3 Pillar Concept
The programme sees any trading or risk practice as built upon 3 Key Interconnected Pillars each vitally important in their contribution to a trader’s overall practice. The stronger a trader is in all 3 pillars, and the more harmonic the balance between the pillars, the more able a trader is to be in an ‘ideal state’ to trade at optimum levels of performance.
Pillar 1 is the Technical Pillar. This pillar encompasses a person’s knowledge, knowhow and technical expertise with regard to the inputs into the trading process with regard to how they find and create value. A trader’s ability to find and generate ideas and identify opportunities will spring from their pillar 1 abilities. Pillar 1 is the most tangible and visible pillar, and the easiest to define.
Pillar 2 is the Performance Pillar. This pillar is characterised by the skills and abilities a person has in being able to monetise the pillar 1 elements. This is where their risk craft, risk management capabilities, and experience combine to play a major role in contributing to success. This activities in this pillar are more transactional than knowledge based, and often will generate powerful emotions.
Pillar 3 is the Self Pillar. This pillar is far more difficult to characterise, but essentially it describes how we are able to bring the best of ourselves, and to behave, act and think in way which support optimal performance in our pillar 1 and pillar 2 activates. This is least tangible pillar, the least known about, and the hardest one to develop. This pillar is often also the least developed, and thus is the pillar that more than either of the other pillar, will define their chances of success.
Pillar Interconnectedness
We view the pillars as interconnected and overlapping. The overlaps are as significant as the pillars themselves.
Pillar 1/2 overlap defines ‘The Playbook’:
Pillar 1/2 overlap defines ‘The Playbook’:
Loosely defined, the playbook describes the strategies, tactics, methods and rules of engagement a trader uses in their approach to trading.
Pillar 1/3 overlap defines and shapes ‘Idea, System and Process Generation’:
This is where a trader makes objective assessment based on observations and sensing of data and information, and generate new ideas, insights and views which lead to their actions and practices.
Pillar 2/3 overlap defines the ’Mental Aspect of Actual Performance’:
This is the seat of a trader’s ability to manage themselves and their state as they navigate the challenges posed by the market’s complex, uncertain and unfolding terrain, in line with the risk processes and practices.
The 3 Pillar overlap defines the degree of ‘Trading Mastery of the Individual’:
The 3 Pillar overlap defines the degree of ‘Trading Mastery of the Individual’:
A healthy trading process will have a harmonic balance with a strong overlap between all 3 pillars. The stronger the overlap, the more likely a trader can remain present and fully focused during the trading process, that supports them to achieve performance mastery.
Coaching the 3rd Pillar
At the core of this programme is our work on the trader’s 3rd pillar, ‘The Self Pillar’, and how it connects with, interacts and supports the other two pillars.
This is the key pillar every trader has to master, but which few ever do. This is why developing the Self Pillar is so vital and so essential for trading success. By contrast Pillars 1 and 2 represent the tangible and visible part of trading. Pillar 1 in particular is relatively easy to learn, develop and master. Pillar 2 is more transactional in nature, and thus generates powerful emotions that are far more difficult for traders to master. Pillar 3 is the intangible and invisible pillar; it sits below the waterline out of view and largely outside of consciousness. Yet pillar 3’s impact on the trader’s conduct, behaviour and mindset is incredibly powerful, and to that degree it is the invisible hand that has such a powerful impact on a person’s trading. By focusing on pillar 3, you are also indirectly focusing on improving pillars 1 and 2.
What often happens in the absence of this sort of coaching of the 3rd pillar is that people try and apply sticking-plasters or band-aids to issues which appear on the surface. These attempted quick fixes and hacks are doomed to fail and thus the behaviours they try to address remain problematic. In many cases, these issues undermine a trader to the point of stunting their growth and killing their profitability altogether, or even for successful traders they reduce their profitability from what its full potential could have been.
The Coaching Format and Method
The coaching follows a format whereby we delve collaboratively into a person’s 3rd pillar.
The initial phase of the coaching, which accompanies the early stages of any programme is called the ‘Discovery and Sensing Phase’. It is supported by data gathering processes in the forms of personal psychometrics and reflective surveys, and sometimes input and guidance from managers or third parties.
We then seek to explore the person’s 3rd pillar, through the lens of their trading and work and seek to help them understand how it came to be, how it is, and how it impacts their trading behaviours and performance. The coach themselves does not purport to have the answers but works with the client using skilled process to help sense where issues are and to help raise awareness of issues and factors that may be impacting them. They then work with the trader by seeking to provide understanding of how these issues and factors may play out in the trader’s day to day interactions with their work and environment.
The next phase of the coaching is the ‘Supporting Phase’. This focuses on supporting the trader to make adjustment, changes and transformations. It is often the case that complex issues have arisen, and it is the awareness of these where the transformation starts to occur. The coaching starts to stretch out in delivery times at this stage, as the trader is encouraged to spend more time experiencing their work armed with this new awareness of themselves and their work. The coaching sessions will revisit the issues as new experiences occur for the trader as the markets ebb and flow through various different types of environments.
The final stage of the coaching is the ’Sustaining Phase’. The coaching work focuses on trying to create sustainability by embedding change so that new or modified behaviours, habits and attitudes start to become cemented into how they work, as opposed to being transient or fleeting. Repetition is a key part of this, and revisiting themes and topics allows for greater embedding and deeper understanding.
This Sensing – Supportive – Sustaining approach happens within the context of the coaching programme, and is itself aided by tools, models and methods the coach uses to deepen the exploration and further the understanding of the client.
The coach is a skilled and qualified individual who has a deep understanding of the nature of the job from first-hand experience, and time in the trenches. As a coach, they will have been learned their art, and been taught, mentored and qualified in the skills of coaching needed to help the client progress, change and grow.
The programme is designed to occur over a medium to longer-term duration. This allows for the time for exploration in the sessions and reflection, contemplation and time to think, to occur outside the coaching. Meaningful change needs to time to happen, thus the extended duration of the programme seeks to ensure that ‘time to change’ is a feature of the coaching.
The coaching is neither instructional nor technical in nature. We make clear it is not training or tuition, and therefore we will not be seeking to teach people analytical or technical aspects. We assume that people who coming into the coaching have the basic skills and some experience. We do not recommend the coaching for traders with less than 2 years real trading experience, as development of basic skills and understanding is more vital at this stage.
Programme Structure
A coaching programme involves a set number of sessions over a set period of time. Our typical programme involves 7 sets of 90 minutes sessions usually held over a 5-to-8 months. There are exceptions where due to context or need the programme has been shorter or longer. There are options for programmes with more sessions available for people looking to commit to a longer-term focused development or growth process. Also, clients have the option of extending their programmes into further coaching programmes or periodic mentoring sessions.
Programme Cost
Please contact us directly for a quote. Though we have a standard price for our programmes, we do not advertise them as there are different pricing structures depending on the type of client and level of professional expertise or need for organisational engagement. We also have to be sensitive to arrangements whereby our services are offered through various 3rd party agents or with clients who have negotiated a set price based on a specific number of participants.
If you are interested, please contact us to find out more: info@alpha-mind.net or steve@alpha-mind.net
Coaching the 3rd Pillar
At the core of this programme is our work on the trader’s 3rd pillar, ‘The Self Pillar’, and how it connects with, interacts and supports the other two pillars.
This is the key pillar every trader has to master, but which few ever do. This is why developing the Self Pillar is so vital and so essential for trading success. By contrast Pillars 1 and 2 represent the tangible and visible part of trading. Pillar 1 in particular is relatively easy to learn, develop and master. Pillar 2 is more transactional in nature, and thus generates powerful emotions that are far more difficult for traders to master. Pillar 3 is the intangible and invisible pillar; it sits below the waterline out of view and largely outside of consciousness. Yet pillar 3’s impact on the trader’s conduct, behaviour and mindset is incredibly powerful, and to that degree it is the invisible hand that has such a powerful impact on a person’s trading. By focusing on pillar 3, you are also indirectly focusing on improving pillars 1 and 2.
What often happens in the absence of this sort of coaching of the 3rd pillar is that people try and apply sticking-plasters or band-aids to issues which appear on the surface. These attempted quick fixes and hacks are doomed to fail and thus the behaviours they try to address remain problematic. In many cases, these issues undermine a trader to the point of stunting their growth and killing their profitability altogether, or even for successful traders they reduce their profitability from what its full potential could have been.
The Coaching Format and Method
The coaching follows a format whereby we delve collaboratively into a person’s 3rd pillar.
The initial phase of the coaching, which accompanies the early stages of any programme is called the ‘Discovery and Sensing Phase’. It is supported by data gathering processes in the forms of personal psychometrics and reflective surveys, and sometimes input and guidance from managers or third parties.
We then seek to explore the person’s 3rd pillar, through the lens of their trading and work and seek to help them understand how it came to be, how it is, and how it impacts their trading behaviours and performance. The coach themselves does not purport to have the answers but works with the client using skilled process to help sense where issues are and to help raise awareness of issues and factors that may be impacting them. They then work with the trader by seeking to provide understanding of how these issues and factors may play out in the trader’s day to day interactions with their work and environment.
The next phase of the coaching is the ‘Supporting Phase’. This focuses on supporting the trader to make adjustment, changes and transformations. It is often the case that complex issues have arisen, and it is the awareness of these where the transformation starts to occur. The coaching starts to stretch out in delivery times at this stage, as the trader is encouraged to spend more time experiencing their work armed with this new awareness of themselves and their work. The coaching sessions will revisit the issues as new experiences occur for the trader as the markets ebb and flow through various different types of environments.
The final stage of the coaching is the ’Sustaining Phase’. The coaching work focuses on trying to create sustainability by embedding change so that new or modified behaviours, habits and attitudes start to become cemented into how they work, as opposed to being transient or fleeting. Repetition is a key part of this, and revisiting themes and topics allows for greater embedding and deeper understanding.
This Sensing – Supportive – Sustaining approach happens within the context of the coaching programme, and is itself aided by tools, models and methods the coach uses to deepen the exploration and further the understanding of the client.
The coach is a skilled and qualified individual who has a deep understanding of the nature of the job from first-hand experience, and time in the trenches. As a coach, they will have been learned their art, and been taught, mentored and qualified in the skills of coaching needed to help the client progress, change and grow.
The programme is designed to occur over a medium to longer-term duration. This allows for the time for exploration in the sessions and reflection, contemplation and time to think, to occur outside the coaching. Meaningful change needs to time to happen, thus the extended duration of the programme seeks to ensure that ‘time to change’ is a feature of the coaching.
The coaching is neither instructional nor technical in nature. We make clear it is not training or tuition, and therefore we will not be seeking to teach people analytical or technical aspects. We assume that people who coming into the coaching have the basic skills and some experience. We do not recommend the coaching for traders with less than 2 years real trading experience, as development of basic skills and understanding is more vital at this stage.
Programme Structure
A coaching programme involves a set number of sessions over a set period of time. Our typical programme involves 7 sets of 90 minutes sessions usually held over a 5-to-8 months. There are exceptions where due to context or need the programme has been shorter or longer. There are options for programmes with more sessions available for people looking to commit to a longer-term focused development or growth process. Also, clients have the option of extending their programmes into further coaching programmes or periodic mentoring sessions.
Programme Cost
Please contact us directly for a quote. Though we have a standard price for our programmes, we do not advertise them as there are different pricing structures depending on the type of client and level of professional expertise or need for organisational engagement. We also have to be sensitive to arrangements whereby our services are offered through various 3rd party agents or with clients who have negotiated a set price based on a specific number of participants.
The coaching programme is delivered by Alpha R Cubed Ltd. Alpha R Cubed provide coaching and development services to Trading and Investment firms across the world. They offer a wide range of services include Performance Coaching, Executive Coaching, Team Coaching, Whole Business Coaching. Workshops and Development programmes.
Visit AlphaRCubed at https://www.alpharcubed.com/ or view their brochure here.
Visit AlphaRCubed at https://www.alpharcubed.com/ or view their brochure here.
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