Category: Coaching
6 Habits of Extraordinary Coaches
Becoming an extraordinary coach is such a blessing. Coaches create the opportunity to develop ourselves and others at the same time! Coaching is a helping relationship in which the coach and client become partners in assisting the client to reach their personal and professional potential. Spiritually, coaching is a way of being a servant human being, focusing on the growth and development of others. Coaching has become one of the most fulfilling parts of my business over the last 30 years, 20 of which I have been coaching in organizations and training others to become coaches. Below is a list of six characteristics of extraordinary coaches! What really makes an extraordinary coach is not just one, but a combination of all the characteristics below. Enjoy the journey of becoming a coach. I highly recommend it! 1 Positive Attitude & Passion Having a positive way of being balanced with what is factual and real to maintain perspective allows the “coachee” to feel supported and uplifted and also address fact versus fiction or perception during a coaching session. Being passionate about your coaching practice is so important; people feel your passion and dedication to what you do and want to hire you …
How Accountability and Resilience are Connected
I recently had a conversation with a client which generated a leadership AHA! about how accountability and resilience are connected. In this situation, a millennial was involved. He had been working for a year with this organization, and his manager had had 18 conversations about performance issues with this person. Several of these challenges created liability issues for the organization, customer service failures, and employee morale issues for the people they work with and serve. The situation became more complicated because this person was friends with the owner of the company. Lots of challenges here! Millennials What Do Millennials Want? Millennials. There have been lots of conversations, complaints, discussions and challenges stated about Millennials in the workplace. Simon Sinek states in his famous You Tube, “BEST SPEECH EVER – Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace”, with more than 2.5 million views: “Millennials, born approximately 1984 and after, are tough to manage and accused of being entitled, and narcissistic, self-interested, unfocused, lazy. But entitled is a big one. Because they have confounded leaders so much, they have asked of Millennials, ‘what do you want?’ Millennials are saying, ‘We want to work in a place with a purpose. We want to …
Mastering Difficult Conversations
One of the things I hear quite often from Leaders and Managers at all levels: “I have to have a Crucial Conversation with someone, and I don’t know how…” This is understandable. Crucial conversations can be difficult. But they are key to helping your team improve performance. As a leader, one of the most important and valuable tools you can develop is the ability to have effective Crucial Conversations with those you lead and manage. There’s a link below to a brief video by James Robbins on “How to Challenge an Employee”. This video talks about the “emotional science” behind a conversation with a person asking them to “up their game!” This is difficult for both people involved in the conversation. Both manager and employee have an emotional spike that is directly connected to FEAR and/or ANGER! Some of the emotional spikes/thoughts both parties may have: Emotional Spike For the Manager/Leader: How do I start the conversation? What do I say? Will I hurt their feelings? How do I tell them they are not doing a great job, I need them to step up? Will they still want to work here? How do I ask them to increase their performance? Will …
Reasons People Don’t Take Action & How to Get them Moving
With the start of 2017, many of us think about the goals we want to accomplish this year and beyond. If we manage or lead others, we are also helping others set and reach their goals. As a coach, I am often asked/told, “How do I get ‘Name’ to take action?” or, “No matter what I do or say, this person does not take action!” I have found through 15+ years of coaching that there are three main reasons human beings don’t take action. Missing Skill Out of my Control Psychological Block If you have someone who is not executing or taking action, here are some coaching questions you can ask to identify the block: Questions to ask about each situation: What missing skill, training, tools or knowledge do you need? What is out of your control? What is in your control? What is holding you back from taking this action? Missing skill: Training or knowledge is an easy fix. Get them the training, tools and/or information they need to be successful. Out of their Control: An example of this is: There are three people working on a project, Person A has completed their part, it is now sitting on …
Catch Coaching Opportunities
To effect true transformational change, heart-led leaders draw on the qualities of humility, vulnerability, transparency, empathy and love. Tommy Spaulding Coaching is a key skill for successful leaders. Coaching is a fantastic way to continuously develop your staff and help them feel that you truly care for them individually and about their personal and professional development – coaching is purely for them! I have heard from many of my clients about how valuable the book “A Manager’s Guide to Coaching: Simple and Effective Ways to Get the Best From Your Employees” by Brian Emerson was for them. I want to put this information on your radar so you can keep learning and moving forward! Key Coaching Cues Coachable moments arise when someone gives subtle clues that not everything they are thinking is being fully processed or expressed. Watch for these cues, and seize those valuable coachable moments! Limiting beliefs Assumptions, interpretations, limited perceptions Throw-away comments (“That will never happen.” “It has always been like this.” “I have never been able to…”) Missing pieces in a story Strong or weak energy Inconsistent statement Inflation of roles (“I am the manager.” “It’s all up to me.”) Repeated phrases or words (frustrated, angry, upset) There are ways to “call coaching out” …
Acting It Out Instead of Talking It Out
Crucial conversations in the workplace are critical to success and a healthy culture. When truths need to be shared but they are not, negative energy builds and we start talking about others instead of to the personwhere the communication breakdown occurred. When we choose not to talk to the person where the misunderstanding has occurred we have stepped into the place of Acting it Out! Or, another way we Act it Out is by avoidance – we avoid the person, we become sarcastic and start picking at another person for no apparent reason…passive-aggressive behavior! This solves nothing and creates an unsafe culture for everyone. Secret conversations (talking about others behind their backs) begin and they spread like a virus and most of what is “passed on” to others are non-truths. Consequently, drama and negativity spread like a wildfire! Preparing for Crucial Conversations What to do? As a leader you must think carefully through the what, who and how of a crucial conversation: Know what crucial conversation needs to be had: what is the communication breakdown that needs to be cleared up? Decide who is involved with the communication breakdown that needs to be a part of this conversation. Who owns this conversation? Who is feeling misunderstood? Think about how this conversation needs to be handled, the best way …