The Age of Application.

Stanley Kubric once said, “If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, you can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.” As Kubric suggests, knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things.

I doubt that many of us need additional information about how to be a more effective leader, as much as we need to find a way to consistently apply what it is we already know. We may attend a valuable workshop, class or industry conference, and yet most of us will continue to do Monday morning what we did the previous Friday afternoon. Why? Largely, because it has worked well; it has led to our current level of success. However, as the title to Marshall Goldsmith’s latest book warns, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.  

Read Full Post »

Coaching: A global study of successful practices

The American Management Association recently published their latest research report: Coaching: A global study of successful practices.

 

Highlights include:

 

·     Coaching is used by about half of today’s companies.

·     Coaching continues to gain in popularity.

·     Coaching is associated with higher performance.* Organizations that use coaching are more likely to say they are performing well in the marketplace (measured by revenue growth, market share, profitability and customer satisfaction).*Please see report for research details.

Read Full Post »

Coaching for Performance – A Perfect Partnership

Imagine that tomorrow you meet someone who you will readily welcome into your life. 

This is a very special kind of person, one who looks right past the superficial parts of your personality, your typical defenses, the insecurities you’ve worked so hard to mask, and the failings you’re ashamed to admit, let alone accept.

Read Full Post »

Earning the Right To Coach

Are you the kind of person from whom others want to receive coaching?

Think seriously about this question.  

As managers we cannot automatically assume the mantle of coach. Hiring, planning, performance management and other such tasks naturally accompany the role of manager – but coaching does not.

Becoming a Leader Coach is a welcome we must earn.

It requires that two choices be made:

1. The first is a decision we make to help another person create personal change;

2. The second is the choice another person makes to include us in his change effort.  

Think back on your own career.

Read Full Post »

Free copy of Unleashed! e-book

If you are a manager, executive, consultant, or entrepreneur, and you need to impact the performance of those around you, Unleashed! was written for you.

Download your free copy of the Unleashed! e-book

Read Full Post »

The Leader as Coach: Expecting Greatness and Other Secrets of Coaching for Exceptional Performance

 Management futurists are fond of predicting a “War for Talent.” They foresee a time in the near future when organizations will be battling for their very survival in the arena of top performers. I agree. Organizations will increasingly face debilitating shortages of talent; however, I also believe that this war can be fought and won primarily within the organization itself. Look around your organization right now –in the cubicles and down the hallways, in meeting rooms and labs, on the factory floor –any place where people work you will find enormous, untapped potential waiting to be developed, waiting to be unleashed! This is the job of the Leader Coach.

This is your job.

Read Full Post »

An Appreciative Incident … That Changed My Life.

The single greatest catalyst to my professional development was an unassuming man who first approached me as a peer.

I met this gentleman at a networking event, and I immediately noticed how he engaged with others through his genuine interest in them. As people informally mingled, it was as if he was learning the most profound lessons by listening to others speak.

Read Full Post »

Coaching is not giving advice!

Recently a colleague sent me a link to a short piece on Seth Godin’s blog called “Coachable.” In it Seth defines coaching as insights or advice from others, and suggests that those who are coachable (ie. those who can take direction) will be more successful than those who cannot.  

To illustrate his point he cites the way the Bolshoi Ballet selects its dancers. It is not necessarily the most talented young girls who are chosen.  Rather, it is the ones who are most receptive to direction – the most coachable – who are brought on board, with the understanding that abilities can be easily developed in individuals who take instruction well.  As a former ballerina, I can tell you that what they are really looking for is body structure. Dance companies will often meet with a child’s parents to first ensure the child will grow to have a dancer’s physique … then the rest can be taught. This, however is beside the point.  

My real concern with Seth’s blog entry is this:  

Read Full Post »