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Why didn’t they do anything?

This guest post comes from Jane Sandwidth of 3D Coaching.  Jane writes: At the end of a management development programme I attended many years ago, the facilitator drew a tombstone on the flip chart which bore the legend, ‘Knew it but didn’t do it’.  The message was clear –

Coaching an individual to become a team player

Slightly different nuance here – Monday was about team coaching; today is about coaching individuals to become better team players. In fact, I think this is less about coaching, and more about giving them feedback and then discussing and agreeing (using a coach approach of asking questions, listening, challenging) how they will move towards the

Coaching a Team

We have a guest post today from Berit Ohn, Master Certified Coach.  You asked for information about coaching a team, so here’s an article she wrote about that very subject:  What makes a group of people feel connected, feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves? Well certainly it’s not as simple as just signing

Coaching a peer

Now, let’s move on to talk about how to coach a peer, which one of you requested in the survey a while back. The easy answer is that you use exactly the same skills as you would use with anyone else. (active listening, powerful questioning, presence, contracting, direct communication, creating awareness, designing actions, planning and

How to gracefully accept feedback, even when it’s perceived as negative

Today’s post is from Berit Ohn, Master Certified Coach. Berit writes: The situation The other day when I was coaching an external client of ours, he mentioned his difficulty of receiving what he called “negative or critical feedback”.  He defined himself as a high achiever, almost a perfectionist, and he had noticed that every time

Handling senior management “interference”

One of you asked how to deal with senior management interference when you are trying to develop your team.  I don’t know the context of this question, so I’m going to use a coach approach to helping you.  That is, offer you some questions to ponder. If something is not working, don’t just let it

Making time for frequent coaching conversations

Ok, so I get that we are all mega-busy.  And I get that it’s tough to lay all of our tasks down to coach.  And yet, there’s something else that I believe.  Susan Scott summed it up in her book Fierce Conversations: “Why do we have such a long history of mistaking profitability and stock

Triple the Wisdom

While you take a breather to let us all know how Two-Day went for you, here’s a guest post from Patrick Ryan that gives us more food-for-thought about what to bring to our conversations: Patrick writes: “Imagine how your life at work would be different if you could expand your ability to apply your own

How was Two-Day?

Do share in the comments box how your conversations went on Two-Day.  How does it feel to have closed that conversation gap? If you didn’t get the chance to have the conversation on Two-Day itself, there’s still all the time in the world….and yet, there isn’t.  What I mean is that the longer you leave

Today is Two-Day: time to fill that conversation gap

So it’s time to have that conversation that you’ve been putting off.  Time to hold yourself and your supervisor or career counsellor accountable for higher standards. But if you can’t have the conversation today, don’t make that an excuse not to have it.  These conversations must happen if we are to feel better engaged, and

Fill that conversation gap: Two-Day Storybird

Just one day until Two-Day (22/2/2012).  In celebration, and as a reminder for you, Bob and I created this Storybird, a short electronic picture-book to encourage you to fill that conversation gap.  I’m really proud of it; I hope it inspires you to schedule a conversation – either with those working for you, or with

Two-Day Countdown: Be More Demanding

On Monday, I wrote about  how supervisors and career counsellors could encourage individuals to tell them what the supervisor/CC needed to do to earn the right to coach the individual.  A kind of “contracting” conversation if you like. Now let’s think about it from an individual’s perspective. I often hear individuals let their supervisors and

Trust and the conversation gap

We’ve been talking about conversation gaps, and using Two-Day (22/2/2012) to fill those conversation gaps.  If you’ve missed the previous blogs about this, catch up here: What will you do to celebrate Two-Day What is a Conversation Gap? Which conversations are most “gappy”?   One of the reasons that there may be a gap in

Which conversations are most “gappy”?

Continuing with our theme about the conversations gap, I thought you’d want to know which kinds of conversations will make the most difference.  Perhaps this is where you should focus the conversations on Two-Day. Career Innovation, in their research, found that “many

What is a Conversation Gap?

Before I dig in to conversation gaps, a quick update on Katy.  Thank you to everyone for your well wishes; your compassion was much appreciated.  I am relieved to tell you that she has a calcium deposit under her tongue, which is harmless.  No further action needed.  Thank goodness.  It takes these incidences to remind

What will you do to celebrate Two-Day

The 22nd day of the 2ndmonth 2012 is almost upon us.  Two-Day. What will you do to celebrate? May I make a suggestion? It takes two to tango, so they say. It also takes two to have great conversations.  People with conversation gaps are 280% more likely to say they intend to leave an organization.

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