Coaching

Buffer The best coaches also receive coaching. They also regularly coach themselves by asking the right coaching questions. Let me explain. If you are like me, your are enticed by routines because they allow you to feel comfortable. They help you manage the constant change in your world. Routines diminish the pressure to change and remind you that you are ... Read More »

Buffer Coaches can hurt leaders.Coaches also provide tremendous value when they establish the relationship correctly and focus on helping leaders reach their goals. Before continuing, we should first ask this question: what drives a leader to retain an executive or leadership coach?Leaders face difficult challenges. They step back and ask “How can I lead differently to achieve different results?” If you manage large ... Read More »

Buffer Stop measuring things that don’t matter. Start measuring what matters. Yesterday at the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit, author, speaker, and former CEO of HP Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) reminded everyone about the importance of measuring. Today, the topic came up heavily in the morning sessions here in Chicago as well. The basic truth: we measure what matters. A few important questions ... Read More »

Buffer You don’t need a 48 hour day. You really don’t need a full 24 hour day. When you start a process of maximizing your effectiveness, as a leader this should be possible to do in 8-12 hours a day? Right? Well, not so much. Why do you feel like you can’t get everything done? You likely struggle to balance ... Read More »

Buffer You are the problem. Ouch.That one hurt.No one likes to admit it. But we repeatedly see  that the senior leader of virtually every organization is part of the problem…if not THE problem.The inability for someone to own the problem is one of the most frequent “common denominators” in our world today. But the question remains, what do you do ... Read More »

Buffer You can’t reason with children. At least that’s what I thought…until I became a parent. Well, that’s actually not fully true either. I still thought that my first few years as a parent. So what made the change? As I trained executive coaches and coached other leaders, I began to ask the question: “Why can’t I use coaching practices ... Read More »

Buffer Amazing how this year flew by. Did you accomplish all you wanted to? Find yourself wishing you would have planned it out better? Lately I’ve been thinking frequently about the next year. I have lots of ideas, thoughts, dreams, plans, etc. But how am I going to get it all done and still find time for family, rest, spiritual ... Read More »

Buffer (This blog post is Part IV in the Coaching series focusing on Coaching Essentials. For previous posts in this series, go here: Part I – The Client’s Role, Part II – The Components of Powerful Questions, or Part III – The Use of Accountability Tools) Body language always matters (just ask your spouse or boss). What are you doing to ensure your ... Read More »

Buffer (This blog post is Part III in the Coaching series focusing on Coaching Essentials. For other posts in this series, go here: Part I – The Client’s Role, Part II – The Components of Powerful Questions, or Part IV – The Coach’s Use of Body Language) Accountability sounds strict, overbearing, mean, and militaristic. However, it helps and is needed. ... Read More »

Buffer (This blog post is Part II in the Coaching series focusing on Coaching Essentials. For other posts in this series, go here: Part I – The Client’s Role, Part III – The Use of Accountability Tools, or Part IV – The Coach’s Use of Body Language) I hate listening to know-it-alls. They probably hate listening to me when I ... Read More »