You may be wondering what a photo of an idyllic, remote, small Tahitian island resort has to do with empathy, trust and connection!
This time last week, my husband and I were on vacation in this idyllic location and I took this photo from my kayak. It was truly the best island vacation I’ve ...
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I’m always searching for new and interesting ways to describe coaching skills to the coaches I’m mentoring toward their ICF credential.
This is one metaphor I’ve used for a while, so thought I’d share it here too. It involves a helicopter and the different views it offers us depending on our coaching skills ...
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Hands up anyone who enjoys being in conflict with someone? Conflict is a serious disagreement or argument with someone where there is often a ‘winner’ and a loser’ mentality. Maybe some people enjoy conflict, yet for the majority of people, we do not have a good experience of being in conflict with another person.
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14
JAN
2019
I’ve recently been using this metaphor with mentoring clients, to convey how a coach engages with their client.
Metaphor is a direct form of communication, as it cuts through a lot of words and mental churn.
Through metaphor, our client connects more holistically to an internal picture that has movement, feeling, energy and sound. It’s a fully immersive ...
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I’m pretty sure every coach has had a client who speaks a lot. And then speaks a lot more. And then some. You may have heard the term ‘verbal processor’ used to describe such people.
I understand there may be learning styles and brain wiring that is at play. I’m not going to address ...
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There’s a paradox present for coaches; simultaneously to know and practice good coaching skills, and yet not knowing how those coaching skills will best serve our client, in this coaching session.
I’m working from the premise that we believe that as a coach, our job is to serve our client. What that ...
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When I first began coaching 20 years ago, I was like every other new coach; trying to figure out how to use questions as a main way of drawing out knowledge from my client. This was so different than the consulting work I was doing, where I was paid for my expertise, therefore ...
Imagine you are walking down a path with beautiful trees on either side. The sun is shining through the trees, creating a soft glow of light on the path ahead. There’s a puddle and you easily jump over it. As you continue walking at a comfortable pace, you hear a sound nearby. Then you see a ...
Over a decade ago, I worked for a leadership consulting and coaching company. I was a coach inside an organization where clients had four coaching sessions to integrate and implement concepts from a two-day communications workshop they had attended.
Participants were asked to come to each coaching session with an idea of the ...
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May I make an observation?