Opportunity to Sharpen Your Coaching Skills

If you were learning how to become a master carpenter, you would see every job as a chance to learn something new.  It is the same in coaching.  In fact each situation you put yourself in that really challenges you will only accelerate your development as a coaching leader.  You might make a mistake or two, but we are not practicing to be heart surgeons here!

If you stay focused on individual and team performance and have a genuine desire to help people grow and succeed, people will want to work with you as you hone your skills.  I probably make a rookie coaching mistake or two along the way, but no one ever lost their trust in my commitment to help them succeed.  Trust is key.  Trust in yourself and trust the process of coaching and you and your team will grown and succeed.

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
  • Comments Off on Opportunity to Sharpen Your Coaching Skills

Do Not Wait Because…

Do not wait because you are not confident how the coaching will turn out!

Undoubtedly, the number one thing I hear from leaders as to why they did not coach someone, even though there was an obvious opening for coaching, is the following: “I was not totally confident as to how it would turn out.  I was afraid I would not do it (the coaching) right.”  Even as a Master Certified Coach, I am never sure how any coaching interaction is going to turn out.  That is half the fun!

Time and Place

Remember the old sayings, there’s a time and place for everything.  While it is best to err on the side of being very active in your coaching, great coaching leaders are smart about when and where to coach.  Too much of anything can overwhelm and annoy people.  The brain has limited capacity for learning, so do not overdo it!

As a rule of thumb you should be actively coaching on a daily basis, but make sure to pick the most productive coaching opportunities in the day.  The most productive opportunities are:

  • High payoff or cost to the organization
  • A new skill you have been wanting the team to learn/see in action
  • A bad habit you have been trying to eliminate

One of the faults I see in leaders is not coaching, letting too much time pass, and then figuring the lesson has passed.  There is a shelf life to coaching opportunities.  If you see one of your key team members drop the ball or you see a great coaching moment, it is not helpful to point it out to them three weeks later.  It is much more helpful in direct relation to the time you meet with them.

Obviously, if people are in meltdown, major crisis or under a lot of stress, it may not be the best time for coaching.  But conversely, that does not mean you have to wait a week to coach them, you might wait an hour or a day.

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Monday, March 19th, 2012
  • Comments Off on Time and Place

“Openings” for Coaching

When we teach our coaching leader course, we help leaders be on the lookout for openings for coaching.  Those are the moments where the coaching leader sees an opportunity for a “coaching moment.” As you develop your coach’s eye, you will start seeing openings for coaching everywhere you look! The most common openings for coaching are:
 
  • Performance shortfall
  • Breakdown of some kind
  • Attitude or behavior not in alignment with stated values of the team
  • Someone not performing up to their potential

Experienced coaching leaders have a knack for picking their time and knowing when to take the opening to coach and assist people to reach the next level of success.

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Thursday, March 15th, 2012
  • Comments Off on “Openings” for Coaching

Coach Early and Coach Often!

There are many ways and places to coach, but I want you to err on the side of over-coaching, not under-coaching. Repetition is the key to success. Every time you coach, you are building your coaching repertoire and muscle. Every time you let coaching slip by, you are sending the wrong message to your team that it is not important. Coaching happens in thousands of conversations over the course of a career. The greatest coaches are coaching almost all the time. There are probably a hundred opportunities to coach in any given day and you want to find the right places and the right times. As coaching becomes an integral part of your leadership style, you are always thinking about openings for coaching; what is the gap, what is the skill, what is the practice, and how can the team’s performance improve? 
  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Thursday, March 8th, 2012
  • Comments Off on Coach Early and Coach Often!

Ready, Set, Go!

Until now, I talked about why you should coach. You have been prepared to become a coach. You have been given a coaching process and now what happens? Nothing. Truthfully, too many times leaders know they need to coach, they understand it is the right thing to do, but they are very reluctant to go out and coach.
 
The reluctance is because most leaders are highly successful, confident people with many years of experience. Who wants to go out and look bad in front of their team? Nobody!
 
If you bring the twenty qualities of a coaching leader, plus a little common sense and a willingness to learn, you are not only going to be fine, you are going to be surprised with the results you and your coachees will produce in a short amount of time.
 
 

 

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Friday, March 2nd, 2012
  • Comments Off on Ready, Set, Go!

Deliberate Practice – Set Written Goals!

The more I study the top performers, the more I realize success is all about doing the little things consistently.

Larry Fitzgerald just had another amazing season for our Arizona Cardinals. We continue to hear that he practices harder than anyone and he has a series of drills (like catching a ball thrown over his head from behind him) that make him ready to be a superstar on game day.

This month our drill is to get a few written goals for the year. I’m still amazed how many people fail to take this simple step that will make all of the difference. Somehow when our goals get written down, put on display and shared with others they start to come into reality!

Write down clear and specific goals for the various areas of your life; business, finances, hobbies, friends, health and spirituality. Give your goals to someone and ask them to be fearless about holding you accountable to be your best in 2012!

As always, send me a copy if you want some free feedback from someone who loves challenging you out of your comfort zone!

Let’s make 2012 a great year by doing the little things very well!  

Master Certified Coach 

Love What You Do!

 

One of the most interesting things Steve Jobs said was, “the ONLY way to do your best work is by doing something you love.” I agree and I see people who have lost that love along the way in their career. Please watch this month’s short video and find a way to fall in love with your work. It will make all the difference in your 2012 results and enjoyment!

Pursue your potential!

Coach Pete
Master Certified Coach

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
  • Comments Off on Love What You Do!

Family Business Dysfunction or Just Normal Family?

I had the pleasure to meet Judi Cunningham, the Executive Director of the Business Families Centre at UBC.  Judi and her team are creating some of the best educational programs for both business families and the advisors who serve them.

At one point in the conversation, I said something about family dysfunction and Judi was quick to stop me. She said that she thought we should all take the word “dysfunction” out of our vocabulary. Her point was that most of the behaviors we deal with when dealing with business families are pretty normal human tendencies. Rather than give them the negative and inaccurate label of “dysfunctional,” we should consider the behaviors as normal and deal with them as such.

As a student of how mindset can impact effectiveness, I notice myself having a slightly different and more optimistic mindset about dealing with some of the typical behaviors that can be disruptive in a family business.

After I thought about it more, I looked at my own experience in my family business and the families I work with, and thought she is right. Every family can face competitiveness, lack of trust, hurt feelings as a results of poor communication or lack of clear expectations.

Thanks Judi! I am making a conscious effort to eliminate “dysfunctional behavior” from my vocabulary and exchanging it with typical human family behavior. This will also help set the right tone for the business families who are learning to play nice and play as team in our Family Business Workout.

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Thursday, January 26th, 2012
  • Comments Off on Family Business Dysfunction or Just Normal Family?

Coaching Pitfall – Toxic Culture

Similar to overemphasis on money, in these organizations there are a variety of other, either historical or environmental issues, that have the place so sick that the coaching has no room to breathe, get integrity or take hold.  These toxic cultures take on many different forms and usually are a result of toxic leaders. Examples of toxic cultures are where there may be addiction, abuse, dishonesty or epic political struggles.  If you have a toxic culture, coaching is not going to take hold.

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »