The number one problem in coaching and corporate America today- managers are not engaging in critical conversations. What’s keeping managers from having this dialogue? It’s not lack of time, even though that’s usually the first block that comes up. It’s not that they are unqualified to be partaking in crucial conversations. What is the issue? Managers don’t know what to do and what to say when..
Coaching Must Involve Practice
Without practice employees do not arbitrarily improve. Without practice we cannot observe skills and behaviors to reinforce. Without practice employees will not arbitrarily develop confidence. Without practice managers are allowing employees to practice for the first time in front of peers and customers. So what is a manager to do especially when time is limited? Here are five strategies we would..
Coaching After the Learning is Done...What's Working?
When I think about learning I think about employees who have gone to a class or maybe an online course and they’ve experienced knowledge dissemination or skill development. Where does coaching come in?
Let’s take two scenarios to illustrate this point. First, somebody attends an internal corporate workshop where he or she have learned the valuable material and engaged with his or her teammates..
The Progress Initiative
The Power of Progress! We've been teaching Progress Coaching™ for over 20 years I wanted to share with you a really cool concept: The Progress Initiative. The Progress Initiative is a movement organizations can take for talent development and retention as well as the cultivation of effective leadership.
Starting Your Coaching Relationship Positively is Critical
Starting a coaching relationship is not always easy to do and one of the things we teach in the progress coaching training system is something we call the awareness stage. The awareness stage is when we make someone aware of the opportunity to improve but the language and approach we use is as critical as anything. The goal of this stage is not to convince somebody that they have to improve,..
Be Honest with Yourself
The goal of coaching is ultimately to get people to look in the mirror step one and then take step two which is to take action on step one. The funny thing is very few people do step one very well. It's hard to be honest with yourself.
Here are a few examples of the challenges people have as it relates to being honest with themselves. Let's take a salesperson who's had a great year and when you..
How One Conversation Could Have Destroyed a Company!
I bet when you first read the title you thought it was over the top. This is from a company we worked with years ago that had less than 15 people when I first started working with them. I'll never forget the day this conversation took place. It still reminds me of the value of teaching coaching and what I do for a living.
A manager of one of our clients sites was extremely upset with one of his..
Why People Avoid Conflict
When we have to do something associated with conflict and confrontation, people tend to get very squeamish and hesitant to even do so. But, in the meantime, they'll go off and tell others of their frustrations, resulting in "Water Cooler Talk"!
Attention Executives-Your Managers Need to Coach, but So Do You!
One of the questions I receive frequently from managers is about getting their managers or executive team to coach them. They often fear retribution if they bring it up- as if they are crossing a line. When we provide our program to organizations, everybody says you should start with the executive team, which I agree with, but often it gets pushed down to management levels below the executive..
End the Blame Game with the Contribution Frame
This article is written by Peter Mclees: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermclees/ One of our Progress Coaching Partners.
Conflict can be…well…difficult. Perhaps you can associate with the idea that our best selves do not always show up for the occasion. Before we know it, we’re drowning in conflict and our emotional intelligence becomes emotionally dense while a fire-breathing dragon replaces our..