Guest Contributors
Mindsets - Do You Have a Growth Mindset or Fixed Mindset?
I’ve just completed “Mindset - the New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck and think it can be a great resource for coaching and for our own self-growth. Dweck talks about two different mindsets that people fall into:
A fixed mindset, where we are either smart or not, talented or not, and setbacks are “proof” […]
Popularity: 2% [?]
18Aug2008 | jsibley | 1 comment | Continued
Discussion: Selecting Coaches for a Global Organization
Let’s say you are working in a large global company and want to run a coach selection process to add to your pool of coaches around the world. And you’ve hired (increasingly common, btw) an external consultant to assist you in designing and running this process.
You and the consultant have designed an application form for […]
Popularity: 3% [?]
18Aug2008 | Carol Braddick | 0 comments | Continued
What’s Your Relationship with Human Resources?
Enter the HR Business Partner. (HR BP)
Corporate HR has designed a process for engaging external coaches, which includes a role for local HR BP’s. Their role is to support engagements by: assisting the coachee and coachee’s manager with the decision to work with a coach; giving input to the diagnostic phase of the coaching engagement; providing […]
Popularity: 6% [?]
11Aug2008 | Carol Braddick | 0 comments | Continued
Your Client is Up for Promotion
Here is the scenario: You have met your coachee’s boss as part of the initial diagnostic phase of the coaching engagement. You see her/him around when you are on site, and check in with her/him as agreed in the work plan for the engagement.
During these conversations, she/he tells you that the client is up for […]
Popularity: 11% [?]
1Aug2008 | Carol Braddick | 2 comments | Continued
Reporting from Dublin: Global Convention on Coaching
Dublin has happened. The GCC community from across the globe gathered for five days of dialogue. We produced a declaration, calls to action in nine areas and explored the reality statements and scenarios that members worked to produce. We made adaptations, considered what would help and hinder us and agreed common themes.
We will provide all […]
Popularity: 15% [?]
23Jul2008 | David Lane | 6 comments | Continued
Coaching and NLP
A year ago approximately, I wrote an article in “Coaching Magazine” entitled “Coaching without NLP: An identity subject.” Today, I would like to share with you, the last three paragraphs where I synthesized my position.
“The introduction of NLP in coaching is complementary only if the coaches use it (the NLP) as a tool, and it […]
Popularity: 15% [?]
16Jul2008 | Leonardo Ravier | 0 comments | Continued
So Many Coaches, So Little Time!
The client you’re working with may have had previous coaches, or work with other coaches at the same time as working with you, or – surprise – during your work together another coach appears on the scene. Here’s a real example:
Executive A begins to work with a specialist on presentation skills. She is working on developing a more […]
Popularity: 19% [?]
18Jun2008 | Carol Braddick | 0 comments | Continued
Favorite Books for Executive Coaches
This started as a response to a question about additional training in executive coaching. I thought it might be helpful to have a separate thread for book recommendations.
My list will tend to focus on books that I see as value-added over and above a clinical background, and those books that are more psychologically-minded:
“How the Way […]
Popularity: 21% [?]
17Jun2008 | jsibley | 1 comment | Continued
Asking for Directions: The Road from Psychology to Coaching
Dear Coaching Commons Community,
I am a psychologist who has been practicing for 14 years with adults. I received my doctorate just out of college in 1982 at USIU in San Diego … proceeded to be a training consultant for the US Department of Education at Adelphi University until 1988. After several more years of growing up, I returned […]
Popularity: 22% [?]
16Jun2008 | Carolyn Edwards | 7 comments | Continued
Anyone taping or videotaping?
When I work as a therapist, I videotape some of my sessions. This has been helpful for for my own learning (self-review and supervision) and has been helpful for some clients, who have watched DVDs of their sessions. In other settings, videotapes and audiotapes have been extremely helpful for researching what appears to be most […]
Popularity: 19% [?]
11Jun2008 | jsibley | 1 comment | Continued
Assessment Instruments: Do They Really Add Value to Coaching?
Personality measures, intelligence tests, multi-rater assessments, annual appraisals, actual performance data, learning styles …. there is an ever growing list of ways in which coaches can assess their clients. Do any of these instruments work, and if so which ones?
My colleague Almuth McDowell (University of Surrey) and I are interested in exploring these questions and […]
Popularity: 19% [?]
10Jun2008 | Chris Smewing | 0 comments | Continued
Coaching the Boss AND Subordinates?
I recently got into a dialogue (maybe a disagreement) with two colleagues about whether you should coach a group of leaders and their boss at the same time. They both said absolutely “no” – however I am of the belief that I am more effective at supporting change in this system we call a “leadership team” […]
Popularity: 23% [?]
9Jun2008 | cphillips | 3 comments | Continued
Coaching for Sustainable Leadership
What does “helping leaders focus on the next generation” mean for the coach working in the organizational context? Is there a tipping point for change in the leader’s perspective regarding sustainable leadership? How is a coaching intervention different from that of an OD specialist or management consultant when it is designed for sustainable leadership?
Coaching is […]
Popularity: 18% [?]
9Jun2008 | Donna Karlin | 0 comments | Continued
How Do We Know If We Start Doing Psychotherapy?
Yesterday, I attended a fascinating seminar for social workers about ethical issues related to boundary crossings.
This led me to wonder how we, as coaches, can know when we begin to cross the boundary between coaching and psychotherapy - particularly as there is still a lack of consensus about where that boundary is.
It seems to me […]
Popularity: 20% [?]
6Jun2008 | jsibley | 4 comments | Continued
In a Downturned Economy, How Do Non-Profits Navigate Funding?
With an abundant amount of countries struggling to live in areas of war zones, underdeveloped systems and devastation from natural disasters, the need for non-profit services is on the rise. However high the demand for services are, how do non-profits secure funding in an economy that is exacerbated by high costs and budget constraints?
As founder […]
Popularity: 18% [?]
4Jun2008 | Dr. Patrick Williams | 0 comments | Continued
How to Choose a Coach Training School
Choosing a coach training school falls into the same category as deciding on your next cell phone when renewing your contract. Many choices, each with hundreds of options and the process can be quite confusing.
Your choice of cell phone will definitely have some consequences. Some good and some bad. These consequences will however have a […]
Popularity: 36% [?]
2Jun2008 | Dale Williams | 8 comments | Continued
Who Can Learn Anything in an Environment of Fear?
My son Ryder recently started school. It was an exiting time for all of us as he walked off on day one with his new uniform and new school bag. However, sadly for all of us, this excitement lasted exactly one week.
At the start of the second week Ryder came home in tears. His teacher had “growled” at him […]
Popularity: 26% [?]
22May2008 | Robyn Logan | 4 comments | Continued
From Great to Even Better
I was talking to a dear friend and fellow Coach the other day about ‘waiting for a crisis to change our ways of being’ as it applies in all aspects of our life, work, personal relationships, and health, as well as the health of an organization.
To say human beings process things in a certain way, in […]
Popularity: 20% [?]
21May2008 | Donna Karlin | 0 comments | Continued
Do We Coach Our Clients to Increase Awareness of Their Personal Interface with the Environment
Coaching, as a profession is very “green.” Most coaching involves assisting clients to de-clutter their lives - everything that impacts their personal ecology, both the visible and invisible. Our coaching conversations can even expand into how our clients and their companies are reducing their waste, and identify inefficient use of resources that can definitely impact […]
Popularity: 21% [?]
16May2008 | Dr. Patrick Williams | 1 comment | Continued
What’s Your Coaching Style?
Let’s say you work in Human Resources (HR), interviewing coaches. You’d like to have a “pool” or short list of coaches to refer to your executives. You’d also like to give the execs a sense of a coach’s style, and find out from the exec what style he or she would work best with.
If you’re a coach, you’ll need to […]
Popularity: 23% [?]
16May2008 | CBraddick | 4 comments | Continued
How Effective is the GROW Model?
Possibly the best known worldwide coaching model was developed by Alexander Graham (1) at the end of 1970. In Europe, this model was spread, mainly, by John Whitmore.
The acronym “GROW” (2) refers to the typical process of coaching conversation:
Goals - at this stage the process focuses on the goals that the client wishes to achieve, […]
Popularity: 34% [?]
13May2008 | Leonardo Ravier | 11 comments | Continued
Do You Think You’re Better Than You Are?
“People predict that they will behave more ethically than they actually do.”
I recently read a fascinating article in the World Business Life online magazine called “How Good Do You Think You Are?” which fascinated me. How often do we take client ethics into consideration when we coach them? Is it something that is in the […]
Popularity: 30% [?]
11May2008 | Donna Karlin | 12 comments | Continued
