Global Institute of Organizational Coaching

Global Coaching Certification

Dr. Peggy Marshall

Another Year Over, Celebrate Your Successes

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Celebrating successes

 

Hi Everyone!

One of my favorite December songs is “Happy Xmas” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.  The lyrics start with

“So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun”

Every year when I hear this song, I begin to think about what “I have done” and whether I accomplished the most important things in terms of what I set out to do.  There is not a better time for reflection then, at the end of something and the beginning of the new.  I know most of you are thinking-“Is she crazy-doesn’t she realize how busy my schedule is?”  I certainly do as my schedule is also full.  However, if we don’t set aside time for reflection we risk moving into 2022 without a solid evaluation of what’s working in our lives and what is not.  As a result we may be destined to repeat 2022 in the same manner that we moved through 2021.  Jack Canfield  in “The Success Principles” shares that we have to keep score in order to know whether we are creating and reaching goals and part of keeping score is evaluating what we have accomplished.  What does your score sheet look like and does it measure what matters most to you?

Keeping score also allows for the process of reflection.  Reflection is an important component of how adults learn.  We learn from not only from our experiences but also from the interpretations and reinterpretations of those experiences.  When we pause and reflect upon circumstances and then apply a different framework to our circumstances we can create new ways of acting and thinking.  Using the process of reflection and introspection on an on-going basis leads to increased levels of awareness, insight, and self-acceptance.  Many times these moments of reflection can result in epiphanies from which we can chose new thoughts and behaviors. Bob Rotella in “How Champions Think”.

adds that champions self-evaluate and reflect after setting their own standards and do not simply wait for others to provide evaluations in order to move forward into success.  What is your process for reflection and self-evaluation?

The end of the year also brings us to a time for celebration.  How do you celebrate your success?  In a recent meeting with leaders within an organization I work with, leaders were asked how they celebrate.  Many did not have a response.  When we asked “why”, a couple of obstacles were shared.  The first obstacle was there is not enough time.  Celebration requires planning and typically ends up at the bottom of a list.  They also share that they sometimes hold back celebrating until projects are completed and goals are met.  Their thinking was that celebrating too early could lead to a loss of momentum.  There have been numerous articles written about the importance of rewarding ourselves when we are making progress not just at the point of completion and that this celebration actually builds momentum.  John Norcross in “Changeology” shares that early on in reaching milestones, rewards need to be immediate and intense while later on in a more stabilized change effort rewards are more meaningful.  How comfortable are you with celebrating and rewarding your self?  In what ways do you reward progress and celebrate success?

As you prepare for 2022, don’t forget to reflect upon 2021 successes.  One of the best ways to create our future is to leverage what we know about our past successes!  Celebrations can help to rewire our brains so that our focus is on what leads to success rather than what is missing.  Shawn Achor  in “The Happiness Advantage”  relates that this rewiring creates what he calls the positive tetris effect and sets us up for happiness, gratitude and optimism.  As you are making plans and setting goals for 2022, make sure you build in time for rewards and celebrations!

Wishing you the happiest of holiday seasons and looking forward to an awesome 2022 with you!

Dr. Peggy

Coaching in Stillness, Mindfulness and Reflection

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Coaching in Stillness, Mindfulness and Reflection

 

It’s the beginning of the new year, which typically brings a time for reflection and assessment of the past year as well as planning for the new one.  Do you find yourself jumping right into setting goals and taking action or are you taking the time to listen to that small quiet voice inside that wants to guide some of the decisions?  Ryan Holiday, in “Stillness is the Key”  shares that there are several methods for quieting the mind; becoming present, limiting your inputs, emptying the mind, slowing down and thinking deeply, journaling, cultivating silence and letting go.  This blog will focus on a discussion of these ideas.

Becoming Present

Nancy Kline in “More Time to Think” shares that listening is a creative force.  In working with clients, the quiet between the question and the answer can often elicit information that was buried and is now unearthed.  I was talking with a client recently who shared that she didn’t realize she was feeling guilty about a past relationship until she was talking with a friend and it came up out of the blue. This form of listening either to our own quiet or the quiet that a coach or good friend allows, is not to uncover or discover to make a move, rather it is to go deeper into what can be rather than what is.

Emptying the Mind and Cultivating Silence

Dza Kilung Rinpoche in “The Relaxed Mind”  believes that it is in calming the mind that allows insights to emerge that guide us to our joys, happiness and also to know who we are.  It is in learning who we are that we can determine what’s important and what is not.  Until we differentiate between the important and unimportant, we make everything important and lose focus.  Returning our mind to a relaxed state of presence brings a clear and undisturbed view of our lives that leads to the nuggets of truth we need to move forward.

Limit Input

Shawn Achor, in “Before Happiness” calls excessive input noise.  Achor believes that noise is any information that is negative, false, unnecessary or prevents us from being able to reach our full potential.  He places noise in four categories; unusable, untimely, hypothetical, or distracting.  A skill for everyone to build is the ability to filter through all of the information we receive on a daily basis to determine what is factual, usable, timely and relevant.  How often do you evaluate the external noise in your life based upon these criteria?  How does the noise in your life prevent you from limiting input?  Achor contends that if we just reduce the noise by 5% we can be considerably more successful with the endeavors we are engaged in.

Our thinking can also be noisy and add to excessive input reducing our ability to calm the mind.  Do your noisy thoughts lead to positive thinking or negative thinking?  Wayne Dyer in “You’ll See It When You Will Believe It” proposes that many highly respected thinkers from an array of different disciplines subscribe to the belief that thought determines how our lives will go.  Our thoughts determine our emotional states.  To borrow from Jim Loehr’s writings in “The Power of Story” our thoughts lead us into our emotional states which are opportunity based or fear based with noise being fear based.  When I am coaching clients, one of the most difficult concepts to understand is the idea that we choose our own thoughts-they don’t just happen to us.  A major improvement in your life can happen when you are able to recognize how noise impacts your thoughts-particularly the negative ones.

Journaling

When many people think of journaling, they have the image of a teenage girl writing about her dreams or even Ann Frank who shared dire circumstances during WWII.  Ryan Holiday shares that many of the great leaders and thinkers journaled daily as a practice of reflection including Marcus Aurelius, John Quincy Adams, Ben Franklin, and Queen Victoria to name a few.  The quiet that occurs when we are journaling can lead to a deeper discovery of ourselves.  James Pennebaker, in “Opening Up by Writing It Down”  shares that just 15 minutes per day of writing can lead to deeper thinking.  Daily writing can also help you slow down, watch your mind, and hold yourself still.  Finally, journaling has health benefits that can lead to clearing your mind which include; releasing feelings and stress, increasing self-awareness, identification of emotional triggers, and letting go of unwanted thoughts.

Letting Go

Something we are never taught yet is one of the biggest struggles we face as humans is the need to let go.  Letting go of expectations about self and others and wanting things to be perfect can lead to acceptance of what is and ultimately the calm we desire.  In Brene Brown’s book “The Gifts of Imperfection”,  she invites us to let go of perfection and defines perfection as “the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgment and shame.”  Brown shares that perfectionism serves as a shield that we believe will protect us when in reality it keeps us from letting go.  When we engage in perfectionism, we need the approval of others in order to feel good about ourselves.  Letting go of perfectionism is one step towards calming the mind as we no longer energize a false sense of self.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is being added as a practice that can grow stillness.  Williams and Penman in “Mindfulness: An Eight Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World”  share a few myths of what mindfulness is not in their book.  First, mindfulness is not a religion rather it is a way to train yourself mentally to calm the mind.  Second, it doesn’t require a specific position such as sitting cross-legged on pillows on the floor and can be done anywhere.  I have clients who practice it on planes.  Third, it does not require a specific amount of time.  However, it will require you to invest, persist, and demonstrate some degree of patience when building your mindfulness practice.  Fourth, it is not something you measure and give yourself a grade after doing as it is not something one is successful at or fails at doing. In fact, learning and growth can occur during every session.  Fifth, it doesn’t alter desire and/or drive for success, rather it allows you to see the world more clearly so that the actions you take align with what really matters to you.

This blog provided you with numerous tools that you can use to guide stillness, mindfulness and reflection as you move through 2022.  For a more in-depth discussion of stillness, please join Global IOC’s webinar and panel discussion on January 26 at Noon EST.  Zoom meeting link.

High Achievers Have Grit

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High Achievers Have Grit

 

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
— T.S. Eliot

When you think of the word “grit”, I am certain that you have your own definition of it. Steven Kottler in “The Art of the Impossible” shares that Sir Francis Galton was one of the first researchers to explore the connection to grit and high achievement. Galton believed that talent wasn’t enough to differentiate high performers from others, rather he landed on two characteristics which are “zeal” and “capacity for hard labor”. Later, Angela Duckworth in her book “Grit” agrees that achievement is more than just talent and the grit is about “passion” and perseverance”. In fact, Duckworth’s research has demonstrated that grit has twice the impact on success as academic achievement. Kottler believes that there are six types of grit that lead to peak performance which are; perseverance, willpower, mindset, passion, thought control, and self-talk. Let’s explore each one separate in the remainder of the article.

Perseverance

Kottler suggests that of the six he identified, we are most familiar with the concept of perseverance and see it as day-to-day steadfastness that is fully committed to achievement. We are able to continue on regardless of the circumstances. Duckworth’s work suggests that people with more grit choose engagement with life and all of it’s challenges rather than pleasure as a pathway to happiness. Think about times you were the most “grittiest”. What achievements did you accomplish and what level of satisfaction did you derive from your success?

Napoleon Hill in “Think and Grow Rich” (written in 1937) believed that persistence was an essential factor in turning desire into action. He added that many throw their hands up in reaction to misfortune or opposition. In his book, he identified 16 symptoms of lack of persistence many of which are still relevant today. His symptoms include; failure to clearly define what one wants; wishing instead of willing, procrastination, searching for shortcuts, fear of criticism, and lack of interest in acquiring specialized knowledge.

John Medina in “Brain Rules” shares that our brains are wired to return to doing what we have always done. We need to stay consciously aware of the choices we are making in order to consistently take action towards our goals. Additionally, perseverance draws upon the energy of commitment to our goals which allows us to overcome the obstacles that we face. One strategy when faced with obstacles is to break the goal down into small actions that lead to success. Just doing one action each day towards your goal will build the momentum to keep you going when you want to give up.

Willpower

Numerous studies have demonstrated the influence of willpower on achievement. Two of the most important contributions are the findings around delay of gratification and willpower fatigue. Walter Michel’s early work on delay of gratification suggested that there is a “hot-and-cool” system which describes willpower failure or success. Michel suggested that the cool system is our cognitive thinking process, is more reflective, and provides rationale for why we should not engage in a behavior misaligned with our goals. The hot system represents our emotional triggers and our impulsive reactions to them. Michel theorized that when willpower does fail, the hot system wins out with regards to behaviors. From a brain perspective, these impulsive reactions create neuropathways in the brain which lead to responses to future triggers. For some, this is the work of developing and strengthening willpower.

A second theory suggest that we have a limited supply of willpower. Roy Baumeister in “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength” shares that decision fatigue impacts the amount of willpower one has available. Baumeister shares that when we experience decision fatigue we are more likely to postpone or avoid a decision, give into our impulses, choose the default option and self-indulge. Conversely, we are also less likely to compromise.

How does one strengthen willpower? One of the best ways is to avoid temptation. James Clear in “Atomic Habits” advises that we should not only avoid temptations but use implementation intentions. Implementation intentions start with an “If-then” statement and prepare us for situations that may be impacted by impulsive decisions and situations in which we find it difficult to say no. Implementation intentions can help us improve upon our self-control thus strengthening willpower. Finally, research indicates that willpower is not ever fully exhausted even though we may feel like it. We still keep some in reserve and that’s what we have to tap into through using the right motivations.

Mindset

The Marriam-Webster dictionary defines mindset as both “a mental attitude or inclination and a state of mind.” Carol Dweck in “Mindset” shares that her perspective is that mindsets are a state of mind. When we have closed mindsets, we believe that personal qualities are unchangeable, personality and/or intelligence is unshakable, we tend to see failure as personal and rejecting, and hiding weaknesses is mandatory. When we have growth mindsets, we recognize that we can improve and change behaviors, we believe that the future presents opportunities for growth, we are more likely to build on talents, and see problems as challenges in need of solutions.

Modern biology and psychology have proven that we can grow at any point in our lives. Epigenetics offers us the concept that our genes can turn off and on as a response to triggers in the environment. Jessica Forrest in “Mindsets: Understanding Growth and Fixed Mindsets in Order to Think Positively for Powerful Results” shares that “most of our qualities can be changed through training, conditioning, and experience”. This concept also applies to brain plasticity. It is a heavily researched area that demonstrates that our brains have the capacity for change and growth at every age.

Passion

Kotler shares that when we have curiosity, passion and purpose, grit takes care of itself. Curiosity is foundational to passion and when curiosity ignites with passion the fire builds towards intrinsic motivation. Combine these two ingredients with meaning and purpose and the individual becomes unstoppable as the ingredients increase core performance traits of resilience, productivity, and focus.

Once we are fully aware of what gives life meaning, we can connect the dots to passion. If I were sitting with you and asked, “are you living into your passions”, what would your response be? Would you be able to answer that question quickly and clearly or would you need time to think about it? Cheryl Richardson in “Finding Your Passion” shares that we have to be able to access our feelings to find our passion. Passions come from our heart yet at the same time we can stifle them with our head. She continues with the concept that getting to the depth of our passions require a high degree of self-care. Without this self-care we are at the whim of the day-to-day urgent instead of slowing down long enough to recognize what we find exciting, joyful, and moving. This lack of connectedness also results in roadblocks to living passionately.

How do we discover our passions? Reflection becomes an essential component of discovery. Without that reflection we continue down a path that was many times predetermined for us by parents, siblings, friends, mentors and possibly even colleagues. Gay Hendricks in “The Big Leap” differentiates between the zone of excellence and zone of passion. He believes when we are in our zone of genius, we are living into our passions.

Thought Control

Our thinking can also be noisy and resulting from excessive input reducing our ability to calm the mind and control thoughts. Do your noisy thoughts lead to positive thinking or negative thinking? Our thoughts determine our emotional states. To borrow from Jim Loehr’s writings in “The Power of Story” our thoughts lead us into our emotional states which can be defined as opportunity based or fear based. Byron Katie in “Loving What Is” challenges us to examine how we feel when we think a thought with the statement “how do you feel when you think that thought?. She encourages us to consider the converse with the statement “How would you feel if you did not think that thought?” This brings power back to choices we can make about our thoughts.

Steven Hayes in “A Liberated Mind: How to Pivot to What Matters” encourages us to build flexibility skills to counter thoughts that are not taking us into what matters most to us. He shares that when we notice our thoughts from a curious perspective, remain open to emotions, stay in the present, and align values with habits we develop a greater ability to manage our thoughts. A major improvement in your life can happen when you are able to recognize and pay attention to your thoughts, particularly the negative ones, and transform them into more positive ones.

Self-Talk

The term self-talk often refers to that subconscious voice inside your head that chatters away at you. Sometimes called egocentric speech or discursive chatter, self-talk can become as unnoticeable as background music. For example, when you wake up each morning and look into the mirror, what are the voices saying? Do you need a haircut, need to lose weight, or need any number of improvements? Self-talk can be positive as well as negative. When self-talk is positive, it can uplift you when things aren’t going your way, bolster your self-confidence to try new activities and deepen relationships. But negative self-talk, on the other hand, can interfere with performance, put a black cloud over relationships and erode your self-esteem.
Self-talk has a number of sources. It can come from others-originating with messages received in childhood from parents, teachers and/or friends. It also comes from our successes and disappointments with life and the things we remember and reinforce about ourselves. The key here is that since it’s our self-talk, we own it. Once you begin to recognize the chatter, you can start to deal with the negativity and lower its intensity. Better still, you can take this powerful source of transformation and try to harness it into positive energy.

Susan David in “Emotional Agility” shares that we have a constant cineplex inside our heads creating chatter which then circulates self-defeating emotions, thoughts and behaviors. These emotions, thoughts and behaviors lead to stories we create about our thoughts and experiences. The more negative the story, the more intense the chatter. I frequently ask clients to stop throughout the day and listen to the chatter in their minds. It is only through self-awareness that we can begin to reduce the negativity and replace it with positive self-talk.

Grit has many facets that we can engage in to lift performance. Global IOC has an assessment that will help you determine which aspects of Peak Performance you can focus on and develop into strengths in 2022. Additionally, Global IOC offers an eight-week training program of which Grit is just one topic. For more information, go to Peak Performance Program – Global Institute of Organizational Coaching.

Use of Assessments in Coaching

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Assessments in Your Toolbox

 

Assessments are an essential resource for the coaching toolbox.  They provide us with a starting point for helping clients develop a deeper understanding of self and sometimes others.  Assessments provide coaches with baseline information about the client and can deliver various details about personality, leadership styles, interpersonal communication style, strengths, and stage of development.  There are numerous choices available for the coach to use in practice.  The most important factor is that the coach develops expertise in the use and application of the assessment.  The remainder of this article will focus on formal assessments available for the coach practitioner.

Myers-Briggs

The MBTI assessment helps clients identify natural preferences in four areas of personality.  The extroversion/introversion dyad is determined by how the client directs and receives energy.  A focus on the outside world, interacting with people and taking action is considered extroverted while focusing on the inner world and reflecting on ideas, memories, and experiences would be considered introverted.  The process for taking in information determines the sensing/intuitive dyad.  Perception using the five senses would be sensing while seeing the big picture and looking for relationships and patterns is intuitive.  The thinking/feeling dyad is determined by how a person decides and arrives at conclusions.

Logically analyzing the situation is considered thinking while considering what’s important to the people involved is considered feeling.  The final dyad is perceiving/judgmental.  Approaching the outside world in a planned, orderly way fits the judgment domain while a more flexible, spontaneous way is considered perceiving.  Once the client has completed the MBTI, the natural preferences of the individual are sorted into 16 distinct personality types.  In understanding natural preferences, clients can use the information to strengthen and enhance both personal and professional relationships as well as create developmental plans for growth.

DISC-Values

The DISC assessment is a behavioral assessment tool which identifies four types: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness.  In describing the differences between the behavioral types, the tool emphasizes the uniqueness of each type and while expanding upon what is needed and expected by the behavioral type.  Communication between and among types improves when an understanding of others based upon their type is achieved.  It is through understanding ways to adapt to different behavioral types that tension is reduced and increased cooperation and trust in relationships can be built.  The results from the values assessment helps individuals better understand their value hierarchy and belief systems. The values that are measured are aesthetic, economic, individualistic, political, altruistic, regulatory, and theoretical.  Values are what drives an individual and are expressed through the personality.  During the debrief, the coach connects what is valued to how it is expressed.  When the DISC assessment is combined with the Values assessment, a full spectrum of behaviors and values can be introduced to a client for a deeper understanding of self and opportunities for development.

Strength-Finders

A third assessment that Global IOC often uses with corporate clients is Strengths Finders.  This assessment was developed from Gallups’s 40-year study on human strengths which brought rigor and robustness to the assessment.  The Gallup Organization research suggests that the most effective people are those who understand their strengths and behaviors. It is through this understanding that individuals can develop strategies to meet and exceed the demands of their daily lives, their careers, and their families.  Strengths Finders focuses on understanding of natural talents that lead to insight into the core reasons behind consistent successes.  The Strengths Finders assessment provides the client with the five highest rated strengths out of 34 so that development can be inclusive of the strengths.  Gallup found that individuals who know their talents and have the opportunity to use them at work are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs.  Gallup has also found that individuals who know their talents and have the opportunity to use them at work are three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life.

Hogan

The Hogan assessment suite evaluates personality from both the inside-actor’s view and outside-observer’s view.  The Hogan assessment suite is a compilation of three instruments that are based upon consistent observations across a wide range of jobs, individuals, and industries.  The suite can help organizations and individuals evaluate strengths and weaknesses, identify high potential employees and leadership candidates, uncover motivations and values, and discover derailers to prevent negative impacts of future performance.  The three suites include; Hogan Personality Inventory which describes how we relate to others when we are at our best, the Hogan Development Survey (HDS) measures 11 derailing tendencies that can impede career success and interpersonal effectiveness and the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) describes personality from the inside – the core goals, values, drivers, and interests that determine what we desire and strive to attain.

Enneagram

The Enneagram assessment measures nine personality types defined by a particular core belief about how the world works. This core belief drives a client’s deepest motivations and fears — and fundamentally shapes a person’s worldview and the perspective through which they see the world and the people around them.  It is through understanding specific Enneagram types, that a client can explore how the type impacts perceptions of the world and open up to respond to situations and challenges differently.  Personality assessments help clients understand not only their own behavior but the behavior of others which can reduce or eliminate conflict.  Similar to DISC, the Enneagram also shows how clients react to stress and how they might adapt in future stressful situation.  The Enneagram is widely used in corporate environments.  In business contexts it is generally used to gain insights into workplace interpersonal dynamics, improve communication and self and team development activities.

Global IOC is a strong proponent of the use of assessments in coaching as it provides both the coach and client with a starting point for reflection then action.  However, the use of assessments needs to match the situation and coaches need to develop expertise with assessments along with creating an understanding with the client about purpose and expectations for use.  Also, for Global IOC the assessments have to pass the reliability and validity measures in order to be used.  The key question is “will it simply be discussed and placed on a shelf or will the coach weave in the information in future development opportunities”?

 

Global IOC will be hosting a webinar on April 6 to discuss at a deeper level the assessments covered in this blog.  Zoom call https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83239074707

Sales Leader as Coach; Sales Coach as Leader

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Most of you reading this blog have an arsenal of tools you use to be effective with direct reports.  The question becomes how are you using those tools to enhance performance, align behaviors with your organization’s strategy and closing knowing-doing gaps?  Tools only take us so far.  How we implement those tools in an environment that brings out the best in direct reports can lead to sustainable, effective sales leadership that cascades through the entire sales organization. Strong teams need sales leaders for inspiration, enthusiasm, focus, and to strategically guide their vision, mission and culture. A strong coach leader is often viewed as one of the most important factors in sales growth yet, many organizations struggle with the development and scaling of coaching and leadership behaviors.

 

Sales people change jobs for a number of reasons including issues with a boss, culture, money, and challenge.  These reasons are consistent with what has been shared about the “great resignation”.  Key talent turnover creates an incredible gap for sales teams.  Using coaching skills to develop and better understand the needs, values and drivers of individual behavior of employees has been shown to influence the desire to remain with a sales team.  Kelly in “The Dream Manager” shares that the destinies of the organization and individual potential are interwoven.   He threads the concept of “best version of self” throughout his message which is inclusive of both the organization best version and individual best version.  This requires that both the individual and organization deeply explore what is valued, the meaning made from those values and alignment of action with the values.

 

Boyatzis and McKee in “Resonant Leadership”  add a resonant component to “Sales Leader as Coach; Sales Coach as Leader”.  Focusing on the benefits of emotional connection, the authors position the relationship as key to successful coaching which has been proven time and time again in the research.  The resonant coaching leader not only creates connection with followers but also creates resonance with self through the process of renewal.  Leaders are so conditioned by “doing” that they often sacrifice “being” and reflection.  Boyatzis and McKee share that developing a renewal process provides increased energy and engages the mind, body, and heart in shifting to positivity and healthier relationships.  Kouzes and Posner while researching and writing about leadership in “Encouraging the Heart”  share this thinking with Boyatzis and McKee.  They contend that effective leader coaches are connected with followers as they demonstrate genuine caring for the follower.  Without this caring, the follower may experience his or her leader as simply transactional rather than transformational.

 

Creating a thinking partnership helps a direct make effective choices and decisions when the coaching leader is not with him or her.  Support is a component of the coaching thinking partnership which engages the leader and direct report in gaining clarity about goals, holding followers accountable for agreed upon actions and celebrating with followers when goals are met.  These leaders provide opportunities for emergent and meaningful conversations. The leader coach sees himself or herself as a barometer of where the follower is with regards to their own thought processes. Questions are asked to draw out deeper, more thoughtful meaningful conversations and take the follower into thinking about future possibilities.  Questions such as “go forward three-six months, you were amazingly successful with clients, what did you do differently that led to that success?” and “what might get in the way of your success?” cause a follower to think both in terms of best-case scenarios while also preparing to overcome challenges.  Chip and Dan Heath in “Decisive” use an exercise called a “pre-parade and post-mortem” discussion in framing the issue in best possible outcome and worst case scenario.  Interestingly, it is typically easier for followers to brainstorm the challenges than the successes which creates another opportunity for coaching.

 

The paradox of the sales leader as coach phenomenon exists in duality in that it is both about the development of self and the development of relationships with others.  Leaders as coaches drive change yet stabilize the team.  They also honor past successes while looking forward to the future.  Finally, sales leaders as coaches integrate both science and art.  Managing the paradox contributes to its complexity and to the complexity of designing effective leader as coach development programs.   

 

If anything in this blog struck a chord for you, please join us on April 27th for our next webinar on “Sales Leader as Coach; Sales Coach as Leader” for a broader discussion on this topic.

 

Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83239074707

Turning Dreams into Goals

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“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”    – Harriet Tubman
“Are you the dreamer of your dream?” This is one of my favorite questions when helping clients clarify what they really really want. Can you honestly say that the path you are on is one that is chosen by you? Many of us are following the path we are on because it is convenient, simple, safe, etc. We may be feeling like there is something bigger out there but just do not quite have the time, energy and/or courage to pursue it. If this describes you, a quick scan of what is holding you back may be in order!

What’s Holding You Back?

What holds us back from being the “dreamer of our dreams”? First and probably the most important thing that holds us back is the influence of and decisions we made during our formative years. We may have made choices about our future that are based upon what our parents, siblings, teachers and even childhood friends thought we were capable of. Later, our partners and other relationships came into play. Although it is important to include the perspectives of these relationships in dreams along with the changes that might impact them, it is definitely not a promising idea to give full power for our decisions.
A second thing that holds us back is our tapes about ourselves which could also come from our formative years but also can develop from recent interactions with others, the media, and just beliefs that we have learned along the way. I call these messages “tapes” because they are on a continual loop in our mind. They include phrases such as: I cannot; I am not; you are not; you do not; etc. If you want to know what tapes are running through your mind, spend several moments each day in reflection. I promise you they will surface.

Are you Stuck?

Resilience researchers suggest that we can get stuck believing that our environments and adverse events determine our future when in reality it is our reaction to those environments and events that determine our future. The interpretation along with the meaning we assign to the events can determine whether we experience positive movement forward or a life of desolation and feeling stuck. Where in your life are your beliefs creating the future that you want to live into and where are you diminishing the dreams you have?
A close companion to other people’s tapes running in our heads is the actual self-talk we engage in with ourselves. We constantly talk to ourselves, and our self-talk becomes our reality as we live into those thoughts and beliefs. We do not look for reasons that enable us to live into our dreams instead we find examples and experiences that prove our dreams cannot become reality. Negative self-talk is extremely dangerous as the more frequently we engage in it, the more entrenched and reinforced our beliefs become. In fact, the most recent research in neuroscience suggests that negative thoughts look for other negative thoughts to connect with in our brains which even more solidifies the negative message. A very scary proposition indeed.

Reflect on Your Self Talk Daily

A good exercise is to reflect on your self-talk daily and determine where you are continuing the negative tapes. As you analyze these tapes you can begin to rewrite them both mentally and physically and shape them into the dreams you desire. Wayne Dyer in When You Believe It, You Will See It challenges us to transform our limiting beliefs into opportunities through a willingness to see situations differently. Imagine that you are a coach and are talking to yourself. How would you support and challenge yourself to see what you perceive as your limitations differently? What evidence would you share that demonstrates the possibility of your dreams becoming reality? As long as we ignore the proof to believe differently about ourselves, we remain stuck in others’ beliefs as well as our own unsubstantiated beliefs about ourselves.
Complacency can also hold us back. We get comfortable with the way things are in our lives and moving beyond them or changing them feels like too much effort. Yes, it is sometimes difficult to energize ourselves when we are comfortable, but we are talking about your dreams right? Gay Hendricks in The Big Leap shares that people can have what he calls an “Upper Limit Problem” and this problem prevents them from truly moving from complacency into their dreams. He asks the reader to respond to four questions.
  • First, am I willing to increase the amount of time that I feel good inside?
  • Second, Am I willing to increase the amount of time that my whole life goes well.
  • Third, am I willing to feel good and have my life go well all the time?
  • And finally, are you willing to take the Big Leap to your ultimate level of success in love, money, and creative contribution?
Answering yes to these questions will begin the movement out of complacency and into your dreams.

Are You Ready to Turn A Dream into a Reality?

If you are ready to turn a dream into a reality by setting a goal and following through with that goal, join faculty member Carol Assalian’s research study which explores how we move through challenges when engaging in behavior change.
The link for the research project is kaskor.research@gmail.com. Please register by July 29. It might be just what you need to jumpstart a goal you set earlier in the year!

Why Choose Global IOC for your Advanced and Master’s Coach Development?

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The Global IOC Coaching Program is led by Dr. Peggy Marshall, a WABC™ Certified Master Registered Coach Program (CMBC™) and Senior Research Fellow at University of Wales Trinity St. David.  Dr. Marshall brings over twelve years of organizational coaching and development of a world-class internal coaching program with a Fortune 100 firm.  As faculty are added, they will have advanced coaching designations.

Advanced Business Coach Program

Global Institute of Organizational Coaching (Global IOC) offers an Advanced Business Coach program.  This program provides participants with advanced coaching skills that develop the ability to coach in increasingly complex and challenging situations within a business context.  Participants will learn the Global IOC Coaching Model™ developed from the latest research and best practices in coaching.

Curriculum components include the selection and use of assessments in coaching, resources to advance coaching knowledge and practice leading to mastery and acceleration of client success, and a series of development resources to help coaches grow their own coaching business.  The program structure is a blend of virtual highly interactive sessions along with self-paced independent learning.  One to one supervision with master certified faculty deepen and enhance the coaching practice.  A portfolio submission includes a project focused on a topical area of interested to the candidate.

Masters Business Coach Program

The Global IOC Master Registered Coach Program was developed for the advanced coach to align past work and life experiences with a deepening understanding of the theoretical, strategic and tactical concepts and principles relative to coaching.  A deep and full exploration of current approaches to coaching, methodologies and theories underpinning business coaching, and exploration of the literature from related disciplines along with research from coaching forms the foundation of this designation.

The Global IOC Master Registered Coach Program will include but not limited to the following topics: integration of coaching theories into a personal guiding framework, neuroscience for the discerning coach, driving and executing high performance through coaching processes, developing a framework for leadership and organizational excellence, mapping personal practice to WABC Competencies, Supervision and integrating research into practice.  Throughout the program, master seminars will be offered to enrich and expand upon learning with specific application to the organizational context.  As critical engagement with, and the design of, research is a hallmark of this level prospective candidates will be required to submit a project demonstrating the integration of research into practice.

Candidates may choose to complete the second half of the program as a master’s student at the University of Wales Trinity St. David, which upon meeting all requirements of that program, students will receive a MA in Professional Practice in Coaching.  The program will take between 18 and 24 months to complete depending upon the time a candidate has available to dedicate to the program.

Apply for either our Advanced or Masters Business Coach Program today!  Fall courses begin September 6th and 8th.

 

https://globalioc.com/coach-development/

What Would My Life Look Like Without Excuses?

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The person who really wants to do something finds a way;

the other person finds an excuse.

-Author Unknown

 

What holds us back from taking the actions we need to with regards to our behaviors as well as our thoughts. The question comes from Wayne Dyer’s book on “Excuses Be Gone”.  Just asking the question of  “what would my life look like if I couldn’t use this excuse?” is a powerful step to taking responsibility for moving our lives into the direction of positive change. Dyer lists several excuses in his book, but I want to focus on the ones I hear most from my clients.

I am too busy

Let’s start with one of the most common excuses-I am too busy-which translates into I don’t have enough time, or it will take a long time. How many times have you heard “time is all you have”? If we are passionate about wanting to change or needing to change, time is all you have! A quick reminder that we all have the same twenty-four hours in a day leads us to two issues that many people struggle with-time management and saying no or a combination of both. To move beyond the time question, you might explore David Allen’s work on time management in “Getting Things Done”.  Many of my clients have used his ideas when the major issue is being able prioritize. Saying no can be a little more dicey because we often find ourselves in an emotional bind. I could write an entire blog on saying no but suffice it to say that most people predict dire consequences to saying no when sometimes a conversation with the other person will produce the desired results. An exercise I often do with clients is to ask them if the “no” is never or just not now. Asking the requester if the action is something that could happen in the future just not now will often open up the emotional space so that both parties feel that needs are being met.

It’s too big

Follow that excuse with-It’s too big. It is easy to become overwhelmed by what we are facing. Jack Canfield in “The Success Principles” suggest that we need to chunk things down. He offers several suggestions from speaking with someone who has already “chunked something down” to starting at the end and looking backward. For example, if you want to go back to school, it may take two years to complete a degree. Finding the requirements for courses and then dividing them by the number of weeks available will provide you with a weekly average of time needed for completion of tasks. To use a more mundane example, when you want to lose weight, losing it in five-pound segments or one-month intervals could help you to let go of any stress associated with a big number.

It is too risky

Add the excuse-it is too risky. It is true that at times in our lives what we are thinking about doing may seem too risky. However, how could you work through the aspects that are fearful about what you are about to do while validating what you really cannot risk. Once you have made that determination, Susan Jeffers guides us to feel the fear and do it any way. In her book, “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” she relates that pushing ourselves into and through fear is actually less frightening than living with the bigger underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness. It is the relief from this helplessness that gives us the power to make decisions and take action more quickly and as it builds our confidence that we can tackle anything.

I am not strong enough

Next is, I am not strong enough. When we think about being strong enough we often do not visualize physical strength rather we are talking about emotional strength and resistance. Have you ever experienced someone who just seemed to have such inner strength that they could do anything? What they are exercising is willpower. Most authors agree that willpower is both exhaustible and creatable, that is you have a given supply at the beginning of the day and by the end of the day you most likely have exhausted your supply depending upon the challenges you faced. However, when you overcome a struggle or temptation you build the willpower needed to face even greater challenges. What could you do today to build willpower for the future?

It has never happened before

And finally, one of my favorites, it has never happened before. We are creatures of comfort yet think of what we can accomplish when we let go of the path we are on to follow a different path. Many of us are examples of individuals with college degrees, experiences and businesses that did not exist prior to our creativity, and roles in organization that did not exist previously, etc. The list is endless. How are you making excuses to limit yourself in ways that take you away from your highest dreams? Mathew Kelley in “The Dream Manager” tells us that dreams are invisible, but powerful-associating them with electricity that cannot be seen yet keeps everything going. Investing in your dreams is a powerful way to move beyond the limitations that you set for yourself when you allow yourself to use the excuse that it has never happened before.

What would I be

The next time you are tempted to come up with an excuse for why you cannot act, think about this list and ask yourself

“who would I be without this excuse”? Then ask yourself,

“what would I have to do if I wasn’t using this excuse?”

You might be surprised at the answer.

 

To Your Success,

Peggy