An amazing set of positive words that contribute to the meaning and values of coaching, irrespective of context:

vision, values, beliefs, learning, self, others, exploration, possibilities, potential, me, transformation, learning about things, emotions, mind and body, awareness, action, epiphany, light-bulb-moments, aha!, liberation, self actualisation, culture, whole person, self knowledge, understanding, truth, challenges, contribution, decisions, individual, non-judgemental, improvement, attention, intention, self enhancement, experience, experiment, safe, trusting, enabling, raising awareness, developing actions, my way, knowledge, goal, direction, journey, visionary, contribution, new behaviour, self development, responsibility, questions, relationship, shifts, movements, choice, focus, evolving, knowing, personal, cultural, forward looking, change, positive, appreciative, whole-person, affiliation, direction, new belief, liberating belief, incisive questions, moving forward questions, accountability, self awareness, commitment, action, results, curiousity, exploring, new horizons, forward, agreements, vision, future

3 min coaching words brainstorm

The above is how http://www.wordle.net sees it!

• Coaching Change Have done a huge amount of coaching managers / leaders through change recently.  Some practical tips (top 20!), for being effective in this context are below, and I'm sure there are many more to add!  Support managers to:   Be confident – they do amazing things already! Have clear and positive view of progress......
• Coaching -vs- Mentoring Often when working with Managers on coaching skills we get asked about the differences between Coaching and Mentoring.  The diagram below attempts to clarify and also mentions different styles / behaviours.  Coaching and Mentoring are very much future focussed.  Whilst asking questions is the dominant style for coaching, I strongly believe that......
• How do you describe coaching to others? An approach I often use is not to tell them what I 'do' but to ask them questions(!) - well there's nothing like modelling coaching to describe what potential there can be in the relationship. For example something like below - this is really a picking list of statements that......
• What makes a Great Coach Coaching can be a very rewarding. It's the ideal career / activity choice for those who: Like to work with people Have a strong desire to see people excel in their lives Are prepared to let others do the talking Can connect with people and listen with interest and empathy......
• Using objects while coaching Using Objects as an aid to a Coaching Conversation   Introduction This article explains how everyday objects such as a pencil, pen, cup, saucer or spoon can be used to great effect in a coaching session.  Applications This technique can be used in any coaching conversation of 30+ minutes where......

• Whats Up With All The Systems? It seems every day a new "system" that is going to blow away all the other systems comes out.  Almost weekly!  The real question to ask is can any of the systems out there including mine make you any money? I usually join everything that comes out, I would realistically......
• The Best Way to Retire Early There are a lot of retirement calculators out there offering to calculate how much you'll need in retirement. I don't think too much about retirement, but I am saving about 15% of my take-home pay (10% pre-tax) in a Roth 401(k). I got to thinking how much additional money I would......
• How Job Interview Coaching Helps You Land Your Dream Job Many job seekers fail job interviews because of utter lack of arrangement or just committing the same mistakes. That is why many have tried getting job interview help from interview consulting firms.Professional job interview coaching services offer experienced coaches who have a abundance of knowledge and experience. Therefore, getting job......
• Self Improvement for Financial Improvement There are two ways to improve personal finances:  spend less or earn more. If only life were that simple. In the current economic environment, earning more is not an option for many. Indeed, earning less is a prospect being faced by those who had previously considered themselves to be in secure......
• Frequently Asked Questions about Corporate Blogging If you are completely new to blogging, you may find that you have a lot of questions and at times, it can be hard to find the answers. We’ve compiled the most common issues facing new corporate bloggers and supplied the answers to these problems below. 1. Is this going......

Coaching can be a very rewarding.

It’s the ideal career / activity choice for those who:

• Like to work with people
• Have a strong desire to see people excel in their lives
• Are prepared to let others do the talking
• Can connect with people and listen with interest and empathy
• Are willing to put aside their own agenda when dealing with others
• Have an open mind
• Who see possibility and potential in people whatever their status
• Are creative in their thinking
• Are prepared to be tough with people
• Are prepared to be honest with people
• Are enthusiastic and happy individuals
• Have their lives well sorted
• Are interested in continuing to learn and grow

Questions for aspiring coaches

one of the fundamental tenets of coaching is to focus on others, so can you:

• Listen in a nonjudgmental, open-minded manner?
• Ask questions that are genuinely intended to expand the thinking and awareness of others?
• Effortlessly create a dialogue with people?
• Explore people’s issues and test solutions with them, without imposing or prescribing your own point of view?
• Support your people to improve their capabilities and performance over the long term?
• Generously give of your time and resources for the benefit of others?
• Inspire others by passionately sharing the stories about your experiences, successes, failures, and creative ways to improve results with limited resources?
• Be focused on empowering others to act?
• Give up telling or dictating and encourage others to take responsibility and come to their own decisions / conclusions?
• Work with others to create a compelling vision of the future to which they are committed?
• Give feedback which is focused on the positive, and builds the capability of others to succeed?

Now some questions that can assist us to evaluate the suitability of candidates for coach training.  We are looking for responses that:

• Indicate a high level of self-awareness
• Would indicate an approach that is non judgemental, curious, exploratory, asks questions etc. as distinct from emotional and self centred, full of ego etc.
• Indicate an orientation / preference towards service to other people

Here we go:

Having read the above, some questions for you:

• What’s your reaction overall?
• What makes you say that?
• Where are your strengths?
• How have you used these strengths in the past?
• What were the results?
• How did it make you feel?
• Tell me about a specific example where you supported the growth / development of someone.
• What are the areas for your further development?
• What do you know about yourself and/or your behaviours that cause you to choose these areas?
• When working with groups or individuals who have very different views to you, how do you react?
• Coaching is a lot about supporting the success / growth of others:
• What do you think about this?
• Coaching is also about not imposing our own solutions, thoughts and feelings on others, more about supporting others to think for themselves and come to their own conclusions.
• What are you thought on this?
• Based on what you know so far, is coaching for you?

• Words and phrases to describe coaching An amazing set of positive words that contribute to the meaning and values of coaching, irrespective of context: vision, values, beliefs, learning, self, others, exploration, possibilities, potential, me, transformation, learning about things, emotions, mind and body, awareness, action, epiphany, light-bulb-moments, aha!, liberation, self actualisation, culture, whole person, self knowledge, understanding,......
• What's Coaching when it's at Work Training leaders to use the coach approach is the next step for organizations embracing this concept. If coaching in the workplace didn’t exist, we’d need to invent it. Think about that. Over the last decade, the way people interact with their work and their employers has altered greatly. Empowerment, continuous......
• Coaching for effective delegation Delegation is a vital tool for Leaders and Managers both to get the work done and to develop others.  Here's a set of questions that might support coaching a manger on the topic of effective delegation Diagnosis What's your track record with delegation so far? Worked well? Not so well?......
• Why is turning Managers into Coaches so difficult? The above question attracted by attention and I replied as follows:  (references are at the bottom of the post) Experience tells me that it's not appropriate to 'turn managers into coaches' and that it's much more relevant to support managers to have a 'coach approach' - seemingly subtle linguistically and......
• Coach Approach to 360° feedback Supporting colleagues in understanding and acting upon their 360° feedback report is a vital role in the development of leadership skills and competencies throughout an organization. Managers can very effectively support each other in all manner of ways; debriefing a 360 report is great example. Use your coaching skills; avoid leading &/or giving......

• Attracting Free Blog Traffic There are plenty of ways that you can attract free blog traffic if you know what to do. First and foremost, you should be hosting your own blog to earn free blog traffic, rather than having your blog hosted by WordPress, Blogger or another similar platform. There are stories floating......
• 8 Key Ways to Advance your Corporate Blogging Effort Blogs are mushrooming at the speed of light in this day and age. For this reason, creating a blogging effort for your company can be extremely profitable and rewarding for your company. There is no real start up fees or set up fees that are needed, and starting a blog......
• Ten Things I Think I Think (and Personal Finance Links) Mini-Vacation in the O.C. - With my wife giving a presentation in the O.C. we've packed up the dog and drove down for a couple of days. We're staying on Huntington Beach - a surfer's paradise (I don't surf). I've counted more than a dozen people who don't wear......
• Using a Home Improvement Company for Best Results The best thing that you can do with a home improvement company is actually use their expertise. This is something that many people are afraid of doing because they fear that they might get sucked into paying an extra amount of money for the services of a company. This would......
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• Be confident – they do amazing things already!
• Have clear and positive view of progress so far
• Trust in their innate skills and abilities
• Ask “What would make things ‘even better?’”
• Deflect negative energy into something more positive or into their ‘zone / circle of control’
• Drive conversations down to what are the real challenges – find common ground, challenge and build back up
• Watch out for suggestions / plans that, “throw the baby out with the bath water!”
• Emphasise the ‘real world’ view – as distinct from myth, fantasy, stories or misunderstandings in the organisation
• Encourage awareness of the customer viewpoint, (and the cutomer’s customer!)
• See / come from the employee viewpoint in conversations, they are key to making change work
• Be aware of the point of diminishing returns
• Focus on the principle or the ‘Why?’ – the high level reason for change
• Focus and refocus on what’s important for people – be relentless in this respect
• Status Quo is NOT an option
• Be aware that Leading the organisation is different, (to managing)
• Take people with you
• Inspire
• Listen to the opinions of their employees
• Create dialogue everywhere

• Support each other – meet – talk – coach – interact – network!

• What makes a Great Coach Coaching can be a very rewarding. It's the ideal career / activity choice for those who: Like to work with people Have a strong desire to see people excel in their lives Are prepared to let others do the talking Can connect with people and listen with interest and empathy......
• The Manager as Coach THE MANAGER AS COACH An Introduction to Coaching by RICHARD FOX Preface Coaching and being coached are essential activities for 21st century business leaders and managers.  In an environment of uncertainty, intense competition and globalisation of markets, innovation, creativity and improved performance are vital to business success. “People, not capital,......
• Why is turning Managers into Coaches so difficult? The above question attracted by attention and I replied as follows:  (references are at the bottom of the post) Experience tells me that it's not appropriate to 'turn managers into coaches' and that it's much more relevant to support managers to have a 'coach approach' - seemingly subtle linguistically and......
• Using objects while coaching Using Objects as an aid to a Coaching Conversation   Introduction This article explains how everyday objects such as a pencil, pen, cup, saucer or spoon can be used to great effect in a coaching session.  Applications This technique can be used in any coaching conversation of 30+ minutes where......
• What's Coaching when it's at Work Training leaders to use the coach approach is the next step for organizations embracing this concept. If coaching in the workplace didn’t exist, we’d need to invent it. Think about that. Over the last decade, the way people interact with their work and their employers has altered greatly. Empowerment, continuous......

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• Sam Zell Imparts His Wisdom One of the advantages of going to a top-tier MBA program is that you get to meet a lot of succesful, well-known people. Last week, billionaire real estate investor Sam Zell was on campus and gave an hour long speech about his views on the economy. He made an analogy......
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An approach I often use is not to tell them what I ‘do’ but to ask them questions(!) – well there’s nothing like modelling coaching to describe what potential there can be in the relationship.

For example something like below – this is really a picking list of statements that can be used in combination, not a single question!

“What would it be like for you to work with someone who was totally focussed on you; supported, challenged and acknowledged you in everything you did; who never made you wrong; who encouraged your every move; who wanted you to succeed; who listened to you; who pushed you when needed; who accepted your values and beliefs without question; who worked with you on refining your personal goals and vision, etc. etc.”

In this context I ‘bumped into’ a film on TV the other night, “The New Karate Kid” and a quote resonated with me:

Girl: “For once I wish you could give me an answer I could understand”

Mr Miyagi: “Answer only important when asked the right question”

Girl: “That’s exactly what I’m talking about”

My case rests!

• What makes a Great Coach Coaching can be a very rewarding. It's the ideal career / activity choice for those who: Like to work with people Have a strong desire to see people excel in their lives Are prepared to let others do the talking Can connect with people and listen with interest and empathy......
• The Manager as Coach THE MANAGER AS COACH An Introduction to Coaching by RICHARD FOX Preface Coaching and being coached are essential activities for 21st century business leaders and managers.  In an environment of uncertainty, intense competition and globalisation of markets, innovation, creativity and improved performance are vital to business success. “People, not capital,......
• Using objects while coaching Using Objects as an aid to a Coaching Conversation   Introduction This article explains how everyday objects such as a pencil, pen, cup, saucer or spoon can be used to great effect in a coaching session.  Applications This technique can be used in any coaching conversation of 30+ minutes where......
• Coaching: Facilitating Learning in others I was recently reading from "Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice" and it confirmed again for me that coaching is (amongst other things), about learning.  It reminded me of "The Knowledge Model" which I learned many years ago, and still use often with groups and individuals to reinforce the blend of learning approaches......
• Coaching: Getting the best decisions So often when coaching I find that people get locked or stuck into a very polarized view of the world.  They see things as either 'right' or 'wrong' and this can really get in the way of good decision making.  An alternative is to use Implications Thinking where we include......

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• Building The After The Alter Community If asked what my main goals for this blog would be...other than to babble on and on about personal thoughts...I would say that I would like to make After The Alter a place where people can go and talk about their marriage. There are so many places to go......