Tag: #Coaching

Global Leader Tips

Possibility of Challenging

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One of the drastic but practical coaching skill is Challenging. And this is also quite helpful in the usual business conversations promoting the aggressive business execution. Challenging something to the coachees or members, it should be based on the definite belief of the unlimited potential of them. Besides, it may make them to find out their unconscious but extraordinary resources that have been equipped in their inside. Or, in some case, that could be the golden chance to him exceeding his own setting limitations. 
The effective and valid reaction with the certain Challenging of the members, usually show the dual aspects. One is the real surprising with the too much or too high target that have been requested, and the reaction could be “No, no, no, definitely impossible!” At the same time, he or she may feel some kind of happy feeling to understand the leader or coach believe their great possibilities. Then this intensive deal feeling will be the strong energy to evoke positive challenge exceeding his own setting then existing limitations.
For example, the leader asks his member to say thanks to his supporting staffs 50 times a day. He may counter immediately “No, it’s impossible.” This kind of first “No” is a kind of the door opening with Challenging. And the starting point of the conversations can be setting the challenging but realistic goals. Then there are two essential key points here. One is the member should find the challenging and appropriate goals with his own honest feeling as his commitment. And second one is the importance of the leader’s participation finding out his challenging line that should be exceeded his own setting and safe zone. The fun of using Challenging skill is to discovere the unexperienced zone with the alliance between leader, coach and member, coachee. 

Global Leader Tips

Discover new horizons – Meta-View

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Getting in to the imagination of the scenery from top of mountain looking over the new horizons. It will be quite different from the very limited view on the way of walking forest struggling, tired and exhausted. It brings absolutely comfortable feeling, brilliant and wide view, and possibly new ideas or awareness. Meta-View is one of coaching skills that can utilize that kind of changes of viewpoints.    
When the coachee is in the situation like falling in to the hole and is not able to see anything around him, Meta-View is helpful to change his depressed viewpoint to larger and higher one.
Using Meta-View by coach, same as discovering the new horizons from top of mountain, the coachee can look down the whole life, long and winding business career, corporate global strategy or total timeline of the project. 
And it is also effective for coach or leader himself to be the top of mountain, then watching carefully the coachee or member’s facing situation from there. The coach or leader should support him finding out the easiest and the best route to his original goals together. 
Especially in the business conversations, Meta-View is quite helpful in the situation like the member has been sticking to the detail problems or objections in the trivial places, to remind him the original goals, priorities and contexts. The leader’s questions of Meta-View will get him the wider viewpoints, release from getting stuck then support his own steady execution powerfully.

Global Leader Tips

Real Planning by Requesting

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In the coaching interaction, we’ve emphasized that this is a coachee’s agenda, because he is resourceful, and he knows the answers or resolving solutions. Still, it will be appropriate at times the coach to request certain actions. Coach’s ideas based on the experiences or intuitions, will be the useful materials that could be the coachee’s hints selecting his most realistic answers. The key to making successful request is not to be attached to it. The moment when the coach comes up with the brilliant idea, is just the starting point for coachee to get result. It’s still coach’s agenda, not coachee’s. With a request, there are always three practical responses: yes, no, or a counteroffer. The coachee can agree to the idea, reject the idea, or negotiate for something else. It’s no problem, if the coachee rejects the idea. “No” could be the good starting point asking coachee’s own ideas or answers. If necessary, the coach can explain why his idea will be the most appropriate and realistic. Then the coach may ask the coachee’s frank thoughts or concerns about that. The coachee will finally find out his own answers that he selects from several alternatives for himself. The coach should not order, should not force his ideas, is just supporting the coachee to find out the best answers. 
The requesting is one of the most helpful and practical coaching skills that can encourage the realistic planning in the business as well as personal life. It could be rather quite useful in the business conversations. Building up the practical action plans, that is quite important for the member’s feeling convinced, whom will make some actions. In the daily business conversations, in some cases it may look a little bit time consuming or irritate getting some action plans. However, thinking about speed and qualities of the series of actions that will be executed by the action takers who convinced and fully involved, certainly will be realized the better performance comparing with the order or given action plans. Anyway, the efficient leader can use order and requesting situationally as both effective interaction with the team members.        

Global Leader Tips

Powerful Acknowledging

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The coaching skill of acknowledging strengthens the coachee’s foundation, and it should be utilized in the business conversations, like leader’s recognition to his member. This skill should be focused on the whole personality of the member, not on the activities or achievements. For example: “Good job, Hiro.” or “Your presentation was quite impressive.” They are focused on the achievements or activities. Using acknowledging, leader should be focused on the inner personality or values of the member, like “You look absolutely sincere.”, “You always respect higher challenge.” 
The acknowledging will evoke the member’s confidence for himself and will encourage him challenging to the difficult situation. Sometimes the member discovers his unconscious strength by the acknowledging, and it could be contributed to dig out the member’s enormous inner resources and possibilities.
In addition to the powerful acknowledging to the member, leader should focus on the member’s impact and reaction. The effective and powerful impact of the acknowledging delivers to the member, that the leader can hear, sense and see them and it could be the great hints coaching and leading him to the absolutely better performance. 

Global Leader Tips

Metaphor Practice

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The communication style in Japan, is typically high context and indirect. It means the Japanese people take care of relationship and harmony, so they often do not use straight and direct words. Although the Metaphor is a quite effective skill generally, it’s very powerful in these situations especially. 
The metaphor is a kind of the visual and real expression of the situations or experiences, not the description nor explanation by some words. Then, it’s rather effective sharing the real feeling or image of the experiences. Although the metaphor is quite useful and powerful skill, it should be trained in the usual conversations intentionally. Learning the impressive and easy understanding metaphor, practicing to get the words out again and again, creating their own metaphors of something like “chaotic work environment”, “brilliant success”, “disappointment” and so forth. And it is also quite important that if the metaphor does not hit to the coachee or the member, the coach or leader should not stick on to his own metaphor any more, and he has to try something else.

Global Leader Tips

Career Selection with Coaching

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A career selection is one of the most critical subjects not only for the organizations but also for the individuals. In the general business field most of leaders and managers have a kind of career interview or individual development planning conversations. However, how much individuals are satisfied with their careers or development plans? Did each team member get it? Some of leaders may have explained only the organizational situations or circumstances.

In the discussion of their career planning or personal development, the coaching method is a quite powerful tool, and is also effective way for deepening the collaborative relationship between leader and team member. The leader’s most critical attitude is believing the member’s capabilities and possibilities, like NCRW; People are Naturally Creative Resourceful and Whole. Then the leader should focus on the whole person of the member, not on the daily business issues. The leader had better give his gentle and supportive look to the member’s happy whole life, not only for the business. Thinking about the frank feeling about his career connecting with his happy whole life, he can choose his coming career near future as his own resonant selection. If he believes that his selection with resonance making with his own intentions and convinced life purpose, he must move forward his daily business and life, with steadiness and fulfilment. 
To keep the team member’s motivation higher is one of the critical essences for the leadership. And that’s why the resonant career conversations through coaching method is the most essential hint presenting the leader’s deep feelings to his members. 

Global Leader Tips

Evoke Transformation

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Final cornerstone is the ultimate goal in the co-active model, and it is “Evoke Transformation” with the coachee. The common purpose of the collaborative conversation in co-active model is the coachee’s full and best life. The topic of the coaching will likely be something quite specific that is a kind of part of coachee’s life that the coachee is focused on, or is facing in the timing: new job, promotion, working condition, improved fitness, or execution on a business plan. Actually, some coachees may have their attention only on the specific goal for that specific topic. On the other hand, the coach sees not only the specific topic that the coachee brings, but also the fully connected life. The coach should have the pure desire to realize the coachee’s best, resonant and tasteful life. Then the coach structures the practical connection of the specific topic and the desired potential. These kind of positive, wide perspective and resolute engagement of coaching will bring the breakthrough awareness: a new strength, a renewed capability, a wide range of options, to the coachee. It seems like that they have real experience finding muscles they didn’t know they had or had forgotten they had. Then by taking a stand for the greatest possible impact from even the smallest action, coaches encourage, and ultimately “evoke transformation”.
Although Co-Active model originally designed for the professional coaching, it can be changed the daily conversations at work with a colleague as well as a son or a daughter. No doubt we were busy focusing on resolving a particular issue. But think again, with the advantage of hindsight, how the conversation might have changed if we are conscious of the four cornerstones.  
How does the quality of the conversation change when we start with a belief that the coworker, son, or daughter is naturally creative, resourceful, and whole? Capable? It’s possible the conversation might change from giving advice to being curious: asking more questions and inviting the resourcefulness of that other person. The awareness will be shift from daily business or issue itself to the someone’s hopeful life with the great possibility. 
The ability to dance with whatever shows up is certainly a leadership competency; in today’s world of business, great agility is essential. Effective leaders display that quality in their work with others every day. Even the fourth cornerstone, “Evoke Transformation,” can be a resonant field in which the conversation takes place. That brief conversation has the potential to affirm that colleague, son, or daughter in ways that reverberate long after the presenting issue has been handled.
Then, of course, we don’t need to be conscious for four cornerstones in every conversation. We can use them in addition to the usual conversations, problem solving mind-set, or logical discussion situationally, to get the conversation wider and deeper, then to evoke drastic transformation ultimately.

Global Leader Tips

Dance in this moment

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A conversation is a powerful and dynamic interchange between people. Although it is natural to pay attention to the content of the conversation: the words, the positions, the ideas, there is much more going on in every moment. Every conversation creates tone, mood, nuance in addition to the content. There is as much information, sometimes more in how the words are said; sometimes there is more information in what is not said than what is said.
The third cornerstone of four cornerstones in co-active model is “Dance in this moment”. This means the importance and possibility of dynamic conversation focusing on the moment, THIS moment, and then the next moment. For that, it is critically essential listening intently at many levels, and of course, choosing when and how to respond, to intervene. They should be with no plan, no scenario, no preparation. 
To “dance” is to respond from a co-active core meaning both “co” as in collaborative, and active, moving the dance forward. In a truly co-active conversation there are moments when the coach leads the dance, moments when the coachee leads the dance, and moment when it is not clear at all who is leading and who is following.
The perfect dance should be lose the designation of leader and follower in a place of tuned in to each other and in a place of frank but trusted. 
The synergy of their synchronized dance should be utilized only for the coachee’s learning and discovery.   

Global Leader Tips

Intuition

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Intuition is one of the most essential but characteristic resources in Co-Active way. And it is also utilized in the business decision making same as co-active coaching or conversations, especially it could be striking in the senior executives or leaders.
Then, let’s think about what is intuition here. Maybe we’ve had the experiences like this: In the first walking trek trail, when someone comes to two paths branch without sign, instinctively turn to the right, trusting his sense of direction. Or this may have happened: In the book shop, taking a book casually from the bookshelf, then meet with the article by chance that have been looked for long time. He doesn’t have any idea, it’s a kind of unexpected encounter. We might call it a gut feeling.
Gut feelings also happen in the business. Imagine the scenario like this: He has an important position to fill, and has three candidates. On paper, one candidate stands out for the job experiences and skills, but it just doesn’t feel right to him. His instinct tells him the right choice is the third candidate he interviewed. He actually has strong feeling he trust, but it also means he will need to have a convincing rationale for his instinct. How will he justify his gut feeling to HR and his boss? 
They are typical cases with intuition: in the moment it feels more reliable than the data, the analysis, and all the usual pros and cons. It comes as an impulse that is often ignored or discredited because it’s not logical and therefore not viewed as credible. Nevertheless, intuition can be critically valuable as a powerful, additional channel for information, which is why it is defined as one of five contexts in the Co-Active Model. When that channel is available and open, intuition has the potential accelerating a process and deepen the conversations in ways that are sometimes surprising. So, we can simply add this additional and powerful option with a shortcut possibly to our usual analysis, evaluation and a structured process for addressing an issue.
Although we have words to define intuition, the actual experience is sometimes hard to explain. We usually don’t understand the real source of intuition, and many people face the difficulty of verifying that is real. Sometimes there’s no observable evidence for the conclusion, additionally in some cases, the conclusions from their intuition could be actually contrary to observable evidence.
Someone who thinks that it’s difficult to believe intuition, he frequently treats as guessing or being lucky. He doesn’t understand, trust or believe in intuition. And these kind of people like logical thinking and mind as a common process of critical decision making.
In addition to them, intuition is recognized too weird or unprofessional, so people are sometimes shy about admitting they have used their intuition. They also refrain from using intuition actively. It looks like quite wasting of powerful and effective resource or channel of information.
Both a rational mind and an intuitive gut feeling are quite important for the business as well as daily choices in the life. Neither information source is the right or wrong. They provide information from different source. Therefore, we should utilize both of them situationally with the most creative and effective combination in both business and life generally.
When people find out the most appropriate answer to the question, he can access to some different sources; memory, logical mind, history and intuition. Besides, intuition always forwards the action and deepens learning in spite of right or wrong.

Global Leader Tips

Coaching Space

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Building up the collaborative relationship between leader, manager and member, subordinate, the mood of the conversational space is critically important for them. In co-active coaching, coaching space has to be two critical characteristics as an effective coaching environment. One is safe enough for coachee to take risks they need to take. And the another one is a courageous place where coachees are able to approach their lives and the choice they make with motivation, creativity and commitment. And additionally, safe does not mean comfortable. Sometimes they need straight and severe conversations to find out the way that coachee really desiring.
To make the safe and courageous space for the positive and constructive conversations, the several characteristics are essential for them. One is confidentiality. Confidentiality means that the coach must not disclose any information he has known in the coaching conversations at all without coachee’s agreement. Especially the conversation in the business organization or team, this is critically important for the safe feeling to address real, frank but exciting subjects, sometime including quite personal factors. Second one is trust. An agreement to hold the coaching conversation confidential is one key component in building trust. Trust is also built over time as both coachee and coach learn they can be counted on and the coachee learns that the relationship delivers clear result. Third one is speaking the truth. Building up the real environment where the coachee can tell the whole truth about what they have done, and not done, the coaching space should be without evaluation and judgement. Because the truth carries no consequence other than learning, discovery and new insight to them. Then, fourth one is openness and spaciousness. This is a space where coachees can breathe, experiment, fantasize and strategize without imitation. It is also a place which they can vent their anger, troubles, spite, fear and regrets.
Based on these elements of the relationship between coach and coachee, it is quite important for them intentionally and consciously design their working relationship. In addition to this, they need redesign their relationship continuously, when their relationship is going to need any new elements for their deeper and more credible one.
For leaders, managers and supervisors, the “design” of the working relationship will not be structured, but the essence of the coaching space above is quite referential. It is certainly not doing coaching on team members or direct reports. The context for coaching in an informal organization or leadership situation is a commitment to support and development. This commitment to personal development is the essence of the business case for coaching as a leadership and management competency.