The role of vulnerability in leadership

I was reflecting recently after a couple of executive coaching sessions about the topic of vulnerability.  My clients, both very senior women where discussing the role that vulnerability plays in their workplace and particularly as part of…

Shifting Under Performance – Part 1

Whenever I am delivering a coaching workshop and talking about coaching to enable engagement, accountability, responsibility and high performance, our conversations are often naturally diverted by someone who says… ‘It’s all very well…

Knowing the GROW Model versus actually coaching!

In all of our coaching programs we ask participants to go back and just ask the basic ‘four top coaching questions’ to really practice the GROW Model: What is it you want to achieve? (Or what is your goal?) What’s happening now? …

Forget active listening and just listen!

So one of the ideas that I have been reflecting on lately is whether the concept of active listening has become out dated!  Yes, I know it’s a bit controversial! But before all great coaches before me rise up and call for me to hand in my…

I’m just here for a refresher

At the start of each coaching workshop I ask the participants ‘what is it you’d like to achieve from today or get out of today, so that this has been a great use of your time?’ My aim is to encourage the participants to really think about…

I’ve tried everything and they just don’t get it!

This week I have been delivering a number of introduction to coaching for leaders and managers programs (a one day program that introduces coaching fundamentals in a really practical and ‘let’s implement immediately back into the workplace’…

I don’t have time for coaching!

Two of the common things I hear when it comes to resistance to coaching is ‘coaching is too hard’ and ‘I don’t have time for coaching’! Now the first statement is easily answered for me by considering what Sir John Whitmore once told…

They say they are going to do something and then they don’t – getting around wiggle words!

A common complaint that I hear from managers is ‘they (the staff) say they are going to do something and then they don’t!’ followed by an exasperated question ‘what do you do about that?’  I can hear the frustration and most resort…

Performance development discussions or just ticking the box

So it’s that time of year again when managers need to complete the performance development discussions for their direct reports and the big theme that came through the groups that I coached this week, was rather than the discussions being…

What’s the point and why bother? Walking around with the question rather than answering it

Ok so this article might be a little bit confusing, so I will do my best to explain a phenomena that I notice often in the workplace that needs to be addressed and that is people walking around with questions in their heads that they never answer. It…