Coaching
Teamwork Ugh
Teamwork. Collaboration. It sounds so straightforward, doesn’t it? Time and again, however, leaders share with us just how challenging it is. Many models describe what effective teaming looks like, the lifecycle of teams, and the dysfunctions team experience (thanks Patrick Lencioni!) While there’s value in many of these ideas, in the individual coaching context getting…
Read MoreWhy I Became an Executive Coach
I’m often asked how and why I became a coach. Let’s go back to 2008. I had just moved to Charlotte for my new role running the succession planning program at Lowe’s Home Improvement. I got off to a good start but a few months after I started, the woman who hired me took a…
Read MoreMake Feedback Your Superpower
Years ago, at the beginning of my coaching career, I was working with a leader (let’s call her Allie) who was having a challenge with a direct report of hers (let’s call him George). As Allie described it, George wasn’t showing up to work on time and wasn’t letting anyone – including her – know…
Read MoreLessons in Grief
We had to put our family dog, Nana, down this summer. She was ten and had blood cancer. My older son has mild autism, and when he was young and newly diagnosed, we explored getting a service dog for him. Golden Retrievers are the go-to breed for service dogs for people with autism. While Kevin’s…
Read MoreWhat I Did on my Summer Vacation
I checked out. I turned off my email. I went incommunicado. For two weeks. It was fabulous. It also wasn’t always this way. Sometimes clients think we coaches have got it all figured out, and that’s high praise, but it’s hardly true. I think the best we can do as humans is continue to improve…
Read MoreHow to Measure Vertical Development with Assessments
Maturity assessments measure where a person falls within the seven stages of the vertical development framework. Key Takeaways: Maturity assessments are used to help leaders and their coaches understand the stage of adult development they’re in and how they can move forward The assessments usually contain a sentence completion element, take about 20 minutes online,…
Read MoreProactively Trying to Move to the Next Stage of Adult Development: The Last Three Stages
We’re back with more about how to transition from one stage of vertical development (or adult development) to the next. Now, we’re focusing on the post-conventional phases. Post-conventional means these stages have the common characteristic of shedding some societal norms and expectations. This may look like letting go of stories we’ve always told about ourselves…
Read MoreWhat Is the Value of Leadership Coaching?
There is no more valuable investment for leaders and organizations than coaching. Leaders set the tone for the entire organization, and the organization can only be as good as its leaders. Key Takeaways: Effective leaders increase the probability of achieving better business performance by 38 percent Leadership coaching costs are influenced by the type of…
Read MoreProactively Trying to Move to the Next Stage of Adult Development: The First Four Stages
When we’re looking for solutions to our limitations and conflicts or we realize our beliefs are no longer serving us, it may be time to challenge ourselves to purposely move to the next stage of adult development. If you’ve read a bit about adult development, you know that there are stages past yours that may…
Read MoreHow Do We Grow Vertically?
Vertical development requires the right conditions and experiences, which we can find ourselves in and also create for ourselves when we want to grow. Key Takeaways: Growing vertically means we move forward through the seven stages of vertical development, finding and working through our limitations to expand our thinking Often unplanned life experiences push us…
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