What if the coachee mentee says I don’t know

There comes a point, at least once in a coaching conversation, where the coach feels instinctively that the issue is clear enough to pose a powerful question – one that will really make the coachee think and open up new perspectives. Many times, that is exactly what happens. But occasionally, the coachee simply responds with, (more…)

Mental health issues in coaching and mentoring

While a coach or mentor may be familiar with terms such as depression, bi-polar disease, personality disorder, psychopathy, burnout and so on, only those with specialized training are able to diagnose mental health issues and, if appropriate, help the client manage them. To play “amateur psychologist” is unethical and dangerous. This entry addresses two key...

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How coachees mentees sometimes sabotage the coaching conversation – and what to do about it

Coaching isn’t always a comfortable experience. When it achieves most, it often involves an uncomfortable journey into ourselves and our motivations. According to research by Dr Paul Stokes at Sheffield Hallam University, coachees can be skilled at engaging with the coaching conversation – or at avoiding difficult issues. Engaging processes include scenario planning, remaining open...

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Helping your coachee or mentee develop resilience

In challenging working environments, resilience is increasingly an essential competence. People, who are resilient, are better able to cope with unexpected change, with setbacks and disappointments, with high stress environments and with periods of excessive workload. The signs of low resilience are generally easy to spot. They include inability to make decisions, frequent minor physical...

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Cross mentoring

Most formal mentoring takes place between people within the same organisation, but this isn’t the only possibility. It is hard, for example, to create effective mentoring relationships within small national branch offices – people are often too close and the choice of mentor is too limited. While distance mentoring, using mentors from the same company...

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Coaching or mentoring the whole person

One of the main reasons people don’t make the changes they aim for in coaching or mentoring is that the learning conversation only addresses part of the system, of which they are a part. Ken Wilbur’s integral theory proposes a practical but simple way of looking at the individual in a much more holistic way,...

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Time to focus coaching on the team

Abstract: Team coaching is rapidly gaining traction as a powerful tool for helping leadership teams improve performance. However, it has wider application for all kinds of team, at all levels in an organisation. This article aims to clarify the role and scope of team coaching and make some predictions on how team coaching may evolve (more…)

The future of team coaching

As a relatively new phenomenon, team coaching is still finding its feet. In this blog, I outline some of the emergent trends, which are likely to shape team coaching in the coming decade. There are surely others, which I haven’t noticed, but those that I have include: These are exciting times for team coaching — (more…)

Mentoring up a guide to mentoring someone more senior than you

Introduction What is a learning conversation? Your expectations “Speaking truth to power” When and how to be open and challenging in learning conversations across power and authority differentials Preparing for mentoring meetings How preparation builds confidence Taking, giving and using critical feedback Skills, attitudes and behaviours Reflecting on the mentoring meeting Extracting and implementing useful...

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Behavioural change, Working with the CBABI model

CBABI stands for: Context, Beliefs and Values, Assumptions, Behaviours, Impact. It starts from the observation that we are all subject to and part of ever-changing systems. When we set out to achieve a goal, multiple systems come into play, which may help or hinder us – is and this is particularly so in the context...

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