Power distribution and its impact on team performance

The impact of power differentials on how teams and groups work is not as straightforward as it might seem. Having a mix of powerful and less powerful people in a team, or having a team composed entirely of powerful people can both have a negative impact on performance (Angus et al, 2016). It seems that...

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The core traits of truly effective coaches, mentors and leaders

A vast amount has been written about the competencies of coaches and mentors, and even more about the qualities of great leaders. Much of this is contradictory and dependent on circumstance or context. Research into the desirable traits of both coaches and leaders, for example, shows significant differences of expectations and perspective arising from cultural (more…)

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Helping the coachee or mentee work with anger

While anger is usually seen as an unhelpful emotion, it doesn’t have to be so. Managed anger can be a force for good, and has been a significant factor in every peaceful social change, from the abolition of slavery to equal opportunities at work and in society. While someone, who seems to be angry about...

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Helping the coachee/ mentee overcome complacency

An implicit assumption within coaching and mentoring is that the coachee or mentee is motivated to change. That isn’t always the case and even when it is, there is a big difference between externally motivated change (doing something because you have to) and internally motivated change (doing something because you want to). Internally or intrinsically...

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Helping the coachee or mentee interpret behaviour

One of the common and dangerous misunderstandings of managers in organisations is called correspondence bias. We tend to assuming that someone else’s behaviour (positive or negative) can be attributed to fixed personality traits (for example, the need to control, or risk aversion), while explaining our own bad behaviour as a reaction to circumstances. Gilbert identifies...

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FUF Reviews

Foul-up factors (FUF’s) are the gremlins that bedevil every complex system. A simple way to explore FUFs is to draw a schematic model of the key business processes. (The principle can be used at every level from organisational and functional to project management or individual service tasks.) In many healthcare organisations, the system has three (more…)

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Lying

People tell lies – mostly white ones – a lot of the time. It’s an instinctive social skill that helps build social cohesion and cooperation. But two kinds of lying can be particularly problematic. One is when the client is consciously or unconsciously lying to themselves, to avoid facing up to a difficult “truth” or...

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What to do if a coaching or mentoring session runs out of time

Effective coaching and mentoring sessions frequently take the conversation into unexpected areas. Seeing things from a different perspective or reflecting on a question that challenges assumptions opens up issues that – usually more complex and deeper than the presented issue – that the learner needs to explore. If these new issues or topics arise towards...

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What to do if your mentee becomes your direct report

It’s general good practice to separate mentoring from line management – there are simply too many areas of potential conflict of interest to maintain fully open developmental conversations. On the occasions, when a mentee becomes a direct report, however, there are both positive and negative consequences. On the positive side, mentor and mentee know each...

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