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Feedback tools – STAR-A & SBI

Giving feedback is a key skill in coaching, mentoring and leadership. Not surprisingly, there are several models for how to do this. Among them: STAR-A stands for: Situation/Task – Clarify the situation or task – what should have happened. A: Action – Give details about what you or another person did R: Result – Describe...

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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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What are you NOT going to do today

This is a practical and very simple way of helping someone, who is feeling overwhelmed. There are three parts to the process: © David Clutterbuck, 2016...

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When and how to give advice

One of the myths of coaching and mentoring is that coaches don’t give advice, while mentors do. The reality is that there are many situations where both should and do give advice – for example, if the learner is at risk. However, effective developmental coaches and mentors are careful to choose the appropriate situations for (more…)

When is it OK for a coach or mentor to interrupt?

The notion that “It’s rude to interrupt” is instilled into most people from an early age. A coaches or mentors, who have been taught the importance of listening and letting the client do most of the talking, we may feel even stronger inhibitions against interrupting. However, there are some occasions when interruption is exactly what...

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Working with noise

There are two types of noise or interference that prevent people achieving what they want. One we can call “fog” – not being able to see things clearly enough to work out what to do or where to go. The other is the “inner voice” that gets in the way of performance. The coaching pioneer...

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Working with strengths and weaknesses at a deeper level

The relationship between strengths and weaknesses is a complex one. Strengths can often become weaknesses, if we become over-reliant on them, reducing our portfolio of responses to situations or leading us to inappropriate responses. For example, humour can often defuse tension in some circumstances, but increase it in others. Equally, acknowledging weaknesses can be a...

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Where do managers spend their energy?

The energy grid is a simple tool for helping managers and executives analyse where their time and, most importantly, their energy, goes. The two dimensions of the grid are: They may choose to complete the six permutations instinctively, or complete a log over a period of a week or so. Analysing this information stimulates discussion...

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