Image by lino9999 from Pixabay

By Jane Adshead-Grant MCC
(MMC guest Master Coach & blogger. You can read more about Janes coaching session under the "thinking environment" tab)

As human beings, we all have an inherent desire to belong, feel connected and to perform well. To perform well is to think well. To think well for yourself with rigour, courage and imagination. Nancy Kline, best selling author of More Time to Think, observed that ‘the quality of everything we do as human beings, depends upon the quality of thinking we do first’. And it seems this is the case. And so how do we help others think well for themselves? It turns out, it is the way we behave around each other. Creating an environment where everybody knows and feels they matter.

Staggering statistics reveal a reality

And yet in our work places today, we seem to have overlooked the capacity for people to feel engaged, to think well, to perform as well as they might. ADP Research Institute suggests that in the UK, 85% of our workforce are disengaged and who are simply ‘coming to work’ rather than being fully engaged in what they do. The Department for Business Innovation & Skills calculates that disengaged employees cost the UK economy as much as £64 billion every year. These are compelling statistics and further, I wonder about the experience of work. How do we create environments for others to belong, feel connected and perform well at work?

Given these inherent desires as human beings, my curiosity and hope is that we generate more opportunities for individuals to find and nurture their gifts and talents, to feel fulfilled in what they do and to add value to themselves, their families, their teams, their workplace and their community.

It seems we have been unintentionally, unwittingly developing sophisticated victims of dependence on those more senior, with greater expertise or those who write the pay cheque. We see individuals following blindly in random compliance or mediocre conformity and lose their sense of self as a human being. This way of being tends to result in a culture of hierarchy, inequality, stepping over diversity towards exclusivity, listening simply waiting to speak and lack of interest in the human being, rather a fixation on the function, the result and hitting the financial target.

An opportunity for a new reality

But there is another way. A way of being with one another to bring out the best in each other. To generate the best thinking and feeling for the good of all people. It is one of the greatest gifts we can offer another human being; a framework to think for yourself, rather than relying on others’ guidance or opinions so that you draw on your own experiences, feelings and creativity. A framework to think as yourself, rather than complying or conforming to what you think others want to hear.  Thinking for yourself includes your feelings, and all the forms of intelligence we have access to as human beings.

Courage to care

Helping others perform at their best means letting our team members know they matter. It means enabling them to be the best of themselves. To get their best performance is to get their best thinking. To get their best thinking is to listen. To acknowledge and encourage them. To make them feel valued. It takes courage as a team leader to care and create the environment for independent thinking for the good of all – and it’s worth it.

Being a framework for others to think for themselves

I recently had the opportunity to be a thinking partner for Catherine on a live coaching demo, with Gail Moore of MooreMasterCoaching. In this role, I am there to free the mind, rather than direct it. Catherine is not in the coaching profession, she’s never been coached before and this was the first time that she and I had ever met or spoken.

I had invited Catherine to bring a topic of her choice. Something that was real and meaningful, rather than safe and complete. Her topic: “I am a female health advocate and author in her first year of a health advocacy business. Master Coaching is really needed to empower me to charge for my services, deal with friends who ask for advice and create a more compelling online presence.”

Having contracted for the session, we began. Catherine had many waves of thinking, feeling and expressing out loud what she wanted to say. I listened. Free from interruption and judgement. Her thoughts flowed. I encouraged her, simply in listening more. She gained more clarity about herself and her situation in the freedom of her mind expressing itself, knowing she would not be interrupted. Her heart spoke. She connected deeply with what mattered most to her.

She then said ‘what I realise I want from this session is to find a firmer ground on which to stand to build my business’. Catherine declared for herself what she wanted from our time together, without me asking!

It seems that what stops us accomplishing what we want in life, from a situation, a relationship is the assumptions we hold about ourselves, others or the situation.

And so in the pause of Catherine’s thoughts, I wondered does she want to continue thinking for herself? It seemed she did. I acknowledged to myself the great thinking she had already accomplished. I was clear on what she wanted from our conversation and so I wondered what did she need now and what would be a question to address that need. And so I asked Catherine ‘what might you be assuming that is stopping you from finding a firmer ground on which to stand to build your business? 

From this, Catherine had many waves of thinking out loud and many assumptions emerged, some were liberating, more were limiting. After uncovering the assumptions, Catherine revealed with a new driven energy and lightness in her voice ‘I realise that the firmer ground is in fact a statement I can charge for my services’.

Catherine was on her way.

She had just declared an alternative liberating assumption.

My role as a thinking partner was to support her embed that new liberating assumption and connect it to her outcome. And so I asked her ‘If you knew you can charge for your services, what would change for you?’

Catherine came up with so many ideas, sharing with us how she thought differently about her business, herself, the value she brings.

I asked the question a second time ‘If you knew you can charge for your services, what would you do now?’Once more Catherine thought for herself, generating more ideas and actions for herself.

I invited Catherine to record both the question and her ideas whilst still on the call so she could reflect some more and follow through after our conversation. At that point Catherine asked for my help ‘I feel a little stuck when it comes to charging friends, what question could I think about?’

With the invitation to provide Catherine with information, I reflected and offered, ‘What if you considered charging for your services as an experiment?’ Catherine connected immediately with the question and referenced how she loved it, not only because she was a scientist but it also liberated her yet further.

Catherine subsequently shared with me the impact of that question: “At that point, I truly understood that the entire process of developing my business is organic, that of course charging for my services is always an experiment, and that what I believed limited me in creating firm ground on which to stand was illusory, with no more weight than a soap bubble!”

We completed the demo with an appreciation of a quality I recognised in her, and generously Catherine offered one in return.

A week later, Catherine shared the ongoing impact of the session where she had the opportunity to generate her independent thinking:

“I am pleased to say that I have my first paying client as of the last week of May… I have also told a friend I would do X for her (15 min of research and an email) but will have to charge if she wants or needs additional help.

My view of my work has changed dramatically. I now think of the whole business of charging as a necessary prelude for my services. I have essential skills. I decided that through the lens of an experiment, I am freed to consider the issue of charging as an organic process. I can’t thank you and Jane enough for the flexibility I believe the coaching has given me on this issue. I am delighted and no longer weighted down with the heaviness of worry.

I will add here that I have joined a national professional association, something I have been hesitant about because of the fee. I view this as a further step forward in my business.”

If you would like to listen to the full coaching demo, please connect with MooreMasterCoaching.

As coaches, as leaders, as parents, as teachers, we have the capacity to positively impact the life of another. We have the opportunity to listen, to encourage and to acknowledge our fellow human beings so that they feel they belong, are connected and can perform well. In this way, I believe we generate value for all, for the good of all and create a world where everybody matters.

Thanks for reading!

PS If you would like to discover more in how to be a Thinking Partner for others, join me on Developing a Thinking Partnership Retreat, UK, 12th-13th September, 11th October 2019. 

@ 2019 Jane Adshead-Grant all rights reserved

JANE ADSHEAD-GRANT MCC / ABOUT AUTHOR
Jane is an Award Winning Accredited Executive Mentor Coach helping you to progress your career by developing your leadership and communication skills further. Her coaching is underpinned with a Post Grad Diploma in Psychological Coaching and NLP. She is an accredited, coach, facilitator and teacher of the Thinking Environment®, with over 3,000 hours coaching individuals and teams. Previously she spent 15 years in the Corporate Environment navigating her career from Secretary to HR Director.

www.janeadsheadgrant.com 

PCCs ask all the time "What does it take to go from PCC to MCC? What are the examiners looking for?"

Well we are going to get answers to these questions in an unprecedented way.

Thanks to Elene Cafasso MCC we will hear her coaching session that passed the MCC exam and awarded her the credential!

How often have you had that experience? Uh like never, right?

And then to further elucidate the whole experience and answer our questions Elene will be giving us an additional 30 minutes.

Elene is a recently minted MCC and she'll also be sharing with us about her journey and how her coaching practice if different.

No matter your level of coaching you dont want to miss this!

Even though the call is now over you dont have to miss it. 

Read more under the Executive tab.

Have you heard of the Thinking Environment? Do you think you know what a thinking partner is? Well think again!

Here's what Dr Paul Brown, the neuroscientist and coach said, after experiencing the Thinking Session coaching process, “I think I know why this works. I think this quality of attention and its generative silence calm the amygdala, open the limbic system, and hold it open by keeping the amygdala calm, so that the brain can rearrange the architecture of the client’s life (both neurologically, and metaphorically).”

And we now get to learn more about it and hear a Thinking Session for ourselves demonstrated by Jane Adshead-Grant MCC with a client who is not in the coaching profession and this will be the first time she and Jane have ever met.

Join us Tuesday May 28, 12-1pm EDT

Image by Convegni_Ancisa from Pixabay

What does it mean to be a "thinking partner"?

As a coach I certainly had my ideas about what I thought it meant. However after recently learning about "The Thinking Environment", Im thrilled to say my understanding is expanding and deepening.

So I am over the moon to have the chance to learn more about it and to actually hear it demonstrated in a full "thinking partner" coaching session with Jane Adshead-Grant MCC. Jane is also an accredited coach, facilitator and teacher with Time to Think.

Time to Think was founded by Nancy Kline who created and pioneered the development of The Thinking Environment. Nancy says: 

"The quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first.

The quality of our thinking depends on the way we treat each other while we are thinking.

Time To Think has identified ten behaviours that generate the finest independent thinking. We call them the Ten Components of a Thinking Environment®.

In the presence of these ten behaviours people think for themselves with rigour, imagination, courage and grace."

Photo by "My Life Through A Lens" on Unsplash

Do you ever find yourself thinking "Oh how I wish 'they' could get some coaching"? I admit I do!

Two of my biggest wishes are for all government leaders/politicians and medical professionals to receive and learn coaching! What a different world this would be for us individually and collectively, right?

For example, imagine having a visit with a doctor or dealing with a health-care system who saw you as whole, creative and resourceful. They were totally present with you, wanted to know what you thought, felt and desired and so asked you powerful questions. Then really listened to what you had to say and worked with you to achieve your health and well-being goals.

Wow... is it a pipe-dream? Nope, Im thrilled to say its not! There are coaches out there doing great things and making real inroads in this area. You may be one of them and bless you if you are!

I can tell you for sure that our guest this month, health & well-being lifestyle Master Coach Dr. Tim Cline is one of those coaches. 

To give you just two examples- after 10 years of full-time coaching, Tim returned to Pittsburgh to build a comprehensive suite of evidence-based lifestyle interventions and an ICHWC-approved health coach training program for one of the nation’s largest, fully-integrated health care systems. 

Read more about Tim and his teleclass call. He will be demonstrating his health and well-being coaching mastery in a real world session with a client he has never met and who is not in the coaching profession. After the session he will breakdown his process and answer our questions.

Please join us Monday April 29, 12-1pm EDT!

Coaching Mastery Tip #3

If you are ready to move beyond your current comfort zones and reach for a new level of mastery in your coaching, consider these qualitative tips for guidance. This is the 3rd in a 13 part mini blog series that will share Thirteen Coaching Mastery Qualitative Tips. I hope you enjoy them! – Fran Fisher MCC
Check out tip #2 here.

#3 of 13

Easy FLOW

The feeling is a relaxed flow of connection in the partnership. Coach is client-focused, honoring their pace and tone. Your attention is fully connected, dancing with the client. Whether it’s a waltz or a salsa or a tango, coach and client are harmonizing in flow.

Avoid providing unnecessary distractions, such as:

• Opinions, analysis
• Unsolicited suggestions
• Approval judgments (“I think that is a good idea,” versus “How do you feel about that idea?”)
• Habitual non-verbal interruptions to the client’s speaking (yeah, yup, uh huh, OK)

Inquiry: What drives my need to speak?

@Fran Fisher 2019 all rights reserved

Fran Fisher is a Master Certified Coach (MCC), accredited by the International Coach Federation. She is a visionary leader, international speaker, and published author. Fran specializes in providing coaching services for visionary leaders, executives, and business owners, collaborative work teams, as well as coaching and mentoring for experienced coaches.

Recipient of The Lifetime Achievement Award 2012 by the ICF Chapter Washington State, Fran is recognized internationally as one of the pioneers and champions for coaching. She served as a founding International Coach Federation, ICF, Executive Board member, and co-chair of the Ethics and Standards Committee, responsible for developing the Credentialing Programs for aspiring coaches and training schools. Fran was the first Executive Director of the Association for Coach Training Organizations, ACTO. She has been serving ICF as a PCC and MCC Credentialing Assessor since 1998.

www.franfishercoach.com

Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay

By Rick Tamlyn MCC, CPCC
Previous MMC guest Master Coach and guest blogger

I led a workshop recently for a team that included some veterans of the corporate world. Just a few hours into the session, one of them blurted out, “This stuff is incredibly simplistic. I don’t see how it can be of any use to anyone.”

Well, thanks for your positive feedback!

I let this naysayer get to me and had a very restless night. I was hurt. And feeling insecure! Yet, when I woke up the next morning, there was a fire in my belly. I wasn’t angry. Instead, I was very clear about the need for my work, especially for those who’ve become cynical and resistant to fresh approaches. I realized that this guy needed me much more than I needed him!

I rocked the second day of that workshop. I came up with concepts, contexts, and content that had never occurred to me in the past. Mr. Naysayer proved to be a terrific ally, a gift that just kept on giving, because he inspired me to up my own game. And he ended up receiving great value from the workshop.

I think we should all embrace folks like this in our lives. They can drive you to make your game bigger and better. You may not like them. You may even curse the fact that they’re in your life. But anyone or anything that motivates you and fuels your passion is an ally in some way.

Henry Kimsey-House, cofounder of The Coaches Training Institute, first taught me the leadership principle that says resistance is our friend.

Tap into any resistance coming your way and use it to your advantage. Don’t get mad… get creative! In fact, it could be that your naysayer might have a point. You should consider that too.

Your allies can also include competitors and arch foes. Where would Hertz be without Avis? Coke without Pepsi? Fallon without Kimmel?

Overcoming the challenges presented by competitors will make your success all the sweeter!

My former boss David Overton, founder of The Cheesecake Factory, embraced the concept of competitors as allies. He welcomed it when other restaurants moved into the same areas as his own, because he believed the more people who saw his restaurants, the more who’d want to visit them. He also felt that because there was usually a wait every night for seating at The Cheesecake Factory, the competitors provided other options for diners. David clearly operates from an abundance perspective. He believes there’s plenty of success out there for all to share, and rejects the idea that it’s merely survival of the fittest or that there’s only so much success available in the universe.

The point I’m trying to make is pretty obvious. Our allies can come in all shapes and sizes, and in people and things that you least expect.

Don’t just engage with the obvious allies in your life. Remember to get curious when the next naysayer shows up. It might just make a world of difference.

©2019 Rick Tamlyn MCC. All rights reserved.

Rick Tamlyn inspires you to be your best.

He teaches that every experience, emotion, reaction, and relationship is All Made Up. As an author, activational keynote speaker, co-active trainer and thought leader in the inspiration business, Rick has delivered his message around the world to people and organizations from all walks of life.

He is a trusted advisor for Fortune 100 companies, small businesses, nonprofits and churches, and has engaged audiences both small and large in 22 countries and counting. Participants leave feeling enthusiastic, confident and focused… and ready to create a bigger and brighter future.

In 2001, Rick co-created The Bigger Game: a tool that inspires people from all walks of life to get out of their comfort zones and invent the lives they want. He is the author of Play Your Bigger Game: 9 Minutes to Learn, a Lifetime to Live (Hay House 2013).

Rick is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and a Master Certified Coach (MCC) as designated by the International Coach Federation (ICF), and is a senior trainer for The Coaches Training Institute, a world-renowned coach training and leadership development organization.

https://www.RickTamlyn.com

Terrie Lupberger MCC, Jennifer Starr MCC & Ben Dooley MCC

What a great and fun way to hear Master Coaches approaches, skills and techniques side by side. These 3 MCCs received their coach training from 3 of the top coaching schools: Newfield Network, Academy of Coach Training (now Invite Change) and CTI. They are also in completely different niches.

They will be coaching a client theyve never met and who is not a coach and has never been coached before. They will coach her one after the other picking up where the last one left off.

We will have a bonus 15 minutes for additional Q&A.

Join us for this coaching adventure February 28, 2019 12-1:15pm EST. 

(The call is now over but you can read all about it on the past calls page under the "3 MCC" tab.)

Coaching Mastery Tip 2

This is the 2nd in a 13 part mini blog series that will share Thirteen Coaching Mastery Qualitative Tips by Master Coach Fran Fisher. You can check out tip#1 here

If you are ready to move beyond your current comfort zones and reach for a new level of mastery in your coaching, consider these qualitative tips for guidance.

#2 of 13

RESPOND to the WHOLE Person

A client is a holistic human being with many resources beyond their thinking. Einstein said…

“A problem can’t be solved with the same level of thinking that created it.”

So, listen for opportunities to invite the client to access or raise their awareness of resources beyond their thinking. These may open new territories of awareness or other windows for their learning and insight. For example:

• What are you feeling?
• What is your learning style?
• What value will you be honoring more fully?
• What strength could you draw on?
• What other perspective is possible?
• What is your limiting/empowering belief?
• What does your heart want?
• What is your gut/instinct telling you?

Inquiry: Where do I stop exploring my client’s wholeness? Where could I stretch into new territories of the client’s wholeness?

@Fran Fisher 2019 all rights reserved

Fran Fisher is a Master Certified Coach (MCC), accredited by the International Coach Federation. She is a visionary leader, international speaker, and published author. Fran specializes in providing coaching services for visionary leaders, executives, and business owners, collaborative work teams, as well as coaching and mentoring for experienced coaches.

Recipient of The Lifetime Achievement Award 2012 by the ICF Chapter Washington State, Fran is recognized internationally as one of the pioneers and champions for coaching. She served as a founding International Coach Federation, ICF, Executive Board member, and co-chair of the Ethics and Standards Committee, responsible for developing the Credentialing Programs for aspiring coaches and training schools. Fran was the first Executive Director of the Association for Coach Training Organizations, ACTO. She has been serving ICF as a PCC and MCC Credentialing Assessor since 1998.

www.franfishercoach.com

Play is what allows us to attain a higher level of existence, new levels of mastery, imagination, and culture. When we play right, all areas of our lives go better. When we ignore play we start having problems.

My personal motto is, “If it isn’t fun, I don’t want to do it. And when it isn’t, how can I make it fun?” Try that and let me know how it impacts your life. With my view of the importance, if not necessity or getting naked (emotionally) on occasion with the proper precautions, I also believe that incorporating and actually being purposeful about play in your life can help.

Playfulness, for me, is a mind-set and intention of having fun in a way that is not at the expense of others or even as a self-deprecating way of putting yourself or others in a negative light. Comedians, who often have tragic pasts, use humor about others and themselves as a way to get laughs but often hide their true tragic or hurtful existence in many cases.

My hope for you is to find ways to have fun and be lighthearted when life hands you circumstances that may be challenging. This does not mean to make light of tragedy or hurts, but eventually when time has passed and you have shined the light on the emotional scars from such an event, you might be able to smile or laugh at the paradox of living a human life.

Life is not always funny, but eventually acceptance comes from finding vitality from living with a joie de vivre (joy of living), an exuberant enjoyment of life.

A Client’s Story

Some years ago, I was referred a top-level executive in the financial services, a female who was a vice president with international duties from a major U.S. corporation. She had received what is called a 360-degree assessment from her staff and those who report to her, which is a tool that is anonymous but useful to receive honest feedback about your leadership style, teamwork, and perceptions of your effectiveness and personality too.

My client read the summaries and shared with me that many of her team reports have stated she got good results but seemed “reserved, calculating, unfriendly, and stern.” She said she was not surprised, but she wanted to change that view and asked for coaching to assist.

In my history taking of her past, I learned she was an above average student, went to prestigious schools, and was also a concert pianist from a young age.

But when speaking of the music skills, she became emotional and said, “I was good, but I never enjoyed it.”
She had been forced to practice and perform by her parents, who sought for her to express her skill, but they were very demanding and stern in the process.

I asked what else about her early childhood or adolescence could she remember that was joyful, outside of her academics and music.
There was a long pause and a sigh. She finally said, “I don’t remember having much fun or playing with other kids. I was busy with my schoolwork, music lessons, and practice, and I felt disconnected.” As I allowed her to sit with that thought, she sighed and paused again. “Wow! That’s sad, isn’t it?”

I asked, “What was fun for her today? How had she found ways to experience and express joy?”

She then responded, “I experience joy from my leadership role and the creative outcomes, and I enjoy going to art showings and other activities with a few friends or someone whom I am dating.”

I silently thought, “This woman needs to find a way to have childlike fun, laughter, and unplanned, spontaneous enjoyment.”But as a coach, I did not tell her that. I just explored my thinking with a request. I then asked her “what experiences have you had around children, either in the past or present time.?”

She had no children of her own; nor did she have any pets. She reported that “my five-year-old niece sometimes comes over with my sister, and I really enjoy watching her.“

I then asked “what do you like about that?” and she said “my niece just has fun with nothing and anything. She makes up stories to act out. She plays with My Little Pony and other children’s toys. But she also makes friends quickly with other kids when we got to the park or the zoo.”

That’s when I had a creative idea, which often happens in coaching once intuition kicks in. I asked, “Would you would consider an odd request?”

And she, of course, trusting me, said, “Well, it depends.”

I asked, “would you be willing to go to a nearby park and observe the children for at least an hour? Just sit on the bench and have a book or a lunch, and just observe and notice how kids play and interact with joyful exuberance. Would you do that?”(Truthfully I had no idea what I sought or what might happen, but I felt it was worth the experiment.)

She agreed, and the next week, our session was one of a great breakthrough. She came on the call, and after some pleasantries to settle in, I asked, “How did the experiment in the park go?”

There was a pause and then a giggle. And then she said, “You are not going to believe what happened.”

Intrigued, I asked, “Please say more.”

After an hour of watching and observing, she felt a strange urge to get on one of the swings and just swing. When she did that, the nearby kids chuckled, and some came to push her, as an adult would do to a kid. Laughing and swinging, she was having no sense of being a proper adult. She was being childlike and freely playing. She then went to the park on another day over her lunch break, and some of the same kids greeted her. She said she had a sense of belonging and feeling accepted in a way she never had.

The end result of this story is that the playful personality carried over to work. She began being warmer to her staff, asking about their families, looking at photos of their kids or grandkids, and showing a newfound appreciation of the lessons from children in playfulness. She told me that opened her up to a willingness to be childlike at times, but not childish.

Months later, her staff gave her feedback about how much more fun she was. Even though she was still the boss, she was more respected. And she was promoted to a job in Asia as a result, which she had always wanted.

Purposeful Inquiry.
Where can you ‘lighten up”?
And how can you learn to have more fun and be more playful while still taking your life and work and loving seriously?

(c) 2018-2019 Dr. Pat Williams. All rights reserved

Pat is a Master Certified Coach (International Coach Federation) and a Board Certified Coach (Center for Credentialing and Education). He has been a licensed psychologist since 1980, and began executive coaching in 1990 with Hewlett Packard, IBM, Kodak and other companies along the front range of Colorado.

He is a member of PHI BETA KAPPA and CUM LAUDE graduate of Kansas University in 1972. He completed his masters in Humanistic Psychology in 1975 (University of West Georgia) and doctorate in Transpersonal Psychology in 1977, (University of Northern Colorado) His dissertation was Transpersonal Psychology and the Evolution of Consciousness.

Pat joined Coach U in 1996, closed his 16-year therapy practice and six months later and became a full time coach. Pat was a senior trainer with Coach U from 1997-1998.

He then started his own coach training school, the Institute for Life Coach Training (ILCT) which specializes in training those with a human services orientation. ILCT has trained over 3,500 helping professionals and has opened offices in Korea, Turkey, Italy, China, and the UK.

Pat is department chair of the Coaching Psychology program at the International University of Professional Studies, and has taught graduate coaching classes at Colorado State University and Denver University, Fielding University, Loyola University, City University of London and many others. He was also a curriculum consultant for the Coaching Certificate program at Fielding International University.

Pat is a past board member of the International Coach Federation (ICF), and co-chaired the ICF regulatory committee. He is past president of ACTO, the Association of Coach Training Organizations and an honorary VP of the Association of Coaching Psychology and a Founding member of Harvard University’s Institute of Coaching.

Pat was also honored in 2008 as the educator of the year for the New England Educational Institute.

www.drpatwilliams.com