Coach Effect Blog

Juggle Well - 5 Tips for Prioritizing and Managing Time – Part 2

2010-09-21T22:40:00.001-07:00

How well do you juggle? Take a moment to self-assess.

When I am interrupted it is easy to jump right back into what I was working on. 1 (easy) - 5 (difficult)
I am totally on top of my work, nothing ever falls off my plate. 1 (on top of it) - 5 (stuff falls off the plate)
I make a "to do" list and accomplish all of it in the timeframe I set. 1 (always done) - 5 (to do list keeps growing)
My priorities are clear and don't shift on a whim or because of others. 1 (clear/steady) - 5 (not clear/ever changing)

Rating scale:
04 - 09 Master Juggler. You can juggle with the best of them!
10 - 15 Juggler. You can keep the balls in the air for long periods, but once in awhile they come crashing down.
16 - 20 Apprentice. You may get the balls up in the air, but you still have a long way to go to keep them there.

Juggling well comes from a combination of being firm about examining what’s on your plate and establishing a solid foundation from which you are juggling. Wherever you are on the scale, I hope you are able to take away something from the following 5 tips. An additional (+5) tips were presented in last month's article. Check out Part 1.

#1 - Uphold Your Boundaries
I love talking about boundaries because boundaries help us put perspective around what we are doing and what those around us are doing. When I hear that someone is constantly fire fighting at work – their fires, other people’s fires, everything is always a fire – I can almost guarantee that the person has not built a strong foundation around their boundaries.

Understanding boundaries can help you better recognize when you get yourself into a fire and when someone comes to you with their fire.
Boundaries are like pretend lines you put around you to fully express yourself. Without them there is typically not enough room for you to grow and you may begin to feel stifled. Boundaries are about what others cannot do to you or around you. Boundaries determine how much what others do hinders your space. Boundaries are about the actions of others and how they may influence you.

For instance, you may relate to seeing an angry customer in a store who gets upset, raises their voice and even begins to swear at the customer service person trying to assist them. Depending on the customer service rep’s boundaries, the angry customer’s actions could negatively influence that service rep., drain him of energy, and leave him feeling unhappy. That will have a lasting impact on every customer that rep comes in contact with the rest of the day.

Strengthen your boundaries by:
•    Define your own boundaries. Write them down.
•    Be willing to educate others on how to respect your boundaries.
•    Be relentless, yet not punishing to yourself or others as you develop your boundaries.
•    Make a list of 5 ways you are violating others’ boundaries.
•    Make a list of 5 things that people may no longer do around you, do to you or say to you.
•    Thank and acknowledge the people who are respecting your boundaries.

#2 - Stay Present
In order to juggle well you need to have a firm hold on your present. By present I am talking about the reality of your life as it is today, right now. Not delving into the past or visualizing the future, but identifying what is right now, like it or not. When you understand the present it puts the past and the future in the proper light.

This becomes incredibly important the more and more you are juggling. The more balls you have in the air the more you need to know exactly where you are right here and now in order to keep them all going. As you keep juggling, the past gets put aside and the future is merely set up by what you do in the present. If your juggling is perfect in the present it sets the stage for juggling perfectly in the future.

This is more of a perspective than anything else. No matter how much you have going on, if you take a moment to understand how to make the present perfect you can more easily give yourself the context around which to handle everything going on. It may require giving a situation some pause and reflection and reappraising what is going on from a different point of view.

Let me share with you a story about a remarkable lady I knew.

She juggled cancer as a part of her life multiple times. She could have very well looked at her past and pondered over what an agonizing life she’s had over the past 20 some years and mourned for herself. On the same note she could have looked at her future and wondered why she keeps getting this ugly ball thrown to her and wondered how much longer she has to live? Instead she learned how to live in the present. Everyday she woke up and said a prayer. She would always say that she knew it was going to be a good day because she started it out above ground and not six feet under. She made the most of that day whatever that meant for her in the moment. Some days that meant taking care of her volunteer duties at the hospital or meeting with the legion women and other days it meant taking a long nap in the middle of the day to have enough strength to make up dinner. Cancer was just something she juggled along with all other aspects of her life. Cancer did eventually take her life, but it certainly did not win over the time she had left. No matter what her present was, she found it perfect and lived it fully.

#3 - Plan for the unexpected
I am still amazed at how many executives I talk to schedule back-to-back meetings all day long and then wonder in disbelief how and why unexpected events totally throw off their whole day. If there is one thing I know will be constant in the workday it is unexpected events. Get into the habit of not scheduling every single minute of the day. Things come up. Be ready. Create space for the unexpected.

#4 - Get organized
How many piles are on the desk, around the desk, sitting in drawers? How many emails are sitting in your inbox?

To pull from the master of Getting Things Done, David Allen, go through your "inbox/stuff" and determine if it is actionable (if not trash it, file it for review later, file it for reference). If it is actionable determine if it will take less than 2 minutes. If so, do it right then and there. Be done with it. If it will take more than 2 minutes either delegate for someone else to do or defer it to a time on your calendar when it can be done. Set the appointment with yourself to complete the task.

#5 - Give yourself more energy
Our bodies have a certain pulse that creates the amount of energy we can expend each day. That pulse is somewhat dictated by how we treat ourselves.

The food we eat and when we eat.
The amount of sleep and exercise we give ourselves.
The level of stress we induce or take on.

All of these are factors in the level of energy we have. Tony Swartz just came out with a book, The Way We're Working Isn't Working, dedicated to bringing this idea of energy to us personally and as it relates to the corporate world. (More details included in the book review). Take some time to check out the tips provided on The Energy Project's site.

Juggle Well – 5 (+5) Tips for Prioritizing and Managing Time - Part 1

2010-08-17T18:05:00.001-07:00

How well do you juggle? Take a moment to self-assess.

When I am interrupted it is easy to jump back into what I was working on.	1 (easy to go back) - 5 (difficult to jump back)
I am totally on top of my work, nothing ever falls off my plate.	1 (on top of it) - 5 (stuff falls off the plate)
I make a "to do" list and accomplish all of it in the timeframe I set.	1 (always done) - 5 (to do list keeps growing)
My priorities are clear and don't shift on a whim or because of others.	1 (clear/steady) - 5 (not clear/ever changing)

Rating scale:
04 - 09 Master Juggler. You can juggle with the best of them!
10 - 15 Juggler. You can keep the balls in the air for long periods, but once in awhile they come crashing down.
16 - 20 Apprentice. You may get the balls up in the air, but you still have a long way to go to keep them there.

Juggling well comes from a combination of being firm about examining what’s on your plate and establishing a solid foundation from which you are juggling. Wherever you are on the scale, I hope you are able to take away something from these first 5 tips. The additional (+5) tips will be in next month's article.

#1 - Eliminate tolerations in your life
Tolerations = distractions – things you put up with – energy drainers
When you begin to handle these things you will free up time and energy to devote to other items that are a higher priority.
Take a hard look at what’s really “zapping” your energy. You might find that it’s something broken and in need of repair. You may find that it’s getting a voicemail from a certain someone and knowing that you have to face them eventually.
Take a second to think of one toleration you currently have.
Ask yourself – What would it look like to be free of this toleration?
What will it take for you to get there?
Here are a couple of things to consider and think about as you examine your tolerations:
•    Understand that putting up with things is not useful to anyone.
•    Make a list of 5 things you are tolerating at home or at work.
•    Take the actions necessary to eliminate those items.
•    Understand that you cannot juggle well when you are tolerating things.
•    Stop complaining: instead, make a strong request.

#2 - Put tasks where they belong
You’ve heard the phrase, "time is money", right? Do you actively apply it to your own work situation and what’s on your plate?
I want to tell you a story about a client of mine. He’s given me permission to use this, but I’m going to change his name to Joe for the sake of his privacy. So Joe came to me because he felt like he wasn’t growing in his job, but the amount of activity he was doing was definitely growing – growing out of control. As a very senior member of his management team, he knew something had to give or he would probably be looked over the next time a promotional opportunity was available. I quickly realized in working with Joe that he was doing all of his own administrative tasks. He was proud that he didn’t need an assistant and touted that he saved the company money by not having one. ….let’s look at #3 for the rest of the story

#3 - Know where your time goes
We explored why Joe's schedule was out of control and what it would take to juggle well. We found that approximately 43% of Joe’s time was spent on tasks that could be handled by someone other than him and the majority of that was administrative. To make a long story short – It took time, but Joe hired an assistant. As he built trust and established a relationship with his assistant he began to move over tasks that he recognized that he didn’t have to do on his own. It wasn’t too long before Joe began to realize that he had more time to spend with customers and on sales. He didn’t seem so crazy and he was beginning to see business growth. Ultimately his delegation paid off to the tune of 2 million in additional sales and Joe is now in review for a GM position for one of the company’s locations.
So in thinking about putting tasks where they belong:

First, assess your work, and all the things you do; (Take a minute and think about one item)
Next, look at the tasks you do and the skill, knowledge, education and ability truly needed to complete the task; (Now apply this to the item you’ve thought about)
Then, identify if it requires that you do it yourself or if someone else may be capable of the doing the work.
(So what do you think, with the item you’ve considered, is it something you need to keep doing or is it possible that someone else may be able to do it? )

Joe still responds to his own email but, his assistant scans them, sorts and prioritizes them so that he can spend his time answering the emails instead of taking the time to weed through the ones that aren’t relevant or that his assistant could handle for him.
Ask yourself what it would look like to put tasks where they belong. Where would you focus?
What steps could you take to move in this direction?

#4 - Ask, "What must get done today?"
Did you ever hear someone say that “everything” is top priority? Do you ever say it? If those people worked for Jack Welch, king of rate-and-rank, I am positive that they would begin to see things differently. Prioritization is the ability to place value on each item as they relate to each other. I once heard someone describe their method for prioritization in this way:

I have 10 – 100 ton bricks hanging over my head – they initially appear equal, but as I quickly evaluate the situation I realize that 2 of them are dangling by a thread, 3 are hanging by 6 threads, and the rest seem to be on pretty solid cable at the moment. I have to focus on the 2 danglers before they come crashing down on me.

While prioritization may not always be so life threatening, it certainly can help you in making sure things are done as they need to be. To help yourself prioritize use the following questions regarding what you have going on:

Is there a drop dead date to the task at hand?; what is it?; have I left myself enough time to complete the task?
Is it something I want to do vs. something I need to do or must do?
Where does each task fall in relation to one another? For example, one task may be to complete your taxes by April 15th; another task may be to buy your mom a gift for Mother’s day (May 9th). While it may be a lot more fun to go shopping, as a matter of priority taxes come first.

#5 - Never assume the level of urgency
Questions from #07 continued.....

Have I assumed the due date on something I was asked to do? Did I specifically ask the person when they need it back or completed?

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that just because a request is made it means it needs to be done immediately. When you find yourself creating that assumption, step back and check it out. Sometimes it may be something that must get done immediately and other times you'll find that the urgency is much less than you would have assumed.

Come back next month for an additional (+5) tips on prioritizing and managing time.

How to Stay Top of Mind with Key Decision Makers

2010-07-21T23:11:00.001-07:00

Making a successful contact with a business leader may not be an instant sales win, but it is an instant marketing win.
Guest author, Leslie Vickrey, President of Clear Edge Marketing shares with us how to make an impact with prospects and clients with Keep-In-Touch programs, how to consistently distinguish your business by showcasing your internal knowledge and expertise, and how to develop keep-in-touch content to be leveraged throughout the sales cycle.
If you are not in an external facing or sales role I challenge you to read the article and think of how this applies to you building relationships and keeping top of mind within the organization. Do you have a keep-in-touch plan with the leaders you work with regularly?

Read the rest.

Habits of Highly Motivated

2010-07-16T08:18:00.001-07:00

Jennifer Mounce was cited in the blog post:

91 Fundamental habits of highly motivated small business owners

While these habits are labeled under the guise of small business owners, read through them and you’ll find that they are good habits for any motivated leader.

Mounce’s contribution:

Have a support system. Use the help of others to give you advice, provide a sounding board, and offer encouragement. Get into the habit of meeting regularly. J. Mounce,www.coacheffect.com

Life & Leadership Lessons from the Sidelines

2010-06-22T22:59:00.001-07:00

Known to be the most winning coach in NCAA Basketball, John Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) also provided winning life lessons that can make all of us winners. His maxims are enduring tenants for business and leadership.

One maxim was:

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

Preparation is key to business. It is key to leadership. I have worked with many senior executives who struggle to set aside time to prepare. They move through business and through life “winging” it. Some believe “winging” it works for them because they have been successful to date. Others realize that preparation is very important, but they are so incredibly busy that they can’t figure out how to bring it into their schedule. Here are a couple of different tools my clients use to support their preparation.

Think time – Schedule time to look at the bigger picture, think more strategically, and prioritize.
- Monthly: Schedule a 90 minute meeting with yourself to look at the bigger picture. Review what’s been done and what’s to come.
- Weekly: Schedule a 30 minute meeting to do a week in review and figure out what needs prep-time and when it can be scheduled.
- Daily: Schedule 5 minutes everyday to think about what must get done that day (or do it the evening before for the next day) and how those tasks fit into the bigger objectives of the business.
- There is a much higher success rate in using this tool when clients literally schedule their “think time” on their calendars. Those that don’t put it into their calendars tend to allow other “more important” things take precedence and they stay frustrated about not preparing as much as they say they want to prepare.
Before walking into a conversation or a meeting take a moment to reflect on what you really want to accomplish. Ask yourself, “what is the end result I want to achieve?” This simple question can help you focus your thoughts and keep the discussion or meeting on track. The biggest trap I’ve seen clients fall into is going into a meeting to talk about solutions only to end up stuck on finger pointing around the problem. Staying focused on the desired end result can help to avoid that trap.

Another maxim:

Be quick, but don’t hurry.

What happens when you hurry? I don’t know about you but, I know that when I hurry & when my clients hurry we tend to make mistakes. We get sloppy with our work. It usually ends up costing us more time and money because whatever was done in a hurry has to be re-done or corrected. This is why the book Smarter, Faster, Better devotes an entire section of the book to the idea of “Faster”. To be quick you must actually slow down and stay focused. Wooden knew this. Seconds, in a basketball game, are a very long time. If we slow down and really concentrate on the task we can be quick, and get the task done correctly, without hurrying. Here are two exercises to help you really get a sense of how long time is:

Sit up comfortably in a chair with your hands in your lap, and feet planted firmly on the ground. Do not wear a watch. Do not look at a clock. Have someone time you for 60 seconds. Do nothing and say nothing during that time. Afterward, consider if it felt like one minute, or longer or shorter than one minute.
Take a pile of unfolded clothes (preferably all the same item – t-shirts, towels, etc) time yourself (or have someone time you) folding the clothes for 60 seconds. Fold as quickly and neatly as possible. When you are done debrief yourself by examining how much you completed in one minute’s time. Was it more or less than you expected? How did that minute compare to the minute in the first exercise? Did it feel like the same, more, or less time?

Wooden also created a pyramid of success that he freely shared with all. The official Wooden site makes it easy to view and download.

Look it over, examine it, reflect on it. Find one or two things to focus on in your own leadership practice. Commit to creating that focus within the next week.

Chicagoland Chamber Article cites Jennifer Mounce on Coaching

2010-05-26T08:40:00.001-07:00

The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce has an annual right workplace excellence award that is given to select organizations that measure up to a stiff set of criteria. I know, I used to be on the committee that handled the nominations and selection process. It is not easy for organizations to win this honor. In 2009 Hyatt Regency Chicago won the award because of the hard work and commitment they put into coaching. Hyatt understands that it’s critical to growing their culture.

In the article, “Hyatt Regency Chicago Coaches Its Way to Peak Performance”, Jennifer Mounce states, “Coaching is an advanced level communication skill. Managers realize once they learn how to coach that it directly impacts their communication, relationship building and managerial skills in a profound and positive way.”

On June 17th at 12pm CT/10am PT the Chamber will be hosting a webinar entitled, “Coaching For Performance: Creating a Winning Workplace Culture”.

Merrick Dresnin, Hyatt Regency Chicago Human Resource Director, and Jennifer Mounce, Coach Effect President, will be guests on the Chamber's webinar program. Reserve your Webinar seat now at:https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/419571176. A couple people have asked if they need to be in Chicago or members of the Chamber to participate. The answer is no. Everyone is welcome to attend this webinar. Just sign up.

A peak at the “Get CLEAR! Coaching Skills Workshop”

2010-05-20T18:28:00.001-07:00

This video provides a small glimpse of the “Get CLEAR! Coaching Skills Workshop” that was conducted as a breakout session for NCHRA’s Annual HR West Conference. The following week the same program was presented at the Oklahoma HR Conference. I haven’t had a chance to edit that video yet.

Curious what “CLEAR” is? It’s an acronym for: Curiosity, Listening, Encouragement, Action, and Reflection.

The Coaching Skills Workshop will be held at various conferences around the country throughout this year. You can find all of the events listed on Coach Effect’s Calendar of Events. This workshop can be presented as a short breakout session (75-90 minutes) or as a full two-day training and development course.

Jennifer Mounce, SPHR, founder of Coach Effect, is a public speaker, author, executive coach, facilitator, and OD consultant.

How to Promote Employee Wellness

2010-05-17T10:06:00.001-07:00

Today’s article, “How You Should Promote Employee Wellness”, falls in line with good management in the workplace. Wellness is about more than just employee engagement. It’s about creating a healthy environment. Healthy employees, generally speaking, are more positive, have more energy, have less absenteeism, and have fewer medical claims. It’s a win-win to promote employee wellness. This article was written by a long-time friend and colleague of mine, Cynthia Elstien, SVP and Director of Human Resource Consulting at Alper Services, LLC. I was so impressed with how the article lays out a simple strategy to keep in mind when promoting employee wellness that I asked Cindi if I could share it with my readers. If you have questions about the article or about implementing a wellness program, contact Cindi at Alper.

Effective Case #2: High-Retention Training

2010-04-27T17:09:00.001-07:00

[In the spirit of moving to new and fresh ideas for 2010, Coach Effect is starting a new series that will run throughout the year called "Effective Case". Each "Effective Case" will focus on a different practice area (coaching, consulting, and training) and will highlight real experiences. We will share key learning points from real business issues we have faced. All names (individuals and companies) are changed to protect our clients' identities except if, and only if, our client willingly wants to share their name and provides us written permission.]

The last case focused on coaching. This month we’re going to turn our attention to training.

Background. Our client was looking for manager/supervisory training. In reviewing their potential solutions, they had some real concerns. They didn’t have the bandwidth internally to facilitate a program themselves. They were concerned that their managers would have a low knowledge retention level if they were sent to a one- or two-day public training seminar. Their past experience led them to the conclusion that 90% or more of their managers that go to one or two-day off-site training programs come back with a couple of good ideas, but generally speaking they see no clear evidence that the manager is utilizing what they’ve learned. The client wanted to find a program that would have a high level of knowledge and learning retention as evidenced by the utilization of the concepts in the workplace.

[An aside - We had been working with this client on a coaching assignment so they reached out to us to see if we had an training organization referrals. High-retention training is exactly the type of training we are usually suggesting to our clients, so I was chuckling a bit. It’s not unusual for our clients to hire us for one thing (coaching, training, or consulting) and then forget or not even realize that we have a broader range of competencies.]

Training. What I proposed was a mash-up between conventional classroom training and coaching.

Conceptually, here’s what the program looked like:

Training participants learn a concept.
The participant is responsible for creating an action plan to practice what they learned with the concept.
After practicing the concept participants reflect on what went well and what could be improved.
Participants are partnered with each other for support and to reinforce accountability.

The client agreed with the approach. They began to assemble a pilot group so we could test it out before rolling it out to all managers.

A schedule was put together to teach and coach the materials over a period of eight meetings. The material from what would have been a one-day class was broken up into six segments with an introduction and summary added onto each end. Initially this two-month timeframe made the client a little nervous. However, they liked the idea that managers would only be in training for 60 minutes at a time instead of being out for a whole day. I reminded the client that in order to achieve higher levels of retention, the participants need time to practice what they learn. This mash-up of training and coaching was created specifically to support this outcome.

Outcomes. A pilot group of eight managers participated in the training. The managers showed engagement in the learning process right from the first meeting. By the second meeting, each of the four accountability pairs had met to discuss how they could support each other. Engagement during the course was also evidenced by the level of participation in each meeting. The managers came to each class with stories about what they had tried the prior week. They asked questions and engaged in discussion during each class.

At the end of the program the managers were asked to participate in a survey. We had 100% participation. The feedback provided was overwhelmingly positive. Here are some quotes from the responses:

“I thought the training series was excellent and highly recommend it as a training tool for managers.”

“Interaction with other managers was fun and a great learning experience.”

“I really like the fact that you effectively get the audience to share real experiences and their best practices.”

“I was able to take away key points from each session and apply them to my job. My job performance
overall and as a manager will benefit greatly from what I've learned.”

“The one hour sessions were just long enough and didn't take out a huge chunk of my day. The sessions
were very informative and I was able to apply most of them immediately.”

“I liked doing the fieldwork because it gave me the opportunity to use what I learned during the class as it
applied to my job.”

One of the key original desired outcomes of the client was a high-retention rate in the lessons learned. We created a timeline to return to the pilot group in six months and determine the retention levels of the program. In the meantime, the client felt that it was a big enough success to run it again with another group.

Six months later we met with the client to review the pilot group. The client had conducted an informal survey of the managers. They spoke with each manager specifically about the program concepts. They asked the manager to identify which concepts they are still using and which concepts they had forgotten about.

Overall, the client was very pleased with their findings. The managers had retained and were using approximately 85% of the content learned. In addition, the level of support and camaraderie that was created by the program was an unexpected added benefit. The client was surprised to find that two of the four accountability pairs were still meeting regularly to support each other. We ended up running the program a few more times to make it available to all managers.

While I had provided similar programs for other organizations, this was our first client who was interested in measuring results six months later. This additional proof that training and coaching can be combined to provide powerful learning opportunities was very exciting. For questions, other similar cases, or more information about this particular case, please contact us.

5 Key Skills to Becoming a CLEAR Manager

2010-03-24T22:51:00.001-07:00

Much of managing is coaching others. Supporting them to be their best. Guiding them in the right direction. Empowering them and letting them grow. If you want a strong team of players you need to know how to coach them to be their best. Here are 5 key skills you need to be a great coach in a simple-to-remember acronym, CLEAR.

C – Curiosity

L – Listening

E – Encouragement

A – Action

R - Reflection

Curiosity. Be Curious. “First seek to understand, then to be understood.” A quotation from Stephen Covey that in 8 words sums up the idea of having curiosity. Ask powerful questions. Suspend judgments and assumptions. For example, if you know an employee is struggling with a project, get curious about what is going on. Try to understand, from the employee’s perspective, what is happening.

Curiosity without judgment allows for deeper conversation. If needed, think of yourself as a third party consultant to the situation. Ask questions objectively. Ask questions that are in the interests of the organization and the employee, not necessarily your own self interests. You can ask meaningful questions and get to the heart of an issue more quickly when curiosity is used authentically, sincerely, and without personal assumptions attached.

Here are a couple of questions you can try using when you get stuck:

How can I support you in this?
What is getting in the way?
Where might you get stopped?
Why is it so frustrating?

Listening. Asking questions and being curious without paying attention to the response would be a waste of time. Ernest Hemingway put it well when he said, “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” Listen for what someone says and for what is left unsaid. Think about listening beyond what is spoken. Listen for feeling and intent. Listen to tone and pace of what is spoken. Listen to body language and facial expressions. The act of listening tells your team that you are being supportive. Their trust in you will increase when they know that you listen to them.

Here are a couple of tips on how to actively listen:

Clear the chatter in your head. Don’t worry about coming up with the right thing to say next. Put aside the thought that you already know what the person is going to tell you. Allow it to be spoken.
Eliminate other distractions. Close the door, put the phone on “do not disturb”, and turn of IM and email alerts.
Reflect or mirror back what the person is saying.
Match the person’s pace and tone.

The next letter in the acronym is “E” for encouragement. It important to keep in mind that while the acronym, CLEAR, is a helpful reminder these skills do not have to be acted on in a linear format.

Encouragement. This word means different things to different people. We want to look at it specifically from the context of a manager creating an encouraging environment. Encouragement means empowering people to solve their own problems. It means focusing on strengths and endorsing someone. John O’Donohue, philosopher and poet once said, “One of the most beautiful gifts in the world is the gift of encouragement. When someone encourages you, that person helps you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own.” He reminds us that encouraging is sometimes asking for more than the person will ask of themselves.

Here are a couple of tips on how to encourage:

Create possibility where there was none.
Help the person move into action.
Create a supportive environment where barriers can be identified and removed.
Feedback should come from a place of love and be unconditionally constructive

Action. To provide CLEAR coaching you must be able to support your team members in moving from problem thinking to solution thinking and from talking to acting. Sometimes this will mean stepping out of the details of their story and pulling them out of the details too so they can begin to focus on next steps. Other times it may mean setting Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound (SMART) goals and determining how to hold the person accountable. Creating that forward movement can be kindled by powerful questions. Questions that help drive the individual into action on their own.

Here are a couple of questions you may ask to help move a person to action:

What is your next step?
What is your strategy for that?
What is your estimate for completion?
What’s getting in your way of moving ahead?

Anatole France reminds us, “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” As a manager your must help your team accomplish great things. Allow them to dream, support their planning process, and believe in them.

Reflection. The last piece of CLEAR coaching skills is “reflection.” As a manager you look for opportunities to help your team members learn and grow. Reflection is a tool that supports learning. This is different than how we use the term to talk about the listening technique of communicating back what you heard. In this case, it is an exercise in taking a look back at an incident or a conversation from a more objective point-of-view than you are capable of in the moment. The phrase hindsight is 20:20 fits well with this skill. You can help your team members use hindsight to reflect on situations and learn from them. The CLEAR coaching skills can help. Ask powerful questions, encourage them to really place themselves back in the situation, help them identify if any changes were made how they might envision a different outcome.

Confucius said, “Learning without reflection is a waste, reflection without learning is dangerous.” If you are going to help a team member ponder over the past, support and encourage them to learn from it. Our lives can be an on-going lesson if we are willing to pause, reflect, and learn. Be a manager that coaches others on using reflection as an effective learning tool.

Here are a couple of ways to support a positive reflection exercise:

Ask the individual to place themselves in the other person’s shoes. What could have been on the mind of the other person at the time the situation took place?
If you could do it all over, what would you change?
Think about what was said. What words were used in the situation that have the ability to create a strong negative (or strong positive) response?
What was the real result you were trying to achieve?

Using CLEAR coaching skills can help you have more meaningful conversations, ask powerful questions, gain trust, strengthen accountability and support learning. Practice these coaching techniques regularly and be a CLEAR manager.

NOTE: This is a little preview into many of the public speaking engagements I have committed to this year. If you liked this information and would like to know more visit one of the upcoming conferences where I am facilitating a breakout session or contact me directly.

The CLEAR coaching model is intellectual property created Coach Effect, Inc. If you want to use or re-purpose any part of the model, please contact us for permission.

Jennifer Mounce quoted in Advance

2010-03-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

Coach Effect’s founder, Jennifer Mounce, (that’s me!) was quoted in the article, “Bad to the Bone? How to deal with disruptive behavior in the lab.” This feature article is in the most recent issue of Advance, the nation’s medical laboratory biweekly magazine. The article was focusing on the folks in the workplace, in this case specifically in laboratories, that exhibit bad behavior.

Interestingly enough, I was at a presentation last week on this very topic. Toxic behavior in the workplace. Our presenter, Dr. Mitchell Kusy, has done research on this subject. The research revealed that toxic personalities can be put into three main types:

Shaming – humiliation, sarcasm, pot shots, mistake pointing
Passive Hostility – passive aggressive, territorial behavior, distrust of others opinion, difficulty with feedback, clueless of own toxicity
Team Sabotage – surveillance of the team, teamwork meddling, authority to punish

At one point Dr. Kusy said, “If you’re here to figure out how to talk to toxic individuals…forget it.” He went on to explain that the toxic individual are clueless that they are toxic. They have rationalized their behavior to a point that makes it impossible for them to see any other point of view. They are always right.

Do you work with any of these individuals? You might want to check out Dr. Kusy’s book, Toxic Workplace.

Coaching Skills Workshops at the TapRoot® Summit 2010

2010-03-15T12:07:00.001-07:00

The Root Cause Analysis Blog highlighted speaker Jennifer Mounce. The 2010 TapRoot® Summit will include two presentations by Jennifer focused on coaching skills.

Jennifer spoke at the 2009 Summit on Self-Leadership and self-coaching. The focus was personal development. She also jumped in and facilitated a breakout session on communicating safety issues effectively. It was a lively discussion!

This year both workshops will focus on sharpening coaching skills to support behavioral change and as support for corrective action development.

Check out the TapRoot® Root Cause Analysis Blog

Are you interested in attending the summit?
Oct 25-26, 2010 in San Antonio, TX
Summit Info

Effective Case #1: Great Technically…

2010-02-25T14:55:00.001-08:00

[In the spirit of moving to new and fresh ideas for 2010, Coach Effect is starting a new series that will run throughout the year called "Effective Case". Each "Effective Case" will focus on a different practice area (coaching, consulting, and training) and will highlight real experiences.
We are going to share key learning points from real business issues we have faced. All names (individuals and companies) are changed to protect our clients' identities except if, and only if, our client willingly wants to share their name and provides us written permission.]

To paint a clear picture of our story you must first have a bit of insight about Evelyn, our main focus in this case.
Background. Evelyn was excellent at performing the tasks of her job. As a matter-of-fact, she was considered one of the best engineers in the company. No one questioned her technical ability. She only has one thing getting in the way of success. Her ability to build rapport and relationships with others was not good. To be frank, it stunk.

Read the rest of the case

Toyota’s Organizational Problems

2010-02-19T08:30:00.003-08:00

This BNet article “How Toyota Manufactured Its Own Fall from Grace” is a well written identification of key problems Toyota had organizationally. The author, Holstein provides 4 major areas for critique: Bureaucracy, Overconfidence, Weak Management, and the Fallout.

Toyota’s Organizational Problems

2010-02-19T08:30:00.001-08:00

Interview Mistakes – Part 2

2010-02-11T09:40:00.001-08:00

In response to yesterday’s post, “Interview Mistakes”, I received this link. As I chuckled scrolling down the page, it seemed a shame to keep it to myself. So here’s “The 10 Types of Crappy Interviewees” as a funny follow-up to yesterday’s article. p.s. Thanks for sharing, Gene!

Interview Mistakes

2010-02-10T11:18:00.001-08:00

Lately, I’ve been prepping people for interviews and refining resumes just as much as I am coaching senior managers in their current roles. This article on interview mistakes reconfirms that we are focusing on the right things when I prep candidates.

First – focus on strengths. Being clear about what you are good at is critical.

Second – be confident. You are your only advocate in an interview. Don’t sell yourself short with statements that undermine your own ability.

Third – show your flexibility. If you are receiving an offer, look at the whole picture, not just the base salary.

The Forbes article focuses predominantly on women. The article makes points, in my experience, that relate to both genders. So men, don’t shy away from reading it just because it’s female focused.

For additional resources on this subject check out Coach Effect’s audio programs:

Resume Self-Critique

Regular Resume Review

Happy Coaching

2010-02-01T10:17:00.001-08:00

Has being happy ever been a bad thing?
No matter where you are at, work or home, a natural conclusion might be that people who are happy are going to have stronger positive attitudes.

WSJ’s article on “Happiness Coaching” is just highlighting basic principles that have been known for a long time, such as: focusing on what’s within your span of control, having a positive attitude, looking for what is right (instead of complaining about what is wrong), etc.

Whether these basic principles are adhered to in the workplace is where WSJ is focused. Companies seem to be getting on the bandwagon and realizing that a happier and more positive environment will support happier and more positive employees.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704905604575027042440341392.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_RIGHTTopCarousel

This is really not a new subject. Actually, it’s an old subject that WSJ is just trying to spin into something new. We have been writing about being positive directly (Are You Positive?) and indirectly (Keeping Employee Engagement Up in a Down Economy) for years. The issue lies in what is down with the information.

2010 Resolutions

2010-01-04T08:49:00.001-08:00

Have you determined your New Year’s Resolutions yet? Do you prefer to call them annual goals?

Whatever your preference, putting together what you would like to accomplish in the upcoming year is not so bad.

Here’s a simple article on How to Prepare New Years Resolutions for 2010 that can help you get started.

As you are putting together this year’s list consider that the goals you set don’t need to add or take away. They could be to simple maintain something you have already put in place and want to make sure you keep it up. You can read more about Maintenance Resolutions in this Coach Effect article.

To micro-manage or not…that is the question on CEO’s minds

2009-12-21T10:06:00.001-08:00

WSJ article today -

“ Balancing Job of Overseeing With Overdoing : CEOs Are More Hands On During Downturn but Risk Drowning in Minutiae and Causing Resentment Over Micromanagement”

By CARI TUNA

Mihir Shukla, chief executive of software firm Automation Anywhere, is taking a more hands-on approach to management—and asking other executives at the company to do the same—even as he weighs the risks of becoming too involved. …

Our Thoughts -
Having a heavier hand during a downturn could make sense from an operational/spending stand-point, but it may not make sense from an employee engagement point of view. This article touches on the delicate balance between keeping control of the ship and micro-managing, but it doesn’t go into the issues that could come from micro-managing. I wrote an article earlier this year for the Coach Effect newsletter, “7 Practical Ways Managers can Motivate and Energize their De-motivated”. It seems like a relevant compliment to the WSJ article. Managers must figure out how to walk the fine line, motivate, and watch everything more closely.

This article gives more of the “how to” to follow up the WSJ article.
Other ideas on how to balance staying hands-on with still providing autonomy and decision making? Please share them.

Appreciating Employees

2009-12-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

In putting together the December newsletter article “The Art of Showing Appreciation” I browsed the internet a bit looking for relevant and timely material on the topic.

Coach Effect’s newsletter article emphasized providing very specific feedback.

I stumbled upon this cartoon labeled as employee appreciation.
Clearly my search started out a little slowly and backwards.

I did finally come across a couple of articles that made worthwhile points…

Building a Culture of Employee Appreciation

How Datotel overhauled its employee-appreciation, -recognition, and -incentive programs.

David Brown thinks it's important to make his employees feel valued. So Brown, founder and president of Datotel, an IT services and data storage business in St. Louis with 38 employees, was dismayed when he realized his employee-of-the-month program wasn't helping morale. ….

This article is a great reminder to simply thank employees regularly.

Entrepreneur.com had a Q & A about employee appreciation without breaking the bank.

Show Your Staff Appreciation

Your company is going through hard times, but your employees are hard-working troopers. How can you show them your appreciation?

The key in the answer was about getting your employees to talk about the accomplishments they had versus you talking about what people have done.

Welcome to Coach Effect's Blog

2009-12-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

We are looking forward to using the blog as another communication vehicle that will allow us to share the management and leadership resources we find.

We are also in the following places on-line: