Resources

What is Coaching?

This short video is a great introduction to professional coaching. It distinguishes coaching from therapy, consulting, and mentoring. Coaches believe that people are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole so there is a "lot of asking" and "not much telling" in a coaching collaboration. Coaches bring out the best in clients and discuss support structures needed to sustain top performance. The video was produced by the Leadership Coach Group's parent company Churchill Consultants.

Brene Brown (Researcher. Storyteller. Texan.)

Brene Brown's TED talks about her research on courage, vulnerability, and shame have been seen by more than 30 million people. What follows are some select quotes from the videos posted here. What underpins shame and a feeling of "I'm not good enough" in its various permutations is "excruciating vulnerability." Why be vulnerable? "In order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen, really seen." The original definition of courage is "to tell your story of who you are with you whole heart." Why is it important to overcome the sense of unworthiness and shame we all carry around? "The people who have a strong sense of love and belonging believe they're worthy of love and belonging... the one thing that keeps us out of love and connection is our fear that we are not worthy of connection." Why is vulnerability so important in our business and life? "Vulnerability is the birthplace of creativity, innovation, and change. To create is to make something that has never existed before. There's nothing more vulnerable than that. Adaptability to change is all about vulnerability."

Marshall Goldsmith's 6 Daily Questions

Questions can be very powerful. Thousands of peoples lives have benefited by asking themselves six simple questions at the end of each day. The questions are: 1) Did I do my best to set clear goals today? 2) Did I do my best to make progress towards my goals today? 3) Did I do my best to find meaning today? 4) Did I do my best to be happy today? 5) Did I do my best to build positive relationships today? 6) Did I do my best to be engaged today? Notice that each question starts with "did I do my best," achievement is not dependent on anyone else. In a study of nearly 5,000 people: 91% reported improvement in a lest one area, 67% improved in at least four items, and 34% of participants improved in all six areas. Start your 6 Daily Questions practice today!

20 Flawed Communication Behaviors

These are 20 flawed communication behaviors compiled from Marshall Goldsmith's best-selling book What Got you Here Won't Get You There. Many leaders exhibit at least some of these behaviors some of the time and inhibit their ability to effectively communicate with and lead their team. Reaching the next level of performance often requires stopping them to enable greater leadership success. Coaches can help clients engage with stakeholders to be accountable for stopping these behaviors on their way to new levels of responsibility and achievement.

How Women Rise

International women's leadership expert Sally Helgesen and bestselling author & renowned leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith have trained thousands of high achievers—men and women—to reach even greater heights. Again and again, they see that women face specific and different roadblocks from men as they advance in the workplace.

In fact, the very habits that helped women early in their careers can hinder them as they move up.

Simply put, what got you here won’t get you there . . . and you might not even realize your blind spots until it’s too late. Below are links to a one-page summary of their book How Women Rise and a webinar about breaking the 12 habits holding women back.