Coaching for Leaders

Latest Episodes:

501: How to Build a Coaching Culture, with Andrea Wanerstrand Nov 23, 2020

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Andrea Wanerstrand: Microsoft & International Coach Federation Andrea Wanerstrand is a leadership coach and head of Microsoft Worldwide Learning Coaching Programs. Andrea has 15+ years of international experience in organizations ranging from 50 to over 150,000+ employees. She has a multi-industry background including technology solutions and services, business management consulting, and telecommunications. Andrea’s expertise is in leading the development and management of large-scale global coaching & leadership development programs specializing in customer centric organizations. In addition to leading the global coaching programs at Microsoft, she is an International Coaching Federation (ICF) PCC certified leadership coach, serves as a current Board Member on the ICF Global Board of Directors, and is a Fellow at the Institute of Coaching – Harvard McLean. In this conversation, Andrea and I discuss how the conversation about coaching culture started at Microsoft and how they began to bring this intention into practice. Plus, she shares what worked in designed programs for Microsoft leaders that helped in developing coaching skills and support the success of the entire organization. Key Points In their report on Building a Coaching Culture with Managers and Leadership, the International Coach Federation and Human Capital Institute say: Organizations with a strong coaching culture report recent revenue above their industry peer group (51% of organizations compared to 38% of other responding organizations). Sixty-four percent of respondents in organizations with strong coaching cultures report the presence of all three modalities, compared to 33% of respondents in organizations without strong coaching cultures. Three modalities of coaching: Coaching Services: formal global solutions for engaging with point in time development focused coaching (can leverage internal or external coaches). Coaching Capabilities: in the moment leadership behavior that facilitates empowerment, learning and activates a growth mindset. Coaching Champions: A common framework and approach to create and support a community of leaders/manager as well as internal coaches who are held to common standards and practices fostering coaching capabilities. Resources Mentioned Andrea Wanerstrand Related Episodes How to Improve Your Coaching Skills, with Tom Henschel (episode 190) These Coaching Questions Get Results, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 237) Move Coaching from Theory to Practice, with Jason Weeman (episode 493) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

500: Four Habits That Derail Listening, with Oscar Trimboli Nov 16, 2020

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Oscar Trimboli: Deep Listening Oscar is a mentor, coach, speaker, and author. He was a director at Microsoft for over a decade and headed up the MS Office division in Australia. Today, Oscar works with leadership teams and their organizations on the importance of clarity to create change, how to embrace the digital economy, and the role values play in the achievement of your purpose. He is the author of Deep Listening: Impact Beyond Words*. In this conversation, Oscar details the four habits that tend to derail our listening. We explore the patterns and behaviors of each habit, and how we can work to do better. Plus, Oscar invites us to notice feelings instead of words — as well as HOW people are saying things, not just WHAT they are saying. Key Points Four habits that derail listening: Dramatic Listener They get engrossed in the emotion and want to become an actor in it. Dramatic listeners tend to get caught up in the problem so much so that they don’t hear the idea or the solution. They may come away from an interaction feeling like they’ve really connected when in fact, they haven’t. Interrupting Listener We notice these people the most. They are coming from a place of concern and tend to listen to fix and solve the problem. They finish sentences wrongly and many listen for places to jump in as much as they are listening for the words. Lost Listener These listeners tend to zone out and appear not present. Lost listeners may be focused on something else. Technology devices have the potential to distract them substantially. Shrewd Listener These listeners are solving the current problem and also the next problem. They may create problems in their own mind that aren’t even what speaker said. They are smart enough not to interrupt, and often appear very engaged, but are not necessarily listening. Resources Mentioned Oscar’s Listening Quiz Deep Listening: Impact Beyond Words* by Oscar Trimboli The Four Villains of Listening (Deep Listening podcast) Book Notes Download my highlights from Deep Listening in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes The Way to Have Conversations That Matter, with Celeste Headlee (episode 344) Get Better at Deep Listening, with Oscar Trimboli (episode 408) The Way to Be More Coach-Like, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 458) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

499: The Way to Make Better Decisions, with Annie Duke Nov 09, 2020

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Annie Duke: How to Decide Annie Duke is an author, corporate speaker, and consultant in the decision-making space. As a former professional poker player, Annie won more than $4 million in tournament poker before retiring from the game in 2012. Prior to becoming a professional player, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the co-founder of The Alliance for Decision Education, a non-profit whose mission to improve lives by empowering students through decision skills education. Annie is the author of Thinking in Bets* and her newest book, How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices*. Key Points Better decision-making aims to reduce resulting and hindsight bias. Avoid using a pro/cons list in decision-making, as it tends to reinforce biases you already have. Use a decision tree to document potential decisions, possible outcomes, and the likelihood those outcomes will occur. More people being involved in a decision is helpful, assuming you are actually leveraging each person’s independent thinking. Negative thinking will help you foresee potential problems along the path of your decision so you can do a better job of mitigating issues before they occur. Resources Mentioned How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices* by Annie Duke Thinking, Fast and Slow* by Daniel Kahneman The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right* by Atul Gawande The Alliance for Decision Education Book Notes Download my highlights from How to Decide in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes How Women Make Stronger, Smarter Choices, with Therese Huston (episode 255) How to Approach Corporate Budgeting, with Jody Wodrich (episode 355) How to Ask Better Questions, with David Marquet (episode 454) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

498: Creating Management Structure, with Bonni Stachowiak Nov 02, 2020

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Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed Bonni Stachowiak is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, a professor of business and management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, Bonni was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. She is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*. Listener Questions Rajat asked us about the best ways to create management structures in his organization. Cathy wondered how we let things go in moments of personal frustration. Janet asked advice for forming and sustaining business partnership and alliances. Resources Mentioned Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box* by The Arbinger Institute Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't* by Verne Harnish Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business* by Gino Wickman Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself* by Mike Michalowicz Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't* by Jim Collins Related Episodes Three Keys to Effective Business Alliances, with Aaron Kent (episode 162) How to Create Team Guidelines, with Susan Gerke (episode 192) The Truth and Lies of Performance Management, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 361) Performance Measurement That Gets Results, with Stacey Barr (episode 419) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

497: The Way Into Difficult Conversations, with Kwame Christian Oct 26, 2020

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Kwame Christian: Negotiate Anything Kwame Christian is the Director of the American Negotiation Institute and business lawyer at Carlile Patchen & Murphy. His popular TED talk is titled Finding Confidence in Conflict. Today, he’s working extensively with organizations to help them improve their skills on negotiation and conflict resolution. Kwame hosts the top negotiation podcast, Negotiate Anything and is the author of the book Finding Confidence in Conflict: How to Negotiate Anything and Live Your Best Life*. Key Points Use the compassionate curiosity framework: Acknowledge and validate emotions Get curious with compassion Joint problem solving If a difficult situation needs to be discussed, giving a heads up to the other party in advance helps them to work through the initial, emotional reaction and reset for a more productive conversation. Separating conversations about the content or service being offered from the deal itself can be useful to focus energy in the right places at the right time. This is especially useful for creative folks or those who might be highly sensitive to negotiations. When dealing with someone who is not behaving well, use the phrase “The problem is…” as a transition point that provides you more agency in the conversation. Resources Mentioned Free Negotiation Guides from Kwame Negotiate Anything podcast Finding Confidence in Conflict: How to Negotiate Anything and Live Your Best Life* by Kwame Christian Book Notes Download my highlights from Finding Confidence in Conflict in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes An Astronaut’s Guide To Life On Earth, with Chris Hadfield (episode 149) The Way to Have Conversations That Matter, with Celeste Headlee (episode 344) How to Find Confidence in Conflict, with Kwame Christian (episode 380) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

496: How to Generate Quick Wins, with Andy Kaufman Oct 19, 2020

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Andy Kaufman: People and Projects Podcast Andy is a keynote speaker and author on leadership and project management. He’s President of the Institute for Leadership Excellence & Development and works with organizations around the world, helping them improve their ability to deliver projects & lead teams. He’s also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) and a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI®). Andy is author of Navigating the Winds of Change: Staying on Course in Business & in Life, Shining the Light on The Secret and an e-book entitled How to Organize Your Inbox & Get Rid of E-Mail Clutter and he’s the host of the People and Projects Podcast. Key Points Change is inevitable — and should not be viewed as the enemy. Often, our training and education tends to lead us towards not thinking in the terms of quick wins. Agile is about incremental delivery. Frequency is valued. Our bias should be towards shorter intervals. Quick wins ultimately help you generate much faster feedback, leading to future steps. Resources Mentioned People and Projects Podcast by Andy Kaufman Related Episodes How to Succeed with Leadership and Management, with John Kotter (episode 249) The Path of Humble Leadership, with Edgar Schein and Peter Schein (episode 363) How to Pivot Quickly, with Steve Blank (episode 476) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

495: How to Get Noticed on LinkedIn, with Stephen Hart Oct 12, 2020

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Stephen Hart: Trailblazers.FM Stephen is the host of the podcast Trailblazers.FM, helping entrepreneurs and leaders build amazing personal brands that are impactful, relatable and profitable. He features the stories of brilliant Black men and women – to help teach actionable strategies, valuable tactics and innovative tools that they can use on the journey to becoming transformative trailblazers. He’s also the creator of Brand in Demand which helps busy, heart-centered entrepreneurs and leaders through a proven step by step process to build an amazing personal brand that is authentic, impactful and profitable. Use coupon code CFL200 if you decide to dive in on Stephen’s course. In this conversation, Stephen and I go beyond creating a LinkedIn profile and discuss how to be more proactive on LinkedIn. By writing articles, creating short videos, or even streaming, you can gain organic attention on LinkedIn that isn’t always as accessible on other social media platforms. We discuss some of the key strategies to start and sustain a presence on LinkedIn. Key Points Articles can be used effectively to create content if you’re not yet ready for video, but still interested in building your personal brand. Consider a series of articles or other content that highlight your personal brand and speak to your leadership credibility. Use short videos (3-5 minutes) to tell a story that leads to a call to action. LinkedIn videos typically get more organic views than other social platforms. Live videos or steaming engage real-time conversations to have dialogue that invites relationships to go further. Resources Mentioned Brand in Demand (use coupon code CFL200 for $200 off) Related Episodes How to Write a Killer LinkedIn Profile, with Brenda Bernstein (episode 285) Permission to Be Yourself, with Bar Schwartz (episode 414) Find Your Leadership Voice, with Johanna Nalau (episode 420) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

494: Embracing Management and Empathy, with Bonni Stachowiak Oct 05, 2020

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Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed Bonni Stachowiak is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, a professor of business and management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, Bonni was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. She is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*. Listener Questions Liz wondered how a manager can empathize with an employee while continuing to uphold the businesses needs. Chris asked about fostering innovation while maintaining business efficiency. Colette wanted to know what activity was most helpful for us to decide the next direction of our careers. Dave and Bonni asked each other about what is giving life right now, and what is taking life away. Resources Mentioned 7 Habits of Highly Effective People* by Stephen Covey Design Thinking Methods: Affinity Diagrams by Matthew Weprin Related Episodes How to Lead Part-Time Staff, with Chris Deferio (episode 289) How to Work With an Executive Recruiter, with Becky deSouza (episode 406) How to Build an Invincible Company, with Alex Osterwalder (episode 470) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

493: Move Coaching from Theory to Practice, with Jason Weeman Sep 28, 2020

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Jason Weeman: Upwork Jason Weeman works to build meaningful relationships by creating experiences that are inspiring and transformational. He has worked for some of the top brands in the world, including Apple, LinkedIn, and Upwork. Today, he is the head of corporate learning and development at Upwork. One of the key areas of focus for his team and him is building a coaching culture. In this conversation, Jason and I discuss how his team was a catalyst for coaching culture at Upwork. We discuss what worked to influence culture in this way, what didn’t work, and the lessons they learned along the way. Key Points Be lazy, be curious, be often. -Michael Bungay Stanier Organizations are trying to create a culture for coaching, but not giving the feedback. The stronger that we develop a sense of common language on feedback, the better we get on quality. People sometimes don’t believe it should be so simple…so they try to make coaching development too complicated. Resist the urge to focus too much on data and tracking. Significant buy-in from executive leadership is critical for the success of a coaching program like this. Also, having a culture of “we” being in this together makes all the difference. Resources Mentioned Life at Upwork The Coaching Habit workshop The Last Feedback Workshop You’ll Ever Need Related Episodes These Coaching Questions Get Results, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 237) How to Get the Ideal Team Player, with Patrick Lencioni (episode 301) How to Create an Unstoppable Culture, with Ginger Hardage (episode 350) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

492: Make Your Dream Real, with Mikaila Ulmer Sep 21, 2020

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Mikaila Ulmer: Bee Fearless Mikaila Ulmer is a 15-year-old social entrepreneur, bee ambassador, educator and student. She founded her Me & the Bees Lemonade business when she was just four years old, and over the past decade has sold over 1 million bottles across 1,500 stores in the United States. Her appearance on Shark Tank at age nine scored a $60,000 investment from Daymond John. Mikaila has established herself as a voice of guidance for others, appearing on Good Morning America, The Today Show, 20/20, ABC World News Tonight, and many other venues. She was selected as one of Time magazine’s 30 Most Influential Teens and for Ebony Magazine’s Ebony Power100 #Black Excellence. She is the author of the new book, Bee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid*. In this conversation, Mikaila discuss what inspired her to start her business and the importance of a larger mission behind work. She talks about the importance of passion, balancing her work with her schooling, and how to support kids in doing great things. Plus, she shares what she’s learned along the way on turning a dream into reality. Key Points Turn adversity into advantage. It’s more enjoyable to build a business when you not only have hands-on experience and know-how, but passion. Big news needs to be approached with careful consideration. Aim to be good and kind in running a business. Resources Mentioned Bee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid* by Mikaila Ulmer Related Episodes How to Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, with Mark Barden (episode 207) How Leaders Build, with Guy Raz (episode 491) If You Build It, They Will Come (Dave’s Journal) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

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