Coaching for Leaders

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191: Books and More Books, with Bonni Stachowiak May 04, 2015

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Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*. Question from Allison Do you have any tips on improving business acumen? I watched this TED talk. Susan Colantuono states that the reason women have a difficult time advancing in their careers is because their business acumen is not strong enough. What are your thoughts? Bonni mentioned Pocket Books by Debra Tannen* The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz* Marketplace 100 Best Business Books of All Time Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman and Joe Knight* Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur* Audio question from Suzie on how to record book notes Dave recommended Audible* (a free month of Audible and two free books available from this link*) Recommendation from Frank I work in supply chain for a large healthcare system and I'm often asked to lead project teams, so I'm finding the advice on the show very helpful. I find that the coaching skills that I learn can often be applied to either teaching 14 year old girls the great game of softball (which often crosses into life lessons), or managing 40 year old professionals on a project team. So with that in mind, may I suggest the book Coaching the Mental Game by H.A. Dorfman*? Although it's a sports coaching centric book, so much of it can be applied in other coaching roles and it's thought of the gold standard of sports coaching books. Dave also mentioned Positive Coaching by Jim Thompson* Question from Jignesh about personality type Dave’s past article on 7 Questions to Engage People You Just Started Managing will be helpful Recommendation from Jamie A really good book that I used with my team was The Thin Book of Trust: An Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work by Charles Feltman*. I had my entire team read it and then we discussed it. A big benefit of the book is that it is short but power packed. It really helped my team in four ways: The book does a great job in discussing well-formed requests (the goal, the deadline and the conditions for success). The first two my team did well, but the last one was an area we struggled with (me as well as several of my team members). Thus, we talked about ensuring that we dealt with the conditions for success – rather than making assumptions – if the conditions are not specified ask. The book does a good job about acknowledging how commitments should be made – rather than assumed or implied. The classic example is when everyone is in a meeting, a task is discussed vaguely and walking away from the meeting everyone believes someone is going to do the task – except that someone. Given #1 and #2, the book emphasized how well-formed requests and explicit commitments can bolster trust. Trust is negatively affected if the requests are not well-formed and commitments are not explicit to everyone – particularly the one with the task! The book breaks trust into sincerity, reliability, competence and care – seeing it broken down this way helped me and my folks analyze (and fix) some areas within our team where trust was broken and it also helped each person understand the reason for the lack of trust of certain people. The book even provides suggestions for how to repair trust in an approachable way. Question from Michael I had a valuable experience this week. I reside in the Washington DC/Baltimore/Virginia metro area and I mentor a young man who resides in Baltimore. In the wake of the recent riots he called me at 10 PM on Monday night and asked what I would do - he was unsure whether he should be on the streets protesting or whether he should stay home and watch. Now, I coach these young men to be responsible but also true to their instincts for doing what is right. In this case however, I was torn between advising what was responsible which in my opinion would be to stay home and what was right which was to join the protesters. I asked him what he felt Martin Luther King would do in this situation. His reply was that Dr King would would join the protesters and still abide by the law. I said the that's what you should do. Coaching/mentoring can be tough at these times. Any comments? Questions fron Abigail How do we develop a methodology with drastic ideas to stop doing things (meaning mostly tasks) or doing things differently. How should we manage our relationships with our external/internal suppliers/vendors? We mentioned Essentialism by Greg McKeown* Dave recommended Leading Change by John Kotter* Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

190: How to Improve Your Coaching Skills, with Tom Henschel Apr 27, 2015

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Tom Henschel Host, The Look & Sound of Leadership podcast and Executive Coach, Essential Communications When it’s a development issue (or a way of thinking) it’s coaching that’s most helpful. Tom says that coaching needs good goals, or at least one single goal over time. Think about the goal as if it were on video — how do you want the end result to look? “Coaching? It’s not about you.” -Tom Henschel “The coaching process is helping someone understand, from their own point of view, why it would be in their benefit.” -Tom Henschel Tom shared two stories from his teenage daughter Julia that helps him with coaching. Food for thought: Do people see coaching as part of their jobs? Do they have time for it? To improve your coaching skills: Let them go first. Use open ended questions, such as, “What does that sound like to you?” Earn the right to give advice. Tom last appeared on these two episodes: 107: Three Steps To Soliciting Feedback with Tom Henschel 164: How to Handle a Boss Who’s a Jerk with Tom Henschel Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

189: How to Stand Out, with Dorie Clark Apr 20, 2015

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Dorie Clark Author, Stand Out* It’s getting harder and harder for an individual’s message to get out and be heard. How to stand out as a thought leader: Have valuable intellectual content Build a following! There is a three-step process people are following to gaining an audience: One to one idea transmission (small mastermind) One to many idea transmission (writing, speaking, etc.) Many to many ideal transmission (others become ambassadors for you) “If you are the only person, who at the end of the day, is still talking about your idea. That’s a failure. You need to get other people talking about it.” -Dorie Clark Dorie mentioned her past article on Harvard Business Review: How to Reinvent Your Personal Brand How do you figure out what you want to be known for: Niche strategy - become a recognized expert in a narrow area and expand into related areas Combining ideas/fields - bring together elements from two or more fields Creating original research - information based on concrete knowledge from data or research (Dorie mentioned Nate Silver) Tackling a big problem - bring something of value the resolves a major issue for lots of people Creating a framework - build an explanatory system or device for your field (Dorie mentioned Robert Cialdini* and Dave mentioned Dale Carnegie*) “One of the most important things to do early on is content creation.” -Dorie Clark There really aren’t guarantees anymore in the work world. “You’re not just competing with the local talent pool. You have to explain to people why they should pick you.” -Dorie Clark Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

188: The Art of Stage Presence, with James Whittaker Apr 13, 2015

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James Whittaker Author, The Art of Stage Presence* “The audience will relate to your concept that you’re talking about much more than details.” -James Whittaker You are there for the audience, not you. “You are speaking for the audience, not to the audience.” -James Whittaker Have the first sentence completely committed to memory. During the first 99 seconds, do one of these four things: Inspire Intrigue Interest Inform Spend as much time on the opening as on the rest of the presentation. Seek out small stages to practice on (your 1:1 with a manager, team meetings, etc.) Give your attention to the people taking notes and nodding their heads and engaged with what you are saying. Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

187: Coaching, Accountability, and Wisdom, with Bonni Stachowiak Apr 06, 2015

Show notes

Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*. Question from Jignesh I have been on a leadership course in 2012. Through the Myers Briggs Test, I have learned about my personality type and have received feedback/comparison on world's most famous leaders. I also recently read Simon Sinek's book - Start With Why. My assessment about myself has been that I am an introvert. I love working on my own. I realize that Leaders need to challenge their own comfort-zone and for me this would be to try communicating my ideas and practicing my leadership skill by interacting with others. Knowing the fact that I am introvert. I am not sure how to strike a conversation and to get maximum out of my one-on-one meeting with my stranger LinkedIn industry colleagues. I will really appreciate receiving some advice or ideas on how to strike impactful conversations. Teaching in Higher Ed episode 38: Steve Wheeler Talks Learning with ‘E’s Question from Willie I value wisdom over rules, but wisdom doesn't scale well. Our director wants a more consistent experience for our customers. Rules are the traditional method to accomplish consistency, but we can't make a rule for every scenario because each scenario is different. We do have guidelines in place, which cover the vast majority of cases, but it seems like every time an exception occurs, the natural opinion across the organization is that we need to figure out a way to address the exception in the process. Is it okay for an exception to just be an exception? Bonni mentioned Zendesk Episode 92: Barry Schwartz on How to Tap Into Your Practical Wisdom Barry Schwartz: Our loss of wisdom Question from Simon I am downunder in Australia, love your show and your podcast is a staple in my professional life as a manager of customer-facing people in the software industry. I'd like to ask if you could dedicate some time in your podcast schedule to explore "accountability". It is common these days to hear the words "empowerment" and "accountability" in the same sentence and I use them often. The empowerment side of the coin is straight forward (do what you need to do). I'm looking for ideas on the "accountability" piece. Is this a stick / carrot mentality and how have you seen people make accountability mean something that people don't just pay lip service to. Dave’s three steps: Communicate Follow-up Consequence We also mentioned: Episode 117: The Seven Steps You Follow To Delegate Work Bonni mentioned Asana and Dave mentioned Basecamp Bonni mentioned Slack Here’s a recent article about Slack in the New York Times Question from Valery My current set-up is to act as a consultant working for a large training firm. It's a good set-up as consultants do not have to worry about the prospection aspect of the job on top of providing the training. On the other hand, it can be frustrating because they are not "my" customers. My set-up is good and I can live decently from it but I am looking for creating a company based on my areas of expertise (sales consulting and coaching). I have this inner voice telling me "Valery, it's going to the right direction" but what are the steps now? There are a few companies out there providing the same expertise but the addressable market is big enough. Are there any prerequisites such as raising funds to invest into technology and/or people? How should I consider the transition between my current set up (consultant) and the entrepreneurial one? Are there new forms of associations I should think of? For example, approaching a consulting company and offering to develop an activity in sales development I would partially own from an equity stand-point? Dave mentioned the StartUp podcast and Copyblogger Audio Question from Howie Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

186: How to Become a Champion, with Jeff Spencer Mar 30, 2015

Show notes

Jeff Spencer, D.C. DrJeffSpencer.com Jeff noticed that the people who should have won didn’t often win. “The single most important factor is how people perform in pivotal moments.” -Jeff Spencer “Do you have the readiness for the 3-5 pivotal moments that occur each year that will make or break your career or your life that year?” -Jeff Spencer “There’s a lot of people who have will and talent that don’t go anywhere.” -Jeff Spencer “You cannot think your way fast enough to be able to perform with ideal timing. Ideal timing and ideal responses are the direct product of your level of preparation.” -Jeff Spencer “Most people concentrate on all the things that can go wrong rather than the 1-2 things that have to go right.” -Jeff Spencer “The natural tendency is to want to be the best at whatever you’re doing. I don’t know if that’s really the best strategy. I think the place that you really start is creating your legacy.” -Jeff Spencer “Our judgements don’t help us and they don’t give us a free pass about what we need to do in terms of our own legacy and our own way of relating to people.” -Jeff Spencer Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

185: Establishing and Managing Your Online Reputation, with Kevin Pho Mar 23, 2015

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Kevin Pho, M.D. (Twitter) (Facebook) Author, Establishing, Managing, and Protecting Your Online Reputation Social media is not a passing fad, but many people perceive it as such since the media tends to focus problem situations. “Today, getting published and getting people to read your thoughts and read your articles is no more than a click of a button.” -Kevin Pho “If you have a strong social media presence, you are many steps ahead of your competition in defining yourself online.” -Kevin Pho “If you aren’t proactive in establishing your online reputation, other sites, such as rating sites, are going to create content about you.” Three steps to creating your identify online from Kevin’s book: Curate Connect Make a difference “Using social media to follow experts in your industry is a tremendous way to learn.” -Kevin Pho A strong social media presence can marginalize the rating sites. Set up a Google alert to monitor mentions of yourself online. Dave mentioned at the end of the show a previous episode on LinkedIn. Check out episode 101: How to Get the Most From LinkedIn. Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

184: Getting Things Done, with David Allen Mar 16, 2015

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David Allen: Getting Things Done The Getting Things Done steps: Capture—collect what has your attention Clarify—process what it means Organize—put it where it belongs Reflect—review frequently Engage—simply do. The methodology has not changed in the revision of the book, but what has changed is the number of people who need it. If what’s most on your mind right now is thinking about what should be on your mind, then it’s time to spend more time clarifying what is most important. “Not only do you need to spend time thinking, you need to spend time not thinking – absolutely daydreaming.” -David Allen Your biggest job is to define what your work is. “The big secret about Getting Things Done is it’s not really about getting things done. It’s about creating appropriate engagement with your life.” -David Allen “The people most attracted to what we teach, the GTD methodology, are the people who need it least.” David recommended The War of Art* by Steven Pressfield One of the best habits you can develop is to do the thing first that you are least looking forward to. Perfectionism is a huge obstacle for procrastination. David recommended Brain Chains* by Theo Compernolle Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

183: Use Technology to Build Relationships, with Tim Stringer Mar 09, 2015

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Tim Stringer Technically Simple and Learn OmniFocus Connect in Person to Strengthen Relationships Tim mentioned the podcast Home Work, a show for people who work at home Dave’s team at Dale Carnegie meets once a month for half a day Tim mentioned his co-working space, HiVE Vancouver Make Intentionally Richer Connections Move your level of communication up a level When possible, seek out the opportunity to connect by video We both recommend Zoom for video conferencing Ways to Stay Connected Participate in a mastermind group Attend a class that utilizes video-conferencing Social Media Tim and Dave both utilize Twitter and follow a limited number of people Ask the second question when interaction online, especially with a first connection Resources Sign-up for a free account with Zoom Tim has an affiliate relationship with Zoom. If your needs require a Zoom Pro account, utilize this link. Tim offers courses on Holistic Productivity that utilize many of the principles and technology we spoke of on this episode Tim recommends ShareDesk, a worldwide directory of co-working and meeting spaces, for those who are outside of Vancouver. Tim also suggests Meetup.com Learn more about Tim’s Holistic Productivity model from his prior appearance on Coaching for Leaders episode 151. Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

182: Presentation Skills and Questions, with Bonni Stachowiak Mar 02, 2015

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