Lisa Wynn - Master Certified Coach, Coach Mentor & Agent of Change

Running and Leadership:

Some of you will know I am currently in training for my first triathlon!! In true Lisa style this new project involves as much learning as I can manage. One of the books I am really struck with is called "ChiRunning".

"ChiRunning" describes itself as a "revolutionary approach to effortless, injury-free running" and combines the knowledge of a very successful ultramarathon runner and the ancient wisdom of a t¹ai chi master and so far much of it lends itself beautifully to the art of leadership.

So, I have decided to make it the first topic of our new "Book of the Month Club". In this virtual Book Club we will recommend a book each month and then blog about our thoughts on it and invite you to do the same thing. If it ignites people¹s attention enough, then maybe we will offer a teleforum session on some or all of the books.

"ChiRunning" offers a lot of food for thought on general wellbeing, running (of course) and also on personal development. And as I say, I believe it applies beautifully to leadership so something for everyone in it. I will post on this blog my thoughts as I go along and you are cordially invited to read along and share thoughts on the book or just read the blog entries and I hope you will get a lot from that too!

So, the link to the book is in the left hand column if you fancy grabbing a copy (it is an associate link to Amazon and all proceeds go to Cancer Research charities).

Employers want "soft skills"

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The CBI/Edexcel Education and Skills Survey for 2008 demonstrates how much employers value - and need - the "softer skills" that make people more employable. The report highlights the need for companies to grow their profitability in this time of economic uncertainty and that this requires effective leaders and managers able to drive the business forward with a culture of continuous improvement. And yet 53% of firms are concerned that they may not be able to fill this requirement for skilled employees. Only 47% of companies think that their managers are effective - and only 20% of firms described their team leaders' and supervisors' skill levels as being good!

The key "soft skills" include ...

A new level of partnership

One of the key skills in coaching presence is identified by the International Coach Federation (ICF) as the "depth of partnership with the client". One of the specific areas of competency mentioned in the description of mastery of this presence is the concept of the coach inviting the coachee to help design the coaching process rather than just the agenda.

The metaphor for masterful coaching presence that I love is “to leave no footprints”. It brings to mind for me the experience of having had someone walk “alongside” you, sharing your journey, contributing to the experience of that journey but at the end of the journey, their presence is all that’s left – no footprints; no indentations to show that they were there. And yet, somehow, at some level you know they were a help, a catalyst giving of their energy, but without having directed the walk.

So how do we create such a presence? Here are some suggestions:

Team Coaching Seminar

On request we are organising another date for the Team Coaching Seminar.

The new date is Thursday 10th July 2008 and will be held in London, UK.

Click here for further details.

We are limited to 8 places on this advanced training workshop, so early sign up is recommended. On sign up, you will be sent some pre-workshop reading so that we can make the very most of the time together.

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"Your style of 'teaching' (although teaching seems an inadequate word to use) is inspirational you make it seem so effortless, enjoyable and simply mind blowing."

Julia Miles, Professional Coach

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Who should attend?

• Coaches who wish to develop their existing coaching skills to work with teams (please note this is not appropriate for those wishing to start to learn to coach)
• Experienced coaches wishing to develop their coaching skills and technical understanding of the core coaching competencies
• Those coaches wishing to go for ACC, PCC or MCC and who are looking for some developmental training hours to support that process as well as moving their careers along

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Your investment in this full days training is only £199 + vat or

£149 + vat if you are a current/previous programme delegate.

Billing and payment is by invoice and cheque/BACS payment or by secure online payment.

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To book your place:

Please call Tracey on 08707 501966 to book by telephone or to reserve a place and request an invoice for cheque/BACS payment or visit the website for secure online payment.

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All training hours are in alignment with the International Coach Federation's Core Coaching Competencies.

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Click here for further details.

How to utilise coaching skills training to support managers in being better managers:

It is a complex question that requires tailoring to the organizational setting, but some of our key pointers are:

1. Start with the end in mind
2. Know how to recognise success
3. Speak to your managers
4. Assure workplace application is included in the training
5. Build in personal development to the training programmes

Why “Manager as Coach” programmes can cause problems:

Having done a fair bit of trouble shooting with companies on this topic, here are the top reasons why Manager as Coach Programmes seem not to deliver value:

1. Lack of measurement
2. Lack of proper funding
3. Lack of real strategic purpose
4. Lack of workplace application and support
5. Lack of “walking the talk”

Manager as Coach - time to rethink?

It’s a nice idea – managers who consistently coach their teams day in and day out; ever ready with a lovely open question and endlessly patient, managing never to leap in and tell their team member what to do.

We know that individuals tend to leave companies because of their manager rather than because of the company itself – so it makes sense to have these super managers coaching away and helping to retain your organizational talent.

And yet, strangely enough, we often hear from companies who have spent a lot of time and money training their managers as coaches only to find out that there is no measurable effect despite a large financial investment.

Many of these companies are getting the feedback that their staff does not actually feel they are being coached. Their experience of being within that manager’s team has not noticeably improved.

In fact, some of these organizations have told us that their managers’ 360 results have actually diminished as a result of their coach training – they are perceived as being weaker; finding it more difficult to make decisions and lacking leadership …

So, should we all stop running and delivering “Manager as Coach” type programmes then? Yes. I would say so and tomorrow, I'll look at 5 common problems "Manager as Coach" programmes can cause. 

Using our coaching skills to evaluate ROI

Last week, I came across an interesting article about evaluating the effectiveness of coaching  by Elouise Leonard-Cross over at www.TrainingZone.co.uk.  Training Zone is a great site for corporate training professionals, which just like this blog, allows you to interact with other professionals by leaving your comments.  Here's the comment I left:

"I have found that giving the client the responsibility for knowing what success would mean to them and how they will evaluate that can be a great deal more powerful than offering any kind of set evaluation approach.

• How will they know that their investment in coaching was a good one?
• How will they recognise it when it happens?
• And how should the coaching programme be set up to best meet these requirements?
• What are the check in processes along the way?
• How will they know they are on track?

The other vital piece of questioning around evaluation is about sustainability because that often challenges the organisation to shift as well as the few people going through the coaching programme. Coaching is a great way to waste money if the organisation is not prepared to put in place the changes that would support an ROI!

It may well sound like a cop out in terms of rigorous ROI measurement but asking for a strong set of desired outcomes and how the client will recognise those can I believe be a powerful and cost effective way of evaluating coaching."

What do you think? How do you measure coaching ROI - as a coach and/or a 'coachee'? To leave your comments, simply click on the 'Comments' link below this post and fill out the form provided.

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MyBlogLog - social media marketing fun

As part of my new blogging and social media adventures, I've joined MyBlogLog. I'm currently Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification which is what this post is really for, but it's also a chance for me to let you know about this great social media resource.

Check out MyBlogLog here and if you you join/are already a member, please do join my community and say hello. :o)