How do you celebrate?

How do you celebrate?

Celebration is an underutilized resource in most coach relationships. What I mean is, when a leader meets a milestone, accomplishes something extraordinary or overcomes a barrier – it is easy to miss the opportunity to celebrate. Celebration comes in many forms, however, what I have learned is that it is not necessarily the method of celebration that matters but rather the heart behind such recognition. In other words, it must be MEANINGFUL!  Let me share a story.

As you might imagine from the photo above, this month I celebrated my son’s Joel recent college decision. One of our favorite forms of celebration is an early Friday afternoon pizza at our favorite restaurant. This is not unusual for us.

For the last couple of years I’ve been taking Joel to pizza about once a month. These are special times for us to check-in, discuss issues of the heart, and to explore future direction. Of course, I can’t help myself and these conversations morph into coach-like conversations that focus on issues that have propelled Joel forward. Oh how I look forward to these times with my son!

When mentoring coaches I help them see the value of celebration by asking the following questions:

  • What does meaningful celebration look like for you?
  • When was the last time you celebrated?
  • How did you celebrate?
  • How do you help people you coach celebrate?
  • What are some of the ways people you coach like to celebrate?

What kinds of things have you helped leaders celebrate?

Please comment below, I’d love to hear your experience.

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Have a wonderful week!

Rule of Thirds?

Rule of Thirds?

You’ve probably heard about the rule of thirds as it relates to art and photography.  Recently though, people have been talking about a rule of thirds as it pertains to personal and professional development.  This was reinforced as I completed a year-long training process with a network of church planting coaches this month.

These are outstanding leaders in their own right. Over the course of the training process participants were asked to engage in various learning environments including webinars, workshops, triads, etc. As you might expect, when life got in the way the urgent took precedent over the important and people were forced to choose. What I found was that 2/3 of the participants were able to complete the training.

The insight I’ve learned from training various groups over the last 25+ years is that there seems to be three distinct levels of engagement from individuals you train.

  • Group #1 were “All in!” They surpassed expectations. About 1/3 of the group I trained were these high achievers.
  • Group #2 were “Right on!” They met expectations. Another 1/3 engaged in the process and finished well.
  • Group #3 were “Not yet!” They under-performed. This final 1/3, did not engage at the level of the first two, were inconsistent or failed to complete the process e.g. the timing for them was off.

It is important to have realistic expectations when training leaders. What is your experience like? When you objectively assess your training results, what percentage are in Group #1, Group #2 and Group #3?

Please comment below, I’d love to hear your experience.

I am entering the FB community and the 21st. Century.  In May I will be traveling to India & Turkey to conduct coach training workshops.  Please “Friend me” on Facebook to receive updates along the way.

Have a wonderful week!

Problem Solving & Decision Making Profile

Last week I mentioned that the www.infocusnet.org website is being redesigned.  We are in the last stages and the site will be up and running this month.  I’m excited to have a fresh look and hope you have a chance to check it out when it goes live!

Every once in a while we are presented with excellent options forcing a difficult choice.  Some decisions have significant ramifications while others don’t compare.  Let me illustrate.
I have two teenagers.  Joel is a senior approaching graduation and Zoe is a junior. For the last several years we have been discussing what each envisions for their future beyond high school.  In November 2015 Joel was accepted by school “X” and last week was accepted by school “Y”.
I won’t get into the granular issues but Joel is using a simple decision-making tree exercise along with on-campus visits to make his decision.  That exercise is helping him look at the facts, prioritize his issues and make an informed decision.
Not all problems are created equal.  However, the skills required for problem-solving & decision-making are consistent.  See if the Problem Solving & Decision Making Profile help you as you coach leaders in this vital area.

This instrument provides a highly structured process through which to look at the whole topic of problem solving. The subject is therefore broken down into individual competency categories as follows:

  • Critical thinking
  • Data gathering and processing
  • Tool selection methods
  • Alternative weighing ability
  • Lateral conceptualization
  • Perception and judgement
  • Risk assessment skills

Participants plot their scores onto a histogram chart for each category. This quickly shows where efforts to improve should be concentrated in the future. Detailed interpretation notes are included for each category, including improvement actions for low scorers.