Get Your Heart in the Game!™

“Whether you are ready or not ... it’s just your turn.
It’s time to do your great work!”

Coaching does work. It works because asking good questions and listening with curiosity are leadership skills that never get old. Our challenge right now, in the midst of overhauling big time change, is to continue and get better at what works in leading people ... talking to them.

Read on, if you want to know what makes good coaches good ... there are a million reasons why coaching seems too much to ask right now ... and three solid reasons to begin now, today ... in ten minutes or less.

Coaching Moments ... Yes, I said Moments, Not Hours! 

These conversations don't need to take forever. When you are overwhelmed with a long list of priorities it is easy to put off a "coaching meeting" because there is no time. Real conversations that are open and honest can assess current reality and future possibilities in only 10 minutes. The most important thing about these meetings is being completely focused and connected in the present moment and being able to ask powerful questions while listening with real interest.
 

Actually there are three coaching moments - Getting Clear, Creating Possibilities and Sparking Action.

 

1. Getting Clear

If the minute someone says "I have a problem", you hear, "I have a solution", a real conversation is being traded for speed. Getting clear is the first step in doing great work. Getting clear is a massively underused skill in organizations. We are in a hurry to take action and very often because of this bias to execute we get busy working very hard and having all kinds of ideas on the wrong challenge. As a leader, helping people figure out the real challenge is the most important thing you do.

Here are some great questions to ask:
 

• What are you concerned about?
• What's got your attention?
• What's the real challenge for you? 
• What's difficult here? 
• Give me the bottom line. 
• What do you want? 
• If you had to choose one challenge to work on now, what would it be? 
  

2. Create Possibilities 

"Nothing is more dangerous than one idea when it's the only one you got." Emile Chartier. This coaching moment is an opportunity to generate creative effective solutions to a challenge instead of going ahead doing things the way they have always been done thinking it is the only solution. Often when this happens there is not much excitement about action ... it feels old, boring and stuck. Imagine having bolder conversations that provoke you to think outside of the box, that dare you to come up with something better and actually revel in the process of creativity!

 

Here are some great questions to ask:

• If you could not fail, what would you do?
• What's the easiest thing to do? 
• What's the boldest thing to do? 
• What's the crazy thing to do? 
• What are you afraid of doing? 
• What are you avoiding doing? 
• What do you want to do? 
• What will you do?
  

3.Spark Action                                             

"When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done." Lou Holtz said that ... it seems to be true. The final moment is a conversation around accountability. In this conversation the coach is helping create a plan to implement the idea and anticipate the challenges along the way. One of the big things here is encouraging people to enlist help and support. Many of us have been trained to "go it alone" and may feel vulnerable seeking out the support needed to bring a plan to fruition. Bottom line is people want accountability. Everyone wants to be held to their biggest potential and have someone expect them to contribute more than they thought possible!

Here are some great questions to ask:

• What will you do?
• By when?
• What does finished/success look like?
• How will you let me know?
• What are the consequences of not doing it?
  

What if more communication like this is the key to having people feel valued, respected, connected, more secure, more optimistic and excited about their work? Wouldn't you want to know how to have more 10 min ... real ... less scripted conversations?

"It is time to do your great work. This is what we want more of. This is the work that is meaningful to you, that has an impact and makes a difference. It inspires, stretches and provokes. Great work is the work that matters. "