Why is it important to pay attention to the way you feel? How is “feeling good” connected to creation? In this interview we explore the importance of focus, joy and creation from a place of ease. Who we really are is infinite potential, our limitations are always our beliefs. And finally, we also discuss how the world is responding to your energy rather than your words.

Great article by Harley Finkelstein COO of Shopify.  This guy is really, really smart :-)

New Year. New You. Seriously?

Perhaps more accurate is New Moment. New You.

Each New Year - and each moment - presents an opportunity to explore who you truly are…

Byron Katie says, “Without your story, you’re perfectly fine.”
What's even more true is that you are ALWAYS perfectly fine! With or without your story. 

How is coaching distinct from teaching, consulting, mentoring and other modalities?

Abundance is experienced effortlessly when we are not focused on its absence.

This article provides great points on what makes coaching effective.

As a leader, what is your mindset around accountability? Some leaders believe that people resist accountability. When you are acting based on a false premise it makes you ineffective. Coaching from the mindset that people resist accountability causes you to believe that your job is to create sufficient pressure to overcome that resistance. But what happens when you apply pressure to people (think about your kids or your spouse)? You increase their resistance to you! And how do you overcome increased resistance? You increase the pressure - which causes their resistance to get stronger! Remember the definition of insanity?

Some very deep insights in this article for leaders who want to coach more effectively. Although the article is about providing support during someone's final days, the lessons about "holding space" are incredibly relevant for the coaching relationship.

“Unless, therefore, an executive looks for strength and works at making strength productive, he will only get the impact of what a man cannot do, of his lacks, his weaknesses, his impediments to performance and effectiveness. To staff from what there is not and to focus on weakness is wasteful - a misuse, if not abuse, of the human resource.” - Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive

There are so many advantages to coaching employees when they bring you problems.  

The employee is developing and honing their critical thinking skills. 
The boss isn’t getting sucked into every little employee problem (what we often call ‘reverse delegation’). 
The employee is learning how to take initiative and be proactive. 

Short article with great tips and useful coaching questions.

My favourite: If you want people to listen to you, listen to them.
Also: Talk less. People listen when you talk less.
And: Ask questions before making statements.

This is a popular question from leaders when they are struggling to make a difference with one of their people.  In my coaching certification I did not like the answer.  They suggested that everyone is coachable - it's just that there are ineffective coaches.  Ouch!

As a leader, if you can be curious when coaching people - in a forward-facing way - you will create clarity that's followed by energy. Minimize time spent asking about the past. Rather focus more on where people want to go and get curious about how they might move forward.

“Leadership is about understanding others and getting them to do what THEY want to do.”

Success is always about people. All managers get things done through people, the question is how. Another great, succinct article by Dan Rockwell provides some distinctions between coaching managers and traditional managers.

As a manager or leader, if you can't hold the belief that your people are capable, you cannot coach them.  Coaching is only possible on this foundational belief.
To be a more effective coach - Stop focusing on lack.  Begin focusing on capability. If your people aren't capable you hired the wrong people.

This short article provides some great coaching questions you can use in dealing with capable people.  

Excellent example of a simple and casual coaching conversation any leader/manager can use.  Illustrates how coaching doesn't have to take a long time. 

Important for managers to keep in mind when they are coaching people through change. This brief article from Harvard Business Review provides the brain science that explains why you need the right ratio of positive vs negative messages.

Some excellent ideas and perspective for leaders and managers.  Coach more frequently and casually.  Reduce the formality - build it into your routine conversations with your people.  Use coaching questions while walking to lunch.  This short blog walks you through an excellent example of ad hoc, impromptu coaching.  It's all about having a coaching mindset - always thinking about how you can help others achieve more.

Good tips (and nice photography) in this short presentation on how to bring out more of what's great in others.
Important skill for managers who want to be effective coaches.

Probably the simplest and best tip for leaders who want to be more effective as a coach.  Ask questions - rather than tell them what to do or how to do it. 

The smartest leaders have figured out that they need a coach. In other words, they’ve learned that they’re not the smartest guys in the room.

I often hear leaders ask "How can I convince others to do what I want them to do?" Good tips in this short article. You don't convince. They convince themselves. Get more interested in their reasons for why they might commit. Help them discover that.

No one listens to you until they feel understood by you.  Before changing what’s in place, understand it.