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Terri Levine’s “24 Smiles A Minute” Video
No One is Right or Wrong… A Coaching Perspective
As a professional business and personal coach, I believe that we, as human beings, are all connected. We may not see this and sometimes we may even wish we weren’t, but it is an essential ingredient in the coaching process. I recognize this sense of connection, but I also recognize that we are each unique and have special gifts, talents, and offerings.
One of the challenges we all face, as human beings, is that of remaining non-judgmental. We tend to put labels on what we hear, such as right or wrong, good or bad, happy or sad, etc. Even young children hold judgment about what they see, hear, and experience. Somehow, society has trained us to judge others as good or bad and not to accept those who are different from us or what we consider the “norm.” But shifting into coaching mode, we believe that no one is right or wrong, good or bad … they just are, and we accept who or what they are, period. Not always an easy task, admittedly.
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Be Upstanding to be Outstanding
It would be reassuring if we could always assume every person we dealt with in business was an upstanding citizen who could be trusted to be open, fair and honest. How successful might we all become if we strived to be the best we could be in our own businesses and everyone else was striving likewise in their own endeavors. There would be no more scams, rip-offs, cheating or deceit.
You may have heard of the expression “be the change you want to see occur in the world”. Yes, it can be a challenge in a world where a percentage of people do not understand the concepts of being considerate, honest or helpful, being in it only for themselves. One of the problems is that some people simply do not see themselves as others see them. They are not aware of their own shortcomings because in their minds, they don’t have any shortcomings.
How do you know if you fall into this category? No offence, but none of us can progress if we are not aware of our shortcomings, because without this knowledge, there is nothing to work with. So let’s quiz Joe Bloggs and if you find yourself identifying with the responses, you may have a little work to do on your self-development… : (more…)
The Challenge for Today’s Manager
What do today’s managers have in common with yesterday’s? Despite progress and changes in the landscape of today’s modern business, the one constant, the one thing that has not changed, is that Managers are still playing the role of the middle-man… that go-between for upper management and the people they manage. The line they must walk is fraught with challenges and stresses, with each day presenting them with a new conflict of interests they must somehow deal with.
Managers are a species apart, expected to please all the people, all the time – which we know is impossible, right?
They must protect the interests of those they work for and those they manage. They must represent the view of those they work for and those they manage. When something goes wrong, guess who is in the firing line?
This is all in a day’s work for today’s Manager, who gets little thanks and acknowledgement, but plenty of criticism and blame.
But it doesn’t end there, in-house… (more…)
Communication Improves When You Connect
The very first skill a coach learns is how to connect with a client. This means we develop rapport and compassion as we listen and tune into the client. This way of connecting allows our clients to feeeeeeeeeeeeel safe and to open up and share with us.
To connect to others with ease we first quiet any conversations going on in our minds. As our minds get still and open we then pull our focus on the client. We listen and don’t worry about what to say and we allow the other person to fully complete what they want to say before we respond. We hear fully and deeply. We also listen for the gifts and greatnesses and strengths and other positive aspects the speaker has. We don’t judge – we simply listen and fully accept what is being said.
I believe that if everyone learned coaching skills and if we started coaching curriculum at early ages in our schools, people would be happier. Being heard is a human yearning. When we are heard we feeeeeeeeeeeel accepted. People who feeeeeeeeeeeeel accepted don’t have as many problems as they have a strong sense of self-esteem. I bet marriages would last; we’d have more friends that we really felt connected to and overall we’d be healthier mentally, emotionally, spiritually and perhaps physically.
What I want for my readers is to open their ability to tune in and to connect with others. It is a gift that you can give to yourself and those around you.
