February 2012 Newsletter

Coaching Out of the Box®                                  Newsletter

February 2012 Edition

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Out of the Box: Coaching Topic of the Month
The Art of Listening; a Powerful Coaching Tool

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 Team Talk 

Are You Really Listening?
By Amy Ruppert, MCC, Chief Learning Officer: Coaching Out of the Box®

Listening is one of the most powerful core competencies of coaching. I've often told learners who are new to coaching if they can't remember the five coaching skills in our model, just remember to listen! That in itself is tremendously powerful.

When coaches move beyond the novice stage and into a more experienced level, there are a number of factors that raise the bar in their efficacy. It all begins with listening. The coach expands their capacity to hear beyond the words and listen on multiple levels. It's what I like to call full sensory listening. What does this mean exactly? Some of it is metaphoric and some of it is very real to the senses. Let's break it down:

Sight: What vision are you forming as the person speaks? What are you seeing in your mind's eye?

Hearing: What are you hearing in their tone, cadence, voice inflections and in specific words that are used?

Taste: What is the coachee expressing in your interpretation? Is it sweet, bitter, salty, spicy or sour?

Touch: Where and how are the coachee's words and expressions landing in your body? Does it touch your heart or give you a pang in your gut?

Smell: Does what you're hearing smell right? Is it adding up or is there something that smells "off"?

Intuition: Let's not discount what's often referred to as the sixth sense! What's your intuition telling you about what you're hearing? What inklings are you getting?

Sensory data is used to engage in the active listening done in coaching. When we receive that data we reflect it back to the coachee with the use of active listening skills such as mirroring, paraphrasing, summarizing and clarifying. Even if you're dead wrong about what you may have interpreted in what you heard, the coachee has the opportunity to correct it and clearly express what is really so if the coach remains in a neutral space and is open to and OK with being wrong. This makes the coachee feel heard, safe and understood which is the perfect environment for powerful coaching to happen.

Take the full sensory listening challenge this week. Pick one or two of these sensory areas to focus on and see how much deeper your listening goes. Developing each one is like developing a muscle. It needs to be worked!

This article can be republished as is and without edits. The following attribution must appear on the page: © 2012 All rights reserved Coaching Out of the Box® This article was originally written by Coaching Out of the Box® www.CoachingOutoftheBox.com

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
 

Coaching Fundamentals™

LEARN THE CORE COACHING COMPETENCIES TAUGHT TO PROFESSIONAL CERTIFIED COACHES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

Next program starts Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 7:00am - 8:30am Pacific/10am to 11:30 am Eastern for ten (10) consecutive Wednesdays

Click here for more details on Coaching Fundamentals™    

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5/5/5 Coaching Skills Train the Trainer Program™
  

FOR COACHES WHO ARE RESPONDING TO THE NEED OF LEADERS TO QUICKLY & EASILY ACQUIRE COACHING SKILLS!

Next program starts Tuesdays, May 1, 2012, 2:00pm - 3:30pm Pacific/5:00pm to 6:30pm Eastern for eight (8) consecutive Tuesdays  

Payment Options Now Available

 

REFINE YOUR COACHING SKILLS BY COACHING OTHERS AND HEARING OTHERS COACH IN A VIRTUAL CLASSROOM.

Next program starts Tuesday, September 25, 2012, 10am - 11:30am Pacific/ 1pm to 2:30pm Eastern for eight (8) consecutive Tuesdays

 Click here for more details on Coaching Skills Practicum™ 

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LEARN HIGHLY EFFECTIVE COACHING SKILLS THAT MAKE AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT IN YOUR WORK.

To bring this training to your group or organization and to obtain more information please click here (must have a minimum of ten people).

Questions? Contact us at Info@CoachingOutoftheBox.com or call us at: 1.888.422.6224.

Click here for more details on 5/5/5 Coaching Skills Training Program™  

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It's All the Buzz

"The feedback from participants has been amazing, particularly around the value of the practice sessions in between in solidifying their learning. I can't tell you how much we love your model and the ease in which our leaders have picked it up, experienced the value the coach approach has, and begun using it with their direct reports and with each other as peers. We are really hoping to continue to engage leaders in our organization and further develop their coaching skills using  Coaching Out of the Box®!" Lori Lacey, Corporate Learning Specialist, Workers' Compensation Board - Alberta  

To find out how you can bring the "coach approach" to your organization or practice, visit Our Goods section of our site to find the program for you! 

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In The Trainer Spotlight:
Marilyn Orr

This month's 5/5/5 Coaching Skills Training Program™ Licensed Trainer in the spotlight is Marilyn Orr and we couldn't be more pleased to share a bit about Marilyn with all of you! 

Coaching Out of the Box®:How have you been using the 5/5/5 Coaching Skills Training Program™ in your  day-to-day practice and/or internally in your organizations?

Marilyn: Although this is not the model I was trained on in my formal training, it is the model that guides the flow of my own coaching.  Since I have taught this model so many times it dominates, effectively all the coaching that I do.

In addition to my own coaching, it gives me an edge in my business development conversations because I know that many of the leadership development and culture change needs that organizations have can be impacted by us providing this training to their leaders.  It has helped to grow our business and to embed us in to organizations as their "go to" leadership development provider.

Coaching Out of the Box®:What impact has coaching had on your life?

Marilyn: Since I had a therapy background I naively underestimated the impact that coaching was going to have on my life.  Coaching has increased both my self-awareness and self-acceptance.  It has caused a paradigm shift in what I think I am capable of.  A few years back it led me to compete in bodybuilding (in my forties).

Last summer I was doing coaching skills training and since the number of participants was odd, I was getting coached.  That coaching, by someone so new to coaching, moved me forward significantly on my dream of publishing a book.  That book is going to the publisher next week!   

Coaching helps me turn my own personal dreams in to reality!

Coaching Out of the Box®:What's one thing you like to do for fun and why?