Welcome to June!
Have you ever had a hard time coming up with a coaching topic? You have a coaching session booked and you keep ruminating over what you want to talk about. Sometimes this even happens in a public forum during coach training courses where you are asked to come up with topics for your coaching sessions. We asked our panel of esteemed experts to provide us with some insight on how they come up with coaching topics, here’s what they had to say…
“My go-to resource when I’m looking for a topic for coaching is my Personal Groundwork for Coaching Assessment. I consider that tool a snapshot in time and there are always things that surface that require my attention at different times of the year or in my life.
Alternatively, if you are open to it, reach out to your manager, your colleagues or your family and friends and ask for some feedback on what you are doing well and/or what you could be doing differently. Most people shy away from seeking out feedback on a regular basis. This can be one of the most powerful tools in continuing to work on becoming the best version of yourself.
Finally, think about the goals you have set for yourself. Have you achieved them all? Is there something you have always wanted to try or learn more about and for whatever reason you have yet to set the wheels in motion? Coaching can be a wonderful opportunity to begin to explore possibilities and build a bucket list full of things that would fulfil your wildest hopes and dreams. Too often we play it safe thinking we should only focus on what’s immediately possible. Why not play a bigger game and challenge yourself to think bigger!” — Sinive Seely, PCC, Coach Facilitator/Mentor Coach COBTx

With the holiday season upon us, it is time to give pause and reflect, what’s in a name? Answer: Everything.

Last week, I watched a commercial for a very large box retailer gladly tout, “Happy All-The-Days!” (pronounce it like Mary Poppins’ friend Bert might, with a terrible Cockney accent). Today in the grocery store, someone said, “Happy Day of Thanks”. Did they mean Thanksgiving?

My niece is a teacher in a local elementary school where they have removed specific holidays entirely from being discussed and celebrated. They removed Halloween and Thanksgiving in favor of “Fall Festivities”. They also removed Christmas (December 25), Chanukah (begins November 28), Diwali (November 4), and Kwanzaa (begins December 26) in favor of “Winter Holidays”.

Has there been a rash of recent holiday name changes that I am unaware of? Written by Patricia A. Lee, ACC for Coaching Out of the Box® Read More…

10 Simple Tips For Surviving the Holidays Like A Pro

Whatever your situation, the best way to survive the Holiday season is to be prepared for them, physically and mentally… and with the right provisions.

Online shop till you drop
Keep celebrations at home to a minimum
Only kids get gifts
Minimal Christmas decorations
Prepare in advance
Stock up in November

Embracing Diversity in YOUR Coaching

Gain insights on how you can deepen your presence, create a more open mindset and safer space to support your client’s experience.

We at Coaching Out of the Box® are pleased to be able to present and partner with a recognized Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion expert, graduate of our very own coaching program, and ICF ACC coach for our next FREE Webinar. You won’t want to miss this! Patricia A. Lee of P.A.L. Coaching and Consulting LLC is a lecturer, guest professor at Rutgers, and moderator for the World Trade Resources “Exploring the Dimensions of Diversity Through Date and People” 2021 series.

Free Webinar? Yes, please!

What does diversity mean to you and to your clients? Are you ready to explore and apply the essentials of Diversity and Inclusion in your coaching practice? We are excited to be hosting this upcoming FREE webinar in partnership with Patricia A. Lee of P.A.L. Coaching & Consulting LLC.

During this hour we will explore the concepts and importance of Diversity and Inclusion in coaching as well as gain insights on how you can deepen your presence and create a more open mindset and safer space to support the client’s experience. Whether you are a certified coach or an aspiring coach, this is one webinar you will not want to miss!

Join us for this FREE 1-hour Webinar!

Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Time: 11:00am Pacific / 2:00pm Eastern

Attendance earns 1-CCE

Remember, you must be in attendance for the entire hour to qualify for your certificate.

CLICK HERE FOR WEBINAR REGISTRATION

Making It As a Coach: Tips for Success

The professional coaching industry is growing rapidly, creating new opportunities as well as challenges for both new and experienced coaches.

Experts suggest there are several key factors that have led to the explosive growth of coaching. Each provides opportunities as well as some challenges to Making It as a Coach.

Key factors contributing to the growth of coaching include;

If you want to be a great coach, you must be a great listener.

Listening skills are essential for anyone who wants to be a great coach. Most people think that if they hear somebody, they must be listening to them, but that isn’t true at all.

Hearing is the passive act of perceiving sound by the ear, but listening is active. Listening is something you intentionally choose to do. It requires concentration so that your brain can process what is heard and then create meaning from words and sentences.

On average, people forget between one thirds and half of what we heard within 8 hours. The responsibility of coaching means that it isn’t good enough to be average.

Great coaches learn great listening skills. We teach great coaches!

Ready to Learn More? Check out our blog post on this subject. READ MORE…

Book a call with our Program Advisor – Emily MacDonald

7 Steps to Improve Decision Making

The amount and speed with which we receive information has almost become overwhelming.

Add that with the increased pressure to take action more quickly, and the continued stretch of leading (and living) through a pandemic, leaders find themselves with less and less time to think through a problem.

Without this space, I am seeing an increased number of the those I work with are making more reactionary, sometimes short-sighted decisions.

The Ladder of Inference is a powerful tool to help leaders identify their thinking process in order to challenge the premise of decisions, thereby increasing the probability of a solid decision. The Ladder of Inference was created by organizational psychologist Chris Argyris in the mid-1970s and became well known when it appeared in Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.

The Ladder identifies 7 steps, or rungs we climb to make decisions. — Rosa Edinga, MBA, PCC Coach Facilitator, Coaching Out of the Box®

Ready to Learn More? Check out our blog post on this subject. READ MORE…

Book a call with our Program Advisor – Enrolment Coach

Coach Credentialing

We receive many questions about coach certification and the process of obtaining an ICF credential. And really, the number of questions we receive is no surprise. With multiple application paths as well as different and changing requirements, the process can be confusing. Applying for your ICF credential is a BIG step and you don’t want to miss anything that could delay or jeopardize receiving your credential. Our goal is to provide useful tips to those who are currently or will soon be pursuing the ICF ACC credential.

Powerful Coaching Questions
Almost every conversation begins with questions. Getting to know someone better can lead into a more in depth and complete dialogue. This is even more important in the coaching field. The biggest challenge comes in when deciding what questions are the best to ask and each situation can be different, requiring unique question plans. Overall, however, there are some great questions to progress through a coaching dialogue with a coachee. Here are a few:

Coaching the Poor Communicator
Let’s talk about a common yet very important coaching challenge – coaching the poor communicator. Of course, communication can be written or verbal and many points in this newsletter can apply to both but, for now, we are narrowing our focus down to interpersonal verbal communication.

When information is exchanged there must be a balance between giving and receiving. When communication works, there is a connection between the individuals involved. This gives us clues as to where we might focus when working with a poor communicator.