What???

Here are two of my favorite commercials:

Where's the Fence? (Hyundai football commercial)  and What? How? (Whirlpool Washer/Dryer commercial).

I'm not endorsing either company, just acknowledging their clever use of Questions in their ads.

“What do you notice about your questions?”

It’s a simple question, really. We ask the students in the Georgetown Leadership Coaching Program to observe their questions and reflect on what they notice.

Hundreds of student coaches have written this paper over the years. I read through another batch just this morning, and was – again – delighted and inspired by what the students learn. 

We assign this paper because it’s important for coaches to be aware of the questions they ask, the questions they avoid, and how the context impacts their questioning.  This awareness is a foundation for moving into being thoughtful and artful in using questions in coaching conversations.

But the real learning is much deeper, varied, nuanced, and personal.  This learning often comes as a surprise. The student becomes aware that how he/she asks questions is a reflection of how he/she sees the world and his/her place in it. And the “world” is their relationships, their role in workplace power dynamics, or their own master self-assessments, fundamental fears, deep passions. Their patterns of asking questions grow out of a lifetime of past experiences, culture and family relationships, and years of professional training.

To move into coaching is to leave behind one view of the world and embody another, in which you are someone who loves questions; who is confident asking questions that feel too probing and too personal; who can draw out deeper insight and meaning with just a question. 

What are you noticing about your questions?

How Does a Coach Listen?

Creativity and finding new paths requires listening to what is and imagining what could be...

T-Shirt seen on the streets of Bath, Maine Summer 2015

“Active Listening” is a familiar term. In general, it describes listening that requires effort by the listener to be attentive, use body language to communicate that attentiveness, and restate or summarize what is heard and understood.

This type of listening is important for coaches. But is being actively attentive enough to help our clients find new perspective and awareness, to break out of their current reality to see future possibilities? What does active listening mean for coaches?

The ICF defines Active Listening as “The ability to focus completely on what the client is saying and is not saying, to understand the meaning of what is said in the context of the client's desires, and to support client self-expression.”

To me, a coach listens beyond and around what the client is sharing, tuning into patterns of thought; topics skipped over or avoided; shifts in emotions, tone or energy; charged words, phrases or metaphors; incongruities between words, emotions, and body. The coach also listens to her own experience of the client, noticing her own shifts in energy, focus, and the curious questions that bubble up inside her.   Listening in this way allows us to find paths to explore that the client may not have seen on their own.

Our listening creates the space for our client to talk, reflect, and explore. It impacts the quality of our questions and observations.  It sets the direction we use to guide the coaching conversation.

What is your understanding of “Active Listening” for coaches? If you were observing a coach, how would you know the quality of their listening? How do you know if you are listening at your best?

Upcoming Events:

I will be a speaker at the March 14  ICF New England, Maine Affiliate event in Portland. You can register through the events page on ICFNE website - ICFNE.org.

The Coaches Master Class starts at the end of January and again in March. Email me if you're interested in joining this small group learning experience.

I offer Mentor Coaching to meet your credential requirements, tune-up your coaching, and prepare for the Coach Knowledge Exam for ICF. We'll design a program that works for you!

A Safe an Courageous Space for Coaches

This lace shawl was made possible by my friend and knitting expert (Cheryl) who steps in to help with any of my challenges. She creates a safe and courageous space on my journey to knitting mastery!

In my coach training with CTI, I remember learning the "new" idea of creating a safe and courageous space for our clients. I immediately realized that the “space” in my workplace was neither safe nor courageous. Not that is was dangerous, mind you. But it was an environment where you didn’t want to rock the boat too much and you certainly couldn’t show any weakness or uncertainty.  Moving up in the organization required a great deal of either courage or naiveté, because you were on your own to figure out how to do the new job, without ever admitting to uncertainties or asking too many questions.

Many gatherings of coaches feel that way to me, too. They are a places to put your best foot forward, to talk about how much work you have, mention the high-profile clients you’re working with (with permission, of course), and retell stories of your coaching triumphs.  I find myself holding back from these conversations, because the conversation I really want to have includes revealing the challenges and struggles we’re having as coaches.  

I want a safe and courageous space to talk about our coaching.

The Coaching Master Class (formerly the PCC Master Class) is such a space. Students who’ve completed the program have appreciated the level of honesty they can bring as they share their personal challenges. They’ve found a space of non-judgement and exploration. And they challenge themselves and each other to address those challenges head-on by practicing new coaching moves with their clients.

Class highlights

• Small class size (maximum of 5 students)
• 17.5 Core Competency CEUs, 0.5 Resource Development CEUs
• 8 tele-classes for lecture and discussion
• Homework assignments to deepen your learning
• $1,300.00 class fee

New classes are start 5 times per year. Email me - suemcleod9@gmail.com - if you’re interested in participating or attending an Orientation Session

Orientation Session Schedule:

• Tuesday January 12, 11:30am - 12:30pm
• Wednesday January 12, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
• Monday, March 7,  11:30am - 12:30pm
• Wednesday, March 22, 7:00pm - 8:00pm

PCC Master Class - Summer 2015 - Watch your coaching grow this summer!

Spring has finally arrived in Maine and the gardens are planted. Now we watch, weed, and water to support the new growth that will soon (we hope!) be reaching towards the sun.

If you’re ready to spend some time this summer watering, weeding, and watching your coaching grow, consider joining my PCC Master Class. It’s perfect for ACC’s reaching towards becoming a PCC.  It’s also perfect for PCC’s reaching to be more mindful and masterful in their coaching.

Join the PCC Master Class to

• Dig into the ICF expectations of a masterful PCC level coach
• Turn over and examine your own coaching in a confidential and supportive group of peers
• Weed out the bad habits you’ve been tolerating
• Sow the seeds for being the best coach you can be

  The PCC Master Class is

• Small classes with experienced coaches
• Six 90-minute tele-classes over 6 months
• Flexible scheduling
• ICF approved for 9 core-competency CEUs
• $900 class fee

Call or email now to reserve your place for the Summer 2015 class.

Sue McLeod

suemcleod9@gmail.com

(207) 751-1689

Coach, Are you an Innocent Bystander? or a Passive Enabler?

You know that feeling when you're coaching. Your client is doing what they always do. Maybe they talk a lot and never really get to the point. Maybe they "I don't know" a lot and deflect all invitations to explore new paths. And, since you've been here before, you let them do what they do, feeling powerless and "skill-less" to change the course of the conversation.

You're an innocent bystander to your client.

Innocent because it's not your fault (it's the client's fault). Bystander because you're on the sidelines watching and listening, and being a little bit of a victim, too.

This term came to me in a PCC Master Class session I was leading on Establishing the Coaching Agreement. We were discussing challenges with clients who are difficult to pin down, who can't seem to focus on what they want from the coaching, who only want to talk about what's already happened, and who never come to the coaching session with a topic in mind.

Listening to these stories led me to reflect on my own coaching. Of course, I have clients like this, too.  With reflection, I had an epiphany - I've been taking the role of "innocent bystander" with clients who don't come to the session with a clear topic, ready for coaching.

I'm now reframing.

When I pull back from the coaching conversation and blame the client, I'm not really "innocent". In fact, you could say I'm guilty. Guilty of not being a full partner, of not owning my responsibility to lead the coaching session to be a purposeful conversation.

I'm also not a bystander! My presence and actions with my client have an impact, always! By letting them ramble on, I'm enabling them to continue their default patterns of thinking, reinforcing their stories and assessments of how life is for them, and accepting the lack of focus and forward movement this is probably not working for them in other parts of their life.

From "innocent bystander" to "guilty enabler" - there's a powerful reframe! It's a wake-up call for me and I'm mindful now as I work with clients, students and colleagues to return to the core of coaching - my role is to be a partner, to support the client to "do/be what they don't want to do/be, in order to have the life they want." which mean I sometimes have to do what I don't want to do, or say what I don't want to say.

Another PCC Master Class is starting this summer. Won't you join me for a deep dive into your coaching?

Setting Goals: It's Complicated

In coaching, we work with our clients to set goals and find ways to have new results in their lives.  At the March ICFNE Maine Affiliate program "Beyond Goals", I got an insight into just how complex and nuanced that can be.

The ICFNE Maine Affiliate program in March was a facilitated discussion based on the book Beyond Goals: Effective Strategies for Coaching and Mentoring by by Susan David and David Clutterbuck.

This interactive session gave me a lot to think about, as I realized the limitations of my own preferences and practices, and how they might also limit my clients.

I left with more questions than answers:

·      Are stretch goals motivating or overwhelming?

·      Am I motivated by moving towards a positive result or avoiding a negative result?

·      Are specific and measurable goals focused and results oriented or too narrow to make a real difference?

·      Are simple and obvious goals just good common sense or a way to avoid exploring and understanding nuanced options?

·      Are goals always useful in an increasing complex world?

·      Are goals set by others more or less motivating than goals we set for ourselves?

In letting these questions roll around in my head for a few weeks, I realize that having more distinctions around goals and how they work for others would help me in all of the roles I play.

·      As an individual, are there options for goal setting that I should have in my tool kit, that aren’t my normal and familiar way?

·      As a leader, how can I expand my awareness and practice to use different approaches with different people and groups?

·      As a coach, how can I partner with clients so they are the best they can be at setting and achieving goals?

·      As a coach trainer and mentor, how do I teach and assess a coach’s ability to partner with their clients?

A big part of the awareness from this program is that my own preferences for goals creates a powerful bias in how I act and how I judge others.  With that awareness comes the desire to pull together a diverse set of people to explore this with me - to get “up close and personal” with different perspectives, motivations, and practices.

These are questions that I will be bringing to my own participation in the next PCC Master Class.

This winter I set a goal for myself. To photograph and share the biggest snow bank I could find here in Maine.  Here's the winning entry. 

 That's my 6ft 2in tall husband standing next to our Suburban in a parking lot in Camden, ME.

Fulfill the Vision of Your Coaching - Join the PCC Master Class

In my spare time, I'm a knitter.  You'll usually find me with knitting needles in my hands and visions of my next knitting project in my head.  As an amateur, my visions don't always appear from the yarn in my hands. But the fun thing about knitting is that it can be unraveled back to where it started - just a ball of yarn...

Every once in a while, I create something that aligns with my original vision. This sweater is one example. Just what I imaged and the young girl who received it, loved it!

In my professional life as a coach, I also created something that aligned with my vision - The PCC Master Class.  I call it my "little class" because it's designed for little groups of coaches (less than 5) who are ready to have conversations about the little details that are the foundations for masterful coaching. Topics like what's in your coaching agreements, what wording changes can shift your questions to be more curious, and what thinking can shift your clients to full partners in the coaching.

Little changes that come from intimate conversations about our coaching and big shifts that come from our collective commitment to be the best we can be.

New classes are forming now for Fall 2014 and Winter 2015. I hope you'll join me this year.

Six sessions, 90 minutes each for 9 Core Competency CEU's for $900.00
Email me if you're interested. Because the classes are so small, we schedule the session so that you can attend.


Here's what some of the recent student have to say…

The Results

I feel like I have a more focused approach to my coaching sessions as a result of this course.  I have a clearer picture of the ICF PCC competencies and feel like I have a better grasp of them practically rather than just theoretically. 

Each competency reviewed and discussed led me to deeper insights and practical considerations. My notebook is full.

Every session resulted in a practical reflection of my own work and new ideas for subsequent coaching sessions/practices

The Learning Environment

An open and spacious environment for discussions was a true gift.

I truly enjoy being in conversation with fellow coaches who are thoughtful about their work.

The Instructor

Our instructor was so well prepared and willing to draw upon the expertise of others to complement her own. 

Sue adapted to whatever her learner's needs were, and freely shared her own growing edges and distinctions.

Sue, you do a great job facilitating conversation and creating an effective learning environment.  The fact that you join in the exercises and continue your own learning really adds depth to the experience.