Dear Madeleine, I started my career in marketing and had some great jobs, but I really became interested in the people side of things after being trained in communication and working in teams. My graduate studies were in Organizational Development. I am still at the first job I was offered—in HR as a trainer—but I…
When you are a coach who works with leaders from all walks of life, you begin to notice patterns. One pattern I’ve noticed is that about one-third of the leaders I work with consider connecting and building relationships a part of their job, while the other two-thirds do not. This second group of leaders generally…
Those of us who work with or are followers of Ken Blanchard have all heard the expression “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” We’ve also read dozens of examples of when and how to give feedback to get to best possible outcome. Read on for a slightly different take on how to approach feedback. As…
Dear Madeleine, I am a trainer in a call center. It is fast, loud, and chaotic—and I love it. I take total newbies and train them to start at the most basic levels. Once they leave me, they go on to other trainers who train them in more specialized work. They all have managers who,…
I like how mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness. He says, “There is nothing particularly unusual or mystical about being mindful. All it involves is paying attention to your experience from moment to moment.” For the leaders I coach, much of their workday moments are spent in email, in meetings, or tap, tap, tapping on…
Each of us have natural tendencies and habits. Leaders are no different. We might love to share our sage advice, to be problem solvers, or to play the devil’s advocate. But these tendencies and habits, if overused, can have a downside. Here are some commonly overused leadership habits and alternatives we might put in their…
A leader’s ability to coach effectively can really foster the development of the people they lead. But like any leadership style, using a coaching style incorrectly has its drawbacks—especially if you are new to it. Here are a few of the common mistakes. The leader does the heavy lifting. To be effective, a coaching conversation…
The HR business partner is a strategic asset to leaders in business units. The HRBP provides advice, solves problems, acts as a sounding board, and more and more often is also called upon to coach the leader. Blanchard has worked with a number of clients who are using this strategy along with external coaching for…
When I started coaching in organizations 25 years ago, coaching was mostly for people who were causing problems and needed to be fixed, so to speak. In some places, coaching is still perceived as remedial help but I can tell you without a shadow of doubt that no organization is investing in that anymore. Coaching…
There is a great deal of controversy these days about what mastery in coaching actually looks like. The International Coach Federation has created stringent rules regarding coach competencies that make it simpler to identify the criteria a coach must meet to achieve the Master Certified Coach (MCC) designation. As of May 2017, only six percent…