Certified Professional Facilitator

If are working with a coach or thinking of it here are some ideas to maximise your return on investment in your coaching process.

This is from the start up package that I send out to all of my new coaching clients.

Coaching is very clearly one of those areas of life where you only get out of it what you
put in. This one page document provides suggestions on how to maximise your return
on investment whilst involved in a coaching process.

Before taking up the coaching

BE CLEAR ABOUT WHAT COACHING IS AND ISN’T – Coaching is focused on
supporting you to get the results you require through a process of self inquiry and
exploration rather than training, consulting or mentoring. Understanding what coaching
is and how it works will help you get the most from it.

BE COACHABLE – Be sure you want to change rather than just go through the
motions. If you are unsure that you can commit to the ideas you develop in coaching
sessions simply don’t waste your time and energy and do something different instead.

CHALLENGE SELF AND OTHERS – Effective coaching clients challenge their
status quo and that of those around them. They also ask people to support them and their
goals in different and better ways. Be prepared to challenge and be challenged.

During a coaching session

BE PRESENT - Be present mentally, physically and emotionally throughout the coaching
session.

PAY ATTENTION - Listen to what you are saying and also what you are not saying. Pay
attention to your feelings and your body as you carry out the session.

SPEAK YOUR TRUTH - Share your thoughts and opinions openly and honestly. Your
opinion is important and valid. Don’t hold back your opinions and ideas, what you withhold
may be the critical piece of information, knowledge or idea that you need to move forward.

BE OPEN TO OUTCOMES - Try not to prejudge what is happening. If you have
preconceived notions about what you will learn, experience or discover in a coaching session
you may limit you ability to perceive other insights and ideas that you may need to move
forward.

CREATE A STRETCHING ENVIRONMENT – Come to the sessions in a playful spirit with
an interest in learning and growing. You will only get out of the coaching what you put in so
come to grow and develop. Our sessions are a safe place to experiment with new thoughts, ideas
and observations.

During the coaching process

COMPLETE ASSIGNMENTS – Make the time and energy available to complete
tasks and projects that you set yourself. Your coach is there to support and encourage
you but at the end of the day you have to achieve the goals you set yourself.

REVIEW PROGRESS – Take time to review the progress of your coaching process.
Look at what is going well and what could be even better. Give your coach clear
feedback so that he/she can adjust to better support your needs.

I am a big Skype fan. I use it to keep in touch with friends and family and I also use it for work, by keeping in touch with my international network of freelancers and also for coaching with clients. The UAE currently blocks access to Skype so that local telco's can keep the long distance call market. I have found this out by being there and seeing my account not work and also through discussions with a friend who lives out there and that has recently been on holiday here in Spain. Out of interest I have been looking for ways around this. Here are some of the resources I have looked up:

Discussion - http://www.alloexpat.com/abu_dhabi_expat_forum/skype-in-auh-t4329.html

Discussion  - http://illuminati.wordpress.com/2006/08/24/howto-5-simple-steps-to-get-skype-working-again-in-the-uae/

VPN that I know people use - https://www.relakks.com/?cid=gb gets good reviews

VPN Services / Info - http://www.skype-dubai.info/

Blog with links / resources / VPN’s etc - http://thedigitalforest.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-to-unblock-and-use-skype-in-uae.html

If you know of other / better resources drop me an email and I will add them.

In recently got engaged in a discussion on the role of MBTI preferences in buying.

I believe all 4 scales of MBTI effect how we buy to some extent and here is a personal example.

I wanted to buy a new digital SLR camara a while back that was fairly expensive and this is how I went about buying it:

E - I scale
I personally didn't go into the shop and buy it and I basically had two options - online purchase or get someone to go to the shop for me. In the end I got someone to go to the shop and drop it off for me when we next met up.

S - N scale
When looking which to buy I certainly hunted around for information but was looking for highlights / short reviews of various cameras I though might do the job. I was particularly interested in knowing how the camera would suit the work and hobbies I do and I was interested in seeing results from use rather than the technical details i.e. megapixels, battery life etc

T - F scale
When making the final choice I drew out a quick weighted preferences diagram on the core areas of the camera : price, popularity, available lenses, future proofedness.

J - P scale
Once I had made the decision to buy the camera I planned when would the best time to get it. The person that would buy it for me was in another country and so I had to match up my work travel calender to see when we could get together (the country is also cheaper than mine for cameras). Based on my travel plans I planned when I would need to do a review of my decision and also check certain website for new information and prices changes.

I am not saying with this. that MBTI is the perfect tool to analyse buying / selling preferences but in my experience it certainly helps, especially when the price is high enough i..e 1000 USD / EURO so that you have to think rather than just buy on a whim.

If you have taken the MBTI, how do your preferences match up with how you like to buy "big ticket" items?

For information on selling with MBTI visit the sales training overview page

The biggest issue I see time and time again as a facilitator, coach and trainer in organisations is a lack of quality communication. When I ask people in these businesses, what causes poor communication, they often mention size of the business, speed of the business and there is simply too much information to pass on. Whilst I agree with these ideas, I think there is often an underlying issue around trust. This issue of trust lies at very different levels

Intrapersonal – Do I trust myself? Am I clear on my values and convictions? Do I know what I want to say?

Interpersonal – Do I trust you generally? Do I trust that you will use the information correctly? Will you keep confidential information confidential?

Group communication - Do I trust the team as a whole? Does the team do what is agrees on? How will the team use the information internally? Will they need to share it with others?

If you think about a person that you have communication issues with:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being high, how good is the quality of your communication?
2. What are some of the blocks to you having better communication with them?
3. What can you do to remove some of these blocks?
4. How can you build up more trust with this person?
5. What are you prepared to do to improve the communication?
6. How will you know you have been successfull?

A great sign of trust and excellent communication is the level and depth of feedback you get from the person.

7. When was the last time you got great developmental feedback from this person?

END OF PART 1