Day 136. ‘Why are you fat?’ That is a low-quality question to a person — to a coachee — who is trying to lose weight.
Category: coaching
Powerful Question Does Not Start With ‘Why’
Avoid asking questions that start with ‘Why’. Instead, use ‘What’ … or ‘How’. Don’t ask me why… 😉
Look For Possibilities
Instead of asking ‘What should we do?’ … try asking this instead: ‘What could we do?’ A group of friends entered a restaurant on a
Coaching
The squirrel was in deep thought — about a problem… and the boy — the squirrel’s friend — knelt down to the squirrel’s level… and
Coaching
Helpful things to help you along your ‘change’ journey. Guidance — sometimes, we need guidance along the way. For example, Sherpas — a member of
Coaching
With the rational mind and the irrational mind both in agreement to move forward in the same direction… movement towards the ‘goal’ is expected…correct? Not
Coaching
A person is moved not just by emotion (irrational mind) alone… the rational mind could rein things in… and vice-versa. That’s why change is hard…
Coaching
We all have the irrational side of our brains… the emotional side. Even though we think about something… and scripted the critical next move… appealing
Coaching
Have you heard of the term, ‘analysis paralysis’? That’s when we over think/analyze things and as a result, we cannot move forward to the direction
Coaching
Sometimes, even though people already know the concepts — having gone through SAFe classes — they still are at a lost as to how to
Purpose, Intent, PI Objectives, Iteration Goals, and Strategy
Everyone has a purpose (an intent of what to accomplish (i.e. ‘CI = Commander’s Intent’ In the military realm) in mind on what to do

Student and Coaches
This day (Friday, August 9) is unique … two coaches for my daughter for her preparation to tomorrow’s recital; I find their coaching very apt

Nip It In The Bud
‘Lily… Lily… stop. Do you want to have a problem in the future?’ my daughter’s piano teacher gently exclaimed. She was referring to a bad

Permission Coaching
Permission coaching is a method of coaching where the potential coachee willingly and knowledgeably agree to receive coaching from a coach and signs up for

Teams and Coaches at 2019 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament
The 2019 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament is the postseason men’s basketball tournament for the Atlantic Coast Conference being held right now at Spectrum Center in

Try Using the Power of a Metaphor…
Have your team try using the power of a metaphor…a metaphor that each member is familiar with. Good exercise to try is this: have your

Coach where your coachee is at, using …
Can you imagine talking about an idea to someone… and at the end of your talk they did not get what you were talking about?

Being a Technical Coach. Part VIII
There you have it. Technical coaching is both teaching and mentoring. However, try to go back to professional coaching because you want the coachee to

Being a Technical Coach. Part VII
OKR — the golden thread / tie that binds…CFR — the conversations, feedback, recognition that makes the OKR more meaningful, purposeful, and impactful. Objectives and

Being a Technical Coach. Part VI
Team-level. Why bother having a Daily Standup (DSU)? Every iteration has at least one iteration goal… and it must be S.M.A.R.T. goal… and meaningful goal.

Being a Technical Coach. Part V
OKR and CFR … you have heard these before… right? OKR = Objectives and key results. CFR = Conversation, Feedback, Recognition. SAFe has OKRs and

Being a Technical Coach. Part IV
SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) — if SAFe were a school, it would be much like a huge public school with 1000 + students. A small

Being a Technical Coach. Part III
Scrum — if scrum were a ‘school’, this would be a small magnet school. Limited number of classes with limited students per class. It has
Being a Technical Coach. Part II
Within the Lean-Agile domain/subject of interest, the following will be covered here: Kanban, Scrum, and SAFe. Let’s start with Kanban. If these three (Kanban, Scrum,

Being a Technical Coach
Yes, there is such a thing as technical coach… and not solely a transformational coach. There is also a business coach — if you are

Be Aware of Limiting Beliefs. Part II
It all starts with what we experience and observable data that we have on hand. Remember the story about the six blind men describing what
Be Aware of Limiting Beliefs
Limiting beliefs is exactly what that meant: it limits our opportunities, our vision, our understanding, our potential, our emotional intelligence… that’s just naming a few

Transformational Coaching: What Moves a Person to Change. Part III
The body has auto response to protect itself and seek for survival. Likewise, in social situations, the brain responds accordingly: threatened? Response is to retreat

Transformational Coaching: What Moves a Person to Change. Part II
SAFe uses burning platform as a a visual / mental image of a catalyst for change… the ‘tipping point’ as SAFe and a lot of
Transformational Coaching: What Moves a Person to Change
None… if / when a person does not want to change at all. Humans — just like the burro (Spanish for donkey) in the pack