Burger Bites: Creative and Expansive
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
Coaching will always bring you to a point of defining tangible, measurable steps to take. But coaching does not stay confined to the world of practical steps. It takes clients through some creative exercises to open them up to possibility and expand their thinking to include new perspectives. This helps the client pick goals that are really meaningful and steps that are most likely to reach the goals. And it helps clients manage obstacles and resistance.
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Burger Bites: Powerful Questions
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
Coaches rarely tell their clients what to do. Good coaches make suggestions, but only when asked. Really good coaches will respond to a request for suggestions by shifting as quickly as possible back to the client’s own ideas and reasons. Really good coaches are more interested in helping clients establish new habits of creative thinking and self-trust than in solving one dilemma. One of the most important skills coaches use to help clients learn to hear their own ideas and begin to trust themselves is asking powerful questions.
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Burger Bites: Personal Growth
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
As more people become aware of professional coaching, there are some general perceptions about it. As with most things, the general perceptions are often misconceptions. Lots of people assume that coaching is mainly about improving efficiency and performance and accomplishing defined tasks. While these are goals that bring people to coaching, they are only part of the purpose and the outcome.
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Burger Bites: The Deeper Agenda
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
Professional coaching is designed around the client’s agenda – the steps the client wants to take towards achieving larger goals. But the coach is always keeping a deeper Agenda in mind, one that is more profound and life changing. It’s an Agenda that will help the client be more effective and more capable and more satisfied in future endeavors.
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Burger Bites: Structure
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
Each of us who has ever tried to make important changes has probably tried different kinds of visual reminders. We circle a family event to be sure we remember to leave work on time so we don’t miss out. We want to start a habit of regular meditation or prayer so we pick a time and leave a reminder note on the mirror. We want to use just fifteen minutes of evening time for a little extra physical activity, so we put the dog’s leash on the coat rack by the door to remind us to get out and get moving. The reminders work for a while, and then we easily overlook them. When we do notice them, they become symbols of failure, stirring up guilt and frustration with ourselves. It seems like they backfire too often.
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Burger Bites: Accountability
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
How ironic that accountability is next on my list of topics to describe coaching. I have a plan to post two “Burger Bites” articles per month, one in the first half and one in the second. It’s near the end of the month and I have yet to post the first one! What would have happened if I had talked about this goal while I was being coached?
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Burger Bites: Brainstorming
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
If you haven’t directly participated in a standard brainstorming session, you’ve probably seen one in a movie or television show. A group of people, usually in an organizational setting (like a corporation or non-profit agency) are encouraged to spout out ideas on how to solve a problem or address a challenge. “Don’t worry whether it’s a good idea or not, and don’t worry about sounding silly,” participants are encouraged. “We’ll just collect our ideas here and filter them next.” Sounds great in theory, but it usually sputters in practice. Fortunately, there’s a much better way.
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Burger Bites: Levels Of Listening
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
A pretty common question from people who have never experienced coaching is: What does a coach do?
When I explain that coaches help people clarify their long-term goals, make plans, and take steps towards the goal, the deeper question comes up: How does a coach do that?
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Burger Bites: Metaphor
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
Coaching is driven towards clarity: clarity of understanding the parameters of a situation, clarity about long-term goals, and clarity about the plan to take steps towards the goals. Even when a coach helps a client consider lots of possibilities, the end target is the same. The coach is helping the client align mind (logic), heart (values and emotions), and spirit (deep beliefs and inner wisdom). Metaphors can bring these three areas together in one compelling picture.
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Burger Bites: Inquiry
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
There are aspects of coaching that touch on deep wisdom. Not the ordinary wisdom that is pragmatic. Coaching has plenty of that, with specific goals and detailed plans, next steps and ways for clients to make sure they do something. Once in a while, coaching encourages us to slow down and consider new perspectives.
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