I talk with many managers–and some coaches–who complain that their teams can’t function without a leader. “Leader,” in these conversations, usually means someone who set standards, assigns work, tracks progress, tells people what to do. That is not...
I noticed at the recent agile conference that there were lots of people who billed themselves as agile coaches, and several sessions on coaching. Seemed like more of both than in past years. I consider myself a coach, too, though not with a capital C. I usually coach...
As a coach, your job is not to solve or do—it’s to support other people as they develop skills and capabilities and as they solve problems on their own. When it comes to coaching, one size does not fit all. You need to have a variety of practices in your toolkit in...
Mike Cottmeyer writes about Feelings, Thoughts, and Actions. When people have a strong response, Mike describes thoughts as the point of leverage to change behavior. How we think can be influenced more directly… it is somehow less personal. We can learn about...
I got a call from an acquaintance, Gloria, who is trying to convince her organization to adopt agile methods. “I’ve given them every logical argument I can think of,” she said. “They just don’t get it. All I get is blank looks. How stupid...
Earlier this week, I posted a bit about barriers to effective listening. Two days later (conincidentally) I received an email from my friend Janis Aaron Moore. Janis was a programmer for years, and has recently gone back to college, where she’s doing the college...
My teachers in school and at university spent lots of time and effort teaching me how to speak and write effectively. I didn’t get much instruction during my school years on how to listen effectively–mostly my teachers told me to “sit still and...
“To be more effective with others, we first need to become more effective with ourselves.” Kevin Cashman I came across this piece by Cashman on FastCompany… it’s from 1999, and still worth reading. Leadership is built on trust, and trust is...
