The other day I was coaching a supervisor whose team members weren’t as engaged as she wanted them to be. We talked about the reasons for that and brainstormed possible solutions. After coming up with five or six possibilities, she highlighted two that seemed doable for her, and decided to try them. I’m looking forward to hearing the results.

Myth: Sometimes supervisors get the idea that producing highly engaged employees is all their responsibility.

And so, they don’t want...

You find two kinds of people in life and work—those who pursue self-awareness and those who do not. Those who do not can become those who do, but it usually takes an act of disruption—even violence—to upset the status quo of self. I think we’re better off knowing ourselves than not.

Here are five reasons why:

You’re stuck with yourself, do it for you.

Face it, you’re stuck with yourself for life, so why not make the most of it? You can either go through...

We've been talking about different kinds of prayer to help you find your prayer strengths. This week's focus is Prophetic Prayer. (I understand this prayer type may raise some eyebrows, but please hang with us.)

An Experience

Several years ago I’m in a worship service when I get the feeling that God may want to communicate to me about someone in the room. It's a man I don't know.

I close my eyes and what do I see? A chubby beaver, furry with buck teeth, brown matted fur, and a...

My daughter is 16, which reminded me of my driving test when I was 16. I failed it twice. One reason I failed it the first time—and I say “one reason” because I’m sure there were other reasons—was because I didn’t use the turn signal enough.

I told my friends my reason for failing, and they gave me advice (because the ones you really want to take driving advice from are the ones who’ve hardly done it). Their advice was this: use your turn signals as...

One day this summer, I drove to our family’s cabin with my daughter. The cabin is about 35 miles away. As we got engrossed in conversation, I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed a police car following close behind, so I pulled over. The officer informed me I had been speeding, and he handed me a ticket.

Honestly I didn’t even know, I had been focused on our conversation. My teenage daughter thought all of this was hilarious and laughed, “Wait until Mom finds out. Hey...

Gallup published a book this past May that discusses the most significant factor in an organization’s long-term success. What is it? It’s the manager, and the “research is based on the largest global study of the future of work.”

I’m making this point not to put undue pressure on managers—“If I mess this up, the company’s going to crumble!”—but rather to put realistic pressure on them. The manager is vital to the health of the...

As I’ve spoken on the different prayer types with folks, there are two that seem especially remarkable to people. More than any others, these two seem to stop people in their tracks and draw them to say, “I need more of that.” In this post, we’ll unpack listening prayer.

You may remember the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. Jesus (and probably his disciples) visit the home of these two sisters. True to custom, sister Martha busies herself to serve her guests,...

You may know that I’m a life coach and I use various personality assessments in my work. If you’re around me enough (or maybe just a little), you’ll hear me talk about CliftonStrengths or RightPath or my current fascination—the Enneagram—which I love and hate at the same time.

Some people think personality assessments are chiefly self-centered activities, driving us to sit around all day pondering ourselves, “Here’s what I think about me, what do you...

We’re in this prayer coaching series in which we’re asking ourselves questions about our prayer life. We’re trying to understand four areas: our current situation, our ideal future, the obstacles in our way, and a plan to get there.

Some people resist this approach because it sounds too methodical or mechanical to apply to prayer. Prayer is too mystical, relational or organic to turn such questions toward. Prayer “just happens” and you can’t plan it,...

In a previous post, we asked you to identify the obstacles that are in the way of the prayer life you’ve always dreamed of. This “obstacles” question (what’s in your way?) is important to ask, but only after you’ve examined the state of your current prayer life (how is it now?) and thought about the prayer life you want to have (what do I want it to be?).

This is after all, a coaching series on prayer. You can’t coach without asking vital questions....