When to Use These Assessments

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A sales manager asked me to provide training to his team around a certain assessment. Although I could have signed up his team for the assessment he asked for, I wanted to understand why he wanted it. As we talked, I learned that it was the only one he had heard about, which is why he asked for it. But I knew there was a better assessment to meet his goals and current work situation. So together, we chose a different one.

As a coach and consultant, I...

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Choose Your Own Adventure

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I recently introduced my son to the Choose Your Own Adventure books, which I loved as a kid. It was thrilling as a reader to decide where the story went. Choose wrong, and you may fall off a cliff. Choose right, and you may save the day.

We recently wrapped up the 5-Day Ideal Life + Work Challenge. About 110 people had joined us. Afterward, we conducted a survey to gather feedback and understand what participants wanted to do next.

As you may guess, with a...

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10 Hot Topics for Strengths Coaching

Sometimes I get asked what happens in a Strengths coaching session (also known as a Strengths debrief). The short answer is it depends on what the client wants to get out of it. I don’t approach a session with my own agenda; as a coach, I want to follow the client’s agenda.

But if a client has never been to a coaching session, they may not know the possibilities. That’s when I like to offer options so the client can choose what will be most valuable. The subject is...

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5 Ways Coaching Is Different Than Counseling

What’s the difference between coaching and counseling? Most people don’t know. We shared previously that according to the 2017 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study, only 30% of the public correctly identified coaching among other modalities such as mentoring, consulting, and counseling.

We already discussed the difference between coaching and mentoring, so now let’s tackle counseling. There’s a time for counseling and a time for coaching—Lord knows I’ve...

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Comparison of Strengths and the Enneagram

The great author Annie Dillard wrote, “You were made and set here to give voice to this—to your own astonishment.” We have several of her books at our creek-side cabin, particularly because she writes of her own creek with such intricate detail and breathless joy that you feel you want to participate in the fellowship of the creek with her.

And so we do, and many lines from her writings stick with me. One of them is the above. She suggests, even urges us to give voice to...

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How to Deal with the Stress of Coronavirus thru the Coaching Approach

The Coronavirus is affecting everyone, and with it brings stress: concern for health and safety, loss of work, shift in school, change of routine, uncertainty about the future, grief in relationships…I don’t have to go on. How do you deal with stress? In this blog post, we’ll lay out four suggestions for how to effectively manage stress.

This is an important skill to have, not only in these days of pandemic, but for everyday stress as well. Let's look at four...

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50 Reasons Why You Deserve Coaching

Recently I earned my coach accreditation from the International Coach Federation (ICF), which is recognized as the leading global organization for coaching. ICF estimates that worldwide there are 53,000 coaches who coach as a profession. With that many coaches (and more every day) let me ask you a question: If you could have a coach, would you get one?

Two big obstacles that keep people from coaching are the cost of coaching and the lack of access to coaches. People are saying, "I can't find...

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4 Questions that Coaching Explores

Before I knew what coaching was, this is what I thought coaching was: you paid a coach to tell you how great you were and how everything would work out, if you just believed in yourself.

I thought a coach's job was to put a plastic sheen on life while quoting optimistic one-liners embroidered on throw pillows. I thought a coach was your private motivational speaker.

I was wrong. Coaching is not plastic or safe. Instead, coaching explores the four questions. Explore them at your own risk.

...

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Coaching is not a Punishment

It was my wife in our early days of marriage who set the record straight—I was wrong about gas stations. Up until that time, I thought the big numbers posted on gas pumps were the year the oil was collected. And so “93” meant it was from the year 1993.

This made sense because the “freshest” gasoline was also the most expensive—gas from the year 1993 was more expensive than gas from 1987. Now that's reasonable! But this ran counter to how wine worked because...

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What Happens In A Coaching Session?

The first time I observed a coaching session, it felt like peeking into someone’s bedroom. It seemed private and intimate, not my business. At the same time, it felt exhilarating to observe this person’s discovery and watch the insight unfold. Part of me wanted to look away, part wanted to look further; it was both sacred and beautiful.

When I enrolled at Professional Christian Coaching Institute (PCCI), I didn’t really know what coaching was. If I had to describe what...

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