Category: Courage

Paula Meadows on attending Coaching for Greater Effectiveness

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Hello,

My name is Paula Meadows and I was blessed to attend the Coaching for Greater Effectiveness!  I have worked with Notre Dame for about 5 years, but have been in management for over 25 years in other businesses.  I felt I had a pretty good grasp on how I handled crew and co-workers.  During my time in the class, I was finding out how much more I could grow as not just a manager, but a better leader.
The biggest thunderbolt for me was how much I was not listening.  Even though I was doing my job as a manager, I realized I was making quick fixes by commanding and worrying about how it may affect the crew, later.  After going through the class, I started to relate differently.  I took the time to listen.  This is a challenge in its own because my line of work is very fast paced.  I noticed the crew was enjoying the fact that I was being mindful of their concerns and ideas.  Some come up with some great ideas.
I wish I could say that it has been smooth sailing.  When you are trying to change the direction of a ship, it takes time and patience.  Again, because of the class, I learned to ask myself open-ended questions about my challenges.  I kept finding that my approach was the key.  Soon, my coaching techniques were becoming more and more beneficial.   The crew is more responsive in a positive way.  Including with each other.  One of my toughest situations was trying to bring together the day and night shift.  During the summer they work together and sometimes there can be a bit of a civil war.  Using the tools that were given to us from the class, I put them to work.  It is working!  As I was typing this up, I heard a crew member wish everyone a good evening.  This person normally just walks out without a word.  Victory!!
For those of you about to take the class, I will say don’t expect overnight results.  It starts with changing your methods.  This is by no means a fairy wand that will magically make your work life perfect.  What it will do is make you a more successful leader.  Start to set off a more positive vibe.  When you take advantage of this class, you will learn to communicate better, stop micromanaging, lead with a nurturing manner, yet with a vision and most importantly, you will grow.
Remember, leadership is not magical, it’s sets of skills that you must learn and practice.

The Power of the Rock (by Kara Palmer)

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As you know, at the end of the Coaching Workshop, every participant leaves with a blue rock with the word “Courage” on it. This rock is meant to remind us of the new skills that were introduced and to empower us to ask powerful questions, WAIT/WAIST, don’t problem solve and to keep the “monkey” off of our backs by enabling others to solve their own problems. But little did I anticipate that the rock would be a useful tool in and of itself.

Shortly after my boss attended the workshop we were in the midst of talking through a difficult situation that had arisen in the College.  There was no easy answer and we were both in the thick of the matter and looking at it from our own very personal lenses. We were sitting at a round table in the middle of his office and, there in the center of it, was where he left his “Courage Rock” from his session.

Its mere presence was a reminder to me to approach the problem together in a more inquiry-based fashion. I physically grasped the rock, smiled and began to ask him powerful questions about the issue at hand. He then reciprocated the method and our conversation opened up a higher level of dialogue. That physical gesture of putting my hand on the rock let my boss know that I was going to practice my coaching skills and also gave me permission to challenge our thinking and problem-solving in a collegial way that was understood by both of us.

We have had many conversations since that day in which one of us will say something like, “Let me put my coaching hat on and ask you a question.” Or, one of us might physically move over to and grab the rock in order to change our conversations. It’s a work in progress and we both have asked our fair share of Yes/No questions and have also moved to problems solving quicker than we should. However, that rock has been a powerful reminder and tool to encourage us to continue to exercise “the muscle” and reframe our approach to problem-solving.

 

Have you used what we learned yet? (by Anna McKeever)

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(Photo by Matt Cashore)

During Fall Break, I was really excited about going to the LaFortune Starbucks. For the first time in a while, there wasn’t going to be long line to get a latte. I wasn’t the only one with this idea – I ran into Monica Crabtree, one of my coaching table colleagues while there!

We caught up as we were waiting for our drinks to be ready, and she asked:

“Have you used what we learned in Coaching for Greater Effectiveness yet?”

I paused. I had recently asked a good friend of mine a powerful question, but I hadn’t used SBII yet. I asked her:

“Have you?”

She said yes!

A couple of weeks passed, and I had an opportunity to use SBII. In the moment, I was nervous, but I thought of courage and the SBII script, and went for it. I described the Situation, the Behavior, the Impact, and asked about the Intent. I ended up having a really good conversation with the person I was coaching, and was so happy to have done it that I emailed my table coach to celebrate!

I really appreciated Monica asking whether I had used what we had learned yet – it was a great way to keep me accountable.

So let me ask you this – have you used what we learned in Coaching for Greater Effectiveness yet? How did you celebrate after you did?