Give a man a fish…
… and he will eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. I’m sure you’ve heard this classic proverb. For me the leadership equivalent must be to teach every client to self-coach so that they are not only in a better position after working with me than they were at the start, but they are also better placed to tackle the future challenges of their business and professional life.
Of course, if we want to achieve our business goals whatever they are, we have to take action - but before we can change what we do, we have to change what we think. What many clients tell me they value – as well as the confidential space, listening and non-judgemental safety of my coaching – are the different, thought provoking questions that they just don’t ask themselves. In their oft-used words they tell me: “you make me think”. And of course, there is no reason why this great thinking can’t continue way beyond our initial coaching sessions.
I’ve been developing an idea for a while now that supports this. It’s very simple... In a great final session with a client recently we worked on developing his own personalised suite of ‘favourite’ questions to use as a practical, real world self-coaching tool. We worked together to identify which questions were most impactful and valuable for him. He is using these as a prompt to self-coach, to help him sustain the direction of travel he had already made great progress with and to help prevent him from slipping back to ‘old ways’. Simple, personalised, effective leadership development.
http://shinecoachingandconsultancy.co.uk/blog/give-man-fish/
Zoe Cohen
MA (Oxon), MPH, MSc Executive Coaching, ACOS
Director, Shine Coaching and Consultancy, Executive Coach Accredited by Ashridge Business School
07786 074741
zoe.cohen@shinecoachingandconsultancy.co.uk
Visit my new website at www.shinecoachingandconsultancy.co.uk
Twitter: @ZoeatShine
http://www.manchesterprofessionals.co.uk/profile/zoe-cohen
How confident are you that your senior team is leading effectively?
Do your people share your vision for the business?
Post articles and opinions on Manchester Professionals
to attract new clients and referrals. Feature in newsletters.
Join for free today and upload your articles for new contacts to read and enquire further.
