A series of experiments at Harvard Business School by Michael Norton, Daniel Mochon, and Dan Ariely, found that people value products more when they have put work into assembling them. In one experiment, participants each assembled an item of IKEA furniture and then were asked how much they would pay for it. Then a new
It’s fairly well established that coaching works. For example, a meta-analysis of studies of workplace coaching in 2015 shows a strong positive effect on individual performance, and smaller but still positive effects on skills, mood and motivation. But the term ‘coaching’ covers a wide range of approaches, from a strong emphasis on rapport and listening at
A study published in the Harvard Business Review by Leadership professor Julia Milner and management consultant Trenton Milner has revealed that most executives don’t really know what coaching is. It’s worth looking at what experts generally define as coaching. These descriptions from Perry Zeus and Suzanne Skiffington’s book The Complete Guide To Coaching At Work are
Understanding the difference between First- and Second-Order Change in organisations, and how to recognise when each is appropriate One reason that so many organisational change initiatives fail is that the leaders and consultants involved don’t recognise the difference between ‘first-order’ and ‘second-order’ change. First-order change works within an existing structure and view of the world.
“Joy is not a luxury that you can tack on when you’ve sorted everything out, joy is how you will sort out your problems” – Caitlin Moran
Anyone who runs emotional intelligence training courses for managers will recognise the type. The guy (and it usually is a guy) who has been sent on the course by his boss because, basically, he has the emotional intelligence of a treestump. He thinks the course is a waste of time – maybe he thinks others
Why some coaching questions can do more harm than good Coaching, if we follow Sir John Whitmore’s definition that it’s “helping people to learn rather than teaching them”, is about asking questions to help the ‘coachee’ find their own answers and come up with their own solutions. But some coaching questions work better than others. In
Here’s an intriguing animation of psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist talking about the two hemispheres of the brain and summarising the ideas in his book The Master And His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. The video packs a lot into 12 minutes in an accessible way, and will take you beyond the
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Introductory Books Practical Appreciative Inquiry: How to Use This Leading-Edge Coaching Method Confidently with Teams and Small Groups by Andy Smith The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry by Sue Annis Hammond Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution In Change by David L Cooperrider and Diana Whitney Conversations
You will have come across the idea, which probably originated with NLP, that ‘every communication should have a desired outcome’. You might want to change someone’s mind, to get them to do something for you, to sell them something, or to stop doing something that inconveniences you. You might even want to help them, to
Recently I facilitated an Appreciative Inquiry day around ‘working together better’ with a small financial compliance company. The whole company was in the room (except for a couple of people who were on holiday) and the results included several changes that they could make there and then that would save them money. So far, so
