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# Coaching Leaders

Practical Appreciative Inquiry training and facilitation

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog: Appreciative Inquiry, Leadership, Coaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/blog/)
- ["Espoused Theory" and "Theory In Use"](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/espoused-theory-and-theory-in-use/) - How do we explain the discrepancies we observe in other people between what they say they believe, and how they act? The theorists Chris Argyris and Donald Schön suggest that people have ‘mental maps’ of how to plan, implement and review their actions in given situations. It is these tacit, unexamined maps – a set of unconsciously held beliefs, assumptions and rules – which guide their actions, rather than the explanations that they give to themselves and others to make sense of what they do.
- [Integrity, Self-Awareness, and Leadership](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/integrity-self-awareness-and-leadership/) - Integrity is generally agreed to be a vital quality in a leader. It's usually defined in terms of honesty and adhering strongly to an ethical code. However, when applied to non-human areas such as a body of data, or an ecosystem, something that has 'integrity' is 'intact', 'whole', or 'not tampered with'. This was in
- [How Limiting Beliefs Can Affect Your Leadership](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-limiting-beliefs-can-affect-your-leadership/) - Can you identify your limiting beliefs around leadership? Here's an exercise to help you
- [10 Ways To Help Someone Close To You Loosen Up Their Limiting Beliefs](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/loosen-limiting-beliefs/) - Even for experienced coaches and therapists, it's not easy to help a person change when it's someone close to you, because you're emotionally involved yourself. If they're stuck with a belief system that they know is holding them back, but they just can't let go of by themselves, there are some things you can say just in
- [Psychological Safety with Jenny Ainsworth: Positive Change Methods Podcast](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/psychological-safety-connection-intelligence-jenny-ainsworth/) - This episode is full of practical tips to build psychological safety in your team, even across digital divides - with leadership and culture consultant Jenny Ainsworth. Show notes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm28
- [How to Use Provocative Propositions in Appreciative Inquiry: Positive Change Methods Podcast 29](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/provocative-propositions-appreciative-inquiry-podcast/) - Discover provocative propositions in Appreciative Inquiry: what they are, how to craft them, and how they energize teams toward a vivid future.
- [How To Deal With An Incongruent Coaching Client](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-incongruent-client/) - One of the students on my NLP practitioner training called me today with a problem that every coach will recognise. She is doing some 'practice' coaching for a friend, by telephone. Each week the client very positively identifies and commits to their actions for the coming week - and by the following week, there is
- [Checklist For An Emotionally Intelligent Team](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotionally-intelligent-team-checklist/) - The emotional climate of a team or workplace affects performance and productivity. So here's a checklist for an emotionally intelligent team
- [Tips for Running Emotionally Intelligent Meetings - From Appreciative Inquiry and Elsewhere](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotionally-intelligent-meetings/) - Tips from Appreciative Inquiry and other sources like NLP for running effective meetings
- [How Organisations Can Stop Falling Short of Their Values](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-organisations-can-stop-falling-short-of-their-values/) - Organisations often fall short of putting their stated values into practice. Here are some tips on how to cure that problem
- [The Wholeness Principle: Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 8](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/wholeness-principle-positive-change-methods-podcast-ep-8/) - Appreciative Inquiry's 'Wholeness Principle' - the easy way to engage people, get past 'groupthink', and make decisions more robust
- [Appreciative Inquiry: Checklist For Successful Affirmative Topics (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-checklist-affirmative-topics-video/) - ‘Flipping’ a problem statement to become an affirmative topic is the main task in the Definition stage of Appreciative Inquiry – but it can benefit any kind of coaching. Here’s the checklist of the qualities your affirmative topic needs to have to be successful.
- [Appreciative Inquiry: How To Identify Themes Emerging From Appreciative Interviews (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-how-to-identify-themes-emerging-from-appreciative-interviews/) - Here's an easy way to help a team or small group identify the themes emerging from their appreciative interviews. And actually, this format isn't just applicable to Appreciative Inquiry - you could apply a variation of it with any facilitation method that you use if you want to help a team or small group reflect
- [How to Improve Appraisals, Feedback, and Emotional Climate at Work: January 2026 Roundup](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-improve-appraisals-feedback-and-emotional-climate-at-work-january-2026-roundup/) - Jan 2026 roundup of the best resources on feedback, appraisals, and creating a coaching culture at work
- [The Best Appreciative Inquiry Resources On The Web - September 2021 Round-Up](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-best-appreciative-inquiry-resources-on-the-web-september-2021-round-up/) - Lots of subscribers have told me that they found last month's round up of the best AI resources on the web useful, so I'm keeping it going for now. Here are five resources and articles that I've learned from and found useful recently: Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres interviewed about their excellent book 'Conversations Worth
- [Principles of Appreciative Inquiry in Coaching: the Free Choice Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/coaching-free-choice-principle/) - Continuing the series applying the principles of Appreciative Inquiry to one-to-one coaching “Free choice liberates power” – Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom, The Power of Appreciative Inquiry The Free Choice Principle states that people perform better, and are more engaged, when they get to choose what they work on. If they’re told what to do
- [Best Appreciative Inquiry Resources on the Web: Autumn 2025 Roundup](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/best-appreciative-inquiry-resources-on-the-web-autumn-2025-roundup/) - I thought I'd share with you some of the best resources for Appreciative Inquiry (and related approaches) that I've stumbled across recently: Is your leadership above the line or below the line? I was introduced to this way of putting the distinction between two modes of being by Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres, and I
- [Why Coaching With Compassion Works Better Than Coaching For Compliance – The Neuroscience Of Coaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/neuroscience-coaching/) - 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
- [Tools for the Discovery Stage in Appreciative Coaching: Scaling Questions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tools-for-the-discovery-stage-in-appreciative-coaching-scaling-questions/) - Using Appreciative Inquiry in coaching: how to use scaling questions in the Discovery stage
- [Could We Go 'One Louder'? Scaling Life Up to 11](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/could-we-go-one-louder-scaling-life-up-to-11/) - Here's a somewhat experimental coaching question that you might find a use for in some circumstances. In the spoof rockumentary movie This Is Spinal Tap there’s a celebrated scene where guitarist Nigel Tufnel shows off his customised Marshall amplifier, on which all the dials go up to 11 rather than the standard 10: “It’s one
- [How to Use 'Provocative Propositions' in Appreciative Coaching (part 1)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-coaching-provocative-propositions/) - A checklist for powerful provocative propositions in one to one coaching, with examples
- [Coaching With Appreciative Inquiry: Questions for the Delivery (or 'Destiny') Stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/coaching-with-appreciative-inquiry-questions-for-the-delivery-or-destiny-stage/) - Note: I hope you'll find these questions useful, whatever kind of coaching you're doing - even if Appreciative Inquiry isn't part of your preferred repertoire yet. Also, apologies that this newsletter hasn't appeared for a month or so. I've had my head down working on the audiobook version of the Practical Appreciative Inquiry book, which
- [Coaching With Appreciative Inquiry: Questions for the Design Stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-coaching-questions-design-stage/) - The questions you ask, and the way you ask them, will have a big impact on your coaching client's sense of agency and ability to come up with new ideas In the Design stage of appreciative coaching, we are encouraging the client to come up with new ideas and choices for achieving their Dream vision
- [Increase Your Happiness and Clarify Your Goals With the 'Best Possible Self' Exercise](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/increase-your-happiness-and-clarify-your-goals-with-the-best-possible-self-exercise/) - A research-supported exercise from positive psychology that's been shown to increase well-being and even reduce stress and depression
- [Three Common Myths About Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/myths-about-appreciative-inquiry/) - 1. Appreciative Inquiry Is Only About Being ‘Positive’ ❌ On first hearing about Appreciative Inquiry, it might be tempting to dismiss the approach as 'looking at the world through rose-coloured glasses, pretending everything is wonderful, and sweeping problems under the carpet.’ That’s a misunderstanding of the approach. Rather, Appreciative Inquiry is a way of looking
- [How To Stop Your Boss From Inadvertently Screwing Up Your Meeting](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-stop-your-boss-from-inadvertently-screwing-up-your-meeting/) - I wonder if you've found yourself in a situation like this? Recently one of my former Appreciative Inquiry students called me to get some advice. She was running an ideas generation meeting, using Appreciative Inquiry as a broad framework. Her boss, who has supported her and let her get on with new initiatives, was invited
- [Some Thoughts About 'Core Process' and Its Links to Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/core-process-appreciative-inquiry/) - Recently I had a 'Core Process' session with Nick Heap, which was interesting, inspiring, and I'm still thinking about it. This article aims to say about about what Core Process is, its parallels with Appreciative Inquiry and other approaches, and to explore a bit what my own core process is about. What is 'Core Process'?
- [How to Reduce Misunderstandings at Work](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-reduce-misunderstandings-at-work/) - These simple steps will stop you jumping to the wrong conclusions about others - and make it less likely that others will do the same about you One of my Practical Appreciative Inquiry students recently shared this article from the Axios website on LinkedIn: Simplest workplace principle: Assume positive intent The title pretty much gives
- [How to Facilitate the Dream Stage in Appreciative Team Development: Positive Change Methods Podcast 27](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-facilitate-dream-stage-appreciative-team-development/) - How to facilitate the Dream stage when you're conducting an Appreciative Inquiry workshop with a team (Appreciative Team Development), with some tips on scaling up for larger groups - plus ideas for what to do if unexpected situations crop up
- [Appreciative Inquiry - Questions for the Dream Stage: Positive Change Methods Podcast Episode 26](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-podcast-how-to-frame-dream-stage/) - Practical Appreciative Inquiry podcast: How to frame the Dream stage of Appreciative Inquiry so that participants understand it
- [Why It's Better, And More Accurate, To Give Positive Feedback](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/why-positive-feedback-is-better/) - Objective appraisal is impossible Although feedback is famously "the breakfast of champions", nobody likes getting negative feedback. Now a new book, Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World, by management researcher Marcus Buckingham and SVP of Leadership and Team Intelligence at Cisco Ashley Goodall asserts that most management feedback and
- [Practical Appreciative Inquiry: Are Your Conversations Above Or Below The Line?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/conversations-worth-having-above-or-below-the-line/) - How to prepare yourself for any work conversation, even the difficult ones Here's a very useful little nugget I picked up from a recent episode of the Rebel HR podcast, where the guests were Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres, authors of Conversations Worth Having, which is one of the best books about Appreciative Inquiry and
- [I Just Got My Best In-house Training Evaluation Ever - Plus Some Training Tips That You Can Use](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/i-just-got-my-best-in-house-training-evaluation-ever-plus-some-training-tips-that-you-can-use/) - Just received the best evaluation I've ever had for in-house training (for a Practical Appreciative Inquiry two-day training I ran in Birmingham for the NHS) - the first face to face training I'd done since before the pandemic. They were a fantastic group of allied health professionals (AHPs) - e.g. physios, dietitians, and occupational therapists,
- [Appreciative Inquiry in Sports Coaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-in-sports-coaching/) - How can you apply Appreciative Inquiry to sports coaching? Here are some ideas, plus links to further resources
- [Fixed vs Growth Mindsets - and Why It's Important to Have a Growth Mindset](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/growth-vs-fixed-mindsets-and-why-its-important-to-have-a-growth-mindset/) - Anyone interested in improving performance will have come across the Henry Ford quote "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right." This quote is so often repeated because it encapsulates an essential truth - that self-belief is important to performance. But it also overlooks an even more important principle discovered by
- [The Only Icebreaker You'll Ever Need for Training or Facilitation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-only-icebreaker-youll-ever-need-for-training-or-facilitation/) - Training and facilitation tip: here's an easy Appreciative Inquiry-based icebreaker you can use in your training courses
- [The SCORE Model - a Simple Coaching and Facilitation Format from NLP](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-score-model-a-simple-coaching-and-therapy-model-from-nlp/) - The SCORE Model is simple but powerful model for coaching, therapy, and problem solving
- ['Practical Appreciative Inquiry' Book Gets a Glowing Review From AI Practitioner Magazine!](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/practical-appreciative-inquiry-book-gets-a-glowing-review-from-ai-practitioner-magazine/) - I'm proud to share that the November 2024 edition of AI Practitioner magazine includes a rave review of my book Practical Appreciative Inquiry: How to Use This Leading-Edge Coaching Method Confidently with Teams and Small Groups! The review, by registered psychologist and Appreciative Dialogue practitioner Keith Storace, is full of praise for the book: "a
- [Too Good Not to Share! The Solution-Focused Circle Technique](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/too-good-not-to-share-the-solution-focused-circle-technique/) - Here's an easy and powerful solution focus technique I came across recently - it would also work as part of an Appreciative Inquiry session
- [Video - Andy Smith On How To Use The Experience Cube To Be A More Effective Leader](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/video-andy-smith-on-how-to-use-the-experience-cube-to-be-a-more-effective-leader/) - Introducing Gervase Bushe's concept of the Experience Cube (part of his Clear Leadership model) and how it can help you to be a more effective leader, develop your self-awareness, and build your 'non-anxious presence' Recently I was interviewed by my friend Gavin Ingham (top motivational speaker and sales guru) about the Experience Cube and how
- [How to Use 'Provocative Propositions' in Appreciative Coaching (part 2)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-coaching-provocative-propositions-how-to/) - Here's how to help your appreciative coaching client formulate their 'provocative proposition' to guide and inspire them towards their dreams. Some starter phrases, plus step by step instructions
- [How the Experience Cube Works in Coaching (3): Why and How to Explore Feelings](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/experience-cube-coaching-feelings/) - Continuing the series on using the 'Experience Cube' in coaching! The model (quick overview here) comes from Gervase Bushe's book Clear Leadership: Sustaining Real Collaboration and Partnership at Work, which I would say is essential reading for leaders, managers, and people who coach them. The book is about how managers can reduce misunderstanding and anxiety
- [How The Experience Cube Works In Coaching Part 1: Introduction And Observing](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-the-experience-cube-works-in-coaching-part-1-introduction-and-observing/) - Gervase Bushe's 'Experience Cube' (part of the Clear Leadership model outlined in his excellent book, Clear Leadership: Sustaining Real Collaboration and Partnership at Work) is a useful tool for reducing anxiety, communicating more clearly, and increasing self-awareness. This article is my take on how it works to get these results. What Is The Experience Cube?
- [The Experience Cube Explained In A Page](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-experience-cube-explained-in-a-page/) - After the video interview I gave about the 'Experience Cube' model on Gavin Ingham's Thrive Project site, Gavin asked me to share the core elements of the Cube in the comments. So I did - and before I knew it, I'd written enough to post here as well. It's an introduction to the Experience Cube
- [Applying the Wholeness Principle in Coaching (2): Relevant Others](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/applying-the-wholeness-principle-in-coaching-2-relevant-others/) - Taking Relevant Others Into Account It would be a rare coaching client that only takes their own welfare and needs into account, without regard to what anyone else thinks or feels. Most people have family members, friends, and/or work colleagues who could be affected by changes that the client decides to make. In the previous
- [Are You A Leader? Here’s The Most Important Thing You Can Do To Combat Anxiety In Uncertain Times](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-combat-anxiety-in-uncertain-times/) - Here's the most effective way you can reduce speculation and combat anxiety in your team during the coronavirus pandemic.
- [How the Experience Cube Works in Coaching (2): Thinking](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-the-experience-cube-works-in-coaching-2-thinking/) - The second in a series on how to use Gervase Bushe's 'Experience Cube' model from 'Clear Leadership' to explore your coaching client's reality
- [How to Clarify Your Values (1)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-clarify-values/) - Most people have had the experience of setting New Year's Resolutions and not sticking to them. One of the biggest reasons for failure is setting resolutions which you're not 100% aligned with. If your resolutions are not aligned with your values, your motivation won't last. You may even find yourself doing things that sabotage the
- [Principles of Appreciative Inquiry 1: The Constructionist Principle (video)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/principles-of-appreciative-inquiry-1-the-constructionist-principle-video/) - The first in a series of short videos where we introduce the basic principles underpinning Appreciative Inquiry. The first, and the one from which I think most of the others flow, is the Constructionist Principle. This says that the language we use and the conversations we have shape our social reality. See below for the
- [How to Ask Generative Questions: Positive Change Methods Podcast 25](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/generative-questions-positive-change-methods-podcast/) - Appreciative Inquiry talks a lot about generative questions - but what are they? What do they do? And how to ask them successfully? Find out in this episode of the Positive Change Methods Podcast
- [Two Drivers of Communication: Are You An Advocate Or A Learner?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/communication-advocacy-learning/) - 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
- [Using the 'Logical Levels' Model in One-to-One Coaching (Part 2)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/using-the-logical-levels-model-in-one-to-one-coaching-part-2/) - How I use Robert Dilt's 'Logical Levels' model on one-to-one coaching - with (literally) step-by-step instructions
- [Name It, Flip It, Frame It - a Conversation Worth Having with Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres: Positive Change Methods Podcast 24](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/conversations-worth-having-jackie-stavros-cheri-torres-positive-change-methods-podcast/) - Exploring the transformative world of Appreciative Inquiry with Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres, authors of 'Conversations Worth Having'. Learn how to ask generative questions and frame conversations positively to foster collaboration and growth in your personal and professional life. Plus, the importance of curiosity, and how to avoid toxic positivity! Show notes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm24
- [Using the 'Logical Levels' Model in Appreciative Coaching (part 1)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/logical-levels-appreciative-coaching-1/) - The Logical Levels model from NLP can get powerful results for your coaching clients. Let's look at how to use it
- [An Appreciative Inquiry Book List](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-book-list/) - 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
- [How to Bring Your Emotional Intelligence to Any Difficult Situation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotional-intelligence-coaching-questions-preparation/) - How to use the Goleman/Boyatzis 4-quadrant model of Emotional Intelligence as a coaching tool, or to prepare yourself for any challenge #EQ #EI
- [Emotional Intelligence Tip: How can you mend a broken heart?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/nlpeq-tip-how-can-you-mend-a-broken-heart/) - This posting is adapted from my contribution to a discussion on a life coaching forum - another coach was asking how best to help a client who was having trouble getting over the end of a relationship. The coach wrote: 'What I am wondering is whether any of you NLP experts out there in 'Coachland'
- [Unlocking Innovation in the NHS with Appreciative Inquiry - Interview with Wendy Burton: Positive Change Methods Podcast 23](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-innovation-nhs-healthcare-positive-change-methods-podcast/) - Interview with Wendy Burton, who's been using Appreciative Inquiry in the NHS in conjunction with Lean and Design Thinking to help improve processes and turn around struggling teams. Lots of useful tips and insights applicable beyond coaching in healthcare! Shownotes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm23 (includes transcript)
- [Positive emotions are good for you - and here's the research!](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-emotions-are-good-for-you-and-heres-the-research/) - There's an excellent article by psychologist Barbara Fredrickson downloadable in PDF form here. Fredrickson is a leading figure in the positive psychology movement but isn't referred to much in the EI world - more's the pity as her research is throwing up some very valuable insights. Her 'broaden and build' theory suggests that positive emotions, even if experienced only briefly, expand our emotional reserves and help us to get through difficult times. If I was taking a Daily Mail sensationalist headline-writing approach to Fredrickson's work, I would have titled it Positive Emotions Are Better For You Than Giving Up Smoking! This is indeed one of the findings she quotes, along with: Positive Emotions Help You Make Better Decisions Positive Emotions Make You A Better Negotiator and Positive Emotions Ward Off Heart Disease! The article is well worth reading.
- [How Some Life Coaching Tools Can Demotivate the Client (and what to do instead)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-some-life-coaching-tools-can-demotivate-the-client-and-what-to-do-instead/) - Not all coaching approaches are equal - if you ask the wrong questions, your client can be demoralised and demotivated. I know because it happened to me!
- [Appreciative Inquiry principles: 1. The Constructionist Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-constructionist-principle/) - (This is the first in a series of articles introducing the principles that underpin Appreciative Inquiry, and their implications) The Constructionist Principle, derived from ‘Social Constructionist’ theory, states that the language we use shapes our social reality. Meaning is made in conversation, and what emerges as knowledge is a broad social agreement created among
- [What Happens in the Dream Stage of Appreciative Inquiry? Positive Change Methods Podcast Episode 22](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/dream-stage-appreciative-inquiry-positive-change-methods-podcast/) - When you're creating a vision of the ideal future with a team, or even a whole organisation, wouldn't it be great if they could get free of the constraints of past problems and limits? That's what the Dream stage of Appreciative Inquiry's 5-D format is designed to do. Show notes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm22
- [How To Align Your Team Members With Your Goals](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/align-team-members-goals/) - How do you make sure your team members are all aligned with the team’s goals? Step one is to make sure that you are clear on your vision for the team. You need to bring it to life in your own mind before you communicate it to others, and make sure you have a strong
- [Appreciative Coaching: What If Your Coaching Client Asks You For Advice?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-coaching-coaching-client-asks-advice/) - Appreciative coaching is non-directive by nature - but what should you do if your coaching client asks you for advice? Here are some ideas
- [How to Engage People With 'Technical' Appreciative Inquiry Topics: Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 21](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/engage-people-technical-appreciative-inquiry-topics-positive-change-methods-podcast/) - Many business processes, essential as they are, don’t in themselves make the heart beat faster. How can we use Appreciative Inquiry to stimulate generative thinking about topics that are hard to engage with emotionally? Show notes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm21
- [Is It Ever Right For Developmental Coaches to Give Advice?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/is-it-ever-right-for-developmental-coaches-to-give-advice/) - according to developmental coaching guru David Clutterbuck, a common complaint from disgruntled coachees is that their coach sticks too rigidly to the ‘never give advice’ rule. So is there ever a time when it’s right to step out of non-directive mode by sharing information, giving advice, or even telling the coachee what to do?
- [How to Handle Negative Feelings in Appreciative Interviews: Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 20](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-handle-negative-feelings-in-appreciative-interviews-positive-change-methods-podcast-20/) - How do you conduct appreciative interviews with people who are feeling negative, or who are going through a tough time? This episode has some tips for doing the interviews sensitively, and for handling ‘negativity’ or cynicism from the interviewee. Show notes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm20
- [Is the 'Fixing Reflex' Cramping Your Management Style?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-the-righting-reflex-is-cramping-your-management-style/) - Why listening beats giving advice, and what coaches and managers can learn from Motivational Interviewing Recently I came across an engaging short video by Roksana Anning on the 'Righting Reflex'. The term was new to me, but the idea resonated with me straight away, as it turns out to be something I've been warning my
- [How to Identify Themes From Appreciative Interviews; Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep 19](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/identify-themes-appreciative-interviews-positive-change-methods-podcast-19/) - So your group have done their appreciative interviews with each other - now, how do they identify the themes emerging from them? This episode is a deep dive the into practicalities of facilitating an Appreciative Inquiry process, starting with a small-group appreciative team development session and including tips for scaling up to larger groups. Show notes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm19
- [3 Ways You Can Use Appreciative Interviews to Identify Conditions for Success: Positive Change Methods Podcast 18](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-interviews-positive-change-methods-podcast-18/) - Appreciative interviews are a great way to find what's working so you can do more of it. Here are three ways you can use them Show notes at https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm18
- [The Neuroscience Of Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-neuroscience-of-appreciative-inquiry/) - Advances in brain-imaging technology from the 1990s onwards enabled researchers to discover two networks in the brain that in some ways are in opposition to each other. The Task Positive Network (TPN) is activated when you engage in ‘cognitive’ tasks – perception, motor control, and problem-solving including logical analysis. It tends to produce stressful feelings,
- [Coaching Client Stuck In Problems? Try the 'Problem to Possibility Tree' Exercise](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/coaching-client-stuck-in-problems-try-the-problem-to-possibility-tree-exercise/) - If your coaching client is finding it hard to move beyond problem analysis, try this 'Problem to Possibility' exercise to help them map out their desired solution
- [A Business-Friendly Appreciative Interview Format: Positive Change Methods Podcast Episode 17](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/a-business-friendly-appreciative-interview-format-positive-change-methods-podcast-episode-17/) - There are various formats for appreciative interviews in the Appreciative Inquiry textbooks - this one works nicely for business. Show notes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm17
- [Appreciative Interviews: Positive Change Methods Podcast Episode 16](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-interviews-positive-change-methods-podcast/) - Appreciative interviews - what they are, why we do them, and what you need to know to make them work. Show notes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm16
- [The Discovery Stage: Positive Change Methods Podcast Episode 15](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-change-methods-podcast-15-discovery-stage/) - What should you do BEFORE you plan any change? Discover what's already working! Find out how to conduct Appreciative Inquiry's Discovery stage. Show notes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm15
- [Does Appreciative Inquiry Ignore Problems and Negatives?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/does-appreciative-inquiry-ignore-problems-and-negatives/) - Does Appreciative Inquiry ignore problems and negatives? Actually, no - and here's why
- [Problem to Possibility: Positive Change Methods Podcast Episode 14](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-change-methods-podcast-14-problem-to-possibility/) - The 'Problem to Possibility Exercise' - how to get a problem-focused team to move on to desired solutions and accept an appreciative approach. Show notes: https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pcm14
- [Affirmative Topics the Easy Way: Positive Change Methods Podcast Episode 13](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-change-methods-podcast-affirmative-topics/) - In this week's episode, a checklist for a well-defined affirmative topic, plus the easy way to flip problem statements to affirmative topics
- [When is "Why?" A Useful Question?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/when-is-why-a-useful-question/) - On entry-level NLP courses, students are often taught not to ask "Why?" when helping someone to solve a problem. And rightly so - human thought processes are very different from mechanical processes like production lines, not least because their workings cannot be directly observed. "Why?" doesn't make it into NLP's Meta Model toolkit of questions
- [The 5-D Format: Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 11](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/5d-format-positive-change-methods-podcast/) - A quick overview of the most-used format for structuring an Appreciative Inquiry process, the 5-D Format. Plus, why it's so great!
- [You are the elephant, you are the rider](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/you-are-the-elephant-you-are-the-rider/) - How is it that you can want to stop smoking but still continue to smoke? Or want to eat healthily, but still give in to the temptation of junk food? Or resolve to be a better person, but still find yourself getting irritable? Much has been written down the ages about how puny will power
- [The Problem With 'Visionary' Leadership](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-problem-with-visionary-leadership/) - As I write, it's 'Fat Cat Friday' in the UK. January 4th the day when the chief executives of FTSE 100 companies have already earned as much as the average salary of their workers. Acclaimed author Yuval Noah Harari talks about stories as the 'glue' that holds our social organisation together and makes it possible
- [The Definition Stage: Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 12](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-definition-stage-positive-change-methods-podcast/) - What you need at the start of an Appreciative Inquiry project, and why you need to flip problem statements into affirmative topics
- [The Free Choice Principle: Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 10](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/free-choice-principle-positive-change-methods-podcast/) - Appreciative Inquiry's Free Choice Principle: why organisations thrive when people are treated as volunteers
- [The Enactment Principle: Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 9](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-change-methods-podcast-enactment-principle/) - How Appreciative Inquiry’s ‘Enactment Principle’ is vital for successful change + why it's not the same as ‘Fake it till you make it’
- [How To Use Surprise To Reduce Confirmation Bias](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/use-surprise-reduce-confirmation-bias/) - 'Confirmation Bias' is when our minds filter what we perceive of the world around us, amplifying evidence that fits our existing beliefs and playing down or ignoring altogether any information that challenges them. Confirmation bias is inevitable - there's so much information coming in all the time that we have to filter it somehow, or
- [Why You Should Care For 'Negative' People In Your Organization - and How You Can Turn Them Round](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/why-you-should-care-for-negative-people-in-your-organization-and-how-you-can-turn-them-round/) - The surprising reason behind a lot of employee cynicism, and how you can change their minds
- ['The Inquiry Is the Intervention': The Simultaneity Principle - Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 7](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-change-methods-podcast-simultaneity-principle-ep-7/) - Appreciative Inquiry's 'Simultaneity Prinicple' - a radically different way of thinking about change and how quickly it can happen!
- ['Positive Questions Lead to Positive Change': the Positive Principle - Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 6](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-change-methods-podcast-positive-principle/) - Appreciative Inquiry's 'Positive Principle' - the 'Paradox of Change', why most large-scale change initiatives fail, how positive emotions improve decision-making and productivity, and practical steps you can take to put the Positive Principle into action and improve your work (and life) right now
- [Coaching for Emotional Intelligence](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/coaching-for-emotional-intelligence/) - How To Bring Emotional Intelligence To Any Situation Emotions are often overlooked in decision-making. At work we like to think that we make decisions on purely rational grounds. In practice, emotions have an enormous impact on the decision making process, because: they give us information about how other people are likely to behave how we
- [‘We Can Choose What We Focus On’: The Poetic Principle – Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 5](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/poetic-principle-positive-change-methods-podcast-5/) - The Poetic Principle of Appreciative Inquiry - explained in simple terms, with real-world examples and useful suggested questions
- [What Is Appreciative Inquiry and How Can It Help You? - Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 1](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-change-methods-podcast-1-what-is-appreciative-inquiry/) - A quick introduction to Appreciative Inquiry - what it is, what it isn't, where it came from, and why it's worth looking for the best
- [The Neuroscience of Appreciative Inquiry - Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 2](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-change-methods-podcast-2-neuroscience-appreciative-inquiry/) - How discoveries in neuroscience support Appreciative Inquiry and related approaches. Plus: two brain networks, and the brain's negative bias!
- ['Words Create Worlds': The Constructionist Principle - Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 3](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-change-methods-podcast-3-constructionist-principle/) - Appreciative Inquiry's Constructionist Principle and what it means for you in practice - and why change can happen much faster than we expect
- ['Images Inspire Action': The Anticipatory Principle - Positive Change Methods Podcast Ep. 4](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-change-methods-podcast-4-anticipatory-principle/) - The Anticipatory Principle in Appreciative Inquiry – how our positive images of the future can guide our actions in the present day
- [The Best Appreciative Inquiry Podcasts Out There - a Round-up](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-podcasts-round-up/) - Interested in Appreciative Inquiry? Like listening to podcasts? We've rounded up the best Appreciative Inquiry podcasts for you
- [The Best Appreciative Inquiry Resources on the Web - Spring 2025 Round-Up](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-best-appreciative-inquiry-resources-on-the-web-spring-2025-round-up/) - A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry training starts soon – click here to get the details and how to book I’m always looking for great Appreciative Inquiry resources to share in my Positive Change Methods groups on Facebook and LinkedIn – here are some of the best that I’ve found in the last few months: Articles
- [Introducing The Positive Change Methods Podcast!](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/introducing-the-positive-change-methods-podcast/) - A New Podcast About Appreciative Inquiry, Solution Focused Practice, Positive Psychology and More! How do you help your workforce stay creative and engaged? How can you be a positive leader - without falling into the toxic positivity trap? What do you do with problems that keep coming back every time you try to solve them?
- [Confabulation: "Why did I do that? Hang on while I make something up"](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/confabulation-why-did-i-do-that-hang-on-while-i-make-something-up/) - It seems that we are not as much in control of our selves and our decisions as our subjective experience would suggest. In fact, most of our decisions are made unconsciously by the "elephant" of our unconscious processing (in Jonathan Haidt's useful metaphor from his brilliant book The Happiness Hypothesis) for while the main job of the "rider" of conscious awareness, who thinks and feels as if he is in control, is actually to make up justifications of the elephant's behaviour after the event. These explanations may bear no relation to the actual reasons driving the unconscious processing. This process, called 'confabulation', was first noticed in the 1880s when Russian psychiatrist Sergei Korsakoff observed some of his patients making up often impossible stories to cover gaps in their memories caused by previous alcohol abuse. It has also been noticed in people with brain damage and some stroke patients as they concoct elaborate alternative explanations for the effects of their impaired brain function. You might think that confabulation happens only when the functioning of the brain has been in some way disrupted. However, research suggests that confabulation is something we all do, a lot of the time, because we don't usually have access to the real (unconscious) reasons why we do things. For example, Nisbett and Wilson's classic experiment in 1977 asked people which of four garments laid out from left to right they preferred. 40% of people preferred the rightmost garment - as expected, since people will tend to choose the rightmost item in a series, other things being equal. When asked why they chose that one, the subjects talked about the quality of the weave and the vividness of the colour. But the items were identical! (Nisbett, R.E. and Wilson, T.D. (1977). "Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes". Psychological Review, Vol 84 pp 231-259.) What's more, if we change our minds about something, we tend to forget that our original opinion is different - as in Goethals and Reckman's 1973 experiment (Psyblog: Our Secret Attitude Changes).Helen Phillips' illuminating article Mind fiction: Why your brain tells tall tales (New Scientist 07 October 2006) quotes more confabulation studies.So what are the implications of these findings? They add support to the NLP idea that "why?" is an unproductive question in therapy or coaching; not only are the responses likely to be excuses and justifications, but they probably won't even be an accurate representation of the person's real beliefs and decision-making processes.Also, they suggest that asking "why?" in usability tests will be a waste of time. The same might apply in other types of research like focus groups as well.What can you do to increase your self-awareness by becoming more aware of when you are confabulating? Reflect, meditate, get other people to explore your reasons through pertinent questioning (as can happen in coaching or an action learning set), practise self-hypnosis (with the intention of listening to your unconscious mind as well as merely giving it suggestions) or keep a learning log or a journal - if the evidence of the beliefs you used to hold is there in black and white, it will be available to your conscious mind to learn from.It's worth doing more to get to know yourself. The great hypnotherapist Milton Erickson used to say that the reason people had problems was because they were out of rapport with their unconscious minds.
- [Four Types of Conversation, and Why One of Them Is Hurting Your Relationships](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/four-types-of-conversation-and-why-one-of-them-destroys-your-relationships/) - Currently I’m in the middle of reviewing an excellent book by Sarah Lewis – Practical Appreciative Inquiry: A Toolkit for Applying Appreciative Inquiry to Organisational Challenges, Opportunities, and Aspirations. (Astute readers will have noticed that it has the same main title as my own book. Apparently the publishers decided on the title before mine came
- ["Selling" Appreciative Inquiry to Skeptics in Your Organisation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/selling-appreciative-inquiry-to-skeptics-in-your-organisation/) - Appreciative Inquiry is so different to conventional methods of organisational change that some people will find it hard to accept. Whether your obstacle to implementation is the boardroom sceptic who needs to be convinced of the benefits of AI before releasing a budget, or the person in an AI workshop who finds it hard to
- [Coaching With Appreciative Inquiry: How to Help Your Client Evaluate Their Chosen Actions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/coaching-with-appreciative-inquiry-how-to-help-your-client-evaluate-their-chosen-actions/) - Part of the coach’s role is to help clients think through the actions that appeal to them, to make sure that they don’t overcommit themselves or squander their resources of time, energy, or budget on impulsive decisions. But how do we do that, without imposing our own ideas and beliefs on our clients? They are
- [Directive vs Non-Directive Coaching - What's the Difference?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/directive-vs-non-directive-coaching-whats-the-difference/) - Appreciative Inquiry facilitator and coach Andy Smith describes the difference between Directive and Non-Directive coaching
- [Self-esteem, self-confidence, self-doubt](https://nlppod.com/book-review-transforming-your-self-by-steve-andreas/) - Self-esteem, self-confidence, self-doubt. What are they? Everyone will have their own slightly different definition. Steve Andreas' brilliant book "Transform Your Self: Becoming Who You Want To Be" makes these issues a lot clearer. In his model, somebody's "self-concept" is made up of the qualities andabilities they think of themselves as having. For any given quality, they will have a collection of reference experiences, like a 'database' - probably with one iconic 'image' which comes up immediately when they think of the quality (though the 'image' is not necessarily a visual one), and a collection of reference experiences which come up when they think about it a bit more deeply. So, if someone has a 'database' which supports them in feeling they have the quality or ability strongly, then they will feel confident in that context. How strongly they feel they have it will depend on things like number of examples and (for NLP buffs) the 'submodalities' of the representations. How the person responds to these will vary from individual to individual. 'Self-esteem' comes from how the person evaluates their 'self-concept' (or rather 'self-concepts' as there is one for each quality or ability the person is thinking about) - if theyvalue kindness highly and they have a strong self-concept for kindness, they will feel good about themselves whenever they think about themselves in this context. Conversely, if they only have a weak self-concept for a quality they value, or they have a strong self-concept for something they value negatively, they won't feel good about themselves when theythink about themselves in that context. Getting the book will give you a lot more information, obviously, but some things to watch out for in coaching would be: - if their self-concept tends to be about 'not having' certain qualities - e.g. "I'm not cruel" rather than "I'm kind", then all their representations will be of the opposite of what they want - a recipe for unhappiness which will leave them feeling 'empty' and also probably comparing themselves with other people. - a 'robust' self-concept for a given quality (Andreas found) rather surprisingly includes a few 'counter-examples' (of times when they didn't display the quality or ability), which enables the person to recognise more easily when they are not displaying it in real life, and also to accept and learn from feedback more readily. I can't recommend this highly enough. It's an NLP book, but the NLP content is fairly basic submodalities with very little in the way of jargon. It's a book for coaches and therapists rather than a self-help book. As I said, self-esteem and self-confidence are vague terms which are going to mean different things to different people, though I suspect the differences are largely going to be about content - the structure of what it means to each person is going to be pretty much as described in the book. I've used the ideas a lot - they work! Buy it from Amazon.co.ukBuy it from Amazon.com
- [Appreciative Inquiry: How To Flip Any Problem To An Affirmative Topic Without Ignoring Negatives (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-flip-problem-to-affirmative-topic-video/) - Here's a great way to define a 'problem space' and reframe it to a quest for what you want instead, without ignoring the negatives or being accused of brushing problems under the carpet. A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry online training starts soon – click here to get the details and how to book The beauty of
- [How to inoculate your team against contagious blame and negativity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-inoculate-your-team-against-contagious-blame-and-negativity/) - Because I run in-house courses for a lot of different clients, I get exposed to a lot of first impressions of different workplaces. You can pick up a sense of the atmosphere of a particular office very quickly - some of them feel like they would be great places to work, while others would fall
- [Coaching With Appreciative Inquiry: How to Use the Disney Strategy for Creativity in the Design Stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-coaching-disney-strategy/) - A simple idea generation method that you can use in any kind of one-to-one coaching In the Design stage of appreciative coaching, we are looking for the client to come up with choices and possible actions that will help them move closer to the vision they imagined in the preceding Dream stage - either new
- [How Appreciative Inquiry Differs From Traditional Consultancy: Podcast Interview with Andy Smith](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-cracking-addiction-podcast/) - Last week I was interviewed on the 'Cracking Addiction' podcast with Dr Ferghal Armstrong. It was a tight 20 minutes (I was just getting started by the end) but we managed to cover quite a bit of ground, including: How Appreciative Inquiry facilitation differs from the 'expert diagnosis and prescription' model of traditional consulting How
- [Revitalising Communities with Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/revitalising-communities-with-appreciative-inquiry/) - It's a 'Champlain Supernova'* this week as we share some blazing insights from the Cooperrider Center's podcast episode with Fran Stoddard! On the rare occasions that I find myself running low on enthusiasm or ideas for my work with Appreciative Inquiry, I can usually revitalise my thinking by listening to the Inspiring Impacts podcast from
- [Tools for the Discovery Stage in Appreciative Coaching: Identifying Resources](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tools-discovery-stage-appreciative-coaching-identifying-resources/) - Just as in regular Appreciative Inquiry for organisational development, when we use Appreciative Inquiry in one-to-one coaching the Discovery stage is about finding what's already working and what has worked in the past. We've already looked at appreciative interviews and scaling questions as ways of uncovering resources and strategies that have worked in the past,
- [Appreciative Coaching: How to Facilitate the Design Stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-coaching-design-stage/) - The further round the 4-D cycle we go, the closer we’re getting to practical action in the real world. But at the Design stage, in one-to-one coaching at least, we’re not quite out of ‘possibility land’ yet. We still want our coaching client’s ‘Default Mode’ or empathic brain network to be lit up, because this
- [The Hero's Journey and How It Applies to Personal Development and Coaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-heros-journey-and-how-it-applies-to-personal-development-and-coaching/) - In his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell proposes that the hero myths of pretty much all the world’s cultures follow a similar structure, that he called the ‘monomyth’ or the ‘Hero’s Journey’. The hero is typically someone who goes out into the unknown and achieves great things for their tribe, their
- [Coaching With Appreciative Inquiry: How to Facilitate the Dream Stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/coaching-with-appreciative-inquiry-how-to-facilitate-the-dream-stage/) - What the Dream Stage is For The purpose of the Dream stage in Appreciative Inquiry’s 5-D format is to enable us to think beyond our normal parameters, so we can form a vision of the desired future that’s not constrained by what we think is possible. As Einstein (possibly) said, “You cannot solve a problem
- [What Is Appreciative Inquiry? Video](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-is-appreciative-inquiry-video/) - Andy Smith introduces Appreciative Inquiry with a short video. Don't expect to get the whole of Appreciative Inquiry in this 5 minute video - but it is designed to be a good place to start! Why not watch this first, then take a look at the ever-expanding Appreciative Inquiry resources page, the Appreciative Inquiry book
- [You Already Know Something About Appreciative Inquiry - Here's What To Do Next!](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-what-to-do-next/) - Some Quick Ways You Can Start Using Appreciative Inquiry in Your Work, Plus How to Deepen Your Understanding and Where You Can Train If you've been reading the articles on my blog or you've subscribed to Coaching Leaders Secrets, I hope that by now you feel inspired to want to begin using Appreciative Inquiry, learn
- [How to Use Appreciative Inquiry in One-to-One Coaching: the Discovery Stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-use-appreciative-inquiry-in-one-to-one-coaching-the-discovery-stage/) - How to use Appreciative Inquiry in one-to-one coaching: help your client rediscover their strengths with appreciative interviews
- [Using the 5-D Format in One-to-One Coaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/using-the-5-d-format-in-one-to-one-coaching/) - The 5-D format is the most widely used way of structuring Appreciative Inquiry processes, and by far the one that I have the most personal experience with. Although it originated, like Appreciative Inquiry as a whole, in the field of organisational development, it translates very nicely to one-to-one coaching, as well as team coaching. In
- [Exercise helps depression](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/exercise-helps-depression/) - Many studies have found that depression improves with exercise. A study by Lynette C Craft at Michigan State University takes us a step closer to understanding why. The study set out to examine two proposed explanations for why exercise tends to reduce depression symptoms - self-efficacy (the person's belief that they can cope with their depression) and distraction. The study followed nine women on a nine-week exercise programme, and a control group of 10 women not on the programme. All the women were diagnosed with 'moderate depression' and were on antidepressants. The study found that at the end of the programme, the participants had reduced their depression with a strong support for self-efficacy as a causal mechanism. There was less support for distraction as a causal mechanism. The control group's depression levels were unchanged. I found this in the BPS Research Digest - well worth subscribing to. I do wonder if the improvement in depression levels could have been due to the physical effects of exercise as well as improved self-efficacy...
- [Four Essential Questions For Coaching Yourself Or Others](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/four-essential-questions-for-coaching-yourself/) - 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
- [Using Appreciative Inquiry in One-to-One Coaching: the Definition Stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-in-coaching-definition-stage/) - Let's take a moment to recall the two distinctive features of Appreciative Inquiry described by Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres in Conversations Worth Having: positive framing ('flipping' problem statements so that they're positively phrased, about what we want instead of the problem), and generative questioning (where the questions are designed to provoke new ideas and
- [How the 'Experience Cube' Works in Coaching (4 - part 2): How to Help Your Clients Get to Their Goals](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-the-experience-cube-works-in-coaching-4-part-2-how-to-help-your-clients-get-to-their-goals/) - This article follows on from previous articles considering the other quadrants of the Experience Cube: Observations, Thoughts, Emotions, and (obviously) Wants part 1 - so you might want to read those first. The Experience Cube is a model from Gervase Bushe's excellent book Clear Leadership: Sustaining Real Collaboration and Partnership at Work If They Want
- [How the Experience Cube Works in Coaching (4 - part 1): How to Help Your Client Clarify What they Want](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/experience-cube-coaching-how-to-help-your-client-clarify-what-they-want/) - This article follows on from previous articles considering the other quadrants of the Experience Cube: Observations, Thoughts, and Emotions - so you might want to read those first. The fourth quadrant of the ‘Experience Cube’, as described in Gervase Bushe’s excellent book Clear Leadership: Sustaining Real Collaboration and Partnership at Work, is about what we
- [Principles of Appreciative Inquiry in Coaching: the Simultaneity Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/principles-of-appreciative-inquiry-in-coaching-the-simultaneity-principle/) - “The inquiry is the intervention” Change Starts From the Very First Question Someone new to coaching might think that we should ask questions to help the client explore their situation, at the same time gathering information to clue ourselves in to what’s going on for them; and only after that does change start, as we
- [Principles of Appreciative Inquiry in Coaching: The Positive Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-positive-principle-coaching/) - “Positive questions lead to positive change” The Paradox of Change Think about a time when change has been forced on you. Particularly if the change came as a shock, the chances are that you didn’t enjoy it much. Maybe, looking back, you wish you had responded differently (which, if you think about it, means you’ve
- [Principles of Appreciative Inquiry in Coaching: the Poetic Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-poetic-principle-coaching/) - “We can choose what we focus on” When I was studying hypnotherapy 30 years ago, a common metaphor for the unconscious mind likened it to a vast, dark storehouse full of treasures and memories, and our conscious awareness as being like a narrow-beam torch that we shine into one corner or another. We only see
- [Applying the Principles of Appreciative Inquiry to Coaching (2): The Anticipatory Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/applying-the-principles-of-appreciative-inquiry-to-coaching-2-the-anticipatory-principle/) - In a nutshell, the Anticipatory Principle says that people (and human systems on every scale) move in the direction of their images of the future - and the more positive the image of the future, the more likely it is to lead to positive action in the present. In one form or another, this is
- [Applying the Principles of Appreciative Inquiry to Coaching (1): The Constructionist Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-coaching-constructionist-principle/) - According to the theory of social constructionism, the language we use, and the conversations we have, shape our social reality. We make sense of things through conversation with other people. What becomes established as 'knowledge' is a broad social agreement created among people through communication. What are the implications of the Constructionist Principle for coaching?
- [Appreciative Coaching: How to Instantly Improve The Coaching Relationship](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-coaching-how-to-instantly-improve-the-coaching-relationship/) - There's a quick and easy way that appreciative coaches use to improve the relationship with their coaching clients. All you need to do is...
- [Appreciative Coaching: How Our Assumptions Influence Our Questions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-coaching-how-assumptions-influence-questions/) - Appreciative coaches automatically know how to word their questions so they empower the client. How? By making the right assumptions
- [Appreciative Coaching: Why We Assume That Something Is Working For Every Client](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-coaching-assume-something-is-working/) - The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry, an excellent introductory book by Sue Annis Hammond, is unusual among Appreciative Inquiry books in that it doesn’t set out the ‘five principles’ (Constructionist, Anticipatory, and so on) as fundamental to the approach. Instead, it lists eight ‘assumptions’ – some of which map on to the standard principles fairly
- [Appreciative Coaching: How Does the 5-D Format Compare to the GROW and TGROW Models?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-coaching-how-does-the-5-d-format-compare-to-the-grow-and-tgrow-models/) - If you have any prior experience of coaching you may well have used the GROW model, probably the most widely used format in coaching, and you may be curious about how the Appreciative Inquiry 5-D format relates to it. The GROW model, developed by Graham Alexander and popularised by Sir John Whitmore in his book
- [Principles of Appreciative Inquiry in Coaching: the Enactment Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/principles-of-appreciative-inquiry-in-coaching-the-enactment-principle/) - “The only way to change the world is to live the difference” – Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom, The Power of Appreciative Inquiry The Enactment Principle reminds us that the best way – perhaps the only way – to make your desired future come about is to start enacting it in the present. Acting ‘as
- [Principles of Appreciative Inquiry in Coaching: The Wholeness Principle (part 1)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/principles-of-appreciative-inquiry-in-coaching-the-wholeness-principle-part-1/) - “Wholeness brings out the best in people” The three ‘emergent’ principles of Appreciative Inquiry developed some time after the original five, arising from what practitioners observed and found to work as they facilitated Appreciative Inquiry processes with organisations and communities. They were first set out in The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to
- [What Research Says About How To Give Feedback](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/impact-positive-negative-feedback/) - I came across a useful short article in the New York Times by Alina Tugend summarising research into the effects of 'bad' events (setbacks, losses, criticism) versus 'good' events (progress, gains, praise): Praise Is Fleeting, but Brickbats We Recall. This is a quick summary of the main points that emerged, plus some thoughts about the implications
- [The one thing you need to know from improv comedy to make co-presenting work](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/one-thing-need-know-improv-comedy-make-co-presenting-work/) - How to stop co-presenting disasters - the one thing you need to know from improv comedy If you're presenting or training with someone else, there's one thing that both you and your co-trainer need to know to stop your training session or presentation ending in failure. I've been a co-trainer with a number of different
- [4 More Reasons Why Leadership Coaches Shouldn't Give Advice](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/leadership-coaching-advice/) - This follows on from last week's article - you can discover the first 3 reasons that leadership coaches shouldn't give advice here. And just like in that article, I'm using the term 'learner' rather than the more traditional - but misleading - 'coachee'. Let's get straight into the rest of those reasons not to give advice
- [3 Reasons Why Leadership Coaches Shouldn’t Give Advice](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/why-coaches-should-not-give-advice/) - Note: I'm going to use the term 'learner' throughout this article rather than the more traditional 'coachee'. I'm not a fan of that term, because it implies being a passive recipient, which is emphatically not what's going on in the coaching process. Let me start by saying that there are some situations where it’s appropriate,
- [The Best Appreciative Inquiry Resources on the Web - Autumn 2023 Round-Up](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-best-appreciative-inquiry-resources-on-the-web-autumn-2023-round-up/) - A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry training starts soon - click here to get the details and how to book I'm always on the lookout for great Appreciative Inquiry resources to share in my Positive Change Methods groups on Facebook and LinkedIn - here are some of the best that I've found in the last few
- [What If We Word Affirmative Topics As Questions?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-if-we-word-affirmative-topics-as-questions/) - Framing Affirmative Topics As Questions Makes Them More Engaging Questions are more engaging than statements. If someone asks you a question – any question – a part of your mind starts looking for an answer. That’s why I encourage my Appreciative Inquiry clients and students to craft their affirmative topics (the frame that we set
- [Do Your Meetings Suck? Here’s How to Make Them Better](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/better-meetings/) - I'm quite choosy about recommending other people's work, but sometimes I come across some tips that are so good I just have to share them with you. So today's post is about an episode of the ReThinking podcast with organizational psychologist Adam Grant (note: I don't have any association with the podcast, but it will
- [Inspirations From David Cooperrider (2): Questions Can Change Social Reality](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/questions-can-change-social-reality/) - This is the second in a series inspired by Professor David Cooperrider’s recent interview on the Inspiring Impacts podcast - the first article is here. The original interview is well worth a listen! Cooperrider mentioned in passing Wittgenstein's idea that the limits of our language are the limits of our world. Unless we have the language
- [Inspirations From David Cooperrider (1): We Become What We Ask Questions About](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/we-become-what-we-ask-questions-about/) - I love listening to podcasts – if you select them carefully, they can be a real source of learning and new ideas. That was certainly true of Professor David Cooperrider’s recent interview on the Inspiring Impacts podcast. Although I’ve been working with Appreciative Inquiry for over 15 years, I learned a lot from this interview.
- [The Benefits of Living An Appreciative Life - Part 2](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-benefits-of-living-an-appreciative-life-part-2/) - Missed part 1? Read it here 2. Your luck will improve Psychologist Richard Wiseman studied the attitudes and behaviour of people who considered themselves exceptionally lucky or unlucky. His book 'The Luck Factor' documents his findings that the 'lucky' group actually made themselves lucky by creating and noticing chance opportunities, listening to their intuition, and
- [What Is Coaching?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-is-coaching/) - There are many definitions of coaching around, reflecting the fact that it's a big subject and there are many different coaching philosophies. Coaching is also something that is continuing to evolve as new approaches and innovations are tried out. The new idea which will have the biggest impact, in my view and based on the
- [7%, 38%, 55% - the facts](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/7-38-55-the-facts/) - Ever heard that statistic that only 7% of information in communication is conveyed by the words, 38% by voice tone, and 55% by body language? Well, it's not strictly true.The original experiments by a psychologist called Mehrabian have been taken wildly out of context. These web pages set the record straight:http://www.neurosemantics.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=375&Itemid=199http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/12/12-1332.htmlAnd from Mehrabian's own web page at http://www.kaaj.com/psych/smorder.html, he makes the point that his original experiments were about feelings and attitudes:---------------"Total Liking = 7% Verbal Liking + 38% Vocal Liking + 55% Facial LikingPlease note that this and other equations regarding relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages were derived from experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attitudes (i.e., like-dislike). Unless a communicator is talking about their feelings or attitudes, these equations are not applicable. --------------I could have sworn that there was also an article on the Fast Company web site debunking the use of these statistics out of context, but apparently not. I must have been thinking of the "Yale goal-setting study" (quoted by Anthony Robbins among many others) which seems to have never actually happened.This post originally appeared in my first primitive attempt at a self-hosted blog way back in 2004. The original blog has vanished like the lost continent of Atlantis, but I'll salvage anything I think is worthwhile and repost it here.
- [Appreciative Inquiry for teambuilding](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-for-teambuilding/) - Appreciative Inquiry (AI) makes an excellent format for teambuilding. It can be very rewarding for a team to work through the 4-D cycle, each stage building on the one before. A day (or slightly less than a day) gives enough time to really go into some depth, reaffirm bonds within the team, and build morale
- [Appreciative Inquiry: better ways of doing the Design stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-better-ways-of-doing-the-design-stage/) - Read almost any textbook on Appreciative Inquiry and you will find a frustrating vagueness about what to actually do in the Design stage. This stage, which follows on from the Discovery of what is already working well, and the Dream about how the organisation could be at its best, is generally agreed to be about
- [How To Use Appreciative Inquiry Without A Formal 5D Cycle (1): Ask For Best Practice Stories](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/informal-appreciative-inquiry/) - Do you want to get started using Appreciative Inquiry confidently with teams? A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry online training starts soon – click here to get the details and how to book Reading the excellent book Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement by Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres, I was
- [How To Use Appreciative Inquiry Without A Formal 5D Cycle (2): Conversational Appreciative Inquiry!](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/conversational-appreciative-inquiry/) - For this week's tip I'm indebted to my good friend Gavin Ingham, the renowned sales expert and motivational speaker. Gavin attended the 'in the room' version of my Practical Appreciative Inquiry course a few years back, and like so many graduates of the course, has been applying Appreciative Inquiry in his chosen area of expertise
- [Book review: The Thin Book of SOAR](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/book-review-the-thin-book-of-soar/) - The Thin Book of SOAR: Building Strengths-Based Strategy by Jacqueline M Stavros and Gina Hinrichs The 'Thin Books' series impresses with its aim of presenting key organisational and people development concepts in a brief, fluff-free and practical way which makes it a boon to the busy manager or consultant. The Thin Book of SOAR is
- [3 Insights On Leadership And Emotional Intelligence From Daniel Goleman](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/goleman-emotional-intelligence-leadership/) - Specifically, these insights come from the book Primal Leadership (UK title The New Leaders) by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee. For my money, this is still the best book on Emotional Intelligence as it applies to leadership. 1. The emotional climate affects results When people feel good, they think and work better, with
- [Do You Have The Wrong Kind Of Motivation?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/towards-away-motivation/) - There are two kinds of motivation, 'Towards' (something you want) and 'Away-From' (something you don't want). Both have their uses, but which is better for helping you to achieve your goals? Anger, irritation, fear, or frustration with your current situation can be a great motivator to get you going, providing an initial kick in the pants to
- [A New Appreciative Inquiry Podcast (that we can learn loads from)!](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/a-new-appreciative-inquiry-podcast-that-we-can-learn-loads-from/) - The Inspiring Impacts podcast (from the Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry at Champlain College​) launched recently, and I highly recommend it. Each week Dr Lindsay Godwin interviews a leading figure from the world of Appreciative Inquiry, and the latest episode with Luc Verheijen was a particular highlight. I have around 15 years experience as an
- [What Is Emotional Intelligence, And Why Is It Important?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotional-intelligence-important/) - This is a quick introduction to the idea of Emotional Intelligence, and why it's important in a work and business context, as well as the wider context of everyday life. The culture where you work may encourage the belief that emotions just get in the way of rational decision-making, and that they have no value
- [Appreciative Therapy: Therapy Works Better When It's Focused On The Client's Strengths](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-therapy/) - The invaluable BPS Research Digest reports on a study by Christoph Flückiger and Martin Grosse Holtforth which found that getting therapists to focus on a client’s strengths for just ten minutes before the first five sessions of psychotherapy (an example of resource priming) improved relationships with the client, and led to greater improvements by session 20. Here's
- [Why You Should Treat Problems As Challenges](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/problems-as-challenges/) - There are real benefits to looking for what you appreciate or are grateful about in bad things as well as good. ‘What is there to be grateful for in bad things?’ you might reasonably ask. Here are some ideas and research findings that might help you to benefit from adversity. Some events that are tough
- [Stress can be good for you - if you have the right mindset](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/stress-good-for-you-right-mindset/) - Stress is generally thought of as bad for you. But there's some research by Alia Crum, Peter Salovey, and Shawn Achor that suggests that in some cases it can actually do you good. What makes the difference is not the amount of stress, as previously thought (psychologists used to believe some level of stress is good
- [Practical Steps to Apply the Positive Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/practical-steps-to-apply-the-positive-principle/) - Following on from this description of Appreciative Inquiry's Positive Principle (also available in video form), here are some ways to put the principle into action: Look for the best in people and situations (you're probably already aware of the worst because our brains pay more attention to problems than opportunities, so this is just helping
- [Emergent Principles Of Appreciative Inquiry 3: The Free Choice Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emergent-principles-appreciative-inquiry-free-choice-principle/) - If you know about Appreciative Inquiry, the chances are that you'll be familiar with its five guiding principles (the Constructionist, Poetic, Simultaneity, Anticipatory, and Positive principles as set out by David Cooperrider in, for example, the Appreciative Inquiry Handbook). Some more principles have started to emerge as AI consultants have refined their ideas in the
- [How Keeping Things Simple Avoids Problems](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/keep-it-simple/) - (Apologies in advance for the slightly techie content - really just words like 'Wordpress' and 'plugins' - but if you're already finding the example too complicated, you can jump straight to the point of the article) Recently some bits of my website just stopped working. Unfortunately, quite important bits, like the signup button for my
- [Free Online Collaboration Tools Compared](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/free-online-collaboration-tools-reviews/) - While designing my Practical Appreciative Inquiry online course (the next one is starting soon if you want to take it), I auditioned various virtual whiteboard tools for online collaboration. These can be very useful for a virtual team or distributed group to quickly knock together a presentation, a high-level plan, or collaborative vision boards for
- [How To Do Appreciative Interviews With People Who Are Feeling Negative (video and transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-do-appreciative-interviews-with-people-who-are-feeling-negative/) - Recently one of my Practical Appreciative Inquiry graduates emailed me an interesting question. She is using an appreciative interview format in her research working with maternity staff (doctors, midwives and maternity support workers) who have worked through the Covid crisis and obviously been under a lot of pressure. She was concerned that it would seem
- [The Unsent Letter or Lincoln Letter – What Writing One Can Do for You and How to Avoid the Pitfalls](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-unsent-letter-or-lincoln-letter-what-writing-one-can-do-for-you-and-how-to-avoid-the-pitfalls/) - If you’re feeling angry or upset with someone, you may have seen the advice ‘write a letter to them expressing how you feel, but don’t send it’. Apparently (I found out when I was researching it), there isn’t one single name for this practice. I’ve seen it variously called an ‘unsent letter’, ‘expressive letter writing’,
- [The Neuroscience Of Appreciative Inquiry - Video And Transcript](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-neuroscience-of-appreciative-inquiry-video/) - In this video, Appreciative Inquiry facilitator Andy Smith introduces two networks in the brain that have been discovered (relatively) recently: the Task Positive Network and the Default Mode Network. This video shows why you need both for effective problem solving and performance improvement - but usually at work we're only in 'Task Positive' mode, which
- [Principles Of Appreciative Inquiry 5: The Simultaneity Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-simultaneity-principle-2/) - "The inquiry is the intervention" Because questions direct attention to whatever is being asked about, they affect perceptions, emotions, and sometimes, the beliefs of people answering those questions. Consequently, change starts as soon as you start asking questions. The way you ask the questions, and the frame within which you ask them, is also important.
- [Karen Armstrong on Spirituality and Compassion](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/karen-armstrong-on-spirituality-and-compassion/) - “The one and only test of a valid religious idea, spiritual experience, or devotional practice is that it must lead directly to practical compassion” - Karen Armstrong, The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness
- [The Human Cost Of Change, And How To Reduce It](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-human-cost-of-change/) - Rising levels of stress and depression The business bestseller lists are full of books about how to embrace change. Silicon Valley companies are lauded for disrupting traditional business models. "A game-changer" is about the most complimentary thing you can say about an idea. But what if you're an employee in a company that's in a
- [Speaker recommendation: Jenny Flintoft (now Ainsworth)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/speaker-recommendation-jenny-flintoft/) - Update: Well, time's moved on. The Manchester Business NLP and Emotional Intelligence Group is no more, and Jenny is now Jenny Ainsworth - you can find her at jennyainsworth.com. I expect that she's only got better as a speaker! At our most recent meeting of the Manchester Business NLP and Emotional Intelligence Group we were
- [Principles Of Appreciative Inquiry 2: The Anticipatory Principle (video)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/anticipatory-principle-video/) - The second in a series of short videos where we introduce the basic principles underpinning Appreciative Inquiry. The Anticipatory Principle states that organisations (and people) tend to grow in the direction of their positive images of the future, like a sunflower or heliotrope grows towards the sun. Our expectations of the future – and therefore
- [What Appreciative Inquiry Can Learn From NLP: How To Be A Better Appreciative Interviewer](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-nlp-better-appreciative-interviewer/) - Recently I was interviewed by Robyn Stratton-Berkessel for her 'Positivity Strategist' podcast about the relationship between Appreciative Inquiry and NLP. During the conversation a couple of connections occurred to me that I hadn't thought of before. Firstly, let's look at the Appreciative Interview process (in which the interviewee tells the story of a time when
- [The Best Appreciative Inquiry Resources on the Web - Autumn 2022 Round-Up](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-best-appreciative-inquiry-resources-on-the-web-autumn-2022-round-up/) - A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry online training starts soon – click here to get the details and how to book Here are some of the best Appreciative Inquiry articles and podcasts I’ve come across in the last few months David Shaked's 'Powerful Questions' podcast. A new-ish podcast from an Appreciative Inquiry thought leader, in nice short
- [Appreciative Inquiry: What Happens In The Dream Stage? (Video + Transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-what-happens-in-the-dream-stage-video-transcript/) - A quick overview of the Dream stage in the Appreciative Inquiry 5D model, and why informal 'artistic' co-creation works better than formal, linear logic in helping people envision their desired future. Do you want to get started using Appreciative Inquiry confidently with teams and small groups? A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry online training starts soon
- [We Humans Have A Built-In Negative Bias - Here's How To Redress It (Video And Transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-negative-bias/) - In this video, Andy Smith explains the effects of our hard-wired negative bias, what we can do to combat it, and why Appreciative Inquiry is a particularly effective method. If Appreciative Inquiry is new to you, you may want to watch this short video first: What Is Appreciative Inquiry? More Appreciative Inquiry videos to follow soon!
- [Ceiling height affects creativity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/ceiling-height-affects-creativity/) - Research by Joan Meyers-Levy and Rui (Juliet) Zhu found that, depending on the situation, ceiling height will benefit or impair consumer responses. "When a person is in a space with a 10-foot ceiling, they will tend to think more freely, more abstractly," said Meyers-Levy. "They might process more abstract connections between objects in a room, whereas a person in a room with an 8-foot ceiling will be more likely to focus on specifics." This information is take from the University of Minnesota's press release.The findings suggest to me that the human brain works metaphorically - although this article by Chris Morris offers an alternative explanation, that people just have more room to make big pictures in their minds when there is a high ceiling.
- [How Change Happens As Soon As You Start Asking Questions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/change-happens-as-soon-as-you-ask-questions/) - If they're the right kind of questions, that is The traditional idea of change in organisations starts with diagnosing the problem, then prescribing a solution - and only when you start to carry out the prescribed remedies would you expect change to start happening. The change philosophy known as Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approaches things differently.
- [The Best Appreciative Inquiry Resources On The Web - March 2022 Round-Up](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/best-appreciative-inquiry-resources-march-2022/) - A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry online training starts soon – click here to get the details and how to book Here are some of the best Appreciative Inquiry articles and podcasts I've come across in the last month or so Strategic Relationship Building from Nick Heap. It's a workshop description built around Appreciative Inquiry for helping
- [How McKinsey Discovered Strategies For Peak Performance At Work](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-mckinsey-discovered-strategies-for-peak-performance-at-work/) - We know what it feels like when we are performing at our peak - when we're fully employing our core strengths to overcome challenges, time flies by, and we lose ourselves in what we are doing. Not only does this 'flow' state or being 'in the zone' feel great, we are enormously productive, motivated and
- [Appreciative Inquiry: How To Define Your Affirmative Topic Effectively](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-affirmative-topic/) - Get your Appreciative Inquiry process started off right with this quick and easy guide to defining an affirmative topic The affirmative topic for an Appreciative Inquiry is important - 'fateful' as many books about AI describe it - because the topic sets the frame for what you will be inquiring into. So it's important that
- [What Executives Get Wrong About Coaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/executive-coaching-mistakes/) - 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
- [How To Use Appreciative Inquiry Without A Formal 5D Cycle (3): Appreciative Team Meetings](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/informal-appreciative-inquiry-team-meetings/) - Think of all the team meetings you've attended in your working life. Chances are that they didn't represent a high point in your career. Leaving aside the basic fact that managers tend to like meetings a lot more than 'makers' (programmers, technicians etc) who tend to view meetings as interruptions to getting their work done,
- [How To Use Appreciative Inquiry Without A Formal 5D Cycle (4): Appreciative Interviews In Coaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-interviews-coaching/) - How to get your coaching client to feel at ease with you, open up quicker, and reframe their issues, in your first session A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry online training starts soon – click here to get the details and how to book One of the joys of running the Practical Appreciative Inquiry facilitator training is
- [Basic Tips On Running Virtual Appreciative Inquiry Events Online](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/basic-tips-on-running-virtual-appreciative-inquiry-summits-online/) - Recently a participant at the start of my Practical Appreciative Inquiry course asked me for tips on running Appreciative Inquiry events virtually. This was my reply: To run a small virtual Appreciative Inquiry event you need two things: breakout rooms, and a decent virtual whiteboard. Virtual breakout rooms The breakout rooms are for: Appreciative interviews
- [How To Brief People To Do Appreciative Interviews](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-brief-people-to-do-appreciative-interviews/) - It's one thing to train people to be appreciative interviewers - but how do you brief people in an Appreciative Inquiry summit or Appreciative Teambuilding event to interview each other? Chances are, unless they coach or manage people for a living, they aren't interested the nuances of Appreciative Inquiry or interpersonal dynamics per se. The
- [How To Use Appreciative Inquiry To Engage People With 'Dry' Or Technical Topics](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-use-appreciative-inquiry-to-tackle-dull-topics/) - Appreciative Inquiry is unrivalled in my experience as a way of engaging people in change. You can feel the atmosphere in a group change within moments of starting a round of appreciative interviews, as if people were waking up from their normal 'working trance' and suddenly giving the whole of their attention to the person
- [Appreciative Inquiry: Why Do We Use Affirmative Topics? (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-affirmative-topics-video-transcript/) - A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry live online facilitator training starts soon - click here to get the details and how to book Transcript The affirmative topic for an Appreciative Inquiry is important – ‘fateful’ as many books about AI describe it – because the topic sets the frame for what you will be inquiring into.
- [How Does Appreciative Inquiry Compare With Other Strengths-Based Approaches?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-does-appreciative-inquiry-compare-with-other-strengths-based-approaches/) - Including:0:35 - One thing that's unique about Appreciative Inquiry vs other strengths-based approaches1:12 - Actually, in practice there's another big difference between Appreciative Inquiry and other approaches!2:13 - The difference between 'inquiry' and 'advocacy' - learning vs persuading Join the Positive Change Methods group on Facebook for more information and tips on using Appreciative Inquiry
- [Appreciative Inquiry: What Is The Wholeness Principle? (Video + Transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/wholeness-principle/) - Why the Wholeness Principle deserves to be recognised as the sixth fundamental principle of Appreciative Inquiry, why it liberates you from having to 'sell' change to your people, and how it can stop your change initiative ending up in the 70% that fail. Do you want to get started using Appreciative Inquiry confidently with teams?
- ["PLEASURE" VS "ENJOYMENT"](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pleasure-vs-enjoyment/) - or Why TV Is Bad For You In the wonderful book "Flow: The Psychology of Happiness" the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi looks at how people become happy and enhance their quality of life. One of the key distinctions he makes is between pleasure and enjoyment. We tend to talk about these two concepts interchangeably, but it's useful to look at the differences in their nature and effects. Pleasure is the feeling of contentment that we achieve whenever we feel that "expectations set by biological programs or by social conditioning have been met." We seek pleasure from alcohol, drugs, watching TV, having sex, and material possessions. Sleep, food, and rest help us to restore order to our consciousness when we are overstimulated or "run ragged" by the demands of work or modern life - they are what Csikszentmihalyi calls "homeostatic experiences". Enjoyment is quite different. When people think more deeply about what makes life rewarding, says Csikszentmihalyi, they tend to come up with experiences which go beyond meeting some expectation or satisfying some need to achieve something more. Enjoyment is about a sense of forward movement and accomplishment, where the person's abilities are stretched beyond what they thought they could achieve. Some examples would be: having a stimulating conversation in which you surprise yourself by your wit or wisdom, mastering a difficult piece of music that you thought you'd never be able to play, reading a book that causes you to think about things in a new way, or playing a tennis opponent who causes you to lift your game. These experiences may not necessarily be pleasurable at the time (though sometimes enjoyment and simple pleasure do overlap), but after the event we look back and we're pleased we did it. Afterwards we know we have "grown" asindividuals and that our self has become more complex and more able to cope with change. Merely pleasurable experiences, by contrast, leave us no more complex than before. In fact, when the experiences stop we may feel worse. Recent research by Csikszentmihalyi and Robert Kuber found that heavy TV viewers (more than 4 hours per day) reported feeling much more anxious and unhappy when they have nothing to occupy their attention - e.g. when waiting in queues. They are more easily bored and distracted than lighter TV users. (For full details of this study subscribe to my "Practical EQ" emotional intelligence newsletter at practicaleq-subscribe@topica.com) How do you recognise an activity which is truly enjoyable as opposed to merely pleasurable? Csikszentmihalyi lists eight characteristics of enjoyable or "flow" experiences: 1. The experience is challenging and requires skills but we have a chance of completing it. 2. We must be able to concentrate on what we are doing. 3. The task has clear goals. 4. It provides immediate feedback on whether we are reaching those goals. 5. We become absorbed in the activity and forget about the worries of everyday life. 6. We have a sense of control over our actions. 7. Concern for the self disappears (though the sense of self emerges stronger after the experience is over). 8. Time disappears - hours can pass like minutes, yet minutes can stretch out to seem like hours. This gives us a useful checklist. How many of these criteria do your favourite leisure activities meet? If you don't feel as happy as you'd like, how about building more "flow" activities into your life? BONUS TIP: if it's hard to think of flow activities that you would enjoy, this is a real sign that you need to free up some mental energy! A good place to start is by "not doing" some of the things which may be pleasurable but don't give you enjoyment. Let's say you are in the habit of watching the two most popular soaps in the UK. Simply by switching off "EastEnders" and "Coronation Street" you would have four and a half extra hours to spend on your life and the (real) people in it - and can you honestly say you would have missed anything? Now - what did you use to do that gave you enjoyment? What did you like about it? And what could you do now that would give you the same feeling? You might find a way of "updating" childhood activities, or it might be some totally new activity that you used to dream about but have never tried. Let me know how you get on by emailing andy@practicaleq.com. Click on these links to order "Flow: The Psychology of Happiness" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyifrom amazon.co.uk or amazon.com.
- [How To Increase Your Emotional Intelligence 2: What If You Don’t Like Yourself?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/increase-emotional-intelligence-self-acceptance/) - When I worked as a hypnotherapist in the 1990s, I occasionally had clients who were scared of going into trance, or even of relaxing. I think that in some cases at least this fear derived from the popular idea of the Freudian view of the unconscious mind as a kind of dungeon where you lock
- [How to deepen your connections to the people you love and admire](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-deepen-your-connections-to-the-people-you-love-and-admire/) - Here's a way to feel better, and make the people you admire or love feel a *whole* lot better, that is really easy to do - in fact it may take less effort than not doing it. Where the idea came from Recently one of my favourite writers, Iain Banks, revealed that he had been
- [Social Silences: What Isn't Being Talked About In Your Organisation?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/social-silences-what-isnt-being-talked-about-in-your-organisation/) - This week I listened to a fascinating podcast interview with author and journalist Gillian Tett about her new book Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life. The book is about what we can learn if we take useful concepts and methods normally hidden away within the fairly obscure academic discipline of anthropology,
- [Celebrate What's Right With The World - Appreciating Dewitt Jones](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/celebrate-whats-right-with-the-world-appreciating-dewitt-jones/) - You won't find a better example of the spirit of Appreciative Inquiry than this TED talk by speaker and National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones. It's the best, and most inspiring, TED talk that I've seen, and a great reminder to look for the best in things - which is very different from 'positive thinking'.
- [Appreciative Inquiry: 4 Ways To Use Appreciative Interviews (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-4-ways-to-use-appreciative-interviews-video-transcript/) - Some practical tips on some of the ways you can use appreciative interviews - in one-to-one coaching, in large-scale organisational change, in team development, and in Appreciative Inquiry summits. Do you want to get started using Appreciative Inquiry confidently with teams? A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry online training starts soon – click here to get the
- [Appreciative Inquiry: What Appreciative Interviewers Need To Understand (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/keys-to-successful-appreciative-interviews/) - Appreciative interviews are the most important part of the Appreciative Inquiry process. Here are the four things you need to know to do great appreciative interviews. Do you want to get started using Appreciative Inquiry confidently with teams? A new Practical Appreciative Inquiry online training starts soon – click here to get the details and how
- [Appreciative Inquiry Research](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-research/) - From our own experience we know how effective and energising Appreciative Inquiry can be. I would like to see more peer-reviewed research to prove its effectiveness to people who haven't yet experienced AI first-hand. Peer review is important, because it acts as quality control and increases the likelihood that you can trust the research methods
- [Attending to the elephant](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/attending-to-the-elephant/) - More elephant/rider related stuff - Maile McCarthy on her Breath by Breath blog (note: since I wrote this article, it looks like she's deleted her blog as the link now goes to her illustrator site) suggests attention as a way of bringing the conscious rider and the unconscious elephant into greater harmony: noticing when your
- [Appreciative Inquiry: Business-Friendly Appreciative Interview Format (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/business-friendly-appreciative-interview-format-video/) - Appreciative interviews are the heart of Appreciative Inquiry, and they come in many different formats. This format is the best I've found for business use. As well as looking for stories of success, these 4 questions look for what people value and find motivating about their stories, and identifies the conditions that made that success
- [Appreciative Inquiry: Why We Do Appreciative Interviews (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-why-do-appreciative-interviews-video-transcript/) - The appreciative interview has been described as 'the heart of Appreciative Inquiry'. It really is the key activity of the Discovery stage. So why are appreciative interviews so useful for gathering rich qualitative information? Here are 6 good reasons you need to be aware of. Referenced in this video: The Neuroscience of Appreciative Inquiry (for
- [14 Leadership And Innovation Lessons From David Bowie](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/leadership-and-innovation-lessons-from-david-bowie/) - If you're also interested in Bowie's musical legacy (be honest, that's what drew you to the post in the first place), you may be interested in Gavin Whitmer's in-depth reviews of the eight best online guitar lessons. Recommended for any guitarists wanting to improve. And here's another excellent resource, especially but not exclusively
- [Appreciative Inquiry: What Happens In The Discovery Stage? (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-discovery/) - Four reasons why it's better to look at what's already working, and what's worked in the past, BEFORE jumping straight to setting goals. This is what we do in the Discovery stage of Appreciative Inquiry, and it's one of the main features that distinguishes Appreciative Inquiry from other change methods - whether you're working at
- [Appreciative Inquiry: A Quick Way To Define Affirmative Topics (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-a-quick-way-to-define-affirmative-topics-video-transcript/) - Here's a short video (with transcript) on an easy way to 'flip' problem statements into affirmative topics
- [How to clarify your values (3): Check for Clashes](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-clarify-your-values-3-check-for-clashes/) - This article follows on from part 1 (how to elicit your values) and part 2 (how to discover your values hierarchy). What follows is an edited extract from my book, Achieve Your Goals (Dorling Kindersley 2006). ---- Conflicting values (for example, 'adventure' versus 'security' in your career) are a recipe for dilemmas, and for feeling
- [How to clarify your values (2): Establish your hierarchy](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-clarify-your-values-2-establish-your-hierarchy/) - Following on from the previous instructions on how to clarify your values for a particular area of your life, here's the next step that's vital to do before you set any personal goals - discover the order of importance of your values. This is another extract from my book, Achieve Your Goals (Dorling Kindersley 2006)
- [Using the NLP 'Logical Levels' model with Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/using-the-nlp-logical-levels-model-with-appreciative-inquiry/) - The Design phase is sometimes described as "building a bridge from the 'best of what is' (revealed, at least in part, in the Discovery stage) to the best of 'what could be' (the vision set out in the Dream stage)". But how to bridge that gap, particularly when the Dream seems far removed from even
- [Appreciative Inquiry: What Happens In The Definition Stage (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-definition-stage-video-transcript/) - The 'Definition' stage of Appreciative Inquiry is where you get everything ready to conduct your Appreciative Inquiry process. It's the bit that's taken as a given when we talk about the 4D model - the cycle of Discover, Dream, Design, and Deliver that you might go through when you conduct an Appreciative Inquiry meeting or
- [When to use Appreciative Inquiry - and when not to](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/when-to-use-appreciative-inquiry/) - Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an attractive approach to change for many reasons; it generates results fast, it engages people, it liberates creativity, it moves away from 'blame culture', and - not least - it feels good to focus on the positive. Even so, AI requires a considerable investment of time and resources, and perhaps a
- [What are Appreciative Interviews, and why use them?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-are-appreciative-interviews-and-why-use-them/) - What is an Appreciative Interview? "Inquiry is intervention"- David L Cooperrider The Appreciative Interview has been described as 'the heart of appreciative inquiry'. It is the key activity of the Discovery stage. Appreciative Interviews are designed to collect rich qualitative information in the form of stories which carry a wealth of meaning, and sometimes a
- [Seth Godin on changing minds](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/seth-godin-on-changing-minds/) - In a posting on his ever-excellent weblog (I changed my mind yesterday) Seth Godin talks about how hard it is to change people's minds if they are in a situation or a mindset in which there are barriers against change. If you're aiming to get someone to change their mind, you could save yourself a lot of effort by asking yourself: Is this person in a situation (emotional, professional, even architecturally) where they are pre-disposed to flip?AndHow can I get them to make a tiny flip? And then another one?A very valuable article IMHO for anyone involved in sales, culture change, or just running meetings.
- [Meetings - thought for the day](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/meetings-thought-for-the-day/) - In most meetings, pride or caution still forbids one to say what one feels most deeply. - Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History Of Humanity I think he's talking about 'meetings' in the sense of everyday human encounters, but it's probably at least as true about business meetings.
- [Why You Shouldn't Waste Your Money Sending Your Jerk Executive On An Emotional Intelligence Course](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/no-jerks-please/) - 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
- [Want To Hire Emotionally Intelligent People For Your Team? My New Book Will Help](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/want-to-hire-emotionally-intelligent-people-for-your-team-my-new-book-will-help/) - What makes the difference between the average performers and the stars in your team? More than any other factor, it's emotional intelligence. This new book tells you how to hire emotionally intelligent people - without blowing your budget on expensive assessments. The right questions to ask, how you need to be as an interviewer, and
- [Are you overlooking the difference you're making to others?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/are-you-overlooking-the-difference-youre-making-to-others/) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YHkGvrivPI Reading Kevin Powell's appreciation of Don Cornelius, creator and host of the great 70's TV show 'Soul Train', I was moved by the closing sentence: "The ultimate tragedy is that I doubt whether this man ever completely grasped how much joy and sunshine he had brought to others in his lifetime." It got me
- [Appreciative Inquiry: The 5D Format (video + transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-the-5d-format-video-transcript/) - How do you structure an Appreciative Inquiry process? The 5D format is the most widely-used way of doing it. Here's a quick overview of what happens in each stage. 0:32 - What do we mean by the 'Positive Core'? 2:05 - Sometimes known as the 4D Format 2:37 - The Definition stage 3:12 - The
- [Principles Of Appreciative Inquiry 4: The Positive Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/principles-appreciative-inquiry-positive-principle/) - 'Positive questions create positive change': change requires a lot of positive emotion, which positive questions create. Change requires learning to act in new ways, but it's also stressful - and people can't learn when they are stressed. The Positive Principle rescues us from this paradox. 0:16 - The paradox of change 0:46 - Most large-scale
- [Appreciative Inquiry principles: 2. The Poetic Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-poetic-principle/) - This follows on naturally from the Constructionist Principle. We have habits of seeing which filter out some aspects of our experience and emphasise others. Over time (through the process that psychologists call 'confirmation bias') these mental filters become stronger, so that our beliefs and our habits of seeing become self-fulfilling prophesies that 'create' their own
- [Principles Of Appreciative Inquiry 3: The Poetic Principle (video and transcript)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/principles-of-appreciative-inquiry-3-the-poetic-principle-video-and-transcript/) - 'We can choose what we study' The third in a series of short videos where we introduce the five principles underpinning Appreciative Inquiry. The 'Poetic Principle' reminds us that what we focus on grows, so when we choose to study success rather than problems, we can find useful new resources and learnings that were overlooked
- [What Most Leaders Are Getting Wrong About Empathy, And Why That’s Dangerous In Times Of Change: Part 1](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/leadership-empathy-1/) - The number one problem problem stopping managers from acting effectively in times of change is - empathy! No, hear us out... That sub-heading sounds like a ‘Randian’ or even sociopathic call to not care about others. It really isn’t, and here’s why. Most leaders, managers, and coaches think of empathy as a vital and necessary
- [What Most Leaders Are Getting Wrong About Empathy, And Why That's Dangerous In Times Of Change: Part 2](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/leadership-empathy-pseudo-empathy/) - This article follows on from What Most Leaders Are Getting Wrong About Empathy, And Why That’s Dangerous In Times Of Change: Part 1 How To Stop Empathy From Destroying Organizations And Families As our organizations evolve into the 21st Century, where we move away from the bureaucratic kind of organizing towards more networked systems, and
- [Tips For Sharpening Your Rapport Skills](https://nlppod.com/tips-sharpening-rapport-skills/) - Following on from previous articles about rapport and how to improve it, here are some ways you can develop your sensory acuity and rapport skills. Remember, it's one thing to read about NLP and to know about it intellectually, quite another to be able to do it. That takes constant practice. With sensory acuity, there's
- [How To Format Training And Presentations With The 4MAT System](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/training-design-4mat-system/) - Have you ever wondered if there's a good way to format a talk, presentation or training module that goes beyond the traditional advice (below)? Tell them what you're going to tell them Tell them Tell them what you've told them This article, about the format that I use to expand on that good but rather
- [What To Do When It's Hard To Get Your Affirmative Topic Wording Right](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-to-do-when-its-hard-to-get-your-affirmative-topic-wording-right/) - Sometimes it's easy to 'flip' a problem statement into an affirmative topic. But for some problems, perhaps vaguer or more complex ones, it can seem harder. Here's a process you can use when none of your attempts at an affirmative topic seem to come out quite right. Let's say the issue you want to improve
- [7 Rules For Dealing With Angry Or Aggressive Clients](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/7-rules-for-dealing-with-angry-or-aggressive-clients/) - Some very sound advice by Adam Sargant of Personnel Development, a communication and thinking skills trainer (and former mental health nurse) in this article. I've haven't met Adam face-to-face yet, but from our email exchanges and his online writings he's a wise and clear thinker - as you'll see. He will be running a session for us on this very topic at the North West Business NLP and Emotional Intelligence Group on 5th July which I'm looking forward to.
- [How To Flip Any Problem To Find Positive Ways Past It - Without Ignoring Negatives](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-flip-any-problem-without-ignoring-negatives/) - Here's an issue that anyone working with positive change methods is going to face, especially working in a business context. Here also is an elegant way to handle it. The Problem With Problem-Solving This issue is more complex than you might think, so it will take a few steps to outline it fully: We know
- [Andy Smith Podcast Interview - Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-podcast-interview/) - I was the guest on Gina Pickersgill's Healing Pool podcast's episode about Appreciative Inquiry this week! Have a listen - it's 51 minutes of me talking about how I see Appreciative Inquiry, how it can help, some ways in which it's like (and unlike) NLP, how I've used it, and much more:https://anchor.fm/thehealingpoolmagazine/episodes/Appreciative-Inquiry-Method-wAndy-Smith-eacfuk Here's the RSS
- [Emergent Principles of Appreciative Inquiry 2: The Enactment Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-enactment-principle/) - Traditionally, Appreciative Inquiry has had five guiding principles (the Constructionist, Poetic, Simultaneity, Anticipatory, and Positive principles as sent out by David Cooperrider in, for example, the Appreciative Inquiry Handbook). In recent years, new principles have started to emerge as Appreciative Inquiry consultants have refined their thinking in the light of practical experience. These are usually
- [Why The Cynic On Your Team Is Your Best Friend In Managing Change](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/why-the-cynic-on-your-team-is-your-best-friend-in-managing-change/) - A while ago, a friend asked my advice about dealing with an 'apathetic and cynical' member of her management team. The team were tasked with driving through some sweeping changes in her Primary Care Trust (I probably need to explain to non-UK readers that this is part of the UK's National Health Service). My friend
- [Solution Focus (2) - Scaling](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/solution-focus-2-scaling/) - Note - this article follows on from Solution Focus - How To Use The 'Miracle Question' Think about something you want to achieve, or even some (minor) problem that you are currently facing. How would you rate where you are in relation to this issue on a scale of 0-10 - where 0 is the
- [Solution Focus - how to use the "Miracle Question"](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/solution-focus-how-to-use-the-miracle-question/) - NLP/EQ Tip #15: Solution Focus - how to use the "Miracle Question" Here's a mildly unpleasant thought experiment. Sorry to do this to you, but it is going somewhere and it does get better, honest. Imagine meeting one of your friends for lunch, and they spend a whole hour telling you about everything that's wrong with their life - in great detail. How would you feel at the end of that hour? Drained, miserable, bored, discouraged? Well, if you would feel like that just from spending that time listening to someone's problems, imagine how much more miserable the friend would be after talking about nothing but their problems for an hour. Now instead, imagine that your friend is telling you all about how things are going to be when they have solved their problems, and how they want things to be. How are you going to feel after an hour of that? Inspired, enthused, happy for them, uplifted? Well if you feel that way, imagine how much better your friend is going to feel - since it's their life they are talking about. ------ Our habitual impulse when we have a problem is to spend time thinking about that problem to find ways of trying to solve it. The downside of focusing on our problems is that we get more involved in them the more we think about them. A problem can seem to expand until it takes up all of our attention and there's no room to think about anything else. And of course the more we think about a problem, the worse we tend to feel. In NLP terms we would say that we get into an 'unresourceful state', where it's harder to find the skills and abilities that come easily to us when we are having a good day. With simple problems it's often glaringly obvious what we need to do to fix them. So we fix them, and move on. Maybe it's so quick and easy to fix that we don't even register it as a problem. But many problems are more complex. So how can we engage with those and still stay resourceful enough to give ourselves the best chance of finding a way out? The answer is simple. Once you're aware of the problem, stop trying to fix it. Instead, turn your attention to what it will be like when the problem is solved. What do you want instead of the problem? ------ Focusing on the solution (without worrying for the moment about how you are going to get there) does a number of things. Immediately you start to feel better, because what you're thinking about is pleasant rather than unpleasant. This makes it easier to access your inner resources. Also, the more fully you imagine the solution and the more detail you go into, the more you are making the connections in your brain that you will need to actually make the solution happen. This will improve your performance, as sports psychology has shown. The vast majority of successful athletes use mental rehearsal, and studies repeatedly show that mental rehearsal enhances performance (see for example http://tinyurl.com/2zwavb). Most importantly, if you want to find a solution, the best place to look for it is anywhere but in the problem. Once you know where you want to get to, you can start finding your way there. Once you have the idea of your solution, you can start making it real. Solution-focused therapy, developed by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg at the Brief Family Therapy Center, Milwaukee, is based on these principles. The beauty of solution focus is that it's simple to use. Although it originated as a therapy method, it can be used in coaching, in solving business problems, and you can use it to help yourself. As a method, it fits very nicely with NLP as it shares a number of assumptions. Berg and de Shazer developed a number of simple and elegant methods to help us turn away from habitual problem focus towards solutions. I'll introduce a couple more in future newsletters - this time let's look at one of the most powerful problem-solving methods there is: the 'Miracle Question'. ------ Exercise: The Miracle Question If you have some problem in mind, ask yourself this question: Let's imagine that while you're asleep tonight a miracle happens and the problem is completely solved. You don't realise this, of course, because you're still asleep - so when you wake up what will be the first thing that tells you that this miracle has happened? What else will tell you? Give yourself some time to answer this (especially if your first answer is "I don't know" - just asking the question will get your mind moving in the right direction both consciously and unconsciously. Write down everything that you think of. You are beginning to build the solution (or solutions) in your mind. NLP buffs will notice that being asked this question shifts the listener from a "problem frame" to an "outcome frame". Framing your thoughts like this is important because it influences the way you think about things, making it much more likely that your imagination will produce something that will help you. ------ A couple of supplementary questions you can ask: 1. Who else would notice that this miracle has happened? What would tell them? This question encourages you to step outside of yourself and think about what would be different in your observable behaviour if the problem were solved. Once you're aware of this, it's a very short step to beginning to act differently. 2. Does anyone else have to change in order for this miracle to happen? Out of dozens of clients I've asked this question, everyone has said 'no'. Of course, having just described your answer to the miracle question makes it a lot easier to realise that you are able to make the changes you need in your life. ------ Given a goal to focus on, your unconscious mind will surprise you by noticing opportunities and coming up with creative ways to get there. So why not try out the miracle question, either by yourself by writing your answers or by getting a friend to ask you the questions. And do email me to let me know how you get on. In a future posting we'll look at another powerful tool from Solution Focus - "Scaling Questions". Note: The thought experiment at the beginning of this article is adapted from the start of 'Words Were Originally Magic' by Steve de Shazer. It's a great book; it does get a little bogged down in a discussion of post-structuralist philosophy but soon recovers when he gets into describing the model, applications and therapy transcripts. You can order it from Amazon here: http://tinyurl.com/24ga8w Further note: while researching this article I discovered from the Brief Family Therapy Center web site that Insoo Kim Berg passed away on January 10th 2007. I hadn't registered this because I was on holiday for most of January. Both Insoo and Steve (d. 2005) made an enormous contribution to development of psychotherapy. On the site you can find some DVDs and downloadable articles about solution focused therapy.
- [Book Review: The Solutions Focus](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/solutions-focus-and-the-dynamics-of-organizational-change/) - When the first edition of The Solutions Focus came out in 2002 it marked a genuine step forward in thinking about organisational change. It brought the insights of Solution Focused Therapy (developed in the late seventies by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg) into the workplace. The second edition, published in 2007, broadens its
- [The Best Podcasts For Leading-Edge Management Thinking](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-best-podcasts-for-leading-edge-management-thinking/) - One of the best ways of keeping up with the latest thinking in psychology as it relates to management and business is by listening to podcasts. If you've got a period in your day when you've got time to listen - like commuting to work, or in my case walking the dog, podcasts are an
- [Appreciative Inquiry Principles: 5. The Positive Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-positive-principle/) - Changing the way we work is not easy. It requires us to learn new ways of doing things and new ways of communicating with each other. At the same time, most people find change stressful. The more fundamental the change, the more stressful it potentially feels. The problem is that people cannot learn when they
- [How To Make Sure Training Actually Transfers To The Workplace: What Research Tells Us](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-make-sure-training-actually-transfers-to-the-workplace-what-research-tells-us/) - Since the 1950s there’s been a perception that most of the money spent on training is wasted, because it either fails to transfer back into the workplace, or fades away over time. Most studies of training transfer suggest a transfer rate as low as 10-20%. So what factors actually make a difference in training transfer?
- [Introduction To Appreciative Inquiry - Video With Andy Smith](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/introduction-to-appreciative-inquiry-video-with-andy-smith/) - Recently I was interviewed over video link about Appreciative Inquiry by Joe Dager of Business901. This introductory segment covers: What Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is in a nutshellWhat teams need to be successfulNeuroscience discoveries that support Appreciative InquiryHow Appreciative Inquiry relates to teams (at the micro level) and organisational change (at the macro level)Why 70%+ of
- [Einstein Quote For Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/einstein-quote-for-appreciative-inquiry/) - I came across this quote by Albert Einstein mentioned in a couple of places in the same week, and it struck my how applicable it is to Appreciative Inquiry. If you're looking only at analysing the causes of problems, you're going to miss the factors that make for success. Unlike most of the Einstein quotes
- [An Easy Format For Giving Positive Feedback](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/an-easy-format-for-giving-positive-feedback/) - Following on from the last post on Why It’s Better, And More Accurate, To Give Positive Feedback, here's a format for doing just that. We're more used to giving details about what people did wrong. When people do things right, the most they often get is a bit of non-specific praise of the "Well done!" kind.
- [What I've learned about leadership from my dog](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-ive-learned-about-leadership-from-my-dog/) - I came to dog ownership at a relatively late age - we didn't have pets when I was a kid, and consequently I grew up with something of a fear of a) dogs that were big enough to kill me and b) aggressive yappy dogs, although later that disappeared with some help from NLP. Fortunately,
- [Teaching Squares - a non-threatening way to improve performance without feedback](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/teaching-squares-a-non-threatening-way-to-improve-performance-without-feedback/) - One of the problems with using feedback to improve performance is that it can be scary. Most people do care, to a greater or lesser extent, about what others think of them. The potential for loss of face or nasty surprises associated with hearing what others think of our performance can be scary, and people
- [The Law of Attraction, Belief Systems and Waking Trances](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-law-of-attraction-belief-systems-and-waking-trances/) - This is prompted by Richard Jones' article on 'LoA, online zombies and unwinnable arguments'. I'm hoping that the ideas set out below might throw a bit of light on why both sides in this debate find the argument unwinnable. Just in case you've never encountered the 'Law of Attraction' before, it's a "New Thought" or
- [What motivational gurus don't tell you about motivation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-motivational-gurus-dont-tell-you-about-motivation/) - The biggest problem that people have in their strategies for motivating themselves is that they never get started. The could be because they are feeling overwhelmed by the size of the task, or just because of inertia - the tendency to keep on the way we're going. It takes energy to change. Either way, the
- [The Leadership Emotional Intelligence of Margaret Thatcher](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-leadership-emotional-intelligence-of-margaret-thatcher/) - Mrs Thatcher inspired affection and loyalty from her own supporters like no other British leader since Churchill. This article examines why. Whatever you thought of her policies, there are leadership lessons we can learn. As I disagreed with nearly all her policies when she was in power, my younger self would be amazed to find
- [The IKEA Effect: How To Use It For Staff Engagement](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/ikea-effect/) - 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
- [First Order And Second Order Change: Understanding The Difference](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/first-order-change/) - 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.
- [Caitlin Moran On Sorting Out Problems](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/caitlin-moran-on-sorting-out-problems/) - "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
- [Iain McGilchrist On The Divided Brain](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/iain-mcgilchrist-on-the-divided-brain/) - 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
- [Book review: Appreciative Team Building](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/book-review-appreciative-team-building/) - Appreciative Team Building by Diana Whitney, Amanda Trosten-Bloom, Jay Cherney and Ron Fry This short book (98 pages) provides a strong starting point for anyone wanting to build a more positive and productive culture in their team. A few pages in, I found this eye-opening encapsulation of what's wrong with the "conventional wisdom" on team-building:
- [How Graphic Recording Can Add To Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/graphic-recording-appreciative-inquiry/) - 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
- [How To Increase Your Emotional Intelligence 3: Get In Touch With Your Emotions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/increase-emotional-intelligence-get-in-touch-with-emotions/) - You probably read about the psychology study last year that asked people to sit alone with their thoughts, with no distractions, for just fifteen minutes. Surprisingly, many of the test subjects (67% of the men and 25% of the women) preferred to distract themselves with a mild but painful electric shock rather than experience their
- [How To Increase Your Emotional Intelligence 4: Emotions As Messages](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-increase-your-emotional-intelligence-4-emotions-as-messages/) - Why You Should Listen To Your Emotions In a business world where we strive to be cool-headed and rational, it’s easy to treat emotions as things to be controlled and to detach from, so as not to cloud our judgement. But your emotions, positive or negative, are messages with valuable information, and you ignore them
- [How To Increase Your Emotional Intelligence 5: See Yourself As Others See You](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/increase-emotional-intelligence-see-yourself-as-others-see-you/) - Our self-awareness is necessarily limited. As Daniel Kahneman and other researchers have found, the reasoning that drives our actions is often hidden from our conscious minds. Our motivations are usually no clearer to ourselves than they are to others. Even if we had perfect knowledge of our own motivations, other people have their own viewpoints and may
- [Book Review: Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/six-thinking-hats-review/) - It took me a long time to get round to reading Six Thinking Hats, but finally after 25 years of corporate training I took the plunge. I was expecting a brainstorming process, because that’s how I had most often heard of the ‘Six Hats’ being used, but it turns out that this short and accessible
- [A quick Appreciative Inquiry video introduction](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-video-introduction/) - If you are looking for an accessible introduction to AI, here is a quick 10-minute Appreciative Inquiry video intro by Jacqueline Kelm. It's a big subject to squeeze into 10 minutes but she does a great job! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwGNZ63hj5k Only one thing I would add - in the Omni Hotel case study that Jacqueline mentions in
- [How leadership, emotional intelligence and coaching fit together - royalty free image](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-leadership-emotional-intelligence-and-coaching-fit-together-royalty-free-image/) - I put this image up on Facebook and a lot of trainers seemed to like it. So here it is - you can use it freely (yes, even for commercial projects) as long as you leave the copyright statement and URL in the image. Of course, I would love it if you include a live
- [Why Your Brain Is Hardwired For Negativity, And What You Can Do About It](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/negativity-bias/) - There’s a wealth of research showing that most people give more attention to threats than opportunities, for example: Negative experiences are remembered in more detail than positive ones Our attitudes are influenced more heavily by bad news than good news (research by John Cacioppo) People feel more negative emotion if they lose $100 than positive
- [Business-friendly Appreciative Interview Format](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/business-friendly-appreciative-interview-format/) - If you've looked at the 'traditional' appreciative interview format set out in most books about Appreciative Inquiry, you might have decided it wasn't quite something you could use in a work context. Too touchy-feely, you may have thought, or too focused on patting oneself on the back, something we Brits are rarely comfortable doing. A
- [How To Get People To Change Their Minds](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-change-minds/) - Getting someone to change their mind, especially when they feel strongly about something, is never easy. If you go straight in, and especially if you let your strong feelings on the topic get the better of you, the chances are you will trigger the 'Backfire Effect', leaving them more convinced than ever. To increase your
- [Emotional Intelligence In A Nutshell](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotional-intelligence-in-a-nutshell/) - Someone asked these questions on a coaching forum recently: > Can emotions be intelligent? How can emotions be intelligent? How can the > lymbic emotional brain learn from the intelligence of the cortex and vice > versa? I had time for a brief answer, as technically I was on my day off. I'll reproduce it here in case it helps anyone: Emotions provide information which is not available in other ways - including information about how other people are feeling (and hence how they are likely to act), and about the state of our health and energy levels, and what we really want. It's impossible to make decisions on rational criteria alone - in Descartes' Error Antonio Damasio quotes the case of a successful corporate lawyer who, after brain surgery which left his cognitive faculties intact but severed the connection with the part of the brain which processes emotion, lost his job, wife and home in very short order. Without access to his feelings, he had no sense of priority, and hence could not make decisions or use his time sensibly. How the limbic system can learn from the cortex: by mutual communication. If emotions are too strong, they shut down the ability of the cortex to think, reframe and make sense of things; but without emotion, nothing matters. The 'them against us' thinking that mentions is probably more to do with the brainstem, an even more primitive part of the brain concerned with fight or flight and territoriality. We all have the capacity to think about things, we all have the capacity to love, *and* we all have the ability to revert to 'them against us' thinking under pressure. If anyone wants a more academic answer about how emotions can be intelligent, they can have a look at some of the links from my site at www.practicaleq.com/eqlinks.html.
- [Appreciative Inquiry: What Is It?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-is-appreciative-inquiry/) - I've looked around the web for a short and easy-to-understand description of Appreciative Inquiry for a while, without much success. Which is why I think this article is needed.... What is Appreciative Inquiry? Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a way of looking at organisational change which focuses on doing more of what is already working, rather
- [Positive Deviance: An Introduction](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/introduction-to-positive-deviance/) - A recent article in the Guardian by Jane Dudman gives a good introduction to the Positive Deviance model, a method of solving 'intractable' social and organisational problems through the principle that: ...in every community or organisation, there are some people who do better than others, even though everyone has the same resources. By finding how
- [Double-Loop Learning](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/double-loop-learning/) - More about Chris Argyris and Donald Schön's ideas - following on from the "Espoused Theory and Theory-in-Use" posting. Our actions can be viewed as keeping some set of variables within acceptable limits. These variables are determined by our theory in use. When something goes wrong, we tend to look for another strategy that will keep
- [Decision Quicksand: Why We Get Bogged Down In Trivial Decisions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/decision-quicksand-get-bogged-trivial-decisions/) - Why do people often get bogged down in trivial decisions? It turns out that our brains use the difficulty encountered in making a decision as a factor in deciding how much more time to spend on it. Researchers Aner Sela and Jonah Berger call this process "decision quicksand". We expect significant decisions to be difficult
- [Ethical Fading: Why Good People Do Bad Things](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/ethical-fading-good-people-bad-things/) - 'Ethical Fading' happens in decision-making when we focus so much on other aspects of the decision that we forget about the ethical implications, as if they were fading from our view. Ethical fading has been applied to explain the actions of participants in the Watergate scandal, the News International phone-hacking accusations that led to the
- [Recent Evidence-Backed Insights On How Not To Come Across As A Jerk - And What’s Behind Them](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/recent-evidence-backed-insights-not-come-across-jerk-whats-behind/) - A recent paper reported in the very useful BPS Research Digest blog suggests that people often make a bad impression because they indulge in counter-productive tactics for trying to make themselves look better. The paper, “Impression mismanagement: People as inept self-presenters” by Janina Steinmetz, Ovul Sezer, and Constantine Sedikides, lists four ‘strategies’ that people use
- [Stop Kidding Yourself You Can Multitask - And What To Do Instead](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/multitasking-pomodoro/) - You may think that you can successfully juggle several tasks. In fact you may believe that you have to multitask in order to get your work done in a reasonable time. Bad luck - the weight of research is against you, and shows that trying to multitask means that you will take longer to deal
- [Appreciative evaluations - a different format for Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-evaluations-a-different-format-for-appreciative-inquiry/) - If you are looking for a way of using Appreciative Inquiry for evaluation, or you would like to have a business-friendly alternative to the standard 4-D/5-D model, this may be what you're looking for. Deb Gurke has written an interesting article about how school boards can use AI for self-evaluation, in a way that restores
- [Make Sure Your 'Emotional Bank Account' Is Not Overdrawn](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotional-bank-account/) - In The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey suggests that you have an "emotional bank account" with your team members. Any time you listen to them, offer them support, acknowledge them or ask for their ideas, you make a small 'deposit' in the metaphorical account. Any time you ask people to work late,
- [How To Hire For Emotional Intelligence (3): Behavioural Event Interviewing](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/behavioural-event-interviewing-emotional-intelligence/) - One of the most useful methods to help you hire emotionally intelligent people is 'Behavioural Event Interviewing'. Here's how to use this method, with some tips to get the best from it. What Is Behavioural Event Interviewing? In Behavioural Event Interviewing you ask the candidate to describe an experience or situation they encountered in a
- [How To Hire For Emotional Intelligence (Part 1)](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-hire-for-emotional-intelligence-1/) - What Is Emotional Intelligence And Why Is It Important To Hire For It? If you take a moment to think of the best leader you have worked with, and contrast them with the worst boss you’ve ever had, you will probably notice that the difference between them is not so much about intellect or technical
- [Learning Tip: The Cornell Note Taking Method](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/cornell-note-taking-method/) - Do you need an easy, structured method of note taking that aids your understanding and recall so you get the most from your learning time? The Cornell Method, developed by education professor Walter Pauk at Cornell University, absolutely fits the bill. Here's a handy infographic summary from lavidapoliglota.tumblr.com: I should add this caveat from my
- [How To Improve Your Training With Think Pair Share](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/think-pair-share/) - 'Think-Pair-Share' is a tried and tested method for getting learners to reflect on and deepen their understanding of material. It also has the advantage of breaking your course content up into memorable chunks, and helping your students to stay engaged and interested, so it's a win-win all round. Here's a very useful summary in graphic form
- [An activity to celebrate team success](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/activity-to-celebrate-team-success/) - In response to a question on a trainers' forum asking for an hour-long activity to celebrate a team's accomplishments, this is what I came up with off the top of my head. I hope you find it useful. First off, get the team into pairs. If you can pair up people who don't usually work
- [Appreciative Interview Format](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-interview-format/) - This is a typical format that we use for Appreciative Interviews. It's four simple questions and might take 20-40 minutes, depending how much depth you go into. The aim of the appreciative interview is to unearth stories of times when things went exceptionally well - times which are often overlooked in the rush to identify
- [Appreciative Inquiry on Twitter](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-on-twitter/) - Microblogging phenomenon Twitter.com has upwards of a million active users posting 140-character 'tweets' about what they are doing - some of them must be involved in Appreciative Inquiry, right? Now you can be notified of every Twitter message that mentions "appreciative inquiry" and have a daily digest sent to your email inbox. It's an
- [How To Hire For Emotional Intelligence (2): How You Need To Be As An Interviewer](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotional-intelligence-hiring-2/) - 1. Put the candidate at their ease Job interviews have traditionally excelled at assessing one aspect of emotional intelligence: self-management. Many candidates find interviews somewhat stressful, and there is a whole battery of ‘Stress Interview’ tactics that you could use if you want to make sure that applicants are up to the challenge of a
- [Performance Related Pay And Bonuses Don't Work - But People Still Believe They Do](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/extrinsic-rewards-motivation/) - Are people more, or less motivated when they are offered a reward for completing something well? If you're like most people you will probably have said 'more' - but there's a wealth of research dating back 45 years showing the opposite. In fact, the research shows that while external incentives like cash bonuses or performance
- [Influence: Credibility - Develop your confidence (1)](http://nlppod.com/influence-credibility-develop-confidence-1/) - Would you like to be more influential? In some contexts, such as sales, the answer will be a no-brainer - "YES!" And actually, being more influential will benefit you in pretty much any situation - making sure that people are open minded enough to make the right decision, contributing to a more positive emotional climate at work, or convincing an interview panel that you are the right person for the job. I'm focusing particularly on business and work here, but you may find these tips helpful in other contexts too. NLP generally teaches us that establishing rapport is the first step to getting people to listen to you. In business (and increasingly in other areas of life), however, there is a vital step that you need need to do first:Establish Your CredibilityPeople are busy, especially in business, especially these days. They don't have time (or just as importantly, they don't feel they have time) to indulge people or to hear them out on the off chance that they might have something interesting. Instead, they employ quick-and-dirty mental strategies to save them time and energy.One of these strategies that comes into play when you call them, or start your presentation, or even just meet them socially, is to ask themselves, before they've even heard the first word you say, something like "Is this person worth spending time listening to, or are they a time-waster?"From their point of view, you are worth a listen if: you seem to know what you are talking about your knowledge and experience is relevant to them, AND you are someone they can take seriously They will make their judgement based largely on non-verbal factors - how you dress, how confident and at ease you seem, and (for certain situations) other factors like how educated you seem to be. Of course you can't please everyone. In the recent US presidential election, there was a certain section of the white electorate who were never going to vote for a black candidate, no matter how inspiring his oratory or how well-qualified he was for the job. Fortunately, because Barack Obama did everything that was within his power to establish his credibility, he was able to change enough people's minds to achieve his historic victory.Now, you may not have Barack's powers of oratory, but there are other things you can do to reassure people that you are worth listening to. The most important - far outweighing the content of what you say - is to be at ease with yourself. Here's why: when a group of people show up for a meeting, they are unconsciously looking for a leader - and while you're presenting, that leader had better be you. In these situations our unconscious minds are constantly scanning the body language, facial expressions and voice tonalities of the people present to pick up clues about the state of their relationships to each other, and their relative status. One of the more obvious clues to low status or inexperience is: does this person look nervous? Are they sweating, is their voice trembling, do their facial expressions express discomfort? Do they sometimes look around as if trying to find an escape route?All of these manifestations are the outward signs of an unresourceful internal emotional state. If you get your state sorted, they won't happen. You won't have to put up a front of confidence, because you will actually be confident. So how can you do this? In the next few newsletters I'll be sharing some practical tips to make yourself more confident - here's the first one:Relax - instantly!Body and mind are one system. If your body is relaxed, it's impossible for your mind to stay nervous. So use quick, effective techniques like peripheral vision and centring to get yourself calm yet alert in the moments before you step up to speak. These methods are described in the web article "5 Ways to Relax Instantly" on my web site. If you're attending our NLP Foundation Skills Diploma course in February, or the one-day Introduction to NLP course that I'm doing for Dreamcatchers on December 8th, you'll learn and practice these skills.Or if you would like to take your 'background' levels of anxiety down, so that you are starting from a calmer baseline, invest in my Relaxation CD (or download the relaxation audio for your iPod) - details at http://practicaleq.com/products/relaxation.html
- [A simple self-hypnosis induction / relaxation script](http://nlppod.com/simple-self-hypnosis-relaxation-script/) - When I was a hypnotherapist I often used to ask my clients how they relaxed. Very often they would say "I can't relax" - which could have something to do with why they ended up with problems that they had to seek help for. I loved it when they said that, because I knew they
- [Training and presentation tips: which way is your audience's future?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/training-presentation-timelines/) - Observe anyone talking for a while and you will probably notice that when they talk about an event in the past, they gesture in a particular direction, and when they talk about the future, they gesture in another direction. Usually this will be to their left for the past, and their right for the future.
- [The CRAFT Model - How To Influence People](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-craft-model-how-to-influence-people/) - This is a simple 5-step process to for influencing people to change their minds. It's not the only way to do it, but it does give a step-by-step process that I trust you will find useful. The process is derived from NLP, but if you're not familiar with that area you can slot in whatever
- [Why You Need To Put More Effort Into Empathy As A Leader](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/power-affects-empathy/) - Or, How Power Turns You Into A Jerk - And How To Guard Against It The higher up the management ladder you get, the less you care about or even notice how other people feel. Most of us don't have to search very far in our experience to find examples - but in recent years there
- [11 More Ways To Reconnect With Your Self-Belief](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-reconnect-with-your-self-belief/) - Need to rebuild your self-esteem or reconnect with your faith in yourself? Here are some thought experiments, visualisations and writing exercises that will help you strengthen your self-belief. 1. See yourself as a friend sees you - 'how to' instructions here 2. Identify your values, what's important to you. Studies have shown that this
- [Positive Psychology articles - a useful source](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/positive-psychology-articles-a-useful-source/) - I've just come across a potentially useful (I say potentially because I'venot had time to read all the articles yet) source of articles - PositivePsychology News Daily at http://pos-psych.com/."Positive Psychology News Daily is authored by graduates of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania and by guest authors.Positive Psychology News Daily provides the latest news about happiness, the “science of happiness,” and Positive Psychology. Our goal is to be your fun, collaborative place for a research-based daily boost of happiness."
- [Questions In Coaching (4): 'Chunking' Up Or Down](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/questions-coaching-4-chunking/) - Note: This article follows on from these others in the series: Questions in Coaching (1): Solution-focused or problem focused? Questions in Coaching (2): Presuppositions Questions in Coaching (3): Open versus closed questions Another important distinction in coaching questions is whether the question takes the learner's attention 'upwards', towards the big picture, similarities, and the abstract
- [Emergent principles of Appreciative Inquiry 1: The Wholeness Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emergent-principles-of-appreciative-inquiry-1-the-wholeness-principle/) - As well as the five original principles of Appreciative Inquiry (the Constructionist, Poetic, Simultaneity, Anticipatory, and Positive principles) set out by David Cooperrider, other principles have started to emerge in the light of new thinking and the practical experience of Appreciative Inquiry consultants. I should add that from a personal point of view, being a
- [How To Build Your Self-Belief](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/build-self-belief/) - If you suffer from 'impostor syndrome', or your friends sometimes ask why you don't have as much self-belief as you should have when you are so good at what you do, this article is for you. Belief in yourself comes from experience. If you are in a challenging situation and you can remember a number
- [Why You Can't Change People's Minds With Facts](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/confirmation-bias-backfire-effect/) - The UK's recent referendum on European Union membership seems to have exposed deep fault lines in British society, if the strength of feeling shown in arguments on social media is anything to go by. I've certainly seen the normal rules of civilised conversation set aside, people on either side calling each other terrible things, and huge
- [An Exercise For The End Of A Training Course](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/exercise-end-training-course/) - This exercise will work at the end of pretty much any soft skills course, and especially an NLP-based course. The aim is to help participants transfer their learning from the training room into real life, and anticipate challenges so as to meet them successfully. How it works: In pairs, 15 minutes each way. One ‘planner’,
- [Four Tips To Keep Yourself Stress-Free](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/four-tips-to-keep-yourself-stress-free/) - Take regular breaks. Our bodies work best on a natural cycle of around 90 minutes activity followed by 20 minutes rest. The further away from this natural cycle we get, the more stress symptoms we exhibit. So take a break in the middle of the morning, the middle of the afternoon, and at lunchtime. You will
- [Attention Trainers - Open Course Profit Calculator now upgraded!](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/attention-trainers-open-course-profit-calculator-now-upgraded/) - If you're a trainer running open courses, and you'd like to see at a glance how many sign-ups you need to break even, you can save yourself a lot of time by getting the Open Course Profit Calculator. It helps you to see at a glance how many students you need before you hit the
- [Influence: Cialdini's Six Principles - 1. Scarcity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/influence-cialdini-six-principles-1-scarcity/) - Robert Cialdini, professor of psychology at Arizona State University, is the world's leading authority on the psychology of influence and persuasion. His studies, summarised in the great book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, identify six principles of persuasion - essentially, six 'buttons' that, left to itself, the human brain responds to automatically. I should point
- [Good news if you live in a country that PayPal doesn't cover](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/good-news-if-you-live-in-a-country-that-paypal-doesnt-cover/) - Well, most countries not covered by PayPal anyway. The Coaching Leaders online store uses PayPal to take payments. I had not realised, until alerted by a frustrated customer in Egypt, that there are certain countries that PayPal does not operate in for some reason. After some research, I found that Google Wallet is available to
- [Leading With Emotional Intelligence webinar](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/leading-with-emotional-intelligence-webinar/) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74PlidV0l8k A webinar on 'Leading With Emotional Intelligence' that I ran for the Madinah Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship. It covers: What is Emotional Intelligence? How emotions affect your team's thinking skills Understand the effect you have on your team's 'emotional climate' Four ways to be a more emotionally intelligent leader A simple model for
- [The 'Golden Rule' Is Not Enough](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/golden-rule-enough/) - The 'Golden Rule' or 'ethic of reciprocity' - essentially, 'treat others as you would like others to treat you' - is one of the foundation stones of morality, not just in Western thought but in religions and cultures worldwide. It's currently undergoing something of a revival among business thought leaders - as in this article
- [Leadership And Expressing Emotion](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/leadership-expressing-emotion/) - Authenticity In Leaders Is Not Enough For Their Followers Some thoughts inspired by the discussion about 'Are Leaders Getting Too Emotional?' between Gautam Mukunda of Harvard Business School and Gianpiero Petriglieri of INSEAD on the always excellent HBR IdeaCast. There is a whole sub-industry of leadership advice telling us that you must be an authentic leader, and
- [Quick Tips #1: Is There An Easier Way?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-solve-problems-easy-way/) - Yesterday, I wasted most of a beautiful sunny Sunday morning trying to fix an email problem. Today, five minutes work made it a non-issue. What changed in between the two? I took a step back, rethought, and discovered there was an easier way that had been staring me in the face all along. In brief, my
- [Tips for people who "can't visualise"](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tips-for-people-who-cant-visualise/) - Here's a few tips for anyone who - after putting a decent amount of effort into visualisation over a period of several days - still finds that they have difficulty visualising. Most people will be finding it easier by that time but a few people just don't seem to be that visual. Use ready-made pictures
- [Bruce Springsteen's model of the self](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/bruce-springsteens-model-of-the-self/) - In today's Observer Music Magazine, Bruce Springsteen talks about how we carry the past with us - to me, what he says carries interesting echoes both of James Hillman and Mike Ventura's essential book We've Had a Hundred Year's of Psychotherapy and the World's Getting Worse, and Richard Bandler's oft-quoted question (in NLP circles) "Who's driving the bus?"Interview with Bruce Springsteen: a new president provides the Boss with fresh optimism | Music | The Observer. "There is no part of yourself that you leave behind; it can't be done. You can't remove any part of yourself, you can only manage the different parts of yourself. There's a car, it's filled with people. The 12-year-old kid's in the back. So's the 22-year-old. So is the 40-year-old. So is the 50-year-old guy that's done pretty well, so's the 40-year-old guy that likes to screw up. So's the 30-year-old guy that wants to get his hands on his wheel and put the pedal to the metal, and drive you into a tree. "That's never going to change. Nobody's leaving. Nobody's getting thrown out by the roadside. The doors are shut, locked and sealed, until you go into your box. But who's driving makes a really big difference about where the car is going. And if the wrong guy's at the wheel, it's crash time. You want the latest model of yourself at the wheel, the part of you that's sussed some of this out and can drive you someplace where you want to go."
- [How To Increase Your Emotional Intelligence 1: Own Your Emotions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-increase-your-emotional-intelligence-1-own-your-emotions/) - The biggest block to emotional self-awareness - and how to get through it Self-awareness is the cornerstone of emotional intelligence. Here’s why: if you are not aware of your own emotions, you will have trouble regulating them because you won’t notice the signs that tell you when a strong emotional surge is coming. You will
- [When Attempted Solutions Cause More Problems - And What To Do About It](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/when-solutions-cause-problems/) - Sometimes our attempts to solve a problem cause an even bigger problem down the track. Here's how to recognise these situations, and some ideas on what to do about it. An article on by Connirae Andreas on the always useful Steve Andreas blog reminds us that 'coping mechanisms' that help us 'get by' can have
- [Are Your 'Autopilot' Reactions Reducing Your Effectiveness?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/ego-depletion-leadership/) - A great post by Lee Newman on the Harvard Business Review blog turns the spotlight on our default reactions in challenging interpersonal situations. For example, how would you respond if someone attacks your cherished pet project at work? Some people's default reaction would be to attack back, some would instinctively cave in or seek compromise, some would
- [The 5 Biggest Email Mistakes Executives Make - And How To Avoid Them](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/biggest-email-mistakes/) - Email as a way of communicating has certain 'traps' baked into it, which can obscure your message, mess up your working relationships, or if you're really unlucky even end your career. These pitfalls are easy to avoid - and yet we still see managers making obvious mistakes every day. Here's how to save yourself from
- [How to help your children focus on their strengths](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-help-your-children-focus-on-their-strengths/) - Here's a little gem I heard from Marcus Buckingham on Daniel Pink's excellent 'Office Hours' phone-in podcast (click the following link to see my other favourite leading-edge management thinking podcasts). One of the subjects discussed was how performance appraisals and 'stack and rank' (happening way too late to provide useful feedback) drained motivation and focused
- [We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy and the World's Getting Worse: book review](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/weve-had-a-hundred-years-of-psychotherapy-and-the-worlds-getting-worse-book-review/) - This review is rescued from my old 'NLP Bookstore' site and was written way back in 1999, but I thought it was worth saving. See if you agree... We've Had 100 Years of Psychotherapy and the World Is Getting Worse by James Hillman and Mike Ventura This gripping and inspiring book grew out of a
- [Why you don't need to feel guilty when you take a break](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/why-you-dont-need-to-feel-guilty-when-you-take-a-break/) - We all know that we work better and feel less stressed if we take regular breaks during the working day. However, the stressed individual may feel uncomfortable and guilty about taking breaks, even when they admit that their usual driven work patterns are causing them stress ("but the work just won't get done"). Research is
- [Goal-setting tip: Are you ready for what you want?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/goal-setting-tip-are-you-ready-for-what-you-want/) - Well, I've been writing a book, and it's taken up all my time. It's finished now though! So I should be able to make a few more entries on the blog. More about the book in the next entry. At the beginning of November 2005 a respected publisher contacted me out of the blue and
- [Spiritual meditation works better than secular](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/spiritual-meditation-works-better-than-secular/) - A study at Bowling Green State University in Ohio compared the effectiveness of spiritual meditation, secular meditation and a relaxation technique. The spiritual meditation group had greater decreases in anxiety and more positive mood, spiritual health, and spiritual experiences than the other two groups. They also tolerated pain almost twice as long as the other two groups.
- [Obama evokes 'new emotion' - 'Elevation'](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/obama-evokes-new-emotion-elevation/) - TheStar.com | Mind & Mood | New emotion dubbed 'elevation'. Researchers at the University of California-Berkeley last week successfully teased the uplifting emotion, stimulating the vagus nerve, from lab subjects after playing them Barack Obama's victory speech. The subjects reported "a feeling of spreading, liquid warmth in the chest and a lump in the throat." Past attempts to elicit the emotion failed. Vistas of the Grand Canyon didn't cut it. Neither did reading poetry to test subjects. Powerful moments of elevation "push a mental reset button, wiping out feelings of cynicism" and replacing them with hope, optimism and moral inspiration, says Jonathan Haidt, the psychologist who coined the term.Later in the same article, Haidt says something else that caught my eye: "Watching Obama," Haidt says, "people feel like they're being called to their higher, better selves."At last...(thanks to Sandy McMullen for bringing this to my attention)
- [Emotional states affect the impact of messages](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotional-states-affect-the-impact-of-messages/) - Some research from Dr Robert Cialdini's excellent Inside Influence Report for May 09 suggests that the emotional state of an audience affects how receptive they are to particular kinds of messages. To save on processing effort and stave off information overload, our brains rely on simple rules or 'heuristics' to make decisions. Two of the
- [Six tips for a happier life](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/six-tips-for-a-happier-life/) - Be careful what you wish for. To make sure your goals don't bring unwanted consequences with them, think through what effect they will have on other areas of your life. Do you really want a Ferrari if you would be constantly stressing out about jealous people keying it? Make sure your goals also leave room
- [How To Engage Your Young Talent At The Start Of A New Job Or Project](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-engage-your-young-talent-at-the-start-of-a-new-job-or-project/) - While thinking about the challenges of managing 'Generation Y' or 'Millennials', I came across this excellent article on the HBR blog by Chris Resto, author of 'Recruit or Die: How Any Business Can Beat the Big Guys in the War for Young Talent'. In the article Resto discusses acouple of tips for managing expectations of
- [Peter Drucker On Strengths and Leadership](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/peter-drucker-on-strengths-and-leadership/) - “The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths in ways that make a system’s weaknesses irrelevant.” - Peter Drucker, quoted by David Cooperrider in the foreword to The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change By Diana D. Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom Image of Peter Drucker
- [How To Solve Intractable Problems](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/solve-intractable-problems/) - If you've run out of ideas for solving a complex, intractable problem, try this exercise, drawn from the Appreciative Inquiry approach. It works by finding what’s already working well and building on it, rather than trying to analyse the causes of problems. Get solution-focused! Decide what you want instead of the problem, and turn it
- [How To Heal 'Us And Them' Rivalries](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/heal-us-rivalries/) - Ideas for eliminating 'us and them' thinking and damaging rivalries between teams and divisions within the same organisation. (Note: this article does not deal with worker/management mistrust, as the power relations involved add a whole other dimension, although some of the remedies proposed may still be useful in those situations.) Do you find yourself at
- [Leadership: Fear Is Not Enough Motivation For Sustained Change](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/burning-platform-critique/) - You may have heard of the 'burning platform' metaphor for corporate change. The idea is that people won't change unless current conditions are sufficiently scary to make them take the leap into change, whether they want to or not. Here's a useful short video from Dr Peter Fuda that illustrates the limitations of this metaphor: "While some urgency
- [The Best Way To Motivate Yourself With Self-Talk](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/best-way-motivate-self-talk/) - You also need to know this if you use (or teach) self-hypnosis, or use affirmations. We now know that it makes a difference if you tell yourself "You can do it" or "I can do it". A recent study by Sanda Dolcos at the Neuroscience Lab at the University of Illinois tested whether motivational self-talk
- [How To Deal With Difficult Clients](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/deal-difficult-clients/) - If you're a consultant, or a freelance professional like a web designer, independent trainer or graphic designer, you will have encountered your share of 'difficult' clients. Here are some tips for dealing with them and getting problems resolved. 1. Deal with client problems face to face Email is a terrible medium for dealing with issues
- [Leadership Emotional Intelligence Book Now Available](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/leadership-emotional-intelligence-book/) - My new e-book, Leadership EQ: How To Lead With Emotional Intelligence, is now out. It's the first in the 'Quick Personal Development' series, designed to provide no-frills, no-fluff answers for specific problems or challenges you may be facing. Here's what the book is about: How do you get better results from your team by being
- [Ask Yourself This: A Coaching Question You May Not Have Thought Of](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/coaching-questions/) - Very often in books and articles about goal-setting, one of the questions the author suggests you ask yourself is "What would you have to give up to achieve your goal?" This is a great question, as it reconnects you with the 'real world' of hard choices, opportunity costs, and reminds you that achieving a goal
- [You can always make a difference](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/can-always-make-difference/) - Recently I had some firewood delivered. I live in rural France and our main heat source is our woodburning stoves. Getting good quality firewood is a big deal out here. Last month, with winter getting started, we were running low. So I asked around our usual suppliers, and to my dismay they had all sold
- [Book Review: Age With Passion! A Boomer's Guide To Fearless Aging](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/book-review-age-passion-boomers-guide-fearless-aging/) - My friend and former co-trainer Margaret Nash has written a very practical and easy-to-read guide to finding your life's new direction. As the subtitle implies, it's written for 'baby boomers' (for readers outside the US who aren't familiar with this term, it refers to people born in the years 1946-1964, in the baby boom after
- [The 'Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence' - And Its Antidote](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/dark-side-emotional-intelligence/) - There was an interesting article in 'The Atlantic' the other day by Adam Grant called "The Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence", making the point that: "Emotional intelligence is important, but the unbridled enthusiasm has obscured a dark side. New evidence shows that when people hone their emotional skills, they become better at manipulating others. When
- [The Best Podcasts For Brain Science, Understanding The Mind and People](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/best-podcasts-for-brain-science/) - Here's my personal selection of some podcasts in the general area of understanding how people tick - ranging from neuroscience to management tips. The common denominator is that they all feature interviews, talks or contributions from leading researchers and practitioners - people who know what they are talking about. If you haven't tried podcasts before,
- [Alfred Korzybski on belief and skepticism](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/alfred-korzybski-quote-belief-and-skepticism/) - “There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking.” - Alfred Korzybski Polish-American philosopher and scientist, creator of the theory of 'General Semantics', big influence on NLP, and author of Science and Sanity Image of Alfred Korzybski from Wikipedia, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share
- [The Emotionally Intelligent Way To Receive Feedback](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-emotionally-intelligent-way-to-receive-feedback/) - There are four possible reactions when someone gives us feedback, depending on a combination of how open we are to the feedback and how confident we are in our own ability to handle and learn from challenges. Defensive (Low Openness/Low Confidence) Take the feedback as an attack, whatever the intention behind it. The feedback may
- [The 'S.T.I.R.S.' Model for Emotionally Intelligent Feedback](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-s-t-i-r-s-model-for-emotionally-intelligent-feedback/) - Bearing the principles for delivering emotionally intelligent feedback from the previous article in mind, here are the steps for actually delivering the feedback. As a reminder that what you should be doing is stirring the recipient to change their behaviour, it has the acronym STIRS: 1. Set the stage Make sure that you are in
- [Emotional Stupidity Watch: Newsle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotional-stupidity-watch-newsle/) - I haven't written many posts for the 'Emotional Stupidity' category of this blog, as I usually prefer to look at things in an appreciative way. Occasionally, though, something comes along which is so emotionally ****witted that it just demands a little rant... Today I received a nicely formatted email from 'Newsle', which said: Hi Andy,
- [Principles for Delivering Emotionally Intelligent Feedback](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/principles-for-delivering-emotionally-intelligent-feedback/) - Sometimes, when a tough issue needs to be resolved, you have to confront a colleague with your perspective on the consequences of their behaviour. Many managers shy away from doing this, for various reasons: being uncomfortable with confrontation, not wishing to upset the other person, being afraid of opening a can of worms, hoping the
- [Is your boss insane? And what to do about it](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/is-your-boss-insane-and-what-to-do-about-it/) - I've been sent this infographic from the people at Learnstuff.com which presents some rather alarming findings about bad bosses. I hesitated for a while to post this because it's so unremittingly gloomy, but in the end I thought that it's worth posting because it conveys a message that if you're unhappy or stressed at work,
- [Symptoms as messengers](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/symptoms-as-messengers/) - It's as if you're the king of a vast empire, and in a far-flung border province there's a famine or a flood that's causing hardship. The people try to deal with it on their own, but eventually they send a messenger to the king to plead for help. And the king... shoots the messenger. Times
- [Compassion, energy drain, and motivation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/compassion-energy-drain-and-motivation/) - "How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it." - Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments In other words, however individually
- [Isaac Newton on seeing further](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/isaac-newton-on-seeing-further/) - "If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants" ~ Isaac Newton, natural philosopher What are we to take from Newton's observation nowadays? What advice does it hold for us? I take it to mean that we should look at what has already been discovered. Marvellous new insights about how
- [Seating layouts for training courses](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/seating-layouts-training-presentation/) - Or, 'how to set up the training room'. If you wanted people to shut up and just listen to you, then a ‘theatre style’ arrangement with the chairs in flat rows would be the setup of choice. Everyone is looking forward, so their attention is naturally on you. As the focal point of the room,
- [Leadership and engagement round-up: how to cure a toxic workplace](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/leadership-and-engagement-round-up-how-to-cure-a-toxic-workplace/) - A quick summary of some interesting items I've read recently about how to make your workplace more emotionally intelligent and get your staff engaged with their work. First up is Gallup chairman and CEO Jim Clifton, blogging about What Makes Workplaces Miserable. It turns out that it's not pay, benefits, or work-life balance that makes the
- [Instant mind-clearing](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/instant-mind-clearing/) - Close your eyes and just pay attention to your breathing. You don't have to change your breathing in any way at all, although you may find that in a short while it shifts into a more relaxed pattern by itself. If you get any 'mental chatter', just let it happen. Left to itself, it will
- [What I've learned from learning guitar (1): there are easier ways out there](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-ive-learned-from-learning-guitar-1-there-are-easier-ways-out-there/) - Recently I picked up the guitar again, after a layoff of about 10 years, and started singing and playing at the local open mic night. I should add that I was nothing like a good guitar player previously, so I can safely still describe myself as a beginner'. One difference about learning any skill now
- [How to design a course from learning objectives](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-design-a-course-from-learning-objectives/) - This is something I learned from an experienced corporate trainer many years ago when I was a hypnotherapist looking to offer my first one-day workshops around specific topics like stress management and self-esteem. It's the most useful thing I know about course design, and the key to getting started on building a bridge from experiencing problems
- [Martin Luther King on hope and disappointment](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/martin-luther-king-on-hope-and-disappointment/) - Yesterday was MLK Day in the USA. Not surprisingly, there were many inspiring quotes flying around Facebook. This was one of my favourites: "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” More quotes by Dr Martin Luther King Jr here - they are worth taking a couple of minutes to read.
- [Useful strategy-tracking template](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/useful-strategy-tracking-template/) - I found this helpful 'strategy tracking tool' (actually an old-fashioned paper form) by Kaihan Krippendorf, author of Outthink The Competition. It's simple, easy to use, and gratifyingly close to what I used to teach on my 'Create The Life You Want' courses. Get it, and other free tools, here.
- [Politics and psychology - test your moral foundations](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/politics-and-psychology-test-your-moral-foundations/) - Following on from the last article about the differences in psychology and brain structure between 'liberals' and 'conservatives', here's a fascinating video of a TED talk by Jonathan Haidt on the five moral values that form the foundation of our political outlook. Plus, he's set up a site (www.yourmorals.org) where you can take an assessment to
- [Politics, brain science, and organisational change](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/politics-brain-science-and-organisational-change/) - Or: Why does everyone love Occupy Wall Street when they hated the English rioters? It's not every day that something useful comes out of an online discussion, but in this case I think something has. During the recent riots in England, most of my Facebook contacts, who I had thought had a fairly liberal political
- [Mulla Nasreddin on Reaching Enlightenment](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/mulla-nasreddin-on-reaching-enlightenment/) - Image of Nasreddin from WikipediaA tale of the incomparable Mulla Nasreddin on reaching enlightenment: Nasreddin was walking in the bazaar with a large group of followers. Whatever Nasreddin did, his followers immediately copied. Every few steps Nasreddin would stop and shake his hands in the air, touch his feet and jump up yelling "Hu Hu Hu!". So
- [How to generate 'word clouds' from the output from AI events](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-generate-word-clouds-from-the-output-from-ai-events/) - Wordle.net is a free web-based application that generates 'word clouds' from whatever text you paste into it. That makes it great for creating a quick visual summary of the themes, values, wishes etc that come out of an AI summit. You can change the colour, font, background and layout until you find one you like.
- [Free Appreciative Inquiry resources on the web](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/free-appreciative-inquiry-resources-on-the-web/) - There is quite a lot of useful free information about Appreciative Inquiry on the web, so here's a roundup of some ways you can learn more about AI for no cash outlay. Of course, to really get AI you have to experience it and get some hands-on learning at something like our Practical Appreciative Inquiry
- [Self-empowerment: will you choose Reasons or Results?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/self-empowerment-will-you-choose-reasons-or-results/) - I've read that the great thinker and management guru Peter Drucker said "there are two types of people: one kind of people are into results, the other kind are into reasons". Reasons why they cannot produce results (this is where I read it - without additional evidence I can't say for certain if it was
- [Five Principles For Success](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/five-principles-for-success/) - Image: Leonardo's 'Vitruvian Man' from Wikipedia.org1. Know your outcome Know what you want, why you want it, and make sure the outcome is ‘ecological’ - good for you and for the people you care about (and for your community and the planet) in the widest possible sense. Often people are not sure of what they
- [Goal Setting with Seth Godin - unstated away-froms](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/goal-setting-with-seth-godin-unstated-away-froms/) - Seth's done an interesting short post about unstated 'away-from' goals - here's an extract: Think about how often your goal at a conference or a meeting or in a project is, "don't screw up!" or "don't make a fool of yourself and say the wrong thing." These are very easy goals to achieve, of course.
- [Appreciative Inquiry principles: 4. The Anticipatory Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-anticipatory-principle/) - Organisations (and people) tend to grow in the direction of their positive images of the future, like a sunflower or heliotrope grows towards the sun. Our expectations of the future - and therefore of what we believe is possible - are constantly shaped by our conversations. Repeated studies in sports psychology have shown that athletes
- [Appreciative Inquiry Principles: 3.The Simultaneity Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-simultaneity-principle/) - "It is not so much, “is my question leading to right or wrong answers?” but rather “What effect is my question having on our lives together... Is it strengthening our relationships?” David L Cooperrider, Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change The traditional sequence of activity in organisational change goes: gather information, analyse it, prescribe
- [The Dalai Lama on Kindness](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-dalai-lama-on-kindness/) - "This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." ~ Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama Thanks to Sarah for the quote.
- [Four Ways Appreciative Inquiry Can Help Your Team](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/four-ways-appreciative-inquiry-can-help-your-team/) - 1. Strengths-based, inclusive strategic planning. To build a future vision that everyone can feel part of, you need a format that can discover and build on those strengths and generates enthusiasm and energy at the same time. You don't have to sell the resulting vision or get 'buy-in' - the participants already own it because they
- [Ask Better Questions: How Closed Questions Shut Down Thinking](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/ask-better-questions-how-closed-questions-shut-down-thinking/) - When teaching coaching skills to managers I have often noticed that it's hard for them to move on from the habit of using questions that close down thought processes, rather than opening them up. This short series of articles suggests some things to look out for in the way you frame questions, if you want
- [Amma Theodora on being a teacher](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/amma-theodora-on-being-a-teacher/) - Some wise words on leadership from Amma Theodora - an early Christian monastic who went into the Egyptian desert during the third and fourth centuries to live a life of prayer and contemplation. For 'teacher', also read leader, therapist, and coach - the advice applies equally. A teacher ought to be a stranger to the
- [Gregory of Nyssa on self-awareness and self-deception](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/gregory-of-nyssa-on-self-awareness-and-self-deception/) - Recently I co-facilitated a training workshop in appreciative coaching skills for rural deans, bishops and lay members of the Diocese of Chester. It was the first time I had worked with Anglican clergy and a more welcoming and stimulating audience you couldn't wish for (I must admit that part of me thought "in your face,
- [Don't solve problems - copy success](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/dont-solve-problems-copy-success/) - Another fine article on Positive Deviance and Solution Focus (two approaches that are closely related to Appreciative Inquiry), this time from Fast Company magazine. The article is an extract from a new book, Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. On this evidence, the book is well
- [The role of emotion in decision-making](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-role-of-emotion-in-decision-making/) - We are often told to keep emotion out of our decision-making, and decide on entirely rational grounds. Of course, when emotions such as anger are too strong, they affect our ability to think rationally. But outside of these extreme circumstances, emotions are not the enemy of reason. In fact, it is impossible to make meaningful
- [The Power of Positive Deviants - great article in the Boston Globe](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-power-of-positive-deviants-great-article-in-the-boston-globe/) - Following on from our recent posting about the Positive Deviancy approach, we were pleased to see another good article on this method, this time by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow in the Boston Globe. The article gives some great examples of how Positive Deviancy is being used to reduce MRSA in American hospitals, and improving academic performance in
- [Appreciative Inquiry in the NHS - teambuilding](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-inquiry-in-the-nhs-teambuilding/) - Following on from the Appreciative Inquiry teambuilding session we did for the Occupational Health team at Mid-Essex Hospital Trust, we've received a nice write-up in their Stafffocus magazine (14 October 2009) by Denise Mortimer who commissioned the event.
- [Questions in Coaching (3): Open versus closed questions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/questions-in-coaching-3-open-versus-closed-questions/) - A closed question is one that expects a yes or no answer. Closed questions tend to shut down the conversation, and direct it in the directions implied by the question. Examples: Have you thought of taking more breaks? Have you spoken to him about it? Are you going to put up with it, or say
- [Questions in Coaching (2): Presuppositions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/questions-in-coaching-2-presuppositions/) - Presuppositions are implicit assumptions or background beliefs in a statement (or question, or command) which the listener has to take on board for the statement to make sense. They are important because: They often fly under the radar of conscious awareness, so they can frame the direction of a conversation without either party being aware
- [Questions in coaching (1): solution-focused or problem focused?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/questions-in-coaching-1-solution-focused-or-problem-focused/) - "The inquiry is the intervention" - the 'Simultaneity Principle' from Appreciative Inquiry Note: I'm currently writing a combined Coaching Skills and NLP Diploma course, and I've decided to blog some of the new bits pretty much as I write them. So these entries will be aimed at current or aspirant coaches, including anyone who uses
- [How to live more appreciatively](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-to-live-more-appreciatively/) - Here are three quick and easy things you can do to start living more appreciatively. Like anything else, it will take time to become a habit, but the small changes you make will combine and build up more quickly than you expect. Keep a daily ‘gratitude journal’ in which you record things that you are
- [Terry Pratchett on travel](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/terry-pratchett-on-travel/) - "Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place where you came from with new eyes and extra colours. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving." - from A Hat Full of
- [Empathy is the only sure way to achieve peace](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/empathy-is-the-only-sure-way-to-achieve-peace/) - Inspired by an article in the Jewish Chronicle by Simon Baron-Cohen and Avi Machlis, I've been thinking about the need for empathy, and ways to enhance it. Baron-Cohen and Machlis define empathy as "the ability to imagine someone else’s thoughts and feelings", and decries the apparent lack of this ability on either side of the Israeli-Palestinian
- [The Benefits Of Living An Appreciative Life - Part 1](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-benefits-of-living-an-appreciative-life-part-1/) - It's often said within the Appreciative Inquiry community that AI is a way of seeing and being in the world, rather than just another toolkit. If you view AI solely as a toolkit, you are missing the point. So what can you expect when you start applying Appreciative Inquiry to your own life, and viewing
- [Buddhist saying refutes "cosmic ordering"](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/buddhist-saying-refutes-cosmic-ordering/) - "Act as if the future of the Universe depends on what you do, while laughing at yourself for thinking that your actions could make any difference" -- a Buddhist Saying(sometimes attributed to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)Thanks to @AboodiShabi for alerting me to this.
- [George Box on Models](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/george-box-on-models/) - "All models are wrong but some are useful" - George E.P. Box This quote is often attributed to W. Edwards Deming but the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog sources it to a book by George Box.
- [The Easiest Way To Change People's Behaviour](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-easiest-way-to-change-peoples-behaviour/) - An excellent (and short) article by Peter Bregman on the Harvard Business Review blog. It turns out that the easiest way to change people's behaviour is not through threats, not through 'leadership', but by making it easier for them to do what you want and harder for them not to. (thanks to Mollie Dierbeck for the heads-up).Sometimes tiny changes in the way the environment is set up can have big results. For example, I know from being a trainer that if you want people to talk to each other and feel part of a group, you arrange the chairs in the training room in a circle. If you want them to shut up and listen to you giving them information, arrange the chairs theatre-style in flat lines. In my small-group NLP courses, I arrange the chairs in a single shallow horseshoe shape which gives a nice blend of participation and focus on the trainer. In Appreciative Inquiry facilitator training, I arrange the chairs 'cabaret style' with round tables, to encourage participation in workgroups.What changes could you make in your working or home environment to make yourself or your team more productive?
- [Max Weber on leadership](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/max-weber-on-leadership/) - "Institutions that endure do not do so because of a single, charismatic leader, but because of a culture that fosters leadership throughout the system"- Max Weber, sociologist, 1864-1920
- [Seth Godin on the value of Dreams](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/seth-godin-on-the-value-of-dreams/) - Marketing guru Seth Godin (well worth a look if you haven't heard of him) has just posted a blog entry which is obviously relevant to the Dream stage in the AI cycle: If your business is a dream come true for customers, you win. Game over. Check out the entry here: Like a dream come
- [A question to amplify positive emotion](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/a-question-to-amplify-positive-emotion/) - "How does it feel to realise that?" is a great question to ask in an appreciative interview whenever someone tells you about some 'lightbulb moment' or a time when they made a real difference. This week I was facilitating an Appreciative Inquiry session for Dreamcatchers, a small charity that does solution-focused youth work, to help
- [Interesting snippets from my Twitter feed](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/interesting-snippets-from-my-twitter-feed/) - Follow me on Twitter to get these snippets as they come out.Jared Diamond TED talk on ‘Why Societies Collapse’Interesting-looking film about alternative healing - but the trailer antagonises people right from the startInterview with David Cooperrider: exceptionality, essentiality and equality Nice blog about branding from my old employers - but comments not enabled!
- [Interview with David Cooperrider: exceptionality, essentiality and equality](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/interview-with-david-cooperrider-exceptionality-essentiality-and-equality/) - Dr David Cooperrider is the originator of the Appreciative Inquiry method. In this interview with Jennifer Salopek he talks about how AI started and sets out the AI philosophy in clear and easily-understood terms:Appreciative Inquiry at 20: Questioning David CooperriderAppreciative inquiry addresses three fundamental facts about human beings: exceptionality, essentiality, and equality.Exceptionality means that all
- [Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/sir-ken-robinson-do-schools-kill-creativity/) - This is a TED talk by creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson, in which he calls for a radical rethink of our education system to nurture rather than undermine creativity. From www.ted.com. If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.
- [Appreciative Feedback Form](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/appreciative-feedback-form/) - Have you ever wondered how you could use the 4-D appreciative inquiry format for gathering feedback? This is a draft of what we will be sending out to people who have completed our courses. One of the virtues of making the 4-D structure explicit in the form is that it acts as another reminder for
- [Ann Frank on your power to make a difference](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/ann-frank-on-your-power-to-make-a-difference/) - How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. - Anne Frank
- [Advice on stopping smoking and staying stopped](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/advice-on-stopping-smoking-and-staying-stopped/) - Although I should preface this article by saying that when I was a hypnotherapist I stopped taking 'stop smoking' clients as they were my least favourite type of client, wanting me to wave a magic wand without them having to take any responsibility.This is what I've found works, however. A lot of smoking is habit (we do it on autopilot) and some of it is delivering some kind of psychological benefit (e.g. calming anxiety, something to hide behind when meeting new people, reward for doing stuff they don't want to do, etc). I suspect that when people are no longer in need of whatever payoff they were getting and are just smoking out of habit, that's when they can just decide to stop and have not trouble, like some of the cases described above.I don't believe the physical addiction is as strong as people say it is, although I did read somewhere that there may be some genetic component. Since you can't change your genes (yet) and I imagine it would be pretty hard to test what sort of genes you have, it's best to regard genetics as just an excuse. The exception would be if you're a really heavy smoker, when the additional oxygen hitting your lungs combined with the sudden lack of nicotine may be a bit overwhelming - so tail off to 20 or less per day before stopping altogether.So this is stuff I have found works:1. Stop thinking of it as 'giving up' - this implies that smoking is some kind of amazing pleasure and implies you will really miss it. Obviously it isn't - as a drug it's a really crap one. This is one of the main points of the Allen Carr approach. Instead, think of it as 'embracing life' or 'saying yes to the future' or something - whatever works for you.2. Keep a diary of every cig you smoke for a week - time, what you were doing/where you are, and how you were feeling at the time. This will identify the environmental and emotional triggers, and more importantly will make you mindful of every cig you smoke. Usually people see a reduction in the number they smoke just from doing this, because it tends to cut out the 'autopilot' ones - each cig becomes a conscious decision.It's also a good test of motivation - if you can't be bothered to keep the diary, you probably won't be bothered sticking to staying clean.3. Sit down with a pen and paper, clear your mind, and write down why you started smoking in the first place, and what, if anything, it gives you now. Often you find that the reasons you started in the first place - to be grown up, to be cool, to be a rebel, to give you confidence or whatever - have become irrelevant to you.If there is anything left that smoking still gives you - and it's important to be honest with yourself here - then ask yourself how else you are going to supply that payoff. Write that down too and commit to yourself that you're actually going to do it.4. Hypnotherapy can work amazingly well, but if you do go and see one, for heaven's sake make sure it's a good one and someone that you feel comfortable with and trust that they know what they are doing, otherwise you're just throwing your money away.If you do go and see a hypnotherapist, don't have your 'last cigarette' on their doorstep, because it doesn't give them anything to work with. You need to be in a state of craving, because that's when you need the help (an insight that seems glaringly obvious in retrospect - thanks to Andrew Austin's brilliant NLP book The Rainbow Machine for pointing it out)The quit-smoking market attracts the most profit-focused people in the hypnotherapy world (because that's where the money is), not necessarily the best hypnotherapists. If they are claiming a 95% success rate, I would view that claim with suspicion. What they might mean is that 95% didn't come back for the free follow-up session offered if the first one didn't work, probably because the clients found the experience of the first one so unpleasant.I once did a survey of my former stop smoking clients - about 50% of them were still smoke-free. That's a pretty good success rate when compared to any other method, but I still saw it as 50% failure on my part. So after that I stopped seeing smokers.I hope some of this helps!Incidentally, you may wonder why I'm bothering to post this when I no longer see hypnotherapy clients and therefore the post will not directly attract customers to my business. Well - I wrote it in response to a query from someone I know, and it seemed a shame not to share it with the wider world.
- [Barbara Fredrickson on positivity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/barbara-fredrickson-on-positivity/) - Positive psychology guru Barbara Fredrickson has posted an interesting article on the value of positive emotions in the light of the Obama victory:Keep Stoking the Positivity -- Our Future Depends On It...We need positivity, the complex web of causes and consequences of positive emotions, now more than ever. Not just to sugarcoat bitter news or
- [Interview with leadership guru Jim Kouzes](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/interview-with-leadership-guru-jim-kouzes/) - I've just had a notification from Dr Relly Nadler's True North Leadership site of an audio interview with leadership guru Jim Kouzes, co-author with Barry Posner of the classic The Leadership Challenge.Dr Rel's interviews with leading figures in the emotional intelligence and coaching worlds are always worth listening to, but they don't hang about for ever, so download it now from his 'Voice America Business' site:http://www.modavox.com/Voiceamericacms/WebModules/HostModaview.aspx?HostId=392&ChannelId=2&Flag=1
- [Pete Middleton on Influence](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/pete-middleton-on-influence/) - "We influence others by being true to ourselves"- Pete Middleton
- [What Appreciative Interviewers need to understand](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-appreciative-interviewers-need-to-understand/) - Belief, rather than doubt, is the proper stance. This is not a time for skepticism or for questions that imply a need for “proof”. - Jane Magruder Watkins and Bernard J Mohr,Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination1. Assume vitality and health, rather than ‘deficit’.You are looking for incidents and examples of things
- [Confucius on how to live](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/confucius-on-how-to-live/) - "It is better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness"- Confucius, philosopher, 551-479 BC Also attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, and less frequently to Emily Dickinson.
- [Research just in: "Diet sized snack turns off willpower"](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/research-just-in-diet-sized-snack-turns-off-willpower/) - And here's a timely bit of research from this week's New Scientist suggesting one reason why diets don't work:Diet sized snack turns off willpower
- [Sufi wisdom on people who have read all the books](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/sufi-wisdom-on-people-who-have-read-all-the-books/) - "A donkey with a load of holy books is still a donkey" - traditional Sufi quote which I came across in Andrew Austin's excellent book "The Rainbow Machine: Tales From A Neuro-Linguist's Journal", certainly the best NLP book of the last five years or so and one which should be required reading for therapists, counsellors
- [Death By PowerPoint - John Medina](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/death-by-powerpoint-john-medina/) - Another fine 'how not to do PowerPoint' video - this time from John Medina at www.brainrules.net
- [Paul Keedwell on the benefits of depression](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/paul-keedwell-on-the-benefits-of-depression/) - An interesting article in the Guardian by psychiatrist Paul Keedwell argues that depression can have some benefits:The truth is that short-term pain can lead to longer-term gain. A recently published follow-up study of depression in Holland - the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (Nemesis) - used a sample of 165 people with a major depressive episode, and provides some preliminary scientific evidence to suggest that depression is indeed helpful in the longer term. Researchers who were looking for evidence to suggest that depression leaves people chronically disabled were surprised to discover the opposite.His new book, How Sadness Survived: The Evolutionary Basis of Depression, looks fascinating - at the time of writing, the reviews that I've seen have all been five-star!
- [Depression: Prozac doesn't work (all that well](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/depression-prozac-doesnt-work-all-that-well/) - From Ben Goldacre's essential Bad Science blog: Yesterday the journal PLoS Medicine published a study which combined the results of 47 trials on some antidepressant drugs, including Prozac, and found only minimal benefits over placebo, except for the most depressed patients. It has been misreported as a definitive nail in the coffin: this is not
- [Hilary Mantel on expanding our sympathies: thought for the day](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/hilary-mantel-on-expanding-our-sympathies-thought-for-the-day/) - "Much wickedness stems from our failure to imagine other people as fully human, and as our equals" - Hilary Mantel in 'Expanding Our Sympathies', an interview published as an extra in the paperback edition of her brilliant novel 'Beyond Black'.
- [Split brain experiments game](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/split-brain-experiments-game/) - Here's an online animated game to help you get your head round Roger Sperry's split brain experiments, where he discovered what happens to mental processing if the corpus callosum linking the two hemispheres of the brain has been severed. More fun than it sounds! Split brain experiment game
- [Martin Luther King on "what's the point" - thought for the day](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/martin-luther-king-on-whats-the-point-thought-for-the-day/) - Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. - Martin Luther King Jr.
- [A pen that monitors the writer's emotions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/a-pen-that-monitors-the-writers-emotions/) - From New Scientist magazine: the Philips company has filed a patent for an 'expressive pen' that monitors how the writer is feeling, and alters ink colour and the shape of the nib accordingly. Philips says: "Signatures are currently always the same, yet some documents will be signed with enthusiasm, others possibly with hesitation. Having a recording of this could be useful for historical reasons." It will be a brave politician (for example) who submits to revealing how they feel when signing a treaty. For example, would a signature which expresses doubt or anxiety be viewed as less valid than a determined or happy one?
- [New Year's Resolutions - what works, for women and men](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/new-years-resolutions-what-works-for-women-and-men/) - A year-long study by psychologist Richard Wiseman has been looking into New Year's Resolutions and what helps people to stick to them, and it's come up with some useful findings. Interestingly, they have been able to generalise that different things work for men and women. The main findings in brief: Don't wait until New Year's Eve to decide on your resolution - take time to reflect on what's really important to you and what you want to achieve. For men: Make your goals specific and measurable. Make a plan, mapping out the steps to your goal, and stick to it. Put the plan where you can see it. Focus on the benefits of achieving your goal. Again, list these benefits and put the list where you can see it every day. For women: Go public. Tell someone about your resolution, to make it less likely that you will forget about it. Get encouragement - if you slip from your resolution, having someone to encourage you will get you back on track again. The results were written up in these articles in the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph, although there aren't many details on Wiseman's own web site. The advice is pleasingly in line with what I've written in previous blog entries about goal setting. Of course, these are generalisations - some of what they found worked for most men may still help if you are a woman, and vice versa. There's nothing to stop you using all Wiseman's tips in combination to give yourself the greatest chance of success. And remember - New Year is just an arbitrary date. You can start making changes in your life at any time.
- [Communication is the transfer of emotion](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/communication-is-the-transfer-of-emotion/) - While we're on Powerpoint, here's Seth Godin's fine article Really Bad Powerpoint along similar lines. There's an ebook of it out there somewhere as well. The title of this post is a quote from the article.
- [Death by Powerpoint](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/death-by-powerpoint/) - | View | Upload your own
- [Cialdini's principles of influence and how charities use them](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/cialdinis-principles-of-influence-and-how-charities-use-them/) - Today I had a package through the post from that fine organisation, the British Red Cross, which set a new benchmark for how charities use Robert Cialdini's principles of influence (as outlined in his excellent book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion) to get people to give them money (US readers can order it here). Now
- [The benefits of swearing at work](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-benefits-of-swearing-at-work/) - Allowing staff to swear at work can benefit them and their employers, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia. Prof Yehuda Baruch, professor of management at the UEA-based Norwich Business School (NBS), and graduate Stuart Jenkins looked at the use of expletives and swearing in the work place from a management point of view. They identified the relevance and even importance of using non-conventional and sometimes uncivil language at work and how it may have a positive impact. The study found regular use of profanity to express and reinforce solidarity among staff, enabling them to express their feelings, such as frustration, and develop social relationships. The results of the study, Swearing at work and permissive leadership culture: when anti-social becomes social and incivility is acceptable, are published in the current issue of the Leadership and Organization Development Journal (Vol 28 Issue 6, pages 492-507). The research suggests that while a ban on swear words and reprimanding staff might represent strong leadership, it would remove the source of solidarity and in doing so could lead to decreased morale and work motivation. However, Prof Baruch and Mr Jenkins stress that abusive and offensive swearing should be eliminated where it generates greater levels of stress, rather than helping to relieve it. Prof Baruch said the use of swearing would continue to rise in the workplace and become more of an issue for leaders and managers. "The question is what should we do about it? We offer a model and some practical advice. Certainly in most scenarios, in particular in the presence of customers or senior staff, profanity must be seriously discouraged or banned" he said. "However, our study suggested that in many cases, taboo language serves the needs of people for developing and maintaining solidarity, and as a mechanism to cope with stress. Banning it could backfire." He added: "Managers need to understand how their staff feel about swearing. The challenge is to master the art of knowing when to turn a blind eye to communication that does not meet their own standards." Get the full story here. If you would like to improve the standard of your swearing, I can recommend Roger's Profanisaurus, from the makers of Viz comic.
- [The Flip: how to start turning your life around right now](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-flip-how-to-start-turning-your-life-around-right-now/) - You will have seen this picture before. If you look at it one way it's a caricatured old lady - look, there's her chin at the bottom centre of the picture. If you look at it another way, it's a 1/4 profile of a young girl - the tip of the old lady's nose becomes
- [Epictetus on learning - thought for the day](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/epictetus-on-learning-thought-for-the-day/) - "It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows." - Epictetus The most accessible account of the stoic philosophy of Epictetus is probably in Tom Wolfe's superb novel A Man In Full - an immensely vivid and readable account of all classes in the American South in the nineties.
- [This Column Can Change Your Life](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/this-column-can-change-your-life/) - Oliver Burkeman's 'This Column Can Change Your Life' in Saturday's Guardian is an interesting and often witty dip into personal development books and workshops. I've found a few useful books through it.
- [Identifying and clearing limiting beliefs](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/identifying-and-clearing-limiting-beliefs/) - My all time favourite method for clearing limiting beliefs is Time Line Therapy, or one of the now numerous descendants and variants of it (like the one we teach on our NLP Practitioner training). However, before a limiting belief can be cleared, the client has to recognise it as a limiting belief (unless it clears as a side effect of an intervention aimed at something else, which can happen). Which opens the question of how do we identify limiting beliefs, and also how we define them. For me a limiting belief is one that the client recognises as limiting - the client, rather than the coach, decides what's limiting. The issue is of course complicated because it may be that the client is not initially aware that some of their beliefs are holding them back - it's part of the coach's role to help them realise that. How do we assist the client in identifying them? After all, if the client was aware of their limiting beliefs to start with, they probably wouldn't believe them any more. One way can be the NLP 'meta model' (which has some overlap with CBT/REBT questions around how rational beliefs are). The meta model identifies generalisations, 'shoulds/musts' and so on and provides questions to help the client reconnect their belief system to their sensory experience (or 'reality' as most people would think of it). Another very powerful method is the Option Process or Option Method, as outlined in Barry Neil Kaufman's book 'To Love Is To Be Happy With' (which Michael Neill recommended to me ages ago and I highly recommend) but also described out there on the web. This uses some simple questions to help uncover beliefs which the client may not be conscious of (probably formed ages ago and not thought about for years) which often don't survive the light of attention. Limiting beliefs can also be overcome by having enough experiences which contradict them - as when someone becomes more confident by taking up martial arts, or just by spending time in the company of people with a more empowering belief system. I highly recommend Steve Andreas' book 'Transform Your Self: Becoming Who You Want To Be' as a guide to how people form their concept of themselves and how to change it.
- [Socrates on consumerism - thought for the day](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/socrates-on-consumerism-thought-for-the-day/) - "How many things I have no need of" - Socrates Postcard by Public Domain - you can buy it at gatheredimages.com
- [Emotional Intelligence for sales cold callers](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotional-intelligence-for-sales-cold-callers/) - It sounds like a tall order, but nevertheless, that's some of what my friend Gavin Ingham is providing in his new Sales Training blog - in language that sales people can understand. See for example this entry where he suggests that asking the potential client "how are you today?" when you're not interested in the answer may not be a good idea...
- [Mothers cradle babies to their left side for a better bonding experience](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/mothers-cradle-babies-to-their-left-side-for-a-better-bonding-experience/) - Mothers cradle babies on the left side because it helps them to better understand their child's emotional and physical needs, University of Sussex psychologists claim. Research by Victoria Bourne and Dr Brenda Todd indicates that left cradling is the best way for a mother to notice and respond to a baby's behaviour, such as tears, laughter or big yawns. The position directs important infant responses to the right side of the mother's brain, the hemisphere used for emotional response. Left-sided cradling provides an advantage in the bonding process by giving the mother fast intuitive access to the baby's requirements. Get the full story here:http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/media/media383.shtml
- [Philosophy lessons boost children's IQs](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/philosophy-lessons-boost-childrens-iqs/) - Primary school children in Clackmananshire (Scotland) who were taught 'philosophical inquiry' maintained an average IQ gain of 6.5 points into secondary school. Clackmananshire is now to bring in philosophy lessons from nursery to secondary school level. [full story here] Thinking skills are about the most valuable thing you can teach to children. This item caught my eye because one of my NLP Practitioner graduates, Tim Luckock, teaches philosophy for kids. More about Tim here.
- [Is your boss a psychopath? or just a 'productive narcissist'?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/is-your-boss-a-psychopath-or-just-a-productive-narcissist/) - I could have sworn I posted something on this subject a year or two back, but can I find it? Anyway, here's a useful piece from Fast Company magazine about why psychopaths often thrive in the corporate environment, and how the related but different category of 'productive narcissists' can go on to achieve great things: Is Your Boss A Psychopath?
- [Streaming audio of "Emotional Intelligence"](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/streaming-audio-of-emotional-intelligence/) - If you're interested in emotional intelligence but you're not a big reader, you way want to listen to this extract from Daniel Goleman's book from BBC Radio 4's 'Book of the Week' series: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/bookof_thu It's a good quick way to get your head round some aspects of emotional intelligence. The reading is only available (as streaming audio) until Wednesday 10th January.
- [Mankind is getting less violent](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/mankind-is-getting-less-violent/) - The Edge, an online magazine devoted to the Third Culture, asks a big question each New Year of its contributors, who read like a roll call of the brightest people on the planet. This year's was: "What are you optimistic about?" One of the contributors, psychologist Steven Pinker, points out that sadism and violence in human beings has shown a steady decline (with a few zigzags along the way, obviously). Thiis is backed up by this statistic from another contributor, curator of the TED Conference Chris Anderson: Percentage of males estimated to have died in violence in hunter gatherer societies? Approximately 30%. Percentage of males who died in violence in the 20th century complete with two world wars and a couple of nukes? Approximately 1%. Trends for violent deaths so far in the 21st century? Falling. Sharply. I've singled out these two contributors, but really, the whole thing is worth reading. I will return to some of the other points raised in the responses in future - there's so much there! Warning - if you're easily upset by cruelty you may want to give the Pinker article a miss, as he mentions (in the first paragraph) some rather distressing stuff that used to happen. What Pinker's optimistic aboutWhat Anderson's optimistic about
- [Tips to make your resolutions work](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tips-to-make-your-resolutions-work/) - As you would expect, this is the biggest month for new gym signups, as millions of Brits resolve to exercise more and eat more healthily. But by February, 30% of the new year joiners will have dropped out, according to a report in The Guardian today, which goes on to estimate we waste £200 million in gym membership fees each year. In general, our new year's resolutions don't come with a very high expectation of success. Many people go into them expecting to fail, even if they don't admit this to themselves. And if you're at all interested in personal development, no doubt your inbox this week will be awash with newsletters from life coaches telling you how to avoid this fate. Now someone is actually doing some research on what works in resolutions. Professor Richard Wiseman, author of The Luck Factor, is conducting the study. No details on his web site yet, but he does give some tips in this article for increasing your chances of success. The tips iinclude: pick just one aspect of life to improve plan your resolution in advance, to give yourself time to think about what you really want to achieve - don't wait until New Year's Eve if a previous resolution didn't work, don't repeat it - at the very least try a different way of achieving it keep it specific reward yourself for steps in the right direction ... all of which will come as no surprise to anyone who knows about NLP.
- [What makes a multidisciplinary team work well?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-makes-a-multidisciplinary-team-work-well/) - Some studies in the past have suggested that having diverse disciplines in teams can actually be a drawback, particularly if the team fragments into cliques. New research by Doris Fay at Aston University suggests that diverse teams do actually come up with more innovations - but the quality of those innovations is dependent on effective group processes being in place, including: all team members being committed to the same cause; everyone in the team being listened to; the team reflecting on its own effectiveness; and there being plenty of contact between team members. Research reported in the BPS Research Digest blog (recommended!) If you would like some tips on effective group processes for your team, download our Checklist For An Emotionally Intelligent Team.
- [Jonathan Swift on Money - thought for the day](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/jonathan-swift-on-money-thought-for-the-day/) - A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart - Jonathan Swift
- [What thinking about money does to you](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/what-thinking-about-money-does-to-you/) - Recently I attended a talk by a wealth coach about the differences between what rich people believe and what poor people believe. Much of the talk was in the form of questions followed by the "correct" answers, as in: "Would you rather have more money, or more time with your family and friends? Would you rather have more money, or more spirituality?... Rich people say 'I want both!'" To me the talk came across as sneering at poor people, and making rich people feel better about themselves. I wasn't sure that much of it was based on any kind of evidence, and today I came across some research (by Kathleen D Vohs of the University of Minnesota) which suggested a different conclusion - that even thinking about money tends to make you more independent, but also more selfish. There's an article about this research, plus earlier some earlier studies that back it up, by JohnJoe McFadden in the Guardian today. The original research, The Psychological Consequences Of Money, is published in Science magazine: Money has been said to change people's motivation (mainly for the better) and their behavior toward others (mainly for the worse). The results of nine experiments suggest that money brings about a self-sufficient orientation in which people prefer to be free of dependency and dependents. Reminders of money, relative to nonmoney reminders, led to reduced requests for help and reduced helpfulness toward others. Relative to participants primed with neutral concepts, participants primed with money preferred to play alone, work alone, and put more physical distance between themselves and a new acquaintance.
- [Expressing yourself - thought for the day](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/expressing-yourself-thought-for-the-day/) - ... freedom is not just a matter of rights, to be expressed in law. The right to express yourself still leaves you with the need to decide what to say, to find someone to listen, and to make your words sound beautiful; these are skills which need to be acquired. - Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity This is the book I'm reading at the moment, and I highly recommend it. Zeldin has an amazing talent for creating profound aphorisms - sometimes two or three to a page!
- [Elephants Join The Self-Awareness Club](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/elephants-join-the-self-awareness-club/) - Very few animals can recognise their own image in a mirror - a crucial test of how self-aware they are. It used to be thought that this ability was only possessed by humans and the great apes. More recently dolphins have been found to recognise themselves. Now we find that elephants can do it too. In the video attached to this New Scientist article, an elephant tries to touch a mark painted on its head (where it can only be seen in the mirror). Previous experiments to measure the self-awareness of elephants have failed because the mirrors weren't big enough.
- [Emotional ambivalence fuels creativity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotional-ambivalence-fuels-creativity/) - I found this item on the excellent management-issues.com web site:People who are emotionally ambivalent – simultaneously feeling positive and negative emotions – tend to be more creative in the workplace than those who feel just happy or sad, or lack emotion at all, according to a new study.That's because people who feel mixed emotions interpret the experience as a signal that they are in an unusual environment and respond to it by drawing on their creative thinking abilities, according to Christina Ting Fong, an assistant professor at the University of Washington Business School.This increased sensitivity for recognising unusual associations, which happy or sad workers probably couldn't detect, is what leads to creativity in the workplace, she says.Get the full story here. I do wonder what results they would have got if they had looked at levels of excitement, rather than whether the respondents were happy, sad, neutral or ambivalent.
- ["Realism" versus "unrealistic optimism"? Hooey!](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/realism-versus-unrealistic-optimism-hooey/) - Julie Kay's article in her Leading Questions blog about Marcus Buckingham's new book "The One Thing You Need To Know" made me think: (Buckingham) argues that recent research shows that realism in our self-assessment can hinder our performance while unrealistic self-assurance fosters enhanced performance. He describes studies where children from lower socioeconomic sectors of society
- [Social Intelligence - new book by Daniel Goleman](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/social-intelligence-new-book-by-daniel-goleman/) - Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships on September 28th. The concept of 'social awareness' (first proposed by Edward Thorndike in 1920 but ploughed under by psychologists pushing the IQ model) goes beyond the 'social awareness' part of Goleman's Emotional Intelligence model to look at how people behave in social situations. Because it's about
- [Emotional intelligence linked to success for female senior managers](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotional-intelligence-linked-to-success-for-female-senior-managers/) - A study of female senior managers has found those who are more likely to influence change and make their mark on the companies they work for show higher emotional intelligence (EI) and have a more intuitive decision-making style. Conducted by Swinburne University’s Centre for Neuropsychology, the study assessed 176 female managers on their leadership style, emotions, behaviour, and emotional intelligence. The managers worked in diverse industries including education, finance, healthcare, human resources and telecommunications. [more information here] This comes as no surprise! If you would like to enhance your emotional intelligence, you may want to consider a good NLP Practitioner course...
- [Men are quicker to spot angry faces](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/men-are-quicker-to-spot-angry-faces/) - From The Guardian, Tuesday 6th June: Evolution has left humans with a finely honed ability to spot angry faces in a crowd, researchers have found. Tests with images showing a variety of expressions have revealed that while both sexes pick out anger in faces more quickly than any other emotion, men are much faster at identifying signs of anger. The effect is believed to be an evolutionary legacy acquired as men fell into conflict with each other over women and resources. The same study showed that women were faster at spotting unthreatening facial expressions such as happiness, sadness or disgust, a possible result, according to the researchers, of a different evolutionary pressure, to maintain cooperative social groupings.Get the full story here.
- [Freakonomics: People Are More Honest When They Are Happy](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/freakonomics-people-are-more-honest-when-they-are-happy/) - I'm half-way through reading Freakonomics by Stevem Levitt and Stephen Dubner. There's something interestingly counter-intuitive on every page. Apparently, after 9/11 people in American offices became slightly more honest (a 15% decline in theft, as measured by a bagel supplier who used honesty boxes for payment). Smaller offices are more honest. And, the higher up
- [Emotion Mapping](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/emotion-mapping/) - A device which combines a global positioning system and a galvanic skin response monitor has enabled the Greenwich Emotion Map, a project by artist Christian Nold in which people record their emotional responses as they explore and experience their environment. There's an article in the Observer about the project here, and a picture of the device here.
- [Social Awareness and Leadership](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/social-awareness-and-leadership/) - What makes people want to follow a leader? What makes them - in the most extreme cases - willing to lay down their lives for that person? At their best, leaders are 'living symbols' of a particular set of values that the followers subscribe to, enabling an almost spiritual feeling of being part of something
- [Do Your Employees Have Good EQs?](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/do-your-employees-have-good-eqs/) - I like my dentist's. It's got state of the art equipment, the guy who fixes my teeth is friendly and intelligent, they have attractive reception staff, a comfortable waiting room, classy city-centre location - it's a pleasure to visit (to the extent that it's possible to enjoy going to the dentist). But I'm going to switch to my wife's dentist. Why? One simple reason - they won't take my calls. Twice this week I've been 'held in a queue' for over 10 minutes. Like I said, I like my dentist's. I was prepared to do the 45-minute trek into town for appointments (my wife's dentist is in our village, walking distance). But none of the technical expertise and friendly welcome counts for anything if I can't make a bl**ding appointment! Customer service is important. I found a great resource for it the other day - the Customer Service Reader weblog. They read all the sources and gurus on customer service so we don't have to! They also have a Customer Service Reader Squidoo Lens which is a more structured intro to customer service. It's keeping my new Practical EQ lens (an intro and selection of EQ links and books) off the #1 slot for emotional intelligence - but I'm recommending it anyway, because it's excellent.
- [Get together and set up a goal-setting group](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/get-together-and-set-up-a-goal-setting-group/) - Last year I was invited to join a 'goal-setting group' of seven people with their own businesses. The idea, new to me, was a simple one - we meet up for one day each quarter and get an hour each to talk through our goals for the next quarter, our progress, and any obstacles. So far I've been to one meeting, and it was great. I had only met one of the participants before (the guy who invited me) but the other participants turned out to be smart, funny, and non-judgemental. Even though I had not put much time at all into preparation, I came away much clearer about what I wanted. Obviously it's good to be reminded that you are not the only one facing challenges with your goals, and that there are others in the same boat, especially when, like me, you work for yourself. Beyond that, though, talking through my goals out loud to other people acted as a reality check - it brought home very powerfully that I didn't have enough time to achieve all of my goals by the time I thought I wanted them. It forced me to prioritise my most important goal (getting my book written) and put the rest on the back burner. Getting together in a group like this and publicly declaring your goals taps into two of the powerful principles identified by psychologist Robert Cialdini in his book Influence: Science and Practice: consistency and commitment. When you identify yourself as having a particular role, or as being a particular kind of person (in this case, a 'goal achiever') it makes you much more likely to act in a way that is consistent with that role (actually taking action to achieve the goals). Cialdini found that the human mind strives for consistency. Also, when you make a public commitment to something, you are far more likely to actually do it than if you just make a vague promise to yourself. Two more great things about a goal-setting group: one is the cost - absolutely free (apart from the time cost of one day a quarter), and the other is the opportunity that the shared purpose gives you to get to know some other people in far more depth than a networking event would give you. Apart from the mutual support, at least two of the people in the group may be helpful to my business at some point in the future, either as employers or suppliers. So in summary: 1. To make it easier to achieve your goals, get together with a few other people (ideal numbers 5-7) and form a goal-setting group 2. Beyond mutual support, sharing your goals with others gives you a powerful reality check 3. You also harness two powerful psychological forces: consistency and commitment 4. Coming together for a common purpose is a great way of 'depth networking' Bonus tip: Use the web to stay in touch with your group in between meetings. There are many free 'social networking' platforms on the web. We used Yahoo Groups because the ads are not too intrusive, you can set up a private group, it allows you to post files and set up a meeting calendar, and it can notify you by email whenever someone posts a new message.
- [How diet affects mood and behaviour](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/how-diet-affects-mood-and-behaviour/) - An interesting website I've just discovered is Food and Behaviour Research (http://www.fabresearch.org) - a UK-based charity which promotes and collects scientific research into the effects of nutrition on: Everyday difficulties in behaviour, learning or mood that can affect children and adults - at home, at school or in the workplace. Developmental conditions - such as ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and autistic spectrum disorders. Mental health conditions - such as anxiety, depression, bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder and schizophrenia. They have some useful factsheets and lots of links to research, as well as popular treatments of the issues (e.g. the recent school dinners series with Jamie Oliver)
- [West and East have different worldviews - literally](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/west-and-east-have-different-worldviews-literally/) - An study at the University of Michigan by psychologist Richard Nisbett tracked how American and Chinese students look at pictures. The Americans paid more attention to the foreground object, while the Chinese looked more at the background. From the report in New Scientist: "There is plenty of anecdotal evidence suggesting that Western and East Asian
- [You've got to find what you love](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/youve-got-to-find-what-you-love/) - Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple and Pixar) gave this commencement address at Stanford on June 12 - it's pretty inspiring. He uses 3 incidents from his life to talk about 'joining the dots' (how your life only makes sense as a narrative in retrospect), about love and loss, and about the importance of death as an adviser - a concept familiar to anyone who has read Carlos Castaneda's books. The overall message is "You've got to find what you love." The full text is here. This is one of the most inspiring things I've read in a while. The delivery (video here) - not quite so inspiring! I've seen Steve a lot more animated than this - at Apple conferences, for example.
- [Get Everything In Writing](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/get-everything-in-writing/) - Psychologists at Washington University report that the memory function of people in their mid-60s and up is easily swayed by the power of suggestion, making them more vulnerable to memory-related scams. A full report appears in the May issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology (JEP): General, which is published by the American Psychological Association. For example, an unscrupulous contractor can tell an older customer, “I told you it would cost [a much higher price than was originally quoted] and you agreed to pay!” Without a written estimate, the customer is likely to “remember” it that way, too, and be overcharged. Another scam, “you forgot to pay me,” also underscores the need for written receipts. Some con artists even run their own rudimentary memory tests on the elderly, checking to see if their memory is bad enough to make them good victims. Get the full story here. My own experience (of being on the receiving rather than the perpetrating end) suggests that you don't have to be that old to not always remember clearly what was said - just being preoccupied with something else and not giving something your full attention will do it.
- [Consciousness in a nutshell](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/consciousness-in-a-nutshell/) - What is consciousness? The best summary I've found of where we are up to in understanding this is an article by Susan Blackmore. Susan brings an extra dimension to her understanding - as well as being a psychologist, she is also practises Zen meditation (though she says "I am not a Buddhist", and has experimented with psychedelic drugs. After discovering her fascinating site, I will definitely be reading her book The Meme Machine (click here for the US version) - review to follow soon! One perspective she doesn't mention is Ken Wilber's Four Quadrants model, in which subjective experience is a different, yet linked, realm to the objective world studied by science. In this model, the sense of self is not reducible to the physical functions of the brain (as most researchers into consciousness in the neuroscience field believe) but they are linked. Makes sense to me. Most of the information about Wilber's ideas on the web get very complicated and jargonised very quickly - why I'm not sure. The most accessible description of the basic model is here.
- [The Resilience Of Happiness](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-resilience-of-happiness/) - More from the British Psychological Digest: When healthy people imagine the quality of life they would have with a chronic illness, their estimates are much more negative than reports from people who actually have a chronic illness. A recent study by Jason Riis at the University of Michigan confirms this. He asked chronically ill patients and healthy controls to rate their mood when prompted every 90 minutes or so by a pocket computer. This technique minimises the possibility of biased recall or patients putting on a brave face for their carers. The average mood ratings made on the pocket computer were equally positive among both the patients and healthy controls. Yet when interviewed, the healthy participants predicted their mood would be negative most of them time if they had a chronic kidney illness. And the patients predicted their mood would be much more positive if they'd never had a kidney illness. That is, both groups of participants appeared to underestimate the resilience of people's mood to illness.

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## Categories

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## Tags

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- [payment methods](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/payment-methods/)
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- [persuasion](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/persuasion/)
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- [psychopaths at work](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/psychopaths-at-work/)
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- [quotes](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/quotes/)
- [rapport](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/rapport-2/)
- [recommendation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/recommendation/)
- [reducing errors](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/reducing-errors/)
- [relationships](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/relationships/)
- [relaxation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/relaxation/)
- [research](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/research-2/)
- [Robert Dilts](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/robert-dilts/)
- [Robyn Stratton-Berkessel](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/robyn-stratton-berkessel/)
- [Sales](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/sales/)
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- [self-awareness](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/self-awareness-2/)
- [self-hypnosis](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/self-hypnosis/)
- [self-management](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/self-management-2/)
- [self-talk](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/self-talk/)
- [sensory acuity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/sensory-acuity/)
- [Simultaneity Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/simultaneity-principle/)
- [skepticism](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/skepticism/)
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- [stress](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/stress/)
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- [surprise journal](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/surprise-journal/)
- [Taleb](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/taleb/)
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- [U-shape](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/u-shape/)
- [unconscious mind](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/unconscious-mind/)
- [understanding people](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/understanding-people/)
- [Us and them](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/us-and-them/)
- [values](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/values/)
- [video](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/video/)
- [webinar](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/webinar/)
- [writing talks](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/writing-talks/)
- [free choice principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/free-choice-principle/)
- [empowerment](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/empowerment/)
- [trust](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/trust/)
- [Semco](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/semco/)
- [Ricardo Semler](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/ricardo-semler/)
- [Seven Day Weekend](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/seven-day-weekend/)
- [experiences](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/experiences/)
- [emotional states](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/emotional-states/)
- [elevation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/elevation/)
- [Obama](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/obama/)
- [politics](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/politics/)
- [meditation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/meditation/)
- [secular](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/secular/)
- [spiritual](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/spiritual/)
- [format](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/format/)
- [review](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/review/)
- [evaluation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/evaluation/)
- [email](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/email/)
- [mistakes](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/mistakes/)
- [managers](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/managers/)
- [executives](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/executives/)
- [default reactions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/default-reactions/)
- [Lee Newman](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/lee-newman/)
- [Roy Baumeister](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/roy-baumeister/)
- [ego depletion](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/ego-depletion/)
- [if-then rules](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/if-then-rules/)
- [will-power](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/will-power/)
- [decisions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/decisions/)
- [unintended consequences](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/unintended-consequences/)
- [core transformation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/core-transformation/)
- [Andreas](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/andreas/)
- [denial](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/denial/)
- [projection](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/projection/)
- [shadow](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/shadow/)
- [Appreciative Inquiry training](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/appreciative-inquiry-training/)
- [self-acceptance](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/self-acceptance/)
- [positive intention](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/positive-intention/)
- [Freud](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/freud/)
- [id](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/id/)
- [feelings](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/feelings/)
- [labels](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/labels/)
- [Bowie](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/bowie/)
- [innovation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/innovation/)
- [Emotions as messages](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/emotions-as-messages/)
- [emotions as warnings](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/emotions-as-warnings/)
- [self-knowledge](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/self-knowledge/)
- [see yourself as others see you](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/see-yourself-as-others-see-you/)
- [David Brent](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/david-brent/)
- [emotional impact](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/emotional-impact/)
- [affirmative topic](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/affirmative-topic/)
- [quick tips](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/quick-tips/)
- [gmail](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/gmail/)
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- [team](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/team/)
- [alignment](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/alignment/)
- [effective goals](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/effective-goals/)
- [logical levels](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/logical-levels/)
- [partner](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/partner/)
- [help](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/help/)
- [loosening beliefs](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/loosening-beliefs/)
- [activities](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/activities/)
- [exercises](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/exercises/)
- [EU](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/eu/)
- [Brexit](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/brexit/)
- [Remain](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/remain/)
- [Leave](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/leave/)
- [Consistency](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/consistency/)
- [Commitment](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/commitment/)
- [Backfire Effect](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/backfire-effect/)
- [cognitive bias](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/cognitive-bias/)
- [argument](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/argument/)
- [Self-belief](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/self-belief/)
- [impostor syndrome](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/impostor-syndrome/)
- [self-concept](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/self-concept/)
- [self-esteem](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/self-esteem/)
- [power](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/power/)
- [empathy deficit](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/empathy-deficit/)
- [social awareness](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/social-awareness/)
- [Murayama](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/murayama/)
- [extrinsic](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/extrinsic/)
- [intrinsic](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/intrinsic/)
- [misconceptions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/misconceptions/)
- [talent](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/talent/)
- [recruitment](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/recruitment/)
- [unconscious bias](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/unconscious-bias/)
- [think pair share](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/think-pair-share/)
- [teaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/teaching/)
- [Cornell Note Taking Method](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/cornell-note-taking-method/)
- [learning tips](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/learning-tips/)
- [emotional bank account](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/emotional-bank-account/)
- [multitasking](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/multitasking/)
- [pomodoro](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/pomodoro/)
- [productivity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/productivity/)
- [self-presentation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/self-presentation/)
- [impression management](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/impression-management/)
- [hubris](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/hubris/)
- [backhanded compliments](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/backhanded-compliments/)
- [humblebragging](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/humblebragging/)
- [hypocrisy](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/hypocrisy/)
- [Janina Steinmetz](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/janina-steinmetz/)
- [decision quicksand](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/decision-quicksand/)
- [aner sela](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/aner-sela/)
- [jonah berger](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/jonah-berger/)
- [Ethical fading](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/ethical-fading/)
- [E](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/e/)
- [D](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/d/)
- [Double-Loop Learning](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/double-loop-learning/)
- [Chris Argyris](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/chris-argyris/)
- [single-loop learning](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/single-loop-learning/)
- [confabulation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/confabulation/)
- [C](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/c/)
- [positive deviance](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/positive-deviance/)
- [P](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/p/)
- [A](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/a/)
- [conversation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/conversation/)
- [negativity bias](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/negativity-bias/)
- [loss aversion](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/loss-aversion/)
- [de Bono](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/de-bono/)
- [Six Thinking Hats](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/six-thinking-hats/)
- [book reviews](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/book-reviews/)
- [advocacy](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/advocacy/)
- [strengths-based](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/strengths-based/)
- [books](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/books/)
- [Iain McGilchrist](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/iain-mcgilchrist/)
- [divided brain](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/divided-brain/)
- [left brain](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/left-brain/)
- [right brain](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/right-brain/)
- [hemispheres](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/hemispheres/)
- [appraisals](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/appraisals/)
- [joy](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/joy/)
- [Caitlin Moran](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/caitlin-moran/)
- [first-order change](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/first-order-change/)
- [second-order change](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/second-order-change/)
- [secondary gain](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/secondary-gain/)
- [non-directive](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/non-directive/)
- [manager as coach](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/manager-as-coach/)
- [coaching leadership](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/coaching-leadership/)
- [Julia Milner](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/julia-milner/)
- [Trenton Milner](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/trenton-milner/)
- [Harvard Business Review](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/harvard-business-review/)
- [Boyatzis](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/boyatzis/)
- [neuroscience](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/neuroscience/)
- [coaching with compassion](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/coaching-with-compassion/)
- [default mode network](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/default-mode-network/)
- [task positive network](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/task-positive-network/)
- [DMN](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/dmn/)
- [TPN](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/tpn/)
- [IKEA effect](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/ikea-effect/)
- [Dan Ariely](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/dan-ariely/)
- [engagement](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/engagement/)
- [I](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/i/)
- [visionary leadership](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/visionary-leadership/)
- [generative leadership](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/generative-leadership/)
- [Fat Cat Friday](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/fat-cat-friday/)
- [Stories](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/stories/)
- [Gervase Bushe](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/gervase-bushe/)
- [whiteboard](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/whiteboard/)
- [virtual teams](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/virtual-teams/)
- [teaching tools](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/teaching-tools/)
- [online learning](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/online-learning/)
- [Miro](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/miro/)
- [Twiddla](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/twiddla/)
- [Google Drawings](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/google-drawings/)
- [Zoom.us](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/zoom-us/)
- [Sketchboard](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/sketchboard/)
- [Clear Leadership](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/clear-leadership/)
- [change management](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/change-management/)
- [Dan Lyons](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/dan-lyons/)
- [Marcus Buckingham](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/marcus-buckingham/)
- [Ashley Goodall](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/ashley-goodall/)
- [positive feedback](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/positive-feedback/)
- [Einstein](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/einstein/)
- [theory](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/theory/)
- [management development](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/management-development/)
- [Talent Management](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/talent-management/)
- [cynics](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/cynics/)
- [negative people](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/negative-people/)
- [differences](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/differences/)
- [inquiry vs advocacy](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/inquiry-vs-advocacy/)
- [audio](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/audio/)
- [Gina Pickersgill](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/gina-pickersgill/)
- [Healing Pool](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/healing-pool/)
- [negative bias](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/negative-bias/)
- [Affirmative Topics](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/affirmative-topics/)
- [Problem To Opportunity Exercise](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/problem-to-opportunity-exercise/)
- [Problem To Possibility Tree](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/problem-to-possibility-tree/)
- [Elar Killumets](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/elar-killumets/)
- [Experience Cube](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/experience-cube/)
- [Coronavirus](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/coronavirus/)
- [COVID-19](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/covid-19/)
- [anxiety](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/anxiety/)
- [rumours](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/rumours/)
- [speculation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/speculation/)
- [Amy Coplan](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/amy-coplan/)
- [fusion](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/fusion/)
- [cognitive empathy](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/cognitive-empathy/)
- [affective empathy](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/affective-empathy/)
- [relationship awareness](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/relationship-awareness/)
- [Appreciative Inquiry Principles](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/appreciative-inquiry-principles/)
- [Poetic principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/poetic-principle/)
- [5D Format](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/5d-format/)
- [4D Format](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/4d-format/)
- [jerks](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/jerks/)
- [Dealing with negativity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/dealing-with-negativity/)
- [theodore zeldin](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/theodore-zeldin/)
- [Definition](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/definition/)
- [Define stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/define-stage/)
- [5D Cycle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/5d-cycle/)
- [Problem statements](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/problem-statements/)
- [Reframing](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/reframing/)
- [Possibilities](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/possibilities/)
- [Discovery](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/discovery/)
- [Organisational change](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/organisational-change/)
- [Team Development](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/team-development/)
- [business](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/business/)
- [Gillian Tett](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/gillian-tett/)
- [social silences](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/social-silences/)
- [Anthro-Vision](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/anthro-vision/)
- [Pierre Bourdieu](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/pierre-bourdieu/)
- [doxa](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/doxa/)
- [Dewitt Jones](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/dewitt-jones/)
- [TED talk](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/ted-talk/)
- [S](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/s/)
- [Conversations Worth Having](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/conversations-worth-having/)
- [Appreciative Inquiry books](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/appreciative-inquiry-books/)
- [Conversational](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/conversational/)
- [appreciative questions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/appreciative-questions/)
- [Success](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/success/)
- [team meetings](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/team-meetings/)
- [briefing](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/briefing/)
- [instructions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/instructions/)
- [facilitation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/facilitation/)
- [Wholeness Principle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/wholeness-principle/)
- [organisational development](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/organisational-development/)
- [change initiatives](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/change-initiatives/)
- [icebreakers](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/icebreakers/)
- [Appreciative Inquiry Summits](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/appreciative-inquiry-summits/)
- [Online](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/online/)
- [Virtual](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/virtual/)
- [technology](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/technology/)
- [Informal Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/informal-appreciative-inquiry/)
- [Jackie Stavros](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/jackie-stavros/)
- [Cheri Torres](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/cheri-torres/)
- [Above the line](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/above-the-line/)
- [Practical Tips](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/practical-tips/)
- [resources](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/resources/)
- [Curated resources](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/curated-resources/)
- [workshop outlines](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/workshop-outlines/)
- [Righting reflex](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/righting-reflex/)
- [Motivational Interviewing](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/motivational-interviewing/)
- [Listening skills](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/listening-skills/)
- [advice](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/advice/)
- [Dream](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/dream/)
- [simplicity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/simplicity/)
- [complexity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/complexity/)
- [Directive](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/directive/)
- [Coaching Masters Summit](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/coaching-masters-summit/)
- [Eugen Popa](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/eugen-popa/)
- [Appreciative Coaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/appreciative-coaching/)
- [in-house training](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/in-house-training/)
- [NHS](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/nhs/)
- [mere measurement effect](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/mere-measurement-effect/)
- [myths](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/myths/)
- [fallacies](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/fallacies/)
- [misunderstandings](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/misunderstandings/)
- [Emergent Principles of Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/emergent-principles-of-appreciative-inquiry/)
- [Coaching with Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/coaching-with-appreciative-inquiry/)
- [Coaching Models](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/coaching-models/)
- [GROW](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/grow/)
- [TGROW](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/tgrow/)
- [5-D](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/5-d/)
- [Assumptions](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/assumptions/)
- [5-D format](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/5-d-format/)
- [Definition stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/definition-stage/)
- [One-to-One Coaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/one-to-one-coaching/)
- [Skills](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/skills/)
- [vision](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/vision/)
- [Dream stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/dream-stage/)
- [Miracle Question](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/miracle-question/)
- [Joseph Campbell](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/joseph-campbell/)
- [Hero's Journey](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/heros-journey/)
- [Christopher Vogler](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/christopher-vogler/)
- [Design Stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/design-stage/)
- [4-D cycle](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/4-d-cycle/)
- [Fran Stoddard](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/fran-stoddard/)
- [Inspiring Impacts](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/inspiring-impacts/)
- [Cooperrider Center](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/cooperrider-center/)
- [idea generation](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/idea-generation/)
- [Destiny](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/destiny/)
- [Delivery](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/delivery/)
- [Planning](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/planning/)
- [Practical Appreciative Inquiry](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/practical-appreciative-inquiry/)
- [AI Practitioner Magazine](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/ai-practitioner-magazine/)
- [Positive Change Methods Podcast](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/positive-change-methods-podcast/)
- [Richard Boyatzis](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/richard-boyatzis/)
- [Sidney Dekker](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/sidney-dekker/)
- [empathic network](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/empathic-network/)
- [analytic network](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/analytic-network/)
- [Social Construction](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/social-construction/)
- [5-D Model](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/5-d-model/)
- [Discovery Stage](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/discovery-stage/)
- [negatives](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/negatives/)
- [Problem to Possibility](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/problem-to-possibility/)
- [diagrams in coaching](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/diagrams-in-coaching/)
- [identifying themes](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/identifying-themes/)
- [handling negativity](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/handling-negativity/)
- [cynicism](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/cynicism/)
- [David Clutterbuck](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/david-clutterbuck/)
- [mentoring](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/mentoring/)
- [client](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/client/)
- [Visioning](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/visioning/)
- [assessment](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/assessment/)
- [clean sweep](https://coachingleaders.co.uk/tag/clean-sweep/)
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