Being More…Doing Less Each year on New Year’s Day we arrive in Oaxaca. 2019 was no different! It is such a wonderful feeling after being on the road for a week to finally get out of the car and breathe in the warm air and soak up the sunshine. Continue reading “Being More…Doing Less”
Courageous Conversations: The Future is Now Last week, I hosted a webinar titled Tools for Courageous Conversations on the Ellevate Global Network. Ellevate, also a Certified B Corp, believes in the positive impact of women in business. Continue reading “Courageous Conversations: The Future is Now”
Developing the “I inside the We” This is the sixth in a blog series on the course I am taking on Conversational Intelligence by Judith E. Glaser. The sixth module, “Expressing Conversations,” guides us to develop the space for healthy conversation to emerge, for individuals to have a voice that can create collective next-generation thinking. Continue reading “Developing the “I inside the We””
Which Brain is Driving your Conversation? In July 2017, Judith Glaser’s seven-month Conversational Intelligence program culminated with an in-person graduation event in New York City. Vista Global Coaching & Consulting joined over 200 coaches in New York plus hundreds of other participants live-streaming from across the globe. Continue reading “Which Brain is Driving your Conversation?”
Why Coaching Credentials Matter As founder of Vista Global Coaching & Consulting, Mary Stelletello not only consults with organizations, she is also a credentialed professional coach who works with individuals to help them achieve their goals in work and life. Coaching vs. Consulting Mary has played team sports since she was 9 years old. She recalls how the coach was the person who taught you how to play the game, shared new strategies, pointed out what you were doing wrong, pointed out what you were doing right and celebrated team accomplishments. For the most part, you accepted what the coach said as the best course of action. Fast forward a few decades and now you hear the word “coach” used in the work environment in many different ways, “An executive coach, a business coach, a leadership coach, a life coach” and so on. Is this use of the word “coach” the same as in the context of sports? Well, yes and no. Yes, a coach is someone who helps you see all aspects of yourself, helps shine a light on the blind spots and helps celebrate those talents that you may ignore. No, a coach doesn’t tell you what to do, that is a consultant. Take a look at this blog post to understand the difference. A coach helps you clarify your values and your talents and works with you to move toward your greatest potential. A coach is a sounding board, a champion, a truth teller and advocate for your best self. A coach helps you create a plan and be accountable to achieving that plan. Once you have determined whether you are looking for a coach or a consultant, the next question is, how do I find the right coach? The Value of Coaching Credentials Coaching is a profession that is evolving and is less known to have a credentialing process as professions such as accounting, financial planning or counseling. When you see a CPA after a person’s name, you know that person has gone through a rigorous training and testing process that requires ongoing educational credits to maintain the credential. To continue the CPA analogy, there are professionals who identify themselves as accountants that are very skilled, who are not CPAs. However, they are not as qualified as a person with a CPA. Similarly, professionals call themselves coaches without being credentialed. The credentialing body for coaching is called the International Coach Federation. There are more than 10,000 professional credentialed coaches worldwide. The ICF has 3 levels of credentialing, ACC, PCC and MCC. A coach at the ACC level has had 60 hours of training and completed 100 hours of client coaching. A coach at the PCC level has completed over 125 hours of training and more than 500 hours of client coaching. An MCC level coach has completed over 200 hours of training and 2,500 hours of client coaching. Beyond the number of hours the coach has completed, there is a distinction between the minimum skills at each credential level. So why does having a coaching credential matter? Credentialed coaches are strengthening their skills on an ongoing basis. Choosing a credentialed coach to guide you ensures that you will always benefit from the most current tools and advanced coaching skills while reaching your greatest potential. Mary began her coach training in 2009 and has recently received her PCC credential. If you think coaching is right for you, contact Mary today for a free introductory session. Photo credit: Erce via Shutterstock.
Build Your Conversation Agility: Align Your Intention with Your Impact The fifth module of Judith E. Glaser’s Conversational Intelligence course, “Generating Conversations,” guides us to identify the patterns that lower our C-IQ and create the right environment to overcome these patterns to activate parts of the brain for co-creation of transformational conversations. The best communicators align their intentions with their impact. While our intention is what we want to happen, our impact is the experience of the receiver. Successful communicators monitor and align the intentions and impact resulting in greater trust. In transformational conversations, the interaction dynamic is to “share and discover” which opens us up to broader insights and wisdom than each person has individually. We ask questions to which we truly have no answers, thereby inviting others to participate in answers that are co-created. We engage with others in high levels of curiosity, candor and wonder asking provocative questions, enabling us to partner and elevate our thinking to new ideas for innovation. We reach transformational conversations through building conversational agility skills of reframing, refocusing, and redirecting. Reframe, Refocus and Redirect When we are in a conversational pattern that starts to feel like it isn’t working, people are in protective or positional stance, that is the signal to activate conversational agility skills. Research done by the HeartMath Institute has determined that practices that reduce the negative thought loops and fear, create the space for innovation and co-creation. Reframe Reframing takes a difficult situation and turns it into an opportunity for finding trust and common ground with someone. You are giving the other person a mental break and creating space to think in a new way. Example: “I am a failure because I didn’t win the contract with that big client.” Reframe: “Yes, you didn’t win that contract but you did learn a lot about what it takes to put together a proposal for a big client and that will provide insights for the next time we go after a big project.” Refocus Refocusing allows you to move people from a place where they are stuck and point them toward a larger topic where they can see connections that they had not seen before. Example: “I am really frustrated that I continue to be passed over for an invitation to be on a speaker panel when I have the most experience.” Refocus: “You really seem to care a lot about the topic, what are some other ways that you can share your expertise that would raise the visibility of your talents to the entire organization?” Redirect Redirecting helps people move from a place of being stuck and emotionally bound, to a place where they can see new opportunities. Example: “There is no way that I can start a new business when I am working full-time. I can’t quit my job.” Redirect: “Sure, I understand there are risks of completely quitting your job but what can you do to move in the direction of starting your new business?” When you notice that you or someone else is in a protective mode, being resistant or skeptical, you can use these conversational agility skills to nudge them towards a mind shift for transformational conversations. Stay tuned for more tips to have meaningful conversations that transform leaders and organizations. This is part of a blog series on Conversational Intelligence course by Judith E. Glaser. Check out related blogs such as “Listening to Connect” and “Moving from Distrust to Trust.” Photo credit: Rawpixel.com via Shutterstock.
