Kaizen Matters

Laser Provision: I don't know of a leader who is not concerned with improving performance. That is, after all, an essential part of a leader's job description. No leader aims to keep things the same, let alone to make things worse. Leaders are change agents with a single-minded focus on making things better. But how do we actually do that? Although, as you will read, I have some objections to traditional problem-based learning, focused, as it is, on determining and fixing the causes of whatever is impairing performance, I nevertheless appreciate the emphasis on continuous improvement and I especially appreciate the orientation of the Japanese TQM process known as "kaizen." Never heard of it? Read on to learn more!

Coaching Inquiries: How would you describe your approach to leadership and life? Is quality job one for you? What would help you to make continuous improvement one of your core values? What would help you to express that value more fully? How could "good change" – "kaizen" – take shape today? What are three things you might do that would make things better for yourself, your family, and your organization?

Exhaustion Matters

Laser Provision: There is a time and a place for exhaustion. I have spent a number of years leading my annual 4:45 pace team at the Baltimore marathon. Afterwards, and at some points during the race, there are moments of exhaustion. Exhaustion can be a sign of having pushed oneself to get something done that is important, difficult, and/or fun. Leaders have to do that at times. Then it's time to renew, relax, and restore. But some leaders get addicted to exhaustion – a dangerous trait to be sure. If that sounds like you, if it seems like you are always exhausted these days, then read the entire Provision here...

Coaching Inquiries: How exhausted do you feel right now? What kind of rhythms are reflected in your daily and weekly patterns? How might you take charge of your calendar in order to better serve yourself and your commitments? Who and what could help you to make it so?

To reply to this Provision, use our Feedback Form. To talk with us about coaching or consulting services for yourself or your organization, use our Contact Form to arrange a complimentary conversation. To learn more about LifeTrek Coaching programs, Click Here.

Experiments Matter

Laser Provision: One might say there are two ways to learn: theory to practice and practice to theory. The first way, known as deductive learning, starts with a set of accepted premises and applies them to particular situations. The second way, known as inductive learning, starts with a set of experiences and generalizes them into a way of doing things. Both ways of learning are constantly at work in both children and adults, but inductive learning – practice to theory – is clearly the original genius and instinct of us all. Young children are insatiably curious and inveterate researchers. They learn by conducting experiments. Great leaders would do well to rekindle that spirit in our people. Don't be afraid: the benefits far outweigh the risks. Click here to read the full Provision...

Coaching Inquiries: How much are you willing to trust yourself in the action-learning process? What kind of experiments would you be willing to conduct in order to find out? How could you become more venturesome in conducting experiments? What is one thing you would like to explore and try out in the week ahead? How could you plan that out right now?

Design Thinking: Lessons for the Classroom by Betty Ray

There are a variety of ways to put design thinking into practice and Betty Ray's blog provides some great info about how design thinking can be used in the classroom. Betty Ray's blog shares how the concept was covered at the Big Ideas Fest 2011 ...

One of the core components of Evocative Coaching is design thinking for educators... check out The Center for School Transformation to learn more!

Our Organizing Minds

Laser Provision: Today's Provision is an appreciative review of a new book co-authored by my friend and colleague, Margaret Moore, the CEO of Wellcoaches Corporation and co-director of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. The premise of the book is simple: to organize our lives we must first organize our minds. What that means and how to get it done is what the book and this Provision is all about. If you've been looking for a fresh approach to long-standing problems of disorganization and distraction, then I invite you to fasten your seat belt and read on. In one Provision we will cover all six Rules of Order. Click Here to read the entire Provision...

Coaching Inquiries: How would you describe the state of your organizing mind? Is it on autopilot or have you taken control? What would help you to be more aware and active? How could you get more sleep? How would you describe your priorities in life and work? How could you pay more attention to them both now and in the future? Who could coach you through the conversation?

To reply to this Provision, use our Feedback Form. To talk with us about coaching or consulting services for yourself or your organization, Email Us or use our Contact Form to arrange a complimentary conversation. To learn more about LifeTrek Coaching programs, Click Here.

Unbidden Desires

In the Western calendar, today is New Year's Day: a traditional time for looking back on the past year and looking forward to the New Year. Both activities have real value and it's a shame that the start of every quarter does not arrive with the same reflective energy. To ponder how the past year went and to set goals for the future are quintessentially human activities. So don't squander the day!

Many people come to coaching because they want assistance with these two reflective practices. In thinking about the past, we all have blind spots and critical voices. By offering honesty and empathy, coaches assist people to see and to value what is there. It is incredibly liberating to stop, or even just to pause, our avoiding, exaggerating, and berating tendencies. That's what a good coaching conversation can do for us, and I encourage you to contact LifeTrek Coaching for a complimentary session: Click Here.

The real genius of coaching, however, lies not in reflecting on the past but on the future. Coaches assist people to set and achieve goals. That may be the simplest of all definitions when it comes to the work of coaching. We don't set goals for people and we don't tell people what to do. We don't nag people or make people do what they are "supposed" to do. We rather invite people to set goals for themselves and assist them to navigate the journey.

That's where the name "LifeTrek Coaching" came from. It was my goal, all the way back in 1998, to help people with their goals in life and work. That trajectory represents the trek of coaching. It is a moving target and, at least this side of the grave, it never ends. Which is why some people always have a coach. There's always another aspiration to unleash and another possibility to consider.

Which brings me to the subject of today's poem. For many years, I have been in the habit of writing and sharing a poem with the readers of LifeTrek Provisions on the first Sunday of the New Year. Lately, I have been thinking about the relationship between bidden and unbidden things. The dictionary defines that relationship in terms of choice, intention, and will. Unbidden things are uninvited, not asked for, neither commanded, ordered, nor summoned.

"I bid you to come forward," on the other hand, is an obvious invitation and request. We often think of bidden things as desired things and of unbidden things as undesired. Health and family emergencies or natural disasters, for example, are unbidden. So, too, with things that disrupt or interfere with our plans. When a campaign or strategy goes awry, the military refers to that as being "Overtaken By Events. And being OBE is definitely not desired.

Yet coaches, who are in the business of that most bidden of enterprises, setting and reaching goals, have learned to be on the lookout for unbidden desires. All that is bidden is not good and all that is unbidden is not bad. There are things that well up inside us to guide us, and we would do well to acknowledge and appreciate those things as the source of ambition itself.

Where do goals come from? Why do we bother with them at all? It is from the deep reservoir and churning energy of unbidden things that the bidden arises. So before we run too far away, pause with me for a moment to consider the treasurers of the unbidden:

Unbidden
©2012 Bob Tschannen-Moran

Things happen
Overtaken by events
Emotions race
Unbidden

Blocks happen
Stifling creativity
Urgency impairs
Unbidden

Insights happen
Discerning truths
Clarity emerges
Unbidden

Feelings happen
Spilling over
Provoking thoughts
Unbidden

Heartaches happen
Gasping for air
Confusion reigns
Unbidden

Dreams happen
Revealing secrets
Hope arises
Unbidden

Breaches happen
Sudden terminations
Swelling grief
Unbidden

Connections happen
Awakening hearts
Restoring souls
Unbidden

Yearnings happen
Moving mountains
Cleansing spirits
Unbidden

Inklings happen
Subtle noticing
What must be
Unbidden

Shifts happen
So unsettling
The sun rises
Unbidden

Dreams happen
Unleashing aspirations
Possibilities emerge
Unbidden

May you find your own treasures in the unbidden things of 2012.

Coaching Inquiries: What things are unbidden in your life right now? What things are welling up inside you? What things are happening around you? How could you learn from them and collect the treasures these things have to offer? Who is your coach on the trek of life?

If you would like to reply to this Provision, we encourage you to use our Feedback Form. If you would like to learn more about our Coaching Programs and to arrange for a complementary coaching session, Click Hereor Email Us. Top