Video transcript:

So you're thinking about using a coach
Of course an obvious question is
How do I know if this coach is
competent or not?
How do I know if this coach is
competent or not?
Now you can certainly
and this is coming from 20+ years of
teaching coaches and doing a lot of coaching
thousands of hours of coaching in my time
How do you really check that someone is
competent because you could look at all
their qualifications, their memberships
to coaching bodies, their experience,
the number of people they work with
etcetera, etcetera.
But, trust me, none of that will actually
tell you whether that coach is competent
or not. The only way you can judge
whether a coach is competent or not is
Do they work for you?
Do they work for you?
Now as a rule of thumb, even with even
major issues in coaching, major lifetime
inhibitions, things holding people back,
serious issues that require a mixture of
therapy and coaching and so on
If you're not making significant progress
within 2 sessions, 3 at the most
If...

Video transcript:

So a common question about coaching is
Do you have to have a problem?
Coaching is often treated or thought about
as some kind of remedial thing to
solve some kind of problem.
I would emphasise that is just utter rubbish.
So take the metaphor of sports coaching
where you look at the very top people
in their game.
Now the more money they can afford
the bigger the team around them and the
more they have coaches that work on specific
parts of their game.
Think about coaching as about performance.
It's about, from whatever level of performance
you're at, raising your game in some way.
You may be a top performer
You may be in the top 10
and thinking about how you get into the top 3
Coaching can help you do that.
You may have a problem which is getting
in your way of doing that.
A really good coach can handle that and
help you deal with that but think about
coaching is about performance and
improving performance.
It's not about whether you have a problem
or not to be solved.
So let me know what...

Video script:

What's better, training or coaching?
Or how do the two work together?
One thing I'll say is that training is
about learning a new skill; a new behaviour.
Coaching is about the overall performance.
The best combination is training with some
kind of follow-up coaching or mentoring
shall we say, about putting that skill or
new behaviour into practice.
So, the two are there for different reasons
One can support the other really well.
One without the other lessens the value
of the other and the ideal scenario is
training supported by some kind of
follow-up coaching and mentoring.
Tell me what you think in the comments below.

Video transcript:

As I'm recording this it's in a time of lockdown
with Covid-19 and there's a question about coaching
that comes up. An obvious question is
coaching online better than coaching in real life?
So is coaching online better than coaching in real life?
How do they compare?
Now I would say from 20+ years of coaching people
on the phone, online through Zoom
or in real life. I can give you a fairly clear
picture of coaching and how different things work.
One thing I would say, that people often forget
is the benefits of coaching by phone or zoom.
It's so much more convenient, in so many ways.
So your coachee can be at their place of work
or some quiet meeting room, or if it's the
evening, in their own home.
They can be in their own environment and the
comfort of their own space.
Obviously coaching online doesn't involve any travel
so that saves time, it saves money. It's better
for the environment.
But what about the impact of coaching its self?
What difference does it make and how do they...

Video transcript:

Another common question about coaching is
What is the difference between coaching and mentoring
and that's a really important question.
Coaching is about performance.
It's about improving performance
from whatever level you are at
in terms of the professional coaching game.
Mentoring implies some kind of expertise or
experience that the mentor brings along to the game.
Now to be frankly honest, a really good coach
will tend to do both.
Certainly in my field; I come from a science and
engineering background and I've had extensive
management experience. So when I'm coaching a
manager or engineer or something like that
I can bring some experience to the game and
sometimes switch into a mentoring kind of role -
in terms of actually sharing information.
So that's the fundamental difference.
Coaching is about helping people take
accountability and responsibility for
their own performance and helping them move forward.
Mentoring is about the sharing of information and ideas
A really good...

Kelly McGonigal talks about the different types of stress and how stress isn't necessarily the enemy.

Amy Cuddy presents one of the most viewed TED video's ever in this amusing but profound look at body language and how it effects who we are. 

Shawn Achor's video is worth a watch just because it's very funny. It's also a great introduction to some of the key concepts and tools applicable to Positive Psychology in the workplace. Enjoy! 

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