Some informative new episodes related to our series on “Crucial Conversations:” This latest series focuses on “common fallacies,” arguments we make that, if you stop to think about them, just can’t be true. Identifying and naming these statements can keep you from losing focus on what truly matters. We encourage our listeners (both of you) to use these fallacies to evaluate …
Common fallacies: Seeing through what’s not true (part 1–Avoiding the question)
Some informative new episodes related to our series on “Crucial Conversations:” This latest series focuses on “common fallacies,” arguments we make that, if you stop to think about them, just can’t be true. Identifying and naming these statements can keep you from losing focus on what truly matters. We encourage our listeners (both of you) to use these fallacies to evaluate …
Eight ways to ask a question well
As coaches, Mike and Mark spend a lot of time teaching clients how to coach their teams. You can learn powerful questions … you can master frameworks for the conversation … but how do you ask the question? This episode borrows liberally from Mark’s training with the International Coach Federation and from Michael Bungay Stanier, who we think is the bee’s …
A big announcement–and some thanks
I’m happy to announce that the International Coach Federation has credentialed me as a Professional Certified Coach. I’ve often thought of achieving PCC as similar to achieving CPA. The process is rigorous. You might pass one part but have to retake another. It takes years. But it’s worth it: PCC is the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval that you are …
Why I bought new tires: The value of coaching and CX
It took more than 3,000 miles, a trip to urgent care for asthma, altitude sickness treatments, a bloody nose that made a hotel room a crime scene, a hail storm, severe weather while fighting traffic during Stanley Cup celebrations and … well, anyway, we’re home from a trip to the Rocky Mountains. I bought new tires. I want to tell …
Podcast 113 – Crucial Conversations: The S.T.A.T.E. method
Finally! After all the prep work, it’s time to have that high-stakes, emotional conversation. There are three “whats” and two “hows.” Introducing S.T.A.T.E. This episode is part of our series on “Crucial Conversations.” The first episode is at this link. We would love your questions and comments for future episodes: Email Mike and Mark. Listen here … subscribe on Spotify, …
Why you need a coach but your ancestors probably didn’t
Let me make a prediction: You are busy. This isn’t something I could say with 100-percent certainty in the past. But at some point in the 1900s, it became true of virtually all of us. It’s so true that FranklinCovey makes a lot of money offering The 4 Disciplines of Execution to people and organizations constantly under threat from what …
Podcast 108: The eight things that hinder your coaching
Mike and Mark talk through how to handle eight common things recent research revealed as roadblocks to coaching in an organization. No. 2 on the list is an excellent example of why we are so excited for our coming series on how to have difficult conversations. Listen in for a preview of this universal issue. We would love your questions …
Collaborating … or just meeting? Empowering … or just coaching?
You know how we all joke about talking about something and having it show up as an ad on our phones? It’s creepy how it feels like we’re being watched. (Just kidding, you’re great Mr. Zuckerburg and Mr. Bezos!) Anyway, I had that feeling with email today. Two articles hit my inbox that are replies to conversations I’m having with …
What is your company’s Edge?
I’m still re-devouring William Gibson novels. At some point during the lockdowns, I realized we were living in his universe: corporate monopolies, pandemics, communities-in-cyberspace, alienation-via-technology … things he covered 30 years ago. (Not David Howell Evans) Here’s one item that, I hope, he got at least a little bit wrong: the Edge. In his short story “New Rose Hotel,” Fox, …