Eclectic Change

Becoming a Confident Speaker: Overcoming the fear of public speaking

Over the years, like my guest author, I have helped coach individuals improve their public speaking.  So when I saw this simple exercise, I was intrigued.  I immediately asked Noel if I could reprint the short article.  Noel kindly agreed and asked me to add a link after his name "if you can fit that in".  Well in my view one link isn't enough.  Noel is a great coach and has lots of wonderful resources. Check out the sites listed below and be sure to sign up for his newsletter for the latest upd...

Red Flags – Being mindful instead of procrastinating

Here is another wonderful post by my guest contributor Marion Franklin.  This one is a good reminder to me to stop and listen instead of rushing ahead.  Others of you may realize how we sometimes avoid those "warning signs" because we hope we won't have to deal with any unpleasantness that might happen. You can find more in Marion's ezine full of great stuff. Her contact information is below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Red Flags by Marion Franklin, MCC Image via Wi...

Laser Coaching – Avoid a ‘fishing expedition” and get to the root quickly

In January, I read a great response to an issue on the New Coach Connection Yahoo Group by Marion Franklin.  I asked Marion, also a moderator of the group, if she would share her insights as a guest author.   She kindly agreed. I do want to remind the readers that this is not edited as an article per se. Marion does have her own ezine full of great stuff. Her contact information is below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Laser Coaching - Get to the root quickly by Marion Frank...

Personal Safety and Change and Why I Went Private on Twitter

I grew up in a time when children didn't have to bring their candy home from Halloween and have it checked.  And while I was told not to talk to strangers or take candy from anyone, I was instructed to go to a policeman if I was in trouble.  So it is not surprising that as a young adult I was comfortable traveling to Europe on my own (all be it in the Northern Part).   I never felt anxious or fearful walking alone at night in the city.  I have been known to hitchhike in the city during a tran...

Kudos to Marshall Goldsmith

You have to have a strong ego to write blog posts that are well read by others (who have their own opinions) and then read all the comments.  Two days ago, I took exception to the term "uncoachable" that Marshall Goldsmith used in a recent in his "Ask the Coach" segment in HRB: "How to Spot the "Uncoachables".  To his credit, Marshall responded and qualified the terms he was using. I encourage you to read the post and the comments (including mine and his responses). Earlier today, I put up a ...

It is true: It is lonely at the top . . . but so what?

The Economist last week had an article entitled "Sympathy for the Boss".  It is a poor title for an interesting piece based on some of the findings of Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave in their book "The Secrets of CEOS: 150 Global Chief Executives Lift the Lid on Business, Life and Leadership".  Are we really suppose to care that around 50% of the chief executives interviewed said they found the job “intensely lonely” and did not know who to turn to for advice?  Perhaps not but the book (with a fore...

Planning and Vision: A Change Tool in Under 2 Minutes

Imagining The Future and Moving from What is To What Could Be Sorry, it appears that Sketchcast has not been operational since August 2008.  This short visual helps clients understand in simple terms the steps to go through from creating a new goal or vision and how to get there in a planned and managed manner. 1. First the Dream or Imagined Future State 2. A Good Analysis of the Current State 3. Step by Step Action Plan 4. Constant Review and Adjustment

Twelve Principles of the Wisdon Council – on Video

At 1-Focus International, we have created a sustainability framework that integrates and honors large scale and individual change processes. In the spirit of sharing knowledge with others about these various large scale change methodologies, I bring your attention to the process known as a "Wisdom Council" developed by Jim Rough who also coined the term that he uses "dynamic facilitation". (You will find other videos at Veoh which explains this approach as well as others.) There are twelve pri...

Trouble at the Summit

By guest writer Mary Jo Asmus, President, Aspire Collaborative Services High achievers may exhibit what George Parsons and Richard Pascale have described in Harvard Business Review as “Summit Syndrome”. We notice this phenomenon when an employee with an outstanding career becomes stagnant; or worse, she may sabotage her career by initiating unproductive arguments, failure to collaborate, or neglect for completing assignments. At its worst, the employee with this syndrome may become a candidate...

Skills Shortages and Community Sustainability

On November 21st my good friend Doug Jordon was ever so kind as to include me as on of this four facilitators in an interesting consultation in Toronto on "Addressing the Technical Skills shortage - Attracting and Integrating Technically Trained Immigrants into Canada's Labour Force" hosted by The Canadian Council of Technicians and Technologists (CCTT). I found such interesting similarities between the issues faced at this consultation to the work we are doing at 1-Focus International. Ther...