Enjoy the top three lessons I learned from ICF’s International Coaching Week, and then… please share your own!
Fun Fact: this video is a great example of lesson #3, because I got it right in the first take! (coaches are SO easy to talk to!)
Coaching with Metaphors – Lyssa deHart
To celebrate International Coaching Week, I’m delighted to announce that Lyssa deHart will be sharing “Coaching with Metaphors” at no cost to my community!
We will delve into the role metaphors play in lighting up our clients.
She’ll share with you the role metaphors play in activating our clients’ brains and a bit of the neuroscience that links metaphors to brain activity and somatic anchoring.
She’ll highlight how a coach might tune their ears to metaphors, leveraging and harnessing your client’s metaphors to foster deeper engagement and insight.
She’ll ask for a volunteer, and do a 15 minute demo, then we can Q&A what people notice. This session is designed to be enlightening and fun, blending serious learning with the playful art of metaphor.
14th May – 3:00pm Pacific Time
Unfiltered Reflections: A Rollercoaster of Thoughts and Insights
Working through all the feelings, I recorded this to capture some of the lessons I’m learning. Please forgive the meandering (my state of mind is not as incisive as usual) and the less-than stellar quality of the video… but I promise there are some important nuggets in here.
4 Keys to Survive the Messy Middle
Mini training time! If you’re succeeding but overwhelmed and racing against the clock every day, you’re going to love this video. Set aside 10 minutes and get ready to take some notes on the 4 keys that will get you through the “messy middle” phase of business!
Making Peace with Time (low-tech, no cost)
I’ll admit it: I have a troubled relationship with time.
I’m always searching for the perfect way to schedule my calendar. The perfect scheduling tool. The perfect reminder system.
This year I made three simple changes that cost me nothing and make a big difference in how I feel every single day.
- For as long as I can remember, I have hung a one-year dry-erase laminated calendar on the wall that I face while sitting at my desk. Time was literally looming over me. I was facing off with it every single day. So I moved 2024’s calendar behind my office door and filled the space I face with the things that are most important to me: family, pets and inspiration.
- Another long-time practice that I changed is I stopped wearing my Apple watch. Even though I have all the notifications turned off, it was a distraction. I could check the weather, my exercise rings… so many ways to waste a little bit of time here and there. I’ve swapped out the techy nagging device for a watch my Dad gave me one Christmas. It’s sentimental and low tech. Doesn’t even have the date on it.
- With this last one, I may be veering into the neighborhood of TMI, but an idea from my fab time management coach Lisa Crilley Mallis of Impactive Strategies, I go to the downstairs bathroom instead of the one right next to my office. A mini-break from my day.
I’ll wrap up with this thought: when you have a busy life and business, making huge sweeping changes is hard. And then maintaining them? Almost impossible.So while these 3 changes might seem too small to actually make a different, the power behind them is that they are sustainable.
How to Elevate ‘meh’ Opportunities
Close on the heels of compiling 46 Ways to Say No, another option occurred to me. One that actually lets you elevate mediocre opportunities instead of saying no.
You’ll find this most helpful when wrestling with what I call “mixed blessing opportunities”.
For example: let’s say someone offers you the opportunity to speak for a group of your ideal clients (YAY!), but requests a topic that isn’t aligned with your core offerings and you don’t have an existing presentation created (BOO!).
If you say yes, you end up sacrificing your time to create a new presentation just so you can get in front of a great audience. But because you also sacrificed strategy by giving a talk that is off-topic and off-message, the likelihood that you’ll attract new clients is slim.
If you say no, there’s that pinch of regret for a missed opportunity.
So instead of saying YES and damn the consequences, or NO and completely miss out on the opportunity, here is a different way to handle these mixed blessings.
The first thing is to recognize that when someone gives you an opportunity, they are interested in you. Then it’s just a matter of exploring if there is a way to adjust that initial interest so it fully aligns with your business strategy.
To elevate a “meh” opportunity, include the following:
- Open with gratitude and a yes: this builds rapport and doesn’t dismiss the opportunity outright
- Ask permission to explore alternatives
- Make an alternative suggestion
- Elaborate a little on the benefits of this alternative
- Ask if this is something they’d be open to
Example:
Thank you so much for the invitation! I would love to present for and serve your group. May I make just one suggestion?
The topic you requested is not one I present on, but I have a talk called More Clients, Less Marketing that – from what I know about your members – would potentially be a great fit. It’s my most popular talk because it’s so interactive with solid tools and take-aways. For groups like yours it has a track record of attracting higher-than-normal attendance.
Would you be open to considering bringing me in to present this topic instead?
Obviously when you embrace this approach, you’ll navigate those “mixed blessing opportunities” more effectively and see better outcomes.
But there’s another benefit. And it’s a biggie.
You’ll start to become a stronger advocate for yourself in every situation.
And that could come in handy, don’t you think?