doug smith training

It's one thing if a team member is unable to do something due to lack of knowledge or skill or resources. It's completely different when they ARE able but are unwilling.  Especially if the only thing standing in someone's way is their laziness. It's too much work for them. They don't see the payoff. But, for the rest of the team the payoff is both obvious and necessary. It may take a little work on the part of leadership to move that laziness aside. It could take patience. Persistence. Pressing on. Why not press on by showing that you are NOT too lazy to encourage effort? Why not demonstrate the value -- and the joy -- in the work? Overcoming laziness is work well worth the effort.  -- doug smith

Competition can be rough but it can also be educational. If you study your opponent you might learn their secrets. If you can listen to your opposition, they might be sending you valuable signals that could improve your own performance. What if your rival is also your best coach? -- doug smith

  I'm facilitating a training session this week on feedback and coaching so of course my research never stops. No matter how many times I've delivered a program, there's always more to learn. I found this video and recommend it. If you'd like to take some of the "sting" out of feedback, don't even think of it as feedback. Think of it as advice. Here's the ten minute video. If you don't have ten minutes, the first three minutes are golden. Three key points that I got from the video: Focus on the task, not the person Ask for advice, not feedback Your "second score" is how you take and process your first score. If someone says that your performance was a three on a scale of ten (ouch!) you can still get a ten on how you use that information.  -- doug smith

Thirty minutes to talk about your goals, problems, or leadership development. Not therapy. If you need medical, mental, or tax advice please consult a certified professional in one of those fields.

Great coaches check the score for cheating -- not to accuse but to develop discipline.  Remember, if you're willing to win at any costs the cost is too high. Great coaches develop more than performance because character is even more important than results. -- doug smith

Sometimes a normally great performers gets in a slump, like an athlete who can't find their flow. Whatever the job, it's possible to get in your flow and it's possible to fall out of your flow. The flow is the place where you do your best work, where the conditions that create your own personal space for success propel your performance forward. When our team members fall out of their flow (maybe they've got an emotional challenge, maybe their favorite piece of equipment is malfunctioning, maybe more problems than usual are bombarding them...) we can help.  By coaching constantly we can recognize each team member's flow AND recognize when they are out of their strength and into trouble.  Coaches don't fix people but they can help them find their flow. Who needs your help at finding their flow? What feedback can you share that will help them get it back? -- doug smith  More On Flow Distinctive to each person, although you may observe similarities Requires the righ...

Find your flow -- the conditions and mood when you are at your absolute best, and you've found ultimate control.  Your flow could change. You will continue to learn and to grow. Why not accelerate that learning? Start where you already flow, and go! -- doug smith

How much coaching do you do? Coaching others comes with many benefits, including one that is easily forgotten and yet oh so helpful. Do you know what that is? In addition to helping someone improve their performance, building a better relationship with them, and gaining more understanding of that person, here's another spectacular benefit from coaching: The more you coach others the ore you learn about yourself. You might not LIKE everything that you learn about yourself (in fact, if you DO I'd say you might not be paying attention!) but you will continue to learn.  Open up the possibilities, for others AND for yourself. Coach. -- doug smith

A great coach helps you discover how much better you can perform. -- doug smith 

  Ever hear a piece of advice and think "yeah, that's a hard no..."? Or how about this -- ever offer someone a piece of excellent advice and watch them completely ignore it? Advice is funny like that. It's not good advice if nobody takes it. -- doug smith

I once had a boss who had higher standards than me. Every day seemed like a challenge. There just wasn't any pleasing this boss. I'd get to a new level and she'd urge me to raise the level again. "Keep learning," she'd say. "Keep developing. Make your customers unforgettable and they will never forget you..." She was right. The chase is endless. The effort is unrelenting. And the joy, ah the joy becomes inexhaustible. If your boss has higher standards than you do, raise your standards.  -- doug smith  

It's that simple: yes, or no. I've heard many leaders bemoan the trouble it takes to get a lazy worker to work. If that's really the problem, the possibilities but be fewer (and more immediate) than you think. A poor performer can be redirected, re-skilled, and learn to improve. Some of the best performers on teams that I have worked with struggled at times, but turned it around because they applied themselves to the mission, to the vision, and to their goals. Heck, I've struggle as well and in some cases without the valuable feedback and coaching that was provided I probably would have crashed and burned. But someone who simply refuses to perform thru laziness simply must go. Yes, or no -- are they willing to work, or no? As someone in one of my workshops once said, "sometimes you have to help them prosper -- some place else." -- doug smith  

Who provided you with the best coaching ever? It could have been an athletic coach, a choir director, a business coach, a therapist, maybe even a partner -- someone who listened with your own best interests in mind and then provided you with a skillful combination of support and challenge. Support because stretching yourself can be tough, too tough to do all by yourself,  and challenging because we tend to relax into being relaxed, assuming a kind of stasis that leads nowhere. Whoever that person was, imagine how much tougher it would have been for you without them. And, if you don't have someone like that you remember, imagine how wonderful that is -- because it is indeed wonderful. It doesn't always feel wonderful at the time, but the results are splendid indeed. In that sense a coach is a bit like a meditation partner. A bit like your inner voice who keeps you alert when you tend to relax too much, and a calming support when you tend to get too frantic. Coaches help us stay ...

What is coaching? High performance leaders do lots of coaching. If you asked your team members which would they prefer more, coaching or commanding, what do you think they'd say? Probably, coaching. Coaching is helping someone improve their performance without crushing their spirit. Coaching is providing candid feedback without causing scars. Coaching is knowing how much to push and how much to hold up. Coaching is a balance of challenge and support. Coaching is encouraging, and when necessary redirecting. If you want to lead in ways that people respond, coaching is you're calling. Who are you coaching today? -- doug smith

What's your focus on coaching and where does it start? People do respond too coaching. When asked what kind of leader someone wants, very often they will say "someone who is a good coach." We like coaching. We benefit from gentle guidance and persistent insistence on improvement. But where does it start? With goals? With targets? Does it start with charts and plans? Coaching doesn't start with performance; it starts with a relationship of understanding. As a coach, work on understanding first. As someone being coached, work on understanding first. Coaching starts with understanding. -- doug smith

Find out what your team means to each team member and then build from there. -- doug smith

From Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, Executive Coach, comes this is a great way to share fast, low risk coaching with a number of people. The three steps are simple and easy: Write down an area you'd like to improve that would have a big impact for you Ask for 2 positive suggestions for the future that would help with that area Repeat getting positive suggestions from others in the group There are two simple roles for the process: No talking about the past No judging or critiquing ideas Here's Dr. Goldsmith describing the process in one of his highly useful videos: I found this article and video from one of my favorite sources of leadership advice, GetLighthouse.com, here .

High performance leaders spend much of their time coaching their people. We coach so that our team members can learn to generate the energy and effort they need to do their best work. We coach so that our team members will light up. But, sometimes, the light within our team members wanes. Sometimes, they need a boost. Sometimes they need us to light the way for them. Bring the light. Light the way. Keep them on track. Then, watch them shine. -- doug smith

High performance leaders are also coaches. There is no avoiding the need to give your team members feedback. The most robust way to develop a culture of feedback in your team is to coach - not just a little - but constantly. Coach, coach, coach! Lead with inspiration of course, and also lead with coaching by sharing deep conversations with your people about performance. Appreciate the good work. Redirect the sloppy work. Fine tune the vast amount of work that fits somewhere in-between. It's good for your team, and it's good for you. There are so many benefits to coaching, including: Better performance More comfort at giving AND receiving feedback Stronger relationships More effective communication Faster response time on urgent team needs A closer, more cooperative team You can probably think of even more benefits to coaching. Any time we coach another we are also coaching ourselves -- and that is enough of a benefit to keep coaching no matter what. When you...

Have you ever been given bad advice? No matter how much someone insists that they know what they're talking about, maybe they do and maybe they don't. Have you ever given advice that might not have been the best? If you have, it probably wasn't intentional and you might not even remember it now. We sometimes give advice with the best of intentions but that advice is not exactly what is needed. Before taking the advice of someone else, here are some of the things I look and listen for: Do they understand my situation? Do they have my best interests in mind? Have they asked enough questions to determine what is needed? Have they ever experienced the same kind of situation - and if so, how did that turn out for them? Will they be there to help with the implementation of their advice? Ask these questions first before jumping to that advice. Giving advice is often the first sign that a person is not qualified to give advice. Everyone's got an opinion...