Do it When you want to talk about personal development. Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields. We are going to use it by drawing a diagram where your coachee will point where he is right now on skill level. Then he will point where he is on challenge level. Next step is to point where he wants to be in 6 months period wishing to be in a state of Flow. Immediately he will have coordination where he has to be in skill level. Now he will have to make action plan how he will come to that level of skills.
Now, coaching questions for you:
1. What is the area of your life where you want to make progress?
2. Where are you right now on this diagram on skills scale?
3. Where are you right now on this diagram on challenge scale?
4. How satisfied you are with this state on a … Read more
Idea #46 Make your company commercial
Do it During Team Building when you want to establish company values. Divide participants in smaller teams. Tell them that they have to make company commercial. Each team will have to prepare scenario, do the acting and video tape commercial. If you have a time they can use different computer programs and prepare movie. In the evening you will have presentation of commercials. After that you will have discussion. What was the message that we were sending from our company?
Now, coaching questions for you:
1. What is you key message that you want to send to the other people?
2. Why is that message so important to you?
3. How that message is influencing your everyday life?
4. Who else thinks that message is important?
5. How those people could be helpful in spreading that message?
6. How could you make that massage even more important?
7. What would be your action plan for making your message widely spread?
8. Now when you have made your plan, how do you feel?
Thank you and good luck.
Idea #45 Stand for coaching air magic sticks
Do it When you want to raise self esteem in people. On every training bring stand like one on picture below. Tell participants that it is stand for air magic sticks for coaching. Ask each one of them to take one air magic stick. They will use it on their everyday work or in life. But now they will have air magic sticks that will help them.
Whenever they have some question air magic stick will give them answer. 
Coaching questions for you are as follows:
1. What do you regard as the biggest challenge at the moment?
2. How do you know that you have been handling that challenge successfully?
3. How would you feel if you managed to cope with that challenge?
4. Which means would you use to reach the set goal?
5. What would be your first step to attain that goal?
6. Make a list of all further steps.
7. What would be the most useful system for dealing with any future challenges?
8. What else would you find beneficial to achieving your goals?
Thank you for your ideas.
.
… Read moreIdea #44 Full MeNtal Jacket
Do it When you train your people how to deal with difficult people. In our business dealing with difficult people is mandatory. “Difficult People are your key to self- empowerment, you need to learn how to cope with them, do not let them dominate and affect you.” – Janice Davies. One of techniques is to teach them to wear virtual protection from difficult people, as well as to establish a close rapport with them by showing empathy and incessantly reminding them that they are wearing invisible Full MeNtal Jacket. As a result, every bad word, anger, every feeling of negative energy will be stopped. If your employees manage to recognize and accept that tool, they will deal with difficult people more easily.
Coaching questions for you are as follows:
1. Which symptoms do you notice in your body when you deal with difficult people?
2. In which part of your body do you notice that?
3. What is the shape of that symptom?
4. Is it sharp or smooth?
5. In which color is it?
6. Is it stable or spinning? If spinning, is it clockwise or counter-clockwise?
7. Is it getting hot or cold?
8. Now when you
… Read more 1. Which symptoms do you notice in your body when you deal with difficult people?
2. In which part of your body do you notice that?
3. What is the shape of that symptom?
4. Is it sharp or smooth?
5. In which color is it?
6. Is it stable or spinning? If spinning, is it clockwise or counter-clockwise?
7. Is it getting hot or cold?
8. Now when you
Idea #43 Last page Creative Ideas
Do it When you want to gain creative ideas. As great Albert Einstein said: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Implementing coaching we are changing the way we are thinking and on the top of that we are changing the way we are writing our ideas. Whenever you have some ideas write it in notebook but start from the last page. Since our school days we have learned that all answers are written on the last pages. If you write idea #001 on the last page, you will have a plenty of pages and numbers to use but arranged in reverse order.
When you implement idea just circle it. My creative book is on this picture.
Now, coaching questions for you:
1. Imagine a problem that you can’t solve with present way of thinking. What is it?
2. How important for you is to solve that problem?
3. What would you be with that problem solved?
4. Imagine the person that might have solution to that problem. Who is he?
5. That person gives you the book with all answers. Tell me when you get that picture.… Read more
Idea #42 Support hand made
Do it when you discuss company values with employees. Connecting company values with values of each employee is important for supporting their motivation. Nowadays everyone has laptop. And we all carry them in laptop bags. So ask participants how your company lap top bag will look like. Ask them to draw it on a flip chart. Then to make presentation and talk about values that are represented with drawing.
Now it is your time to surprise your employee. Make arrangement with local women group to make laptop bags from drawings. I did it with Marija Hand Made and now I have privilege to enjoy this beautiful laptop bag.
Now, coaching questions for you:
1. Imagine that your laptop bag is your company brochure. What it tells about you?
2. Why do you exist as company?
3. How do you serve your country?
4. Who else is gaining benefit from your company?
5. How will scale your service from 1 to 10?
6. What can you do to make your service even more beneficial?
7. How will you make a system that will guide you through servicing others?
8. Write your full action plan. What will be the time … Read more
Idea #41 Where to put effort
Do it when you want to point to the participants the importance of putting effort in the right point. This is story about giant ship that has suffered engine malfunction and was tightened on the dock for engine repair. Several groups of engineers failed trying to repair the engine. Finally captain called old mechanist with lifetime experience on ships like this. For 15 minutes he was examining the full system. At the end he focused on the one pipe and started hitting it with hammer. After that engine started working properly. Captain was amused but suddenly he was stunned because mechanist asked him for 5.000 $ for his work. Then captain asked for specification of his 15 minutes service. Machinist wrote on the bill: Working on the engine 2$, diagnosing what to do 4.998 $, in total 5.000 $. Obviously, in life everything is knowing where to put the effort.
Coaching questions for you:
1. Imagine that you are sitting with someone like old machinist from the previous story, but he has knowledge relevant to your career. How useful it will be for you?
2. Where will be the most useful place to talk with him?
3. How … Read more
Idea #40 Leadership by the finger
Do it during training when you want to point that managing people is 2 way street. Divide participants in pairs. They have to stand facing each other.
Person A has to point his/her finger just next to the nous of person B. Just give instruction that person A has to move his/her finger and person B has to maintain the same distance between his nous and finger of person A. Very soon everyone will show their real personality. Some people will just move finger left to right without moving arm. But, some of them will give them a full speed and creativity making spirals with finger. After 2 minutes ask them to switch the roles. The very next moment you will hear laugh, because everyone knows what will happen. Those who were gentle will receive the same treatment. But the other ones will experience rollercoaster journey. This is the best way to show participants, especially managers that we are all dealing with people like us.
Now, coaching questions for you:
1. Imagine yourself giving feedback to one of your employee. On the same time you have noticed that in the room is (invisible for your employee) person … Read more
Idea #39 Cherishing problems
Do it when you want to find real problems and answers to them. Old people say: “Where is the illness there’s a cure”. In business world it means that people who are in the front line dealing with problems are first one who will notice them and find the answer. Just they have to be motivated to do that. Otherwise they will just complain about their destiny. So first you have to motivate them to escalate the problem to you. Make competition that every week all employees will send by email the most difficult situations.
Choose the hardest and give price to that person. Now for next 7 days all people will have to think about solving that situation. Choose the best answer and give price to that person. At the same time competition will be for the next difficult situation. So, from now on, every week you will have two competitions. First, for the best problem and second for the best answer for situation from the previous week. Just imagine how strong your team will be in a year. Special note: It is not allowed to give money for the price!
Now, coaching questions for you:… Read more
Idea #38 Hamlet’s Dilemma
Do it when you want to train decision making. So many times we have to choose between to do or not to do something. If only we could predict the future. For instance, we are planning to invest in our business but we don’t know is situation on the market going to be better or worse for our business. But after the battle it is easy to be the general. Before the battle we can (only) use matrix 2 x 2. Now we have 4 quadrants. In first we do the action (invest the money) and situation on the market is going to be better for our business. On second quadrant we are not investing money and situation on the market is better. Obviously we miss the chance to invest in good business. In third quadrant we do the action, and situation in the business is worse. So we are very sad for losing money. In fourth quadrant we don’t do the action and situation is worse in your business. Ironically we are happy because we haven’t invested in bad business. If you cautiously discuss situations in every quadrant you will notice that in 2 situations almost always you … Read more