IIC Coaching Blog

EQ - Social Competence - Social Skills - Team Capabilities

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 26th and final instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Social Skills, we find our thirteenth and final part of Social Competence - Team Capabilities.

This means creating group synergy in pursuing collective goals.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of enhancing team capabilities?

2. What does "creating group synergy" mean to you? How do you do it? What are the specific behaviours?

3. For what reasons would you want to support pursuing collective goals? How important is this to you? How important is this to the group?

4. What are your specific strengths in these areas?

5. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Social Skills - Collaboration and Cooperation

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 25th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Social Skills, we find our twelfth part of Social Competence - Collaboration and Cooperation.

This means nurturing instrumental relationships.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of collaboration and cooperation?

2. What does collaboration mean to you? When might you do it and for what purposes?

3. What does cooperation mean to you? Again, when might you do it and for what purposes?

4. What are your specific strengths in these areas?

5. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Social Skills - Building Bonds

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 24th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Social Skills, we find our eleventh part of Social Competence - Building Bonds.

This means nurturing instrumental relationships.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of building bonds?

2. What does building bonds mean to you? When and for what reasons would you do it? How do you benefit? How might others benefit?

3. What are your specific strengths in this area? When and how do you use them?

4. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Social Skills - Change Catalyst

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 23rd instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Social Skills, we find our tenth part of Social Competence - Change Catalyst.

This means initiating or managing change.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of being a change catalyst?

2. What does being a change catalyst mean to you?

3. When do you have permission to be this role? What rights and responsibilities come with it?

4. What are your specific strengths in this area? When and how do you use them?

5. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Social Skills - Leadership

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 22nd instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Social Skills, we find our ninth part of Social Competence - Leadership.

This means inspiring and guiding individuals and groups.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of leadership?

2. What does leadership mean to you? What are the various components, attitudes and behaviours that you would consider to be critical to good leadership? Consider making a list

3. Refer to your list from question two. Describe how you perform each of these behaviours, when you might do so, and the typical outcomes when you do them.

4. What feedback do you have from others regarding your leadership? How do you respond (good) versus react (not so good) to it?

5. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Social Skills - Conflict Management

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 21st instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Social Skills, we find our eighth part of Social Competence - Conflict Management.

This means negotiating and resolving disagreements.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of conflict management?

2. What does conflict management mean to you? What are the specific behaviours involved? Consider creating a list.

3. Refer to your list from question two. Describe how you perform each of these behaviours, when you might do so, and the typical outcomes when you do them.

4. What do you do to minimise the risk of conflict in the first place? Consider your answer carefully. What are your strengths regarding this, and what could improve? How do you negotiate agreements before there is a disagreement?

5. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Social Skills - Communication

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 20th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Social Skills, we find our seventh part of Social Competence - Communication.

This means listening openly and sending convincing messages.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of communication?

2. What does listening openly mean to you? How do you perform this behaviour?

3. What does sending convincing messages mean to you? How do you perform this behaviour?

4. What are your strengths in these areas and when/how do you use them?

5. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Social Skills - Influence

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 19th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Social Skills, we find our sixth part of Social Competence - Influence.

This means wielding effective tactics for persuasion.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of influence?

2. What specific skills do you leverage to influence others? How would you evaluate each of those specific skills and the impact they have?

3. What permissions do you have regarding your efforts to influence others? What rights and responsibilities are associated with this? Do you ever try to influence in such a way that is not respecting the needs of the other person, and if so, what are you considering when making that choice?

4. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Empathy - Political Awareness

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 18th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Empathy, we find our fifth part of Social Competence - Political Awareness.

This means reading a group's emotional currents and power relationships, either in a personal or professional context.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of political awareness?

2. What does "playing to the politics" mean to you? What makes you a good player, if you play at all? (Everyone plays at some level although in many situations they're not even aware they're doing it.)

3. How do you assess the emotional currents and power relationships of groups you engage with? What responses (good) and/or reactions (not so good) do you typically demonstrate in response to what you've assessed or experienced from the group?

4. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Empathy - Leveraging Diversity

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 17th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Empathy, we find our fourth part of Social Competence - Leveraging Diversity.

This means cultivating opportunities through different people.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of leveraging diversity?

2. What are the specific behaviours you perform to identify opportunities and exploring the value of diversity of the people you know and work with?

3. How do you encourage others to leverage diversity?

4. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Empathy - Service Orientation

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 16th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Empathy, we find our third part of Social Competence - Service Orientation.

This means anticipating, recognising and meeting customers' needs.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of service orientation?

2. How would you describe your interest and sincerity of that interest in caring for your customers' needs?

3. What processes do you have in place to check in with your customers' needs? How do you respond to the data these processes produce?

4. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Empathy - Developing Others

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 15th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Empathy, we find our second part of Social Competence - Developing Others.

This means sensing others' development needs and bolstering their abilities.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of developing others?

2. How would you describe your efforts and the outcome of those efforts to sense others' developing needs and engage with them about the opportunities to meet those needs?

3. What permission do you have to engage with others about their needs? How do you seek that permission?

4. What follow-through do you perform on your part of the agreement to attend to and meet the needs of others? Consider a wide variety of situations, both personal and professional, and measure your integrity.

5. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Social Competence - Empathy - Understanding Others

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 14th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

This and the rest of this series now focus on Social Competence.

Under the category of Empathy, we find our first part of Social Competence - Understanding Others.

This means seeing others' feelings and perspectives, and taking an active interest in their concerns.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of understanding others?

2. How would you describe your efforts and the outcome of those efforts to understand others?

3. What does taking an "active interest" mean to you in regard to this topic?

4. How would others describe your ability to understand them? What feedback do you have to support this?

5. Where is there room for improvement? How would you measure the outcome of that improvement if you were to put it into place?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Motivation - Optimism

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 13th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

Under the category of Motivation, we find our twelfth and final part of Personal Competence - Optimism.

This means being persistent in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of optimism?

2. How would you describe what optimism means to you?

3. How would you describe how optimism serves you?

4. How would others describe your optimism and the impact is has on them?

5. Where is there room for improvement? Where could you be more optimistic and what impact would that have on you and others?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Motivation - Initiative

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 12th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

Under the category of Motivation, we find our eleventh part of Personal Competence - Initiative.

This means your readiness to act on opportunities.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of initiative?

2. How would you describe what initiative means to you?

3. When you add to that the behaviour of TAKING initiative, does anything change in your definition?

4. What reputation do you have regarding initiative? What reputation do you want to have?

5. Where is there room for improvement? Where could you be demonstrating more initiative?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Motivation - Commitment

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 11th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

Under the category of Motivation, we find our tenth part of Personal Competence - Commitment.

This means aligning with the goals of the group or organisation. In a personal sense, it means aligning with others we make commitments with (which also applies professionally).

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of commitment?

2. How would you describe what commitment means to you? Does it change based on personal or professional contexts and if so, how?

3. What reputation do you have regarding your commitments? What reputation do you want to have?

4. Where is there room for improvement? Where could you be demonstrating commitment at a higher level?

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Motivation - Achievement Drive

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 10th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

Under the category of Motivation, we find our ninth part of Personal Competence - Achievement Drive.

This means striving to improve or meet a standard of excellence.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of achievement drive?

2. How would you describe your own standard of excellence? Consider you may have different categories and definitions for personal, professional, the standards you hold for yourself and for others.

3. How well do you meet all of your own standards? Consider this carefully.

4. Where is there room for improvement? Where you could be more consistent? Where could you be exceeding standards and what would it take to do so?

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Self-Regulation - Innovation

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 9th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

Under the category of Self-Regulation, we find our eighth part of Personal Competence - Innovation.

This means being comfortable with novel ideas, approaches and new information.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of innovation?

2. How would you describe how you typically comfortable you are with novel ideas, implementing new approaches and exploring new information? Consider how you initially react to the new idea and what process you go through as you determine whether to accept and follow through with it or not.

3. You know your innovation patterns better than anyone. Are there any patterns you feel would be of benefit to you and others if you changed them? If so, what changes would you consider making?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Self-Regulation - Adaptability

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 8th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

Under the category of Self-Regulation, we find our seventh part of Personal Competence - Adaptability.

This means flexibility in handling change.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of adaptability?

2. How would you describe how you typically think, feel and respond to change? Yes, this is a broad open-ended question, so please take the time to reflect at different levels.

3. How would you prefer to be thinking, feeling and responding to change? Most of us have room for improvement on this, or specific to certain types of change. What's yours?

4. What would the impact be on you and others if you improved your adaptability?

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Self-Regulation - Conscientiousness

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 7th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

Under the category of Self-Regulation, we find our sixth part of Personal Competence - Conscientiousness.

This means taking responsibility for personal performance.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of conscientiousness?

2. When you're taking responsibility well for your performance, what are the specific attitudes, beliefs and behaviours you're putting in place and role modelling?

3. When you're not role modelling this well, what specific attitudes, beliefs and behaviours are at play?

4. What are the areas you feel you could improve right now with some effort? What would the specific behaviour change(s) be? How could you implement those changes? What resources or assistance would you need to accomplish that

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Self-Regulation - Trustworthiness

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 6th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

Under the category of Self-Regulation, we find our fifth part of Personal Competence - Trustworthiness.

This means maintaining standards of honesty and integrity.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of trustworthiness?

2. If it helps you to break that down, use the same scale to measure your honesty.

3. You can also use the same scale to measure your integrity.

4. Are there any circumstances in which your delivery of these value-behaviours changes?

5. What are the areas you feel you could improve? What would the specific behaviour change(s) be? How could you implement those changes? What resources or assistance would you need to accomplish that

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Self-Regulation - Self-Control

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 5th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

The previous three components, emotional awareness, accurate self-assessment and self-confidence all fall underthe category of self-awareness. The next section described below falls under the area of self-regulation, or in other words, managing ourselves in response to our self-awareness.

The fourth part of Personal Competence is Self-Control.

This means keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of self-control?

2. How have you identified disruptive emotions as they arise? How could you?

3. How have you kept this emotions in check? How could you?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Self-Awareness - Self-Confidence

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 4th instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

The third part of Personal Competence is Self-Confidence.

This means having a strong sense of one's self-worth and capabilities.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of self-confidence?

2. How would you describe your self-worth? (This is a broad focused open question on purpose...just see what you come up with.)

3. What are you capable of? (This is a broad focused open question on purpose...just see what you come up with.)

4. Where could you improve which would also improve your sense of self-confidence and self-worth. (This is a broad focused open question on purpose...just see what you come up with.)

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Self-Awareness - Accurate Self-Assessment

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 3rd instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

The second part of Personal Competence is Accurate Self-Assessment.

This means more than just being self-aware, but continuously evaluating one's own patterns, ways of thinking and being, and to do this with clear, fair and honest focus.

Sometimes being self-aware can be uncomfortable and therefore we sometimes ignore what's really there or fool ourselves into thinking that we're operating at a higher level than we actually are.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself in terms of accurate self-assessment?

2. How do you currently evaluate yourself in any/all categories? What are the specific things you do to become more self-aware? Brainstorm a list of these things no matter how insignificant you think the thing is. For example, do you read self help books, do you get coached, do you have regular heart-to-hearts with a best friend, do you get assessed at work and what do you take from this about your personal and professional operating system? What else?

3. Where do you receive feedback from? How well do you accept feedback? What are the areas that you're less comfortable with receiving feedback regarding? What do you typically do with feedback?

4. What are your strengths? Where do you use these? How could you leverage these more?

5. What are your opportunities for improvement? Where do these limit you? What can you do to improve?

6. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

EQ - Personal Competence - Self-Awareness - Emotional Awareness

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the 2nd instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



Emotional Intelligence is broken up into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. You need to understand yourself first before you can understand others. You need to understand how to be good at self-leadership before you can be effective leading others.

The first part of Personal Competence is Emotional Awareness, or in other words recognising one's emotions and their effects.

Therefore, here are today's coaching questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how emotionally aware would you say you are right now?

2. What are your key emotions and what triggers them?

3. Consider creating a list of all of your emotions, common and not so common, and write down a few notes in a journal about the effect those emotions have on you when you're experiencing them and also the effect on others when you are experiencing the emotion.

4. There is always room for further growth and understanding of our emotional awareness. Where is your immediate opportunity to become more emotionally aware? What do you need to look at? What do you need to do? Does anything need to change and if so what?

5. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

The Emotional Intelligence Series

This series looks at what Emotional Intelligence is by exploring the 25 components over 26 days!

This is the first instalment of a series of 26 blog entries looking at Emotional Intelligence.

The series is based on the work of Daniel Goleman in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence .



We're going to start this exploration together with a blank slate and only one coaching question for your consideration.

See how you go.

Coaching Exercises

1. In your opinion, regardless if you've ever even heard about Daniel Goleman's book or done any work in Emotional Intelligence before, what do you think Emotional Intelligence is?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

How well do you listen?

Here's Evelyn Glennie on TED . She's a brilliant musician and this is an incredible performance. Did I mention she's completely deaf?



Evelyn provides many interesting lessons on how we listen, and how well we listen. Now, it's your turn.

Coaching Exercises

1. How well do you listen? (Yes, this is a very simple, open and broad question on purpose. Think about it.)

2. In which types of situations do you listen more effectively? In which situations do you not?

3. What would the benefits be to you to become a more effective, attentive and interested listener? Who else would benefit?

4. What are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

A comedy of errors

Ever have one of those adventures where quite a few things go wrong. So many in fact that after a particular point it's no longer stressful, it just becomes funny?

I'm currently taking one of those adventures.

I don't need to go into the whole story but the quick version is that yesterday I flew from Sydney to Melbourne to co-facilitate a national conference with some clients. My flight was late, the taxi we all got into for the very long drive to the resort took us in the wrong direction by about 50K (so many things didn't go right on this part), the wireless internet connection isn't working so I'm back to dial up, my mobile phone has no reception here, and to top it off I realised I didn't pack my toothbrush. About the time I realised that I couldn't brush my teeth before going to bed, I just had to sit down and laugh. Life is just funny and that's how I'm going to cope.

Everything that goes wrong also has a solution, so all good.

Coaching Exercises

1. How do you typically handle when a number of things all seem to go wrong at once? What's your first response generally, and what do you do differently (if anything) when you've had time to think about it a bit more clearly?

2. Even in pretty stressful situations, are you able to find humour in it? What do you think could be different for you if you did laugh at life a bit more?

3. What strategies can you think up that would help promote humour as a coping mechanism? Additionally, what can you do to remember humour as an option quicker than you might do now?

4. What are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

The gift of saying so much with so few words

A friend sent me this yesterday, and some of you may have seen this before as it's travelled the world a few times. It's credited to Andy Rooney from the American show "60 Minutes":

I've learned .. That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
I've learned .. That when you're in love, it shows.
I've learned .. That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day.
I've learned .. That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.
I've learned .. That being kind is more important than being right.
I've learned .. That you should never say no to a gift from a child.
I've learned .. That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.
I've learned .. That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.
I've learned .. That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.
I've learned .. That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.
I've learned .. That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
I've learned .. That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.
I've learned .. That money doesn't buy class.
I've learned .. That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
I've learned .. That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
I've learned .. That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
I've learned .. That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
I've learned .. That love, not time, heals all wounds.
I've learned .. That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
I've learned .. That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.
I've learned .. That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.
I've learned ... That life is tough, but I'm tougher.
I've learned .. That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
I've learned .. That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
I've learned .. That I wish I could have told my Mom that I love her one more time before she passed away.
I've learned .. That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.
I've learned .. That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
I've learned .. That when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life.
I've learned .. That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
I've learned .. That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

Coaching Exercises

1. These are some beautiful life lessons. Which speak to your heart the strongest? You may consider writing some thoughts in a journal about your interpretation, feelings and memories.

2. What life lessons would you add to this list from your experiences?

3. How can you share these lessons (yours and Andy's) with others?

4. What are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Can one be too emotionally aware?

I had a conversation with someone recently where the question was raised as to whether someone could be "too emotionally aware for their own good".

I found that to be really quite interesting and fascinating!

I see the "risks" of being emotionally aware falling into one of two categories (or possibly both depending on the context):

1. The emotionally aware individual finds it difficult to accept the differences between how aware they are of themselves and how unaware it may seem others around them are. Something else that happens in this category is that as individuals become more aware of what's important to them, and their own values, they can often see big gaps between how they want their environment/world to be and how it really is at the moment. This can be quite frustrating and in some cases painful to recognise and accept.

2. Others struggle to understand and relate with the emotionally aware person, particularly if their "emotional awareness" is getting in the way of the other's needs. An example of this might be where a friend or a colleague has a particular agenda or need which requires a particular behaviour from you, but your self awareness and emotional intelligence growth has evolved you to a point that the expected behaviour is no longer something you wish to be a part of. The friend or colleague can then be frustrated because you've changed and they don't quite understand the change and they're now not going to get what they want from you.

Both of the above situations have happened to me and also to the clients I work with.

Sometimes self-awareness and emotional intelligence development can be tough, painful and even lonely. That doesn't make it wrong, but instead for some, just a stage on the bigger journey.

This can be a deep subject, so to stop me from rambling on about it, let's jump straight into today's questions/exercises.

Coaching Exercises

1. As you become more self-aware and your emotional intelligence increases, what have been your experiences about "not fitting in" with your environment? How have you responded to these situations? What room for improvement, movement, attitude change, behavioural change etc is still an opportunity for you?

2. Following on from the above, how have others in your personal and professional life responded (or reacted) to your evolution? What have been the good responses of others? What have been the uncomfortable reactions of others? How did you respond for each type? What room for improvement, movement, attitude change, behavioural change etc is still an opportunity for you?

3. Others often don't understand the evolution we're going through. It's our experience, not theirs. That said, we could help them to understand if they're interested and if we have permission to share. What opportunities currently exist for you to help others understand your journey and how it applies to them and your relationship, in a positive, nurturing and supportive way?

4. As a result of your thoughts and process with these questions, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

The case for the hand-written letter

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a people who didn't have the technology we have today...

OK, it's us, and it's only about 15 years ago.

Remember when there was no such thing as the Internet? We didn't have products and gadgets that began with a lower case letter i, like iPod and iTunes. We didn't have thing that began with a lower case letter e, like e-books, e-courses and of course e-mail?

How did people communicate?

Well, one thing that existed, and I must admit I miss, was letter writing, which for many was considered an art.

I still look forward to going to the letterbox and collecting the mail, and finding every now and then a hand-written letter.

Typically, it's from one of my older relatives who aren't interested in this new-fangled computer things. (Some still think it's a fad!)

So, today's blog is in tribute to the art of hand-written letter writing. May it not be forgotten!

Coaching Exercises

1. When was the last time you wrote a hand-written letter to someone? What was the occasion, why the choice to hand-write, etc?

2. What do you think, or know, the impact was on the other person to receive something so personal and which took more time and caring that writing an email?

3. When was the last time you received a hand-written letter? How did you feel about it then? How do you feel about it today after reading this blog?

4. What positive impact could you create for yourself and another by choosing to draft and mail a hand-written letter? Or even just a hand-written note to your partner, or a friend or colleague?

5. What are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

What do you know about the world?

My favourite category in trivia games is geography. When I was a kid, I plastered the walls and ceiling of my bedroom with maps, and for a while I thought I might want to be a map maker.

I suppose as a life coach, I kind of am in a way.

Anyway, I thought this might be a fun and interesting exercise today to help expand awareness of the world we share. Enjoy!


Coaching Exercises

1. Pick a number between 1 and 26.

2. Now, figure out which letter of the alphabet that equates to with A=1, B=2 and so on.

3. Go to an atlas (if you have such a book) or online to a site such as infoplease.com and pick a country from the list beginning with the letter you've selected.

4. Read up about that country from beginning to end in the listing. you may also wish to consider exploring more about the same country in other books or websites.

5. What has the value of this exercise been for you? (This is more than "what did you learn?")

6. What could you and/or are you going to do with this value you've gained? (This is more than "what are you going to use the information for?)

7. Who else could/will benefit from what you do with this value?

8. In consideration of these questions and your responses, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

There is no such thing as "Time Management"

The very first thing I heard in the very first time management course I went to was, "There's no such thing as time management". And it's so true.

You cannot:

- make time
- create time
- set aside time
- budget time
- save time
- lose time
- or manage time

(I'm sure there are more "time" phrases we frequently use, but they're escaping me at the moment.)

The point is that you can not manipulate time (even Dr Who can't do that), but you are responsible for one thing completely:

Your choices!

Therefore "time management" is better termed as "schedule choice management".

If we're really aware of the choices we make now with our time, and what different choices we could make, and the potential outcomes of those choices, then we're in a far better "management" position of our own personal and/or professional lives.

It also fits in with the basic coaching model I often discuss:

1. Raise Awareness
2. Make Decisions (Choices)
3. Modify Behaviour (Take Action)

The more we're aware of our schedule choices, the greater our range of choices and ultimately the more prepared we are to change behaviour.

Coaching Exercises

1. How aware are you of your own language around time? Consider paying attention to how you speak about time and look for the phrases earlier in this blog in your own language choices and the choices of others. How could you be more precise with your language and focus on the choices versus the impossible?

2. Consider your schedule now. What choices have you made? Are you happy with those choices? What new choices could you make? What could the impact be of those new choices?

3. When others make requests of you which are going to impact on your schedule, how do you currently communicate your schedule needs and choices with them? If you're taking on things from others you really don't want or "have time" for, what is behind that choice to take it on? How could you communicate your choices regarding the schedule to others, and open up a conversation about their schedule choices as well, which is appropriate, professional and respectful?

4. In consideration of these questions and your responses, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Australian Research on the Executive Coaching Industry

A colleague of mine sent me a research paper yesterday which I'd love to share with you. Actually, it's two research papers combined into one PDF document.

The titles are:

- "An exploratory study of Australian executive coaches" by Toni Binstead & Anthony M. Grant (International Coaching Psychology Review Vol 3 No 1 March 2008 - Copyright The British Psychological Society ISSN: 1750-2764)

- "Key characteristics of the commercial Australian executive coach training industry" by Anthony M Grant & Blythe O'Hara (International Coaching Psychology Review Vol 3 No 1 March 2008 - Copyright The British Psychological Society ISSN: 1750-2764)

If you would like me to email you a copy of this combined research document, please send me an email with "Research Paper" in the subject line and I'll respond back with it attached as soon as possible. (Please note that at the time of this posting I have a very full schedule for a month solid, so even though I always try to reply back within a few hours, in this instance, please allow 24-48 hours for my response.)

So, today's coaching questions are mainly focused on the many coaches I know who read this blog. That said, other professionals may also find these questions useful and relevant when put into another professional context.

Coaching Exercises

1. One of the areas the coaching community is working hard to "fill the gap" is in conducting academic, clinical and/or other categories of research. There are some great websites you can visit to keep on top of what's happening in our profession, such as Coaching Commons . How often do you visit sites like this and explore research, articles, news and information about the coaching industry? (If you're not a coach, how often do you visit relevant sites to your industry?)

2. At what level, if any, do you have reading/reviewing research as part of your professional development plan? How do you integrate this? For example, do you dedicate a few hours a week to this component of your professional development? Do you track this time as "continuous professional development" time, and how do you do that? If you belong to a professional body for your industry, can you report this dedicated/tracked time as part of your CPD requirements? Do you?

3. At what level, if any, do you involve yourself in the research projects being conducted? Do you respond to surveys? Do you contact researchers and volunteer to assist in whatever ways may be appropriate? What do you do? What could you do? How important is this to you? How important do you believe this is to the industry?

4. In consideration of these questions and your responses, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

What am I wearing?

Sorry, I couldn't resist that title for today's blog.

The question, "what am I wearing?" is above board, I promise. Just read on.

I work from home most of the day and a lot of that work time is spent on the computer. I do also have clients here at my home office and a fair amount of my coaching time is also spent in the offices of various organisations I work with.

I always have to be mindful of the image I'm creating by what I choose to wear.

Granted, when working from home and not having to actually see anyone, I am often wearing really comfortable "around the house" clothes. When I have clients at the house, it's often jeans and a button up or some other nice collared-shirt. If I'm with corporate clients it's dress casual and on the rare occasion, a suit. (I'm the least "me" when in a suit!)

Some might say that "image is everything". I can see their point. I also believe that what I wear needs to match the attitude and focus I want for the day, and to as much as possible, keep true to who I see myself as.

In fact, one of the rules I have for myself about working from home, is that I do need to "dress for work" although I'm just sitting at my desk.

So everyday there are a variety of choices to make about what I'm going to wear, what the impact of those choices need to or are likely to be, and to re-evaluate those choices throughout the day as necessary.

Image is important to me. First and foremost, in my world, it is about painting the picture of the personal or professional "being" I am today.

For example, I love my cowboy boots. I walk differently in them, I stand taller and I often have a more confident attitude and tone when I do public speaking while wearing them. They're my thing!

Similarly, particular colours deliver certain quality/characteristic outcomes in me and others. Again if I'm delivering a key message I'll often wear some purple (like a shirt or a tie) as it invites others to listen more intently.

So, here are some questions to help you explore what your personal/professional "image" is and how it's represented by the choices you make in terms of what you're wearing.

What are you wearing?


Coaching Exercises

1. How much thought do you put into what you wear? How does this change by situation, environment or other factors?

2. How well do you feel your current attire choices are supporting the image you want to have of yourself? What would/could you change?

3. How well do you feel your current attire choices are supporting the image you want others to have of you, whether personal or professional? What would/could you change?

4. In consideration of these questions and your responses, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

The YouTube Vortex!

My partner has an excellent couple of phrases he uses when he gets caught up with some unproductive (but enjoyable) distractions on the internet. For him, it's either that he's been caught in the "YouTube Vortex" or if he's in a music-centered-distraction zone, then it's the "iTunes Shop Vortex". Regardless of which path he takes, the path leads him away from the work he was intending on doing.

As you may have guessed, my own vortex nemesis is the "TED Vortex" or a number of other sites I go to for humour.

I have done quite of bit of workplace coaching, training and consulting and one of the things we forecast when looking at work productivity is the amount of time per hour to allocate to unproductive activity. In call centres for example, it's often estimated to be about six minutes per hour.

In some other environments, it's about 15 minutes per hour.

So, I'm curious (as I think you might be) how much "unproductive" time we spend getting sucked into various black holes in the internet? If I ran a research study on this, I'm sure I'd end up in another vortex and never get the task done.

So, we'll just have to use the following coaching questions then, that is if we don't get distracted.


Coaching Exercises

1. How much time do you spend on the Internet per day?

2. How would you categorise the time spent? What types of activities are you doing? What types of sites do you visit? How much time per activity of category seems about average for you?

3. How would you rate, measure and/or describe how productive the time you're on the internet is? Keep in mind that some uses of the internet are just for entertainment which can itself be a productive use. I'm not judging you. Just explore what, when, where, why, why not, how etc of your internet usage, INCLUDING the distractions (as you would define them) such as the "vortex" examples mentioned in today's blog.

4. In consideration of these questions and your responses, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Cheetahs versus Hippos

Here's another incredible video from TED which is certain to be informational, challenging and possibly controversial. Bring it on!



George Ayittey gives us an interesting and compelling metaphor about Africa and its leaders, describing some as cheetahs and others as hippos. I found it particularly interesting that corruption alone costs Africa $148 billion a year. That's astounding, as are many points in this message.

The video is 18+ minutes long, and if you got through watching it all, here are some questions for today's consideration.

Coaching Exercises

1. What are your thoughts about Africa? What is good in your opinion and what's not going so well?

2. Regardless of where you live in the world (most of you, but not all, reading this are from non-African countries), what are you able to do that would be truly helpful to those living in Africa? This question is very open on purpose; please think as literally and laterally as you can, and you may want to think about this question for a bit before you answer.

3. Consider the metaphor provided of cheetahs and hippos in a political/social responsibility framework. In your immediate personal and/or professional environments, can you identify any cheetahs or hippos? Which are you, if either? How do you respond, work with, communicate, relate etc with cheetahs and hippos in your life? Is there anything you feel needs to change? Please be specific about who, what, when, where, why, why not and how in your notes.

4. In consideration of these questions and your responses, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

08.08.08 - Celebrating the Beijing Olympics!

Today is the day the Beijing Olympics officially open! It's the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year, which based on Chinese culture is an extremely lucky day.

In fact, here in Australia, there are numerous Chinese people getting married today under such a lucky date as 08.08.08.

So, many congratulations to the thousands of people organising the Beijing Olympics, as well as the thousands of people around the world getting married today. From all of us at askacoach.com, we wish you the very best.

Let the celebrations begin!

Coaching Exercises

1. What are you going to celebrate today? There is something to celebrate, even if only a small little pat on your own back. So, what is it and what will you do to mark the moment positively?

2. Someone else will also be doing something today worthy of celebration and although they may not have anything planned to mark the moment, you could do something special to help them celebrate. It could be just a pat on the back, or more like buying them a coffee, doing one of their chores/tasks for them, or take them on a special night out. Who could use your support to celebrate and what can you do for them?

3. Regardless of what you may think about the Olympics, or this year's host country, today is a special day for many millions of people around the world. It's a moment of unity and harmony, even if only a moment. What can you do to celebrate this unique and special time?

4. In consideration of these questions and your responses, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

And now for something completely different - Blindfolded origami to music!

If you haven't figured it out by now, I love the TED website.

Today's video to share is Bruno Bowden (engineer partly responsible for Google Earth) doing some amazing origami (Japanese art of paper folding), blindfolded, while cellist Rufus Cappadocia improvises on his custom built electric five-string cello. You can read more about this on the TED site to see how this short burst of creativity came about.



You can also probably tell by now that I love the slightly (or hugely) unusual and brilliant moments of creativity.

Inspired yet?

Coaching Exercises

1. What's something creative you can do today? (you define creative)

2. What was the last creative thing you did? How did you feel as a result? Who else benefited? How did it make them feel?

3. How do you, or could you, inspire creativity in others today? How about any day? Or every day?

4. In consideration of these questions and your responses, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Listen to your body or listen to your doctor?

I received an email this morning from a friend who has had a harrowing near death experience recently. I won't publish the whole story, but would like to share a short snippit.

My friend had been feeling rather ill for weeks and throughout that time went to see his doctor three times who continually said, "It's just a virus; be patient; it'll go away. Your chest is as clear as a bell." So, my friend would continue on his incredibly fast-paced work schedule feeling horrible waiting for the virus to pass. Listening to his body, he went to another doctor who said practically word for word the same as the first doctor, so he continued on his pace until he just couldn't any more. He had gone to two trusted doctors three times each and still kept getting a message that wasn't matching what his body was telling him.

Finally, he went to a third doctor who he didn't know and collapsed in the waiting room. He was rushed to hospital and into the intensive care unit where, to be quite clear, they saved his life as he was literally at death's door. Many praises to the medical staff at the hospital and all their amazing efforts.

My friend is recovering extremely well now, thankfully.

The biggest praise I'd like to share here is for my friend's wife who also happens to be a coaching colleague of mine. She kept saying that my friend needed to be paying as much, if not more attention to what his body was saying than what the doctors had been saying.

The message the body was sending was loud and clear, and someone needed to listen...particularly the person whose body it was!

I won't quote statistics here as the ones I have are a couple of years old now and I'd rather give current information, but I will share that my research on how doctors listen and communicate with patients, diagnose and issue prognosis is an incredibly fast process that often is accomplished in seconds, not minutes.

That can be a sobering thought, and from a coaching perspective it demonstrates also the need for patients to be far more involved and responsible for listening to their bodies and raising their concerns clearly with their medical practitioners.

This happens to be a specialty coaching area for my business partner, Sarah Hue-Williams, and I, where we often work with people to "lead" their health and wellness team as any leader would head up an organisation. In this case, the organisation is one's total mind, body and spirit.

Therefore, today's coaching questions for you:

Coaching Exercises

1. How well do you listen to your body? What do you do well specifically? What could be improved?

2. How well do you communicate with the various types of health and wellness practitioners in your life, whatever type they are? (Note: I grew up in a religion that didn't see doctors but worked with religious practitioners instead. I share this because I want to demonstrate that the definition of "health and wellness practitioners" you use in this question needs to match your life, lifestyle, beliefs, etc and that no assumption is being made on my part as to who is right/wrong for you to consult with. Just consult well with whomever it is.) What works well and what can be improved?

3. How good of a "leader" are you with your own health and wellness team? Who makes up your team? (Note: Today, my team is made up by my partner, general practitioner, chiropractor, dentist, eye doctor, physical therapist and a variety of specialty coaches.)

4. In consideration of these questions and your responses, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Visionary or Dreamer?

I heard another interesting debate on the radio about the difference between a "Dreamer" and a "Visionary" and whether or not one was better or more effective than the other.

Of course, I also have my opinions about this but I don't necessarily want to overtly sway your own coaching exploration of this topic.

That said, here are today's questions:

Coaching Exercises

1. In your opinion, what is a "dreamer"?

2. What do dreamers create and/or what are their benefits to society?

3. What are the risks that come with being a dreamer, if any?

4. In your opinion, what is a "visionary"?

5. What do visionaries create and/or what are their benefits to society?

6. What are the risks that come with being a visionary, if any?

7. What can visionaries learn from dreamers?

8. What can dreamers learn from visionaries?

9. How can these two work well together?

10. In response to these questions and your own exploration, including which of these two you are (or you could be both), then what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Just because it's brilliant and funny - Today's stress relief

I've been sitting on this video link for a little while wondering if it was appropriate to share.

Stuff it, it's funny! So brilliantly done and I just have to share.



Enjoy today's stress relief!

Coaching Exercises

1. Humour is one of the best known stress relieving strategies around. What can you do today to help relieve your stress and/or the stress others are experiencing?

2. What strategies could you put into play to ensure every day has some comic stress relief for you and others?

3. Keeping in mind that what one person thinks is funny isn't going to work for everyone. For the strategies you came up with in questions one and two above, are there any boundaries you need to honour?

4. What are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Dream or False Hope?

I've just listened to a journalist on a radio news show say how the Beijing Olympics theme message, "One World , One Dream" is actually translated in Mandarin closer to, "One World, One False Hope".

Now granted, in Mandarin "false hope" is probably a very close interpretation of "dream" and so let's not over-analyse or criticize this.

That said though, I thought it presented a very interesting area for exploration through coaching and so here are some questions for you.

Coaching Exercises

1. What do you think the difference is between "dream" and "false hope"? Think beyond just the words themselves, but the layers of meaning that could exist here.

2. How do you think others define the difference? There are likely different perceptions out there depending on whether someone is more positive or negative focused, more believing or more cynical, and certainly by situation too. However, what's your general impression of how well others are willing to see "dreams" as possible versus them as "false hopes"?

3. If someone told you your dream was actually a false hope, how would you feel? If this has already happened to you before, how did you feel? What was the outcome?

4. If you've told someone else that their dream was a false hope, how do you think they felt hearing that? What was the outcome?

5. Considering your thoughts, notes and responses to the questions presented here, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Happy Birthday to Southern Horses

Today is a very special day in our household. It is the fifth anniversary of my partner and I being together. Happy Anniversary to us!

So why the blog header about birthdays and horses?

Five years ago on 1st of August I heard on the news that it was "all horses birthday" meaning that all horses, typically thoroughbreds, are just lumped together on one date to measure their age. 1st August is for horses in the Southern Hemisphere and 1st of January for those in the Northern Hemisphere.

That night I met my partner who was wearing a t-shirt with a horse on it, and you guessed it, my opening comment was about it being all horses birthday that day. I'm sure there've been better "lines" delivered in the great big history of dating, but this one worked a treat!

And we've been blissfully happy since. Thanks for allowing me to share this personal little story with you.


Coaching Exercises

1. How do you celebrate the special events in your life? I know that's a broad question, so you may want to create a list of the special events and jot down some notes about how you typically celebrate them.

2. How do you help others in your life; people who are important to you; celebrate significant events in their lives?

3. If any of these celebration opportunities (yours and others) could be improved, what would make them even more special, unique and/or creative?

4. What are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com Join our newsletter by clicking here.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia