In Paulo Freire’s book Pedagogy of the Oppressed he talks about dialogue. Where we name the world together. A wonderful mantra for coaching, leadership and life. But this got me thinking about other forms of conversations. Perhaps less useful, or maybe just a right of passage. If we know where it ends, then we need to know where it starts. And where it might get stuck.
Dialogue – not just a conversation between two people. It’s also an attempt to name the
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It might be fair to say that there is a bit of stigma attached to the word sensitive. ‘Oh don’t be so sensitive’. And for that reason perhaps it doesn’t get the air time it deserves. But after all we have 5 (if not more) senses so we have to pay attention to them.
We need to be sensitive. We need to be sensitive to the conditions around us, and our conditioning. Our energy sources and the things that trigger our
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In Feb 2018 I posted a vlog – ‘How flow can help us to keep pace with the rise of the machines’. In this posting I tackle the opportunity from the other direction. When I was reading The Future is Faster than you Think by Diamandis and Kotler the first chapter made me realise what would happen when the future (e.g. technology) converges with optimal performance. In short if the performance of technology increases then the performance of humans must also increase.
It sounds obvious
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What’s the sound of one hand clapping? I digress but in doing so I reveal my inspiration – ‘zen questions’, head scratchers through and through.
Coaching or powerful conversations merely accelerate learning. We privilege the fact that the other person knows the answer. They know it now. But they don’t know that now. This question draws that knowing out. Bit of a hunch or guess maybe. But better to be out in the open.
Play around with the timescales, bring them in closer if that’s
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Whacky question I know, but here is an easier starting point. Someone says they are feeling a bit angry. What’s that telling you? What is your anger telling you? If your anger could speak what would it say? Here we are are reacting to what is being shared.
But we can also go on the offensive. Splitting the atom, data gathering, intelligence. If your body, heart and mind could talk, what would it say? Never mind your soul or spirit. Take them on one by one.
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Check out this interview between myself and Alex Bailey (from Bailey & French). It was part of their Humanising Work with Bailey and French Live series. We talked about all things Team Flow related.
It’s a 30 mins LinkedIn live session.
In particular we discussed…
What is team flow?
How is it different from individual flow?
What are the barriers to team flow?
Are new ways of working likely to increase opportunity for team flow?
Tune into this interview (In Search Of The Perfect 10), where Kyleigh Manners (from 42 Degrees Coaching) and myself talk about all things performance related. As the title of the interview suggests we dig into the differences between expression and enjoyment.
We also talk about all things performance; authenticity, flow states, coaching, accountability and language. Kyleigh works predominantly in sports (cycling) coaching so we bring (I think) a nice fusion of ideas with my more corporate background.
For more interviews check out Kyleigh’s
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Sometimes as coachee we have all the resources that we need, very often they are close to us -all within easy reach.
Developing coachability has to have an impact on your immediate system, your network and the people around you.
This reading illustrates the return on investment that can be achieved when we engage in coaching. Their coachee’s network will be fundamentally different towards the end of the coaching engagement, and performance will be starting to tell.
We’ve probably all of heard about the benefits of mediation. Follow the breath. A free apparatus that is with us at all times. No doubt we have struggled at some point to make the most of this. Maybe adopting meditation, maybe not.
But there are other routes. Still focussed on the breath. Something or someone that takes your breath away. Not literally. But breathtaking. Settle into the breath, a rhythm, place or person.
Notice the activities that you return to, perhaps there are some
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We sometimes skip the definition of what optimal performance is. It’s so good we know it makes sense. But looking over our backs, sense making, does also give us some ideas on how to get there and in particular what to look out for.
Seeing the wood and good for the trees. We define optimal performance as to how well you respond to the signals around you. Challenges, chops, changes. Respond rather than react. Internal and external signals, signposts. Speed up or
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