Resources
International Coaching Federation. The ICF is the leading global organization dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high professional standards, accrediting coaching programs, providing independent certification, and building a network of credentialed coaches. ICF Credential-holders are part of a self-regulating group of elite coaches who provide accountability to clients and the coaching profession as a whole. Certified coaches pursue and complete rigorous education and practice requirements that provide unquestioned legitimacy to their commitment to excellence in coaching.
Book Recommendations
I read a lot of business books, and have some favorites that I refer to often that are easy reads, interesting, useful and practical. Here are a few:
This is one of my favorites to use with teams. 80% of the book is a story about a woman who takes over as CEO of a struggling company and how she transformed her dysfunctional leadership team. The rest of the book explains the five dysfunctions in more detail and how to move a team through them. As you get to know the characters you will soon realize that you’ve probably worked with all of them at some point in your career! A great book (and starting point) for recognizing and beginning the transformation of your leadership team.
I love this book! It offers a simple model for change and spends most of the book sharing tons of documented examples of how people have solved problems that seemed insurmountable and achieved dramatic results. The key to successful change? Discovering that the best solutions are often right in front of us; and we need both a rational and emotional approach to be successful in their implementation. The Heath brothers have written a fun-to-read book that is loaded with remarkable stories of change that will inspire you.
You’ve probably heard about Emotional Intelligence and wondered what all the buzz is about. EI is our ability to recognize and manage our emotions and behaviors and navigate social situations to achieve positive results. The author says “Of all the people we’ve studied at work, we've found that 90% of top performers are also high in emotional intelligence. On the flip side, just 20% of bottom performers are high in emotional intelligence.” The good news – you can improve your own emotional intelligence through awareness and focused practice. This book comes with a “secret code” in the back that provides the link for you to get your own personal assessment, along with an abundance of practical strategies to build your own EQ.
This Book builds on Gallup's CliftonStrengths (formerly Strengthsfinder).
It brings a greater focus on how to be an even more effective leader, and how to invest in others' strengths, and ensure the right strengths are on your team. It includes a "secret code" in the back to get your own personal assessment.
How do we make decisions? When can you trust your gut? And what exactly is your gut? A fun and fascinating read on how our brains work and the art of “thin-slicing” – how our brains filter the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables. Lots of real life examples and studies that help you understand how a person can make good decisions in the blink of an eye.
One of the most consistent complaints/frustrations that I hear from teams is about
meetings - too many, not enough, wrong people, no agenda, no follow-up, no value!!
Meetings are where we invest so much of our time and energy, and should accelerate
decision making and reduce unnecessarily repetitive motion and communication in the
organization...but the reality is that there are lots of "meetings about the meetings", where
people try to get clarity about direction they did not get in the actual meeting!
Once again, Patrick Lencioni uses a Leadership Fable approach to the four different kinds
of meetings - and what each of them contributes to a healthy organization.