Aug 03 2006

Coaching

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Personal coaching for leaders and sponsors of communities of practice

I’m very grateful for our conversation, as it changed how I’m trying to influence the community. It made it so much easier to interpret the reactions I got, too.” — MS

As a community leader you often have more resources available than you realize because many of the obstacles you face can be turned to your advantage if you know how to re-frame the situation with learning and community development in mind. Regular coaching, whether at the beginning or when starting off in a new direction, helps you identify what you have available and how to use it more effectively, delivering value more quickly and helping you lead more authentically.

Through regular coaching sessions, I help community leaders make sense of a specific situation, while exploring new questions, political moves, technologies and other resources. The range of things that need attention in leading a community of practice can be overwhelming. There are many choices you have to make and many of them are made unconsciously, with little data and complex outcomes. You have to strike a balance between intervention and letting go, between building on what’s already there in your environment and what should be new and different. Coaching sessions focus on topics ranging from the details of how community meetings are organized to essential but not obvious ones like what it means to you to be a community leader. Access to the theory and the experience of many people working with learning and communities of practice can help you develop a leadership style that is both effective and authentic: supported by theory and evidence in other settings, but developed to work where you are.

Coaching sessions are themselves good practice for evolving how you work with community members and leaders. They combine sustained attention to basic issues while responding to events as they come up. Coaching gives you access to readings, personal introductions, and the use of new technologies. “Amazing how one talk can change things so much, make you re-focus your observations and open so much learning.” — EH

How can we begin? Write or call to schedule a free half-hour interview. I will send you a set of questions for you to answer that will help you decide whether coaching would be useful and cost-effective for you.

I had not really noticed that I’m conducting “learning-centered” meetings. I am doing it intuitively (following your example and suggestions); I like that direction and it’s helpful to become more aware of it.” — SW“The notes you sent after our meeting were very, very useful.” — FG

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Coaching”

  1. It is a good experience to the people who attend this coaching session, exchanging of information & ideas to both parties is totally full of lessons.

  2. Russelbrooks says:

    Learning is a good process and essential for everyone now days. Now it is the time to move on. For this sufficient knowledge and information required. A coach and a coaching center show the path to develop our career. These talents become our quality with the time. A leader should be a learner first. The responsibility of a leader is always high and risky.

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