Author: Beth Wonson
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Communication Improves Leadership
When we attempt to remain silent in situations like this, eventually our frustration and fear turns into anger and resentment, and comes out when we least expect, or want, it to. Some event or conversation is going to spark emotions to take over and you will react or respond in a way that you didn’t…
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Is your communication style secretly holding you back?
For a long time, it was commonly believed that communication style is something a person “has” or “doesn’t have”. Companies weren’t interested in helping people develop these skills. I am here to tell you that with the right coach and mentor, you can absolutely build on your communication strengths and close your communication gaps.
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Are You and Your Team *Really* Coaching?
For the majority of us who work with and on teams, authentic coaching skills are a necessity. More businesses than ever realize how critical coaching is to success. Yet the number of professionals who understand what authentic coaching truly is, remains quite low.
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Framework for Answering Unanswerable Questions
There are going to be times when you are faced with answering an unanswerable question. Maybe it is from one of your children, or a friend, a co-worker, a boss, or a direct report. This Navigating Challenging Dialogue® tool applies to any situation where you are faced with providing answers to a situation or question that…
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Get People To Speak Up And Contribute in Meetings
My top tip for getting people to speak up in meetings is to increase your skillfulness as a facilitator who builds an emotionally safe and trustworthy environment for engagement. There are 5 important components that assist team members to participate in group dialogue.
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Coaching Your Team
Coaching doesn’t always happen one to one. As a team leader, you can deploy group coaching to enhance and improve team outcomes. When you use coaching questions with a group, you are modeling the behavior you desire in others. Getting comfortable with using coaching takes nothing more than learning authentic coaching skills, self-awareness, practice, and…
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Coaching as a Tool for Managing Up
The term “managing up” has different meanings to many people. Most leaders tell me that they wish their staff were more skillful at managing up. Almost every leader tells their team that the skill of managing up is desirable. But in my experience, almost no one knows what exactly they are being asked to do.…
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Coaching Peer to Peer
When you hear a peer struggling to solve a problem or make a decision, you can simply ask, “Hey, I hear you are struggling with this. Would you like a little coaching to help uncover a path forward?” And then accept the answer. In a coach:coachee relationship, both participants are equal. You don’t have to…
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The Power of Gratitude
With the help of a therapist, I started noticing when my thoughts were of lack or resentment, and then pausing to consider what I was grateful for within it all. It was uncomfortable and unpleasant in the beginning. This intentional practice requires new neural pathways and patterns to be built, much like building a new…
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How to Turn Around Chronic Complainers
Chronic complainers are exhausting. They deplete the energy of everyone around them. The challenge is that they often don’t see themselves as complainers. But nevertheless, a chronic complainer must be dealt with before they bring down an entire team.