Photo by suntorn somtong from Pexels Technical leaders often experience the same issues. I’ve coached hundreds of them all over the globe. And, again and again, I found myself sharing the same similar tools, exercises, and models with them. In this series of blogs, I’ll be sharing the resources that are most helpful to my coaching clients. This […]

Photo by Paul Gilmore on Unsplash Avoid jargon and abstractions when explaining new concepts to laypeople. That’s good advice, isn’t it? Yet, when explaining what coaching is, it’s tempting to talk about awareness, partnership, responsibility. All nice and fancy, but abstract words. People become even more confused after coaches explain coaching. My secret wish is […]

Photo by Arnaud Mesureur on Unsplash When something disturbs our usual way of being, our homeostasis, the first response is to restore the previous state. From level B we want to get back to level A. This is a natural response. But with it, we become too narrowly focused. We are so concentrated on A […]

Photo by Yux Xiang on Unsplash If you need help as a first-time manager will you look for a coach? Chances are you will not. In a study commissioned by the International Coach Federation they found that 87% of coaching clients first sought different modes of getting help (like mentoring, therapy, or talking to family […]

The book I will be reviewing today is ‘The First-Time Manager’ by Loren B. Belker, Gary S. Topchik, and Jim McCormick. Below, I’ll share some useful advice it offers to the first-time managers and I will also emphasize advice that is not so useful. So let’s go. I came across this book accidentally. It is […]

Do you want to use your coaching skills to help people develop and reach their goals? Then you need to know how to give a strong start to your coaching conversations. Since your coaching conversations are confidential, there is no one to observe them and give you feedback. That’s why it’s good to know in […]

Here are the next twelve ideas for you as a first-time manager. Do they all make sense? Probably they all do. But that doesn’t mean they all worth acting on immediately. They will help you only when they resonate and make sense in your circumstances. So here they are: 1. Think about how you want […]