If you stand back and look at the revelations and accusations tumbling out of formerly beyond-reproach organizations you can see the same pattern, whether it is Oxfam, the Church, the BBC, the film industry, Parliament, local government – and many more. First there is the long silence where the abused dare not complain about the … Read the rest >>
Category: Blog
Beware Diet Books with False Promises!
As sure as the New Year brings a cabinet reshuffle it brings a truck load of diet books. There is always some science to justify the particular author’s approach and if they are a doctor the publisher will be extra delighted – look! An actual doctor has said this is the way to go!
But … Read the rest >>
Managing pain after surgery
I am recovering from knee surgery. Two weeks ago tomorrow I had a patello-femoral implant in each knee. Everyone tells you that it will be painful, and it is, and that recovery will be slow, and it is. I am having skilled physiotherapy and that is helping to get me mobile again, though slowly. Codeine … Read the rest >>
How to Survive People who treat you Like Dirt
I’ve just read Robert Sutton’s excellent book The Asshole Survival Guide and I heartily recommend it.
Yes, it’s a vulgar title and I can imagine the fights he had with his publishers over it. And maybe it’s a little less shocking than the British version of the a-word. But really there is no other word … Read the rest >>
A compass point in the wilderness: coaching with personality type
The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a popular psychometric tool used in personal, professional and team development. Jenny Rogers demonstrates its effectiveness in coaching and argues that knowing our preferences can be a useful starting point for self-acceptance and transformational change in our personal and professional relationships.
To read the rest of this article, … Read the rest >>
Theresa May and the Perils of Introversion
When you ask people how they define introversion, the most probable reply is that an introvert is a neurotically shy person terrified of other people and at an enormous disadvantage compared with the audacious swagger of the natural extrovert. If you are familiar with the Jungian approach to personality, as exemplified for instance in the … Read the rest >>
Can coaches ‘make’ clients change?
When I opened the email – and I had certainly never heard of the sender – I saw that it promised me something amazing. If I signed up to a particular training course, I could learn ten questions which would guarantee that my clients would change! Really, truly, they would not be able to help … Read the rest >>
Dieting doesn’t work: here’s what does
At this time of year, the windows of my local bookshop are crowded with the latest books guaranteeing magical ways to lose weight. These books will have been written by an alleged ‘celebrity’ who is young, toned, slim and pretty, male or female. They will all claim that what they offer is not a ‘diet’ … Read the rest >>
Coach panic: ‘Don’t Know What To Say!’
My good friend and colleague Jane Cook of Linden Learning (www.lindenlearning.org) raises the question of how to prepare inexperienced and trainee coaches for life after our courses. She reminds me that on the courses we run together, one of the most frequent dreads expressed by our participants is of being struck dumb with their real … Read the rest >>
The Two Rules of Persuasion Every Coach knows but Remain didn’t
Sometimes we humans are remarkably simple-minded. It should be the easiest-peasiest thing in the world for politicians and media and evil-minded individuals to influence us, as well as the virtuous and high-minded who want us to change behaviour for our own good. When you work as a coach you draw on these principles every day.… Read the rest >>
Six Ways To Wreck your Career Move
Now that the recession really does seem to be over, there are more people on the move again. Previous reasons for staying stuck (fear, fear and fear essentially) have evaporated. But I work with many clients who have made moves for the wrong reasons, and often they have made all of these mistakes at once.… Read the rest >>
7 Things to Avoid Saying on your CV/Resume
Many of my career-coaching clients have never written a CV/Resume, or if they have it was many years ago. They are CV Virgins. And now they are being thrust into a world where the CV is their passport to a new role. The hiring organization or agency makes it worse by using clichéd phrases in … Read the rest >>