Deadlines are what drive S. crazy. "They don't keep to deadlines!!" she exclaimed, "and it drives me crazy".
"So, what do you do?" I asked.
"Well, for example this morning I set a meeting time, then I sent an email to everyone, then I followed up with individual phone calls about 30 minutes before, then I arrived on time, and waited."
"And?"
"A few people started wandering in about 15 minutes later, chatting on their phones with a coffee, others arrived and finally about 30% of the group was there."
"Well, is it ALWAYS this way, I mean, I've seen Italians come through with everything well organized and on time, haven't you?"
"oh, yes, of course, on time, everything prepared, perfectly, sometimes."
"Well, what is going on when it works? What is different? What works, when it works?
Her pumpkin ravioli froze in mid-air as she stopped to think, and down it went to rest on her plate as she continued to reflect. And I patiently waited. In silence.
Slowly she looked up, "that would be when they own the question. Then deadlines are not an issue, it all gets down, wonderfully and on time."
"So, what will you do next time you need to have everyone at a meeting?"
a domani,
E
Showing posts with label Coaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coaching. Show all posts
February 1, 2010
June 25, 2009
Our brain, our culture
I googled (is this an official verb yet?) "self-directed neuroplasticity" today and ended up downloading a fascinating, enjoyable and easy to digest podcast interview on an Australian national radio podcast with a couple of leaders in the field: Jeff Schwartz and Norman Doidge.
Somewhere in the second half of the interview Norman Doidge talks about the applications of neuro-plasticity to the experience of changing into a new culture. While in the past, we tended to believe that our brain produced our culture (think of Geerte Hofstede's landmark book "Software of the Mind"-- a basic read for any course on intercultural communications), the new (non-mechanistic) paradigm allows for our culture to also reshape our brains (including our language, see my previous post below) in such a way that our perceptual systems are actually wired differently during our developmental years.
In this way, culture shock is really brain shock!
Anyway, if you are curious to understand more about how you work and how change works, download this into your ipod.
CLICK HERE
Over and over both scientists confirmed one of the basic premise of coaching methodology (although neither made any specific reference to coaching). By focusing our attention differently, we can actually change how our brain works, which in time can change how we see and interact with the world. The new framework is that our mind is not our brain (something those who practice meditation have known for centuries).
So we enact change in ourselves by increasing self-awareness around what we think (our mind), focusing our attention and then working with this attention over a sustained period of time -- and that is what coaching is about.
All very cool stuff.
a domani,
E
Somewhere in the second half of the interview Norman Doidge talks about the applications of neuro-plasticity to the experience of changing into a new culture. While in the past, we tended to believe that our brain produced our culture (think of Geerte Hofstede's landmark book "Software of the Mind"-- a basic read for any course on intercultural communications), the new (non-mechanistic) paradigm allows for our culture to also reshape our brains (including our language, see my previous post below) in such a way that our perceptual systems are actually wired differently during our developmental years.
In this way, culture shock is really brain shock!
Anyway, if you are curious to understand more about how you work and how change works, download this into your ipod.
CLICK HERE
Over and over both scientists confirmed one of the basic premise of coaching methodology (although neither made any specific reference to coaching). By focusing our attention differently, we can actually change how our brain works, which in time can change how we see and interact with the world. The new framework is that our mind is not our brain (something those who practice meditation have known for centuries).
So we enact change in ourselves by increasing self-awareness around what we think (our mind), focusing our attention and then working with this attention over a sustained period of time -- and that is what coaching is about.
All very cool stuff.
a domani,
E
May 30, 2009
Change is hard
I have been reading some theoretical work that links the brain (the physical organ) with the mind (the human consciousness that thinks, feels, acts and perceives) -- the very exciting work being done in neuroscience that tells us how people learn and change.
The reason we all resist change, even when we KNOW that the change is in our best interests, is that our brains work that way.
Our working memory -- the place where our perceptions and ideas can be compared to other information -- takes a lot of energy to do its task. When we meet something new (like we do when we need to adapt or change), this is where the information should go to be elaborated but sometimes there is just too much stuff already taking up its small space.
So instead of comparing, contasting the new thing with a repetoire of other information in our system and elaborate how to put it into action, we push it down into the basal ganglia area where there is more room and less energy required to run things. The problem is that this area of the brain is wired for routine, familiar activities that you can do without much conscious thought and the new thing gets put aside for our tried and true usual way of operating.
Another reason change is hard is that our brains are wired to read any difference between what is expected and what is actually happening to be an "error". These "errors" (anything new) produce intense bursts of neural firing that sets off our fear circuitry. In this way, any time we try to change a routine behavior, our brain sends out a strong message that "something is not right" and we feel discomfort that stems from fear. In this state, we do not do our best higher thinking but rather tend to react more emotionally and impulsively.
So, what can we do to make change happen?
Focusing attention on the improved result over a sustained period of time. Our working memory can only deal with small bites of learning, digesting it over time and by focusing attention, over and over new neuron circuity can be stabilized and developed.
The fancy word is: "self-directed neuroplasticity".
Apparently, the brain wants us to: focus on solutions, come up with our own answers and keep focused on our insights until new circuits are formed.
Sounds like coaching to me!
a domani,
E
The reason we all resist change, even when we KNOW that the change is in our best interests, is that our brains work that way.
Our working memory -- the place where our perceptions and ideas can be compared to other information -- takes a lot of energy to do its task. When we meet something new (like we do when we need to adapt or change), this is where the information should go to be elaborated but sometimes there is just too much stuff already taking up its small space.
So instead of comparing, contasting the new thing with a repetoire of other information in our system and elaborate how to put it into action, we push it down into the basal ganglia area where there is more room and less energy required to run things. The problem is that this area of the brain is wired for routine, familiar activities that you can do without much conscious thought and the new thing gets put aside for our tried and true usual way of operating.
Another reason change is hard is that our brains are wired to read any difference between what is expected and what is actually happening to be an "error". These "errors" (anything new) produce intense bursts of neural firing that sets off our fear circuitry. In this way, any time we try to change a routine behavior, our brain sends out a strong message that "something is not right" and we feel discomfort that stems from fear. In this state, we do not do our best higher thinking but rather tend to react more emotionally and impulsively.
So, what can we do to make change happen?
Focusing attention on the improved result over a sustained period of time. Our working memory can only deal with small bites of learning, digesting it over time and by focusing attention, over and over new neuron circuity can be stabilized and developed.
The fancy word is: "self-directed neuroplasticity".
Apparently, the brain wants us to: focus on solutions, come up with our own answers and keep focused on our insights until new circuits are formed.
Sounds like coaching to me!
a domani,
E
March 19, 2009
The magic of comunication
I would like to share with you a lovely poem I have just received from a client. It speaks of empathy and deep listening that form a magical space of true communication.
We sit across from one another
and speak of trivial matters;
of the weather, of your heartbreak
of your new cobalt scarf.
I touch the threads of that scarf
to get closer to you.
Now, no one speaks
and there’s room for the truth
In the quiet, while I hold on to that thread,
our masks slip away
and the gods and goddesses can finally enter.
Three of them:
sit filling the empty spaces between us
and take their tea.
In this circle of gold the lines between us blur
and we speak of mystical matters;
of the weather, of your heartbreak
of your new cobalt scarf.
a domani,
E
We sit across from one another
and speak of trivial matters;
of the weather, of your heartbreak
of your new cobalt scarf.
I touch the threads of that scarf
to get closer to you.
Now, no one speaks
and there’s room for the truth
In the quiet, while I hold on to that thread,
our masks slip away
and the gods and goddesses can finally enter.
Three of them:
sit filling the empty spaces between us
and take their tea.
In this circle of gold the lines between us blur
and we speak of mystical matters;
of the weather, of your heartbreak
of your new cobalt scarf.
a domani,
E
March 16, 2009
Make it light
Many people hate the idea of promoting themselves. It smells of "sales" and we all hate those sales people that knock on our door or call us on the phone.
Yet we have to promote ourselves at some time -- even if we have a job, we might be aiming for a promotion.
I have done a reframe exercise for myself. When I knock on the doors of organizations, 'll just ask, "what one small thing could I do that would have the biggest impact for you?"
Its the 20/80 principle -- 20% of what you do creates 80% of the result. It just takes identifying the 20%.
I'll bet they may have some good ideas.
a domani,
E
Yet we have to promote ourselves at some time -- even if we have a job, we might be aiming for a promotion.
I have done a reframe exercise for myself. When I knock on the doors of organizations, 'll just ask, "what one small thing could I do that would have the biggest impact for you?"
Its the 20/80 principle -- 20% of what you do creates 80% of the result. It just takes identifying the 20%.
I'll bet they may have some good ideas.
a domani,
E
March 11, 2009
Creating reality
While down under with the flu, I read Amy Tan's "Saving Fish from Drowning". It is not a book with any pretensions of deep meaning, but I thoroughly enjoyed the bumbling adventures of a group of American tourists in Burma / Myanmar.
At one point they are kidnapped by a group of rebels -- although they don't know that they have been kidnapped -- and brought to a camp hidden in the jungle. They believe instead that they have been taken somewhere very special to experience real local people and traditions for a "Christmas surprise" (it is December 25th). Then they believe that the rope bridge has fallen down and that is why they are stuck in the jungle.
They have no idea what is happening, can't understand the language except through the rebel leader's confused translations into English, and have to somehow figure something out.
So, they create their reality -- just like we all do every day -- they gleen clues from the environment and construct their story. They choose which clues to observe, while ignoring some other important ones, and build a story that is so fanciful to be farcical.
They are tourist in a strange land, they are are open to new experiences, want to learn about these people and have suspended all their usual radar that would have been useful to sort out a better version of what was happening.
They no longer have a recognizable frame of reference on which to build their stories, so they also build a frame -- who these people are, how their society works, what they are saying.
It gets quite funny.
The tribe also has built a story -- that the young boy in the group is the savior they have been waiting for who will make them invisible to their enemies. The clues are there, he makes things disappear (by performing card tricks) and carries a black book with the title "Misery" and with the word "King" (actually the novel by Stephen King).
But somehow their stories come true!
The group focused on the positive aspects of their stay and, in the end, they come to no harm and return home.
The tribe twists their story to be saved by becoming visible -- through TV coverage -- so that the boy really was their savior.
We get what we focus on, what we believe will happen. The stories we tell about ourselves often come true. If we believe we can't do it, we won't. If we believe we can, then we will.
We can become the stories we tell -- and even save a rebel tribe in the jungle!
a domani,
E
At one point they are kidnapped by a group of rebels -- although they don't know that they have been kidnapped -- and brought to a camp hidden in the jungle. They believe instead that they have been taken somewhere very special to experience real local people and traditions for a "Christmas surprise" (it is December 25th). Then they believe that the rope bridge has fallen down and that is why they are stuck in the jungle.
They have no idea what is happening, can't understand the language except through the rebel leader's confused translations into English, and have to somehow figure something out.
So, they create their reality -- just like we all do every day -- they gleen clues from the environment and construct their story. They choose which clues to observe, while ignoring some other important ones, and build a story that is so fanciful to be farcical.
They are tourist in a strange land, they are are open to new experiences, want to learn about these people and have suspended all their usual radar that would have been useful to sort out a better version of what was happening.
They no longer have a recognizable frame of reference on which to build their stories, so they also build a frame -- who these people are, how their society works, what they are saying.
It gets quite funny.
The tribe also has built a story -- that the young boy in the group is the savior they have been waiting for who will make them invisible to their enemies. The clues are there, he makes things disappear (by performing card tricks) and carries a black book with the title "Misery" and with the word "King" (actually the novel by Stephen King).
But somehow their stories come true!
The group focused on the positive aspects of their stay and, in the end, they come to no harm and return home.
The tribe twists their story to be saved by becoming visible -- through TV coverage -- so that the boy really was their savior.
We get what we focus on, what we believe will happen. The stories we tell about ourselves often come true. If we believe we can't do it, we won't. If we believe we can, then we will.
We can become the stories we tell -- and even save a rebel tribe in the jungle!
a domani,
E
February 21, 2009
Positive Psychology
Greetings from Trento. The snow is great and it is also wonderful to enjoy the company of our son.
I found an article from Business Week magazine on Positive Psychology that I would like to share. It's a bit long, but near the end it talks about identifying and working from your strengths - the aspect of Positive Psychology that first attracted my interest and is now a core element of my coaching approach. (See THIS blog post).
Working from your strengths is also an approach for adapting to a new cultural or multicultural environment. Self-knowledge can open up new routes to accessing another culture, while remaining true to who you are -- your core and natural attributes and strengths. As a coach, I help you explore how to put your strengths into action step by step - to experiment, reflect and adjust over and over, until you find your own personal style to best adapt and finally thrive in a new environment.
For the Business Week article, click HERE.
a domani,
E
I found an article from Business Week magazine on Positive Psychology that I would like to share. It's a bit long, but near the end it talks about identifying and working from your strengths - the aspect of Positive Psychology that first attracted my interest and is now a core element of my coaching approach. (See THIS blog post).
Working from your strengths is also an approach for adapting to a new cultural or multicultural environment. Self-knowledge can open up new routes to accessing another culture, while remaining true to who you are -- your core and natural attributes and strengths. As a coach, I help you explore how to put your strengths into action step by step - to experiment, reflect and adjust over and over, until you find your own personal style to best adapt and finally thrive in a new environment.
For the Business Week article, click HERE.
a domani,
E
February 10, 2009
What's working
I like to start a coaching partnership with a first session that focuses on "what's working". People are always happy to talk about their problems and weakness and all the things they think they "should" do. Fine, I say, we can do that later, but for the moment lets package them up and store them under the chair and look at what's working instead. We so easily get sucked into the past (and guilt, remorse or feelings of revenge) or the future (anxiety, worry, tension) and forget that right now we really can't do much about either -- so why not just focus on what we can do now instead.
Anyway, an email arrived today with a 90 page research study full of little jewels on Italians as global managers. Of course, it started by outlining the gaps, with quotes from Italian managers to back them up. But right now I would like to share "what works":
1. The capability to innovate through using different thought systems to understand a problem and creating alternative options.
2. The (even amazing) capability to respond and manage emergency situations.
3. Sensibility to factors that involve context.
4. Capability to manage complexity and expand perspectives.
Wow, I am impressed. This is a great place to be! Ok, so Italians may have some gaps on the administration and communication side and tend to elaborate and discuss while postponing action, but, the things that work are "formidabile"! As the world and its work becomes more complex and interconnected, these natural ways of being and working, could be leveraged to make Italian managers world leaders.
a domani,
E
Anyway, an email arrived today with a 90 page research study full of little jewels on Italians as global managers. Of course, it started by outlining the gaps, with quotes from Italian managers to back them up. But right now I would like to share "what works":
1. The capability to innovate through using different thought systems to understand a problem and creating alternative options.
2. The (even amazing) capability to respond and manage emergency situations.
3. Sensibility to factors that involve context.
4. Capability to manage complexity and expand perspectives.
Wow, I am impressed. This is a great place to be! Ok, so Italians may have some gaps on the administration and communication side and tend to elaborate and discuss while postponing action, but, the things that work are "formidabile"! As the world and its work becomes more complex and interconnected, these natural ways of being and working, could be leveraged to make Italian managers world leaders.
a domani,
E
January 28, 2009
What I do
I have been developing a FAQ sheet to follow up inquiries about coaching and I thought I would share the first page with you.
There is a second page with even more answers to more questions that get more practical as they go along. Contact me to continue....
What do you do?
I am an executive and personal coach, specializing in helping international professionals make a difference.
What do you mean by make a difference?
You make a difference when you are effective in the present and focused on the future. You perform at your best when you are empowered by a sense of purpose that is grounded in your values and driven forward by your natural strengths. (sounds like someone we know -- see the post below).
Am I an international professional?
Anyone who chooses to live and work among new, changing and even challenging cultural and multicultural environments is an international professional – this could be with an international or non-governmental organization, a government, multinational or as an independent consultant. You know how to adapt and seek to grow and thrive in ongoing change and complexity.
What kind of change are you talking about?
Change from a new cultural environments, new professional roles or functions, new ways of thinking, behaving, managing, making decisions, leading.
What is a professional coach?
A coach that is certified by an ICF accredited training program, in my case, by the International Coach Academy, www.icoachacademy.com
What is coaching?
Coaching is a methodology to help people achieve the positive change they want in their personal and professional lives – to be and do their best. With a coach, you create a partnership that has one objective -- helping you create what you want from your life and work. Together you seek possibilities, identify what works and design ways to do more of it. The relationship is always honest and sincere, with the client -- and their skills, creativity and recourses -- as the center of focus.
How does it work?
A coach creates a safe environment in which you can explore and take risks, provides support and guides your attention, helps you take action to move forward and maintains confidentiality at all times.
Who is your ideal client?
I work with people who are thoughtful and curious, high-performing, articulate and self-aware. They want to be and do their best to make a difference in the world and are open to change in their lives to get there. They are willing to engage in an adult learning process that inspires personal and professional progress.
There is a second page with even more answers to more questions that get more practical as they go along. Contact me to continue....
What do you do?
I am an executive and personal coach, specializing in helping international professionals make a difference.
What do you mean by make a difference?
You make a difference when you are effective in the present and focused on the future. You perform at your best when you are empowered by a sense of purpose that is grounded in your values and driven forward by your natural strengths. (sounds like someone we know -- see the post below).
Am I an international professional?
Anyone who chooses to live and work among new, changing and even challenging cultural and multicultural environments is an international professional – this could be with an international or non-governmental organization, a government, multinational or as an independent consultant. You know how to adapt and seek to grow and thrive in ongoing change and complexity.
What kind of change are you talking about?
Change from a new cultural environments, new professional roles or functions, new ways of thinking, behaving, managing, making decisions, leading.
What is a professional coach?
A coach that is certified by an ICF accredited training program, in my case, by the International Coach Academy, www.icoachacademy.com
What is coaching?
Coaching is a methodology to help people achieve the positive change they want in their personal and professional lives – to be and do their best. With a coach, you create a partnership that has one objective -- helping you create what you want from your life and work. Together you seek possibilities, identify what works and design ways to do more of it. The relationship is always honest and sincere, with the client -- and their skills, creativity and recourses -- as the center of focus.
How does it work?
A coach creates a safe environment in which you can explore and take risks, provides support and guides your attention, helps you take action to move forward and maintains confidentiality at all times.
Who is your ideal client?
I work with people who are thoughtful and curious, high-performing, articulate and self-aware. They want to be and do their best to make a difference in the world and are open to change in their lives to get there. They are willing to engage in an adult learning process that inspires personal and professional progress.
January 15, 2009
Optimism is good for you
Italians are optimistic, relatively, that is relative to the general pessimism surrounding us these days. This is what a survey by the London daily the Guardian discovered. Behind Italy (in order) lie: the US, Russia, Germany, France, Spain, the UK and Japan.
Why are the Italians more optimistic? The Italian journalist Enrico Franceschini suggests the following:
1. Italians know something about the real prospects of the Italian economy that no one else knows.
2. The Italian character tends to stress more hope and trust in the stars.
3. The Italians are being fed unrealistically positive information that hides the real situation and assures, instead, that "tutto va bene" and we should let HIM take care of it. (that is, Berlusconi).
Even if the last hypothesis is true, still, optimism is a good thing and, in an economy based on trust, can even make good things happen.
Positive psychology has developed a classification system of 24 strengths called the "values in action strengths survey". The questionnaire measures human strengths in a consistent, reliable and valid manner, divided into six primary categories of strengths (or core virtues). Coaches informed by positive psychology approaches can use the results of this survey to help clients focus on their "signature" strengths to improve performance and well-being.
Along the way, they also identified the five key strengths that most strongly correlate to happiness: gratitude, curiosity, vitality, hope/optimism and capacity to love and be loved.
So, even if the economy is not going to actually bounce back as well or as quickly as the Italians genuinely hope it will, being optimistic at least makes you a bit happier as you go about your daily life.
a domani,
E
you can take the "VIA strengths questionnaire" by registering on the site: www.authentichappiness.com and clicking on the above questionnaire. It takes about 20 mintues to complete and is free (donated by the Mayerson Foundation to the public domain). Are you curious to know if curiosity is one of your "signature" (top five) strengths? It's number two on my list (after creativity) -- but I guess you would know that by following my blog.
Would you like to know more about how to put your strengths to work for better performance and personal satisfaction? contact me to schedule a free trial coaching session. leave a note on the site, email (abbot.elizabeth@gmail.com) or call: 328 087 8207.
Why are the Italians more optimistic? The Italian journalist Enrico Franceschini suggests the following:
1. Italians know something about the real prospects of the Italian economy that no one else knows.
2. The Italian character tends to stress more hope and trust in the stars.
3. The Italians are being fed unrealistically positive information that hides the real situation and assures, instead, that "tutto va bene" and we should let HIM take care of it. (that is, Berlusconi).
Even if the last hypothesis is true, still, optimism is a good thing and, in an economy based on trust, can even make good things happen.
Positive psychology has developed a classification system of 24 strengths called the "values in action strengths survey". The questionnaire measures human strengths in a consistent, reliable and valid manner, divided into six primary categories of strengths (or core virtues). Coaches informed by positive psychology approaches can use the results of this survey to help clients focus on their "signature" strengths to improve performance and well-being.
Along the way, they also identified the five key strengths that most strongly correlate to happiness: gratitude, curiosity, vitality, hope/optimism and capacity to love and be loved.
So, even if the economy is not going to actually bounce back as well or as quickly as the Italians genuinely hope it will, being optimistic at least makes you a bit happier as you go about your daily life.
a domani,
E
you can take the "VIA strengths questionnaire" by registering on the site: www.authentichappiness.com and clicking on the above questionnaire. It takes about 20 mintues to complete and is free (donated by the Mayerson Foundation to the public domain). Are you curious to know if curiosity is one of your "signature" (top five) strengths? It's number two on my list (after creativity) -- but I guess you would know that by following my blog.
Would you like to know more about how to put your strengths to work for better performance and personal satisfaction? contact me to schedule a free trial coaching session. leave a note on the site, email (abbot.elizabeth@gmail.com) or call: 328 087 8207.
January 14, 2009
The edge of chaos
I love complexity. Strange, but true. Ask my friend Gillian and she will roll her eyes in desperation. Even the personality and strengths assessments I have been doing say so: "emphasizing complexity can be a motivating force" (Management Drives test), "focuses on developing complex ideas" (Enneagram profile -- "The Investigator"), "analyzes the world in depth" (Myers-Briggs personality type -- "The Architect"), creativity, ingenuity and originality (top strength with the Via Signature Strength Assessment used in positive psychology).
So, keeping this in mind, you can understand how excited I was to get to the last chapter of the book on my nightstand, "Evidence-Based Coaching Handbook: Putting Best Practices to Work for Your Clients" called Coaching from a Systemic Perspective: A Complex Adaptive Conversation. I nearly drooled in anticipation and I was not disappointed.
The article's author, Michael Cavanagh, starts with a definition of coaching as, "a journey in search of patterns". Love it (like the complex circular vector above). Then he gets into a branch of systems theory called complex adaptive systems, or complexity theory.
Don't worry, I won't explain it to you, just share a connection that came to mind as I read -- cultures are actually complex adaptive systems in that (like a human body) each part of the system is a system in its own right and they all interact in a way that makes the whole greater than the parts. It also explains why it is so hard for cultures to change, the parts keep adapting to maintain the integrity of the whole, and why it is so hard for our personal cultural systems to change as we adapt to new environments.
But I digress, what really struck me was the idea of living (and actually thriving) in a place called the "edge of chaos" -- the border between chaos and sameness in which just enough "openness" gives us just enough energy to push us out of sameness and the risk of entropy (disintegration), while not pushing us too far into receiving too much new information and diversity and finding ourselves in chaos (ie culture shock).
This made me reflect that the idea of life/work balance as an achievable perfect equilibrium is a myth. Complexity theorists would argue that steady-state functioning doesn't actually function very well. We live better in a state of "sustainable instability" or a kind of "dynamic equilibrium". Living on the edge of chaos is a "paradoxical state of unresolvable contradictory forces" and the tension between these forces "elicits creativity and innovation".
So, who wants to just live in balance when you can thrive on the edge of chaos.
Welcome to the wonderful world of complexity, and now that I think about it, the wonderful world of living and working in a new cultural environment -- certainly feels like the edge of chaos, especially in Rome traffic on a rainy day.
a domani,
E
* the image is of a complex circular vector. In physics, this process seeks pattern recognition at the boundary of a closed figure when there are no distinct landmarks (and speaks to my coaching model).
December 9, 2008
Against the tide
I'm generally a positive person, even more so when I put on my coaching hat.
Coaches focus on what is working. When things are hovering around a two on a scale of one to ten, a coach might ask, "great, so how did you get to 2?" Something must be going right and if that something can be pulled out to the front and examined, you might just get some clarity on how to get to three, or even six.
So, when I opened the newspaper and saw that 2/3rds of Afghanistan is now in the hands of the Taliban, up from just over a half a year ago, I automatically looked for what is working.
And I found it. Two maps in the newspaper, one from 2007 and the other from 2008, showed the strength of the Taliban (strong, medium, low) by color codes. Two regions, or parts of regions, stood out. One is hardly in Afghanistan at all, a sliver of high mountain peaks sticking out to the northeast, with Tajikistan to the north and Pakistan to the south and a 76km border with China to the east. The other area is a small region called Jowzjan that borders Turkmenistan and is covered with low level lands.
What do these two very different areas have in common? In 2007 they had a medium level of Taliban presence and in 2008 they have a low level. They are the only two areas in which this happened. The others either stayed the same or increased their level of Taliban presence.
I wonder if these two areas couldn't teach us something about what works in keeping the Taliban at bay? Just a coaching perspective.
a domani,
E
Coaches focus on what is working. When things are hovering around a two on a scale of one to ten, a coach might ask, "great, so how did you get to 2?" Something must be going right and if that something can be pulled out to the front and examined, you might just get some clarity on how to get to three, or even six.
So, when I opened the newspaper and saw that 2/3rds of Afghanistan is now in the hands of the Taliban, up from just over a half a year ago, I automatically looked for what is working.
And I found it. Two maps in the newspaper, one from 2007 and the other from 2008, showed the strength of the Taliban (strong, medium, low) by color codes. Two regions, or parts of regions, stood out. One is hardly in Afghanistan at all, a sliver of high mountain peaks sticking out to the northeast, with Tajikistan to the north and Pakistan to the south and a 76km border with China to the east. The other area is a small region called Jowzjan that borders Turkmenistan and is covered with low level lands.
What do these two very different areas have in common? In 2007 they had a medium level of Taliban presence and in 2008 they have a low level. They are the only two areas in which this happened. The others either stayed the same or increased their level of Taliban presence.
I wonder if these two areas couldn't teach us something about what works in keeping the Taliban at bay? Just a coaching perspective.
a domani,
E
November 29, 2008
Mobile phones to good use
I have been a very bad blogger these days. My writing has been elsewhere. I had good intentions today, but instead got involved in a USAID Development Challenge project for innovative ideas on using mobile technology for international development projects.
I guess I was feeling innovative, and I added my project to the pot. The winner gets $10,000 seed money and the chance to present their project to major donors. If not, you get some exposure anyway.
I thought, why not try follow up coaching for development training projects and do it through a combination of virtual teleclasses, internet voip and mobile phone text messaging. Studies show that training without follow up does not render the results that can be achieved with training plus follow up coaching. This was the premise of my presentation at the SIETAR conference in Granada last month (link is to your right near the end of "When I'm not blogging..."). SIETAR is the Society of Intercultural Education, Training and Research.
Check it out and leave a comment, or even better, a star! CLICK HERE
a presto,
E
I guess I was feeling innovative, and I added my project to the pot. The winner gets $10,000 seed money and the chance to present their project to major donors. If not, you get some exposure anyway.
I thought, why not try follow up coaching for development training projects and do it through a combination of virtual teleclasses, internet voip and mobile phone text messaging. Studies show that training without follow up does not render the results that can be achieved with training plus follow up coaching. This was the premise of my presentation at the SIETAR conference in Granada last month (link is to your right near the end of "When I'm not blogging..."). SIETAR is the Society of Intercultural Education, Training and Research.
Check it out and leave a comment, or even better, a star! CLICK HERE
a presto,
E
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