I'm a massive fan of the BBC's Masterchef and in particular I like observing how different people handle the stress and levels of challenge - and how they grow through the series. I heartily recommend watching Episode 11 from last night and especially the second half where they are working under the leadership of Chef Patron Marcus Wareing of the Petrus Restaurant.

Marcus gives a good demonstration of a Coaching style of leadership, not telling them what to do and helping them unnecessarily. He keeps them right at the limits of their challenge zone where they will grow the most. The Brookside actor Mark Moraghan gives a great example of an Amygdala Hijack where the neurochemicals being produced by the limbic system due to stress 'hijack' the higher brain functions. He storms out of the restaurant leaving five Michelin star chefs without their lunch!

Again, when he comes back Marcus shows a great coaching style and reframes the event for Mark, helping him to overcome the challenge, thus increasing his comfort zone. Some people may think Marcus is being unhelpful to begin with but I think we can all learn from his patient coaching approach - it takes immense levels of self awareness and self control to do this and long term has the greatest pay off.

The feedback I've had from the test mailing of my first 'Practical Coaching Tips' email has been very positive! I'm pushing forward with the project and as you can see, there is now a sign up form here on the blog.

Why a nightmare for a Perceiving type? My Myers Briggs profile is ENFP and unlike the 'J's, the Judging types, we like to keep our options open rather than making decisions. Our lists tend to be things we could do rather than what we will do. We like to perceive as much as possible and I'm now overloaded with ideas as to what should be the next coaching topic!

Here's a picture of just one of my bookshelves filled with content to work from....


Just as well we 'P's tend to perform well under pressure and deliver at or near the deadline (research shows that perceiving types produce the same quality of work as the judging types but the judging types never seem to believe this for some reason!) and having the sign up form published gives me that pressure.

Now - which topic........

“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat”
Lily Tomlin

I was at a marketing event for a partner company the other day and whilst sharing coffee with one of the delegates we got to talking of NLP. I’d mentioned an NLP technique in my presentation and he asked me advice about using NLP in business.

The conversation sort of split into two halves. The first was about the challenges of how to best select tools and adapt them to business from a field of knowledge originally developed for therapy; the second was how not to get tarred with the 'NLP Nutter' brush! ........ Read More...

I met up with a friend and old colleague last week. He’s been writing his own personal blog since 2003 - check out http://cloudhands.blogspot.com/. I was sharing with him how challenging I was finding writing material without it coming over as condescending. I certainly want to be able to share something that has meaning and that can help others and have a positive impact. There seems to be a real skill to doing this without alienating people. I hate it when people give me unsolicited advice but love to hear good stuff.....

Adrian told me that there is a marked difference between his original postings and what he writes now. The change came from the feedback he got from old friends. The sort of feedback that normally only comes from ‘old’ friends because of the history and relationship they have. The feedback was pretty blunt - and not repeatable in polite circles - but I think Adrian was glad of it.

I was introduced to a concept by an actor colleague who does the most amazing role-play work with business leaders. She called it ‘the arc of distortion’ - somewhat grandiose but I think the concept is good. There is an arc of distortion between self perception and reality. The only was to narrow or lessen the arc is to get accurate feedback - and generally the only way you get that is to go and ask for it. Another friend recently asked Daniel Goleman the best way to develop your emotional intelligence and his response was ‘get feedback’. So, it may be early on for this blog and blogger but I’d love any advice that help me reduce my arc of distortion....

Here's an idea. Ban the word 'why' from your vocabulary in business. We should replace 'why?' with 'what?'

"Why?" I hear you call ; -) Read More...