Monday, November 30, 2015

Six more ways to use visuals in your work - Part 2

Last week's post on using visuals in our work with groups and teams proved to be very popular and I received a number of emails from individuals wanting more info. I dedicated last week's blab to demonstrating six ways to using visual cards in your work. If you haven't had a chance to view it, you can do so here.

Here's a list of ways you might consider bringing in photos:
Openers
Closure
Celebration
Acknowledgement
Work around Vision
Work around Values
Pre-work (supporting the "priming" function of learning. There may be something you can do linked to your focus)
As learning partner work
As a tangible "take away" from the session
As a reminder which can be sent out after the event (like a post-card)


Whether you decide to go with a formal photo deck like Conversation Sparker or other, you can also make your own. I've had alumni of the Group Coaching Essentials make their own decks for their coaching work. Here's how different people did it:
1. Created their own deck using istock photos
2. Created special laminated cards using their own photos
ConversationSparker.com
3 Purchased a series of calendars at the dollar store
4. Brought old magazines for people to choose from.


I've just launched my newest e-manual - 40 Ways to  Use Visual Cards = which goes into one and two page descriptions of forty different activities plus 5 worksheets you can use "as is" with your groups. This is a digital product and costs $40 US - that's only $1 an activity!

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Group Coaching Essentials | Potentials Realized
 

Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)

Join us for an upcoming CCE approved program including the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar starting December 1st (Tues/Thurs Dec 1, 8, 10, 15, 17 - 8.75 CCEs with the ICF) - 3 spots open
Save 50% on the Coaching Business Builder - our latest on-demand course -  at the Learning Lab and Design Studio
 (416)996-8326

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Resources for your Coaching Business, Year End Planning, and Teams and Groups - Black Friday

I hope that Thanksgiving was a wonderful time of Friends, Family and Festivities for those of you who are just wrapping up celebrations. We've just started celebrating Black Friday here in Canada over the last few years, even though our Thanksgiving is in October. It's quickly become a marker for the start of the holiday season and year end savings. This year I'm pleased to announce a couple of resources to support you in your year end planning, 2016 business development and a cool new resource for your team and group work if you use visual cards.

Next Friday December 4th from 8-4 pm ET/New York I will be hosting a live virtual retreat for business owners using the Inner Biz Leader Virtual Business Planing Retreat. If you are looking to create your business plan for 2016 while reconnecting with your unique strengths, this program is for you.While this has been an on-demand program for the last year, I'll be hosting a one day live event where you get to work with me in group and 1-1 conversations throughout the day by phone and skype, and be able to Click here to access the special pricing coupon.
access the on-demand program 24 hours a day, 7 days a year, 365 days a year. I'm offering a 35% discount on the December 4th Virtual Retreat - regularly $497 US, with a savings over the Black Friday weekend of 35% for a total for the one day virtual retreat and on-demand program of $323.05 US.

The Coaching Business Builder on-demand program covers 12 core tips for coaches who are wanting to start, or grow their business. the course includes several hours of video and more than a dozen worksheets you can use in your business right now. Save 50% on the regular pricing of $59 US (for a total of $29.50 US) until Tuesday December 1st using this special link at the Learning Lab and Design Studio. Complete the course at your own pace and time.

Worksheet from the 40 Ways to Use Visual Cards,
Finally, I am very pleased to announce the latest support for coaches who are using visual cards in their work. As I shared in this week's Group Coaching Design Studio blab #5 (view here), I've just finished pulling together my latest e-manual 40 Ways to Use Visual Cards with Individuals, Teams and Groups. Chances are if you've ever seen me speak you've had a chance to experience one of the many great visual decks out in marketplace (Visual Explorer, the Coaching Game - Points of You, the JICT Deck or my Conversation Sparker Deck). The 40 Visual Ways e-manual (which I'm calling it for short form) includes detailed activity descriptions for facilitating 40 different activities with cards - from startegic planning, to change management, team development, innovation and problem solving. In addition to the one and two page activity descriptions I'm also including 5 worksheets which you can use Engaging Exercises e-manual has been for the last 10 years.
as is with your own teams and groups (one on strengths, a vision roadmap, the SWOT and more). This new resource is $40 US and is available through the Group Coaching Essentials site and the Conversation Sparker site. That's $1 an activity - can't beat it! I have a feeling it will be as widely embraced as the

Finally, the last (accelerated) session of the Group Coaching Essentials program starts Tuesday. This 8.75 CCe program covers a wide range of best practices, approaches and tools to support you in designing, marketing and creating your own group coaching programs. Classes are held Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30 - 245 pm ET on the phone on December 1, 8, 10, 15, 17. Price increases in January. More info and registration here (4 spots open for next week's session) .

So....as we start to turn our attention to year end, what do you want to wrap up before year end?What do you want to focus on in 2016? the Group Coaching Design Studio Blab #4 covered a number of other visioning questions you might be interested in exploring. Do listen in here. The next blab #6 will be held Friday November 4 at 9 am ET on 24 Theme areas to coach around - click here if you want to subscribe and/or join us.

Have a fantastic rest of your holiday weekend and I do hope you will take advantage of some of the savings, and the upcoming resources to grow your work!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Group Coaching Essentials | Potentials Realized
 

Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)

(416)996-8326

Monday, November 23, 2015

Six Ways to Bring Visuals into your work with groups and teams

For many years now I have seen the transformative power of integrating images in my coaching work
Team and Conversation Sparker(TM)Decks - www.conversationsparker.com
with individuals, teams and groups. It led me to launch my own photo deck called Conversation Sparker(TM) in the spring of 2014, a product which is now being used by coaches and leaders in industries as wide ranging as music, health care, financial services, the legal profession, publishing and transportation.

Visuals can create a new entry way into insights and ideas. I continue to hear from and group members I get to work with how the photos unlock new ideas for them, as well as help them articulate their ideas.

there are many ways we can be using images in our work. From visioning, to using images as an opening activity or closing activity, visuals can deepen awareness for an individual, create synergy in a team, or lock in the learning from a workshop or retreat.

Here's six different ways you may want to use visuals - taken from a brochure that accompanies the Conversation Sparker Cards (a 72 card deck which includes 50 photos and 22 questions. You can download an 11-page brochure here and enjoy these different ways to use visuals.

My blab this week - on Wednesday November 25th from 930-10 will be focusing on real-time ways to work with cards (so drop in a be ready to play and perhaps glean some new insights). You can find out more about this week's blab here.

Six Quick Activities for the Conversaton Sparker(TM) Cards - Jennifer Britton, Copyright 2014.


The Conversation Sparker Cards™ can be used by team leaders, facilitators, coaches and trainers. Just as the name implies, it is our hope that the Conversation Sparker Cards™ will create the spark for deeper dialogue. The cards can be used in a team meeting, workshop, retreat or coaching session. This brochure includes six ways you may want to incorporate the Conversation Sparker Cards™ into your next program.

1. Select a Card
The facilitator/leader, coach or trainer will lay out the cards on a large table or in an area where all the cards can be seen by participants. It can be useful to lay them out on a freestanding table so people can move around it and see the photos from different perspectives. You may want to include cards with photos or also include the cards with questions.

A virtual twist - Have group members select a photo from those that you have shown on your whiteboard, or sent as PDF form. A digital license can be purchased online at http://www.conversationsparker.com.
Give each person a few minutes to select the card. For those that have purchased the deck, you can download a Worksheet to use with this activity.

 2. Create a Vision:
For individuals - Have individuals select a photo which represents their vision (for their work, leadership, business, career etc). Give them time during the session to make notes on it, dialogue around it or have them journal their ideas before your next conversation point.

For a team - Have a team create their own story line using the photos included in the deck. What are significant milestones in the past and/or future?  Team members can also create their own drawings of their vision using blank index cards.

3. Conversation Sparking Questions
The main Conversation Sparker Card deck comes with 22 questions , some with photos, some plain. You can use these questions in several ways:
1. Have each person pick a card for individual reflection
2. Team leaders can select a card for the team to be in dialogue around that week at their staff meeting
3. Each team member can select a card which they want to spark conversation in the team around.

4. Creating Connection:
At the start of the program have individuals select the card which represents what they uniquely bring to the group. Have them introduce themselves to the larger group sharing the card they selected and  providing their story behind it.

5. What’s Possible?
If you could make a change right now and follow your dream, what would be possible? Select the card which represents what’s possible! Have each group member select their own photo and share their story. What would it take to make this happen?

6. Celebratory Closure
The old adage says “All good things must come to an end”. Our group and team members remember the start and tend of things. As part of your closure activities, get people to select the card which represents what they are leaving the program with. Alternatively, you can have them select a Question card which they want to carry forward.

I hope that you have as much fun as I do in bringing visuals into your work. I'd love for you to check out the Conversation Sparker Cards here, or our Teams365 Team Sparker Deck - 52 questions for team leaders and others to bring into conversations with teams. You can order either deck here. Coming in the next week or two is a new digital product which will include 40 Different Ways to Work wtih Visual Cards. Stay tuned!

Have a great week,
Jennifer


Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Group Coaching Essentials | Potentials Realized
 

Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)

Join us for an upcoming CCE approved program including the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar starting December 1st (Tues/Thurs Dec 1, 8, 10, 15, 17 - 8.75 CCEs with the ICF) - 4 spots open
 (416)996-8326

Did you catch my announcement in this month's newsletter about our newest on-demand course? Earlier this month the Coaching Business Builder was released. Just like our other on-demand programs, the course includes several hours of video based content and more than a dozen worksheets and activities to support you in growing your coaching business. Both experienced and new coaches growing their businesses will find the program of interest. You can learn more about the Coaching Business Builder here at the Learning Lab and Design Studio(TM), our new online portal for all of our on-demand programs.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Group and Team Coaching Myth - Everyone engages in the same way

One of the things I love most with group and team coaching is the fact that each group and team we
Source: DollarPhoto
work with is so different. This is what keeps my work fresh. Many coaches are curious to find the "one way" or the "one model" you need to coach teams and groups when in fact a variety of approaches is what is needed.

Today's post debunks the myth that everyone engages in the same way. Each group member you work wtih will have their own preferences with how they want to engage in the coaching process and how they want to engage with each other.

As you approach your upcoming coaching conversations consider that your group will likely consist of people with visual, auditory and kinesthetic approaches. The way we perceive, learn and our interactions in taking in sensory information can vary widely.

Visual learners will usually love any visual stimuli - from photos to what's written on the flipchart or on a worksheet, visual learners will enjoy what they can leverage off of.

Auditory learners, in contrast, learn through hearing. Whether it's through small group conversation, or connecting learning and insights with music, consider how you can bring in more of an  auditory element.

Finally, kinesthetic learners learn by "Doing" and interaction. Creating a vision board, rather than just talking about it, or creating an aluminum foil model of their Inner Critics will inspire and engage kinesthetic and more tactile learners.

The impact of engagement does not just stop here. In fact, the types of questions we ask in a coaching conversation may also hav different impact across your group and team coaching mmbers. Consider these questions
What does it look like? VERSUS
What does it feel like? VERSUS
What does it sound like?
Next time you are with a group notice the impact your questions are having and where they are engaging and connecting with members, and where they are not.

in addition to learning styles, the group and team members we are working with may also have different engagement strategies in terms of processing speeds (slow/fast) and processing approaches (verbal processors who like to talk things through versus reflective processors who might prefer to reflect and write out what they realize). Consider how you can use pre-work to support processing speed and approaches, as well as "pause points" of silence, individual reflection, as well as small group work and discussion.

Another important dimension to consider is whether people are more extroverted and love engaging with others, or might be more introverted and find some of the connection time "draining". Again consider the approaches you may want to utilize in meeting these different needs - small group breakouts, large group discussion,

Our clients in the field of group and team coaching is incredibly diverse. As I have written in past posts, one of the most elemental activities coaches can undertake in setting people up for success with a group coachin gprocess is to hold a pre-call with each group member to learn more about them, including their learning preferences and personality styles. This will help you shape an even more powerful process. If you are a team coach consider the impact of holding a pre-call with each team member. In instances where the focus is building capacity of each team member these pre-calls may be more appropriate. Be aware however of any ethical issues which may arise if you are coaching a "team as a system" where in fact a pre-call may actually weaken your ability to hold the system as intact.

What are your next steps as you consider client engagement in your upcoming team and group coaching programs?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Group Coaching Essentials | Potentials Realized
 

Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)

Join us for an upcoming CCE approved program including the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar starting December 1st (Tues/Thurs Dec 1, 8, 10, 15, 17 - 8.75 CCEs with the ICF)
 (416)996-8326

Did you catch my announcement in this month's newsletter about our newest on-demand course? Last week the Coaching Business Builder was released. Just like our other on-demand programs, the course includes several hours of video based content and more than a dozen worksheets and activities to support you in growing your coaching business. Both experienced and new coaches growing their businesses will find the program of interest. You can learn more about the Coaching Business Builder here at the Learning Lab and Design Studio(TM), our new online portal for all of our on-demand programs.



Monday, November 09, 2015

Group and Team Coaching Myth - More is more in terms of program design

Photo from DollarPhoto.com
This past weekend I hosted the Group and Team Coaching Intensive a weekend long program where coaches get a chance to practice their skills in group and team coaching. As we moved through many great coaching  moments it became really apparent that coaching conversations really take time in groups and teams. Less is truly more!

While we may be able to squeeze more moving parts into a workshop or retreat process, in group and team coaching trust and connection is paramount. Without this foundation, members won't engage in the coaching dialogue. Trust and connection takes time to form. This connection and trust is often formed over several sessions, so coaches will want to consider how they want to invite people to get to know each other, set goals for their work, and engage with each other in the conversation.

When we look at the less is more principle to program design we want to consider:
* What key elements do we want to include in each session (check in, check out, pre-work/post-work and coaching moments)?
* What key themes does the group want to explore during their time together?
*  What is the optimum group size the facilitate the dialogue and coaching process?
* What do group members really want and value (group dialogue, paired discussion, more individual reflection etc)?
* Just how much can we explore in the time we have together.

Really embracing and understanding the less is more principle to programming, requires that we get into action and get into real time dialogue with groups. Experience helps us understand just what this means. What opportunities can you create to work with groups in the coming months and into 2016. Nothing can replace real-time practice and experience.

For more on program design topics related to group and team coaching, check out some of my past posts in the area of program development here.

Best
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Group Coaching Essentials | Potentials Realized
 

Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)

Join us for an upcoming CCE approved program including the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar starting December 1st (Tues/Thurs Dec 1, 8, 10, 15, 17 - 8.75 CCEs with the ICF)
 (416)996-8326

PS - A reminder my next Group Coaching Design Studio blab will be held this Thursday from 945 - 1015 am ET. I hope that you will drop in and join us. Link to the session is here - focus of this week's blab is  on Core Design Elements for Group and Team Coaching.  We'll be exploring program elements and considerations pre-program, during the program and post-program, Hope you'll join us!

Monday, November 02, 2015

Setting the Stage for a Successful Group Engagement

People remember the start of any process, and getting things right from the start with your groups is key.
Foundational to a successful coaching engagement is also the start and "design of the coaching agreement". in this post I am going to share with you three core activities you may consider as you go to establish your next group coaching engagement.

1. Pre-program calls - Getting to know each individual participant prior to starting the group process can be important for getting to know each person's reasons for joining the group, their own learning goals and how they interact. I typically schedule short 15 minute calls with each participant to learn more about them and answer any questions they have. It's always interesting to note the themes that start emerging even before we start our work together, and I find these calls are a key part of building trust and connection. Finally, the pre-call serves as a forum to make sure that each participant understands what they are getting out of the process.

2. WOW - Ways of Working or Group Agreements - In a group process, connection and creating shared expectations amongst group members is key. Working with the group to create shared Ways of Working and how they want to operate is essential. It ensures that everyone is on the same page and also helps to mitigate against tricky issues which may surface.

3. Goal Setting - the One Page Plan - Goals are critical in any coahing process and in a group each individual may have their own goals that they are working towards. One activity I like to give as an assignment usually between calls (or session) one and two is getting people to work on their one page action plan.  I go into greater depth around the One Page Plan in one of the lectures of the Tips for Your Team And Group Programs. You can access that program on-demand at Udemy or at our new Learning Lab and Design Studio.

I'll be going into more examples of key opening, closing and ongoing group and team coaching activities this coming weekend at the Group and Team Coaching Intensive - 2 spots still open - November 7-8 in Downtown Toronto (19CCes with the ICF including 17 core competencies). Also two spots are open this weekend for virtual participation (via skype).  Save 15% if you register with a colleague. 

Have a great week,
Jennifer

 Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Group Coaching Essentials | Potentials Realized
 

Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)

 (416)996-8326