Audio - Ten Ways to use the Conversation Sparker Cards (TM)

Many of you have read, or heard me speak, about the power of visuals in a group or team coaching process. For years I have used the Visual Explorer deck from Center for Creative Leadership in my programs, and earlier this year I launched the Conversation Sparker Cards(TM), a 72 card photo and question deck.

The Conversation Sparker Cards have taken root with many practitioners across both coasts of North America, and as far away as Iceland and Africa.  Last week a number of coaches had fun with them at the ICF Mid-West Regional Conference during a table-top discussion I facilitated on group and team coaching.

Earlier this week I hosted a call on Ten Ways To Use the Conversation Sparker Cards which you can listen to online here. I thought you would be interested in listening in particularly if you are looking for a new photo deck to use with your groups, or if you want to get some new ideas "sparked" for use with your current photo deck. The recording is 27 minutes in length.

Enjoy! Again, you can link to the Conversation Sparker Cards recording here.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Potentials Realized
(416)996-8326
Two weeks to go to the Group and Team Coaching Intensive in Beautiful Huntsville, Muskoka! Are you ready to take a two-day dive into group and team coaching issues?  We'll be looking at skills, design, marketing, forming groups, activities, tricky issues, and you will have lots of time to practice and get feedback on  your skills. The program is approved for 15 CCEs with the ICF. More info at http://www.groupcoachingintensive.com. 

Four Ways to Use a MindMap in Your Group Programs

MindMaps are a terrific tool for learning, brainstorming, and review. In this short audio post, I share four

ways you can use MindMaps in your group programs.

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Which approaches would you want to bring into your next program?

Best
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
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

Join us for an upcoming program - the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar starting July 17th (Thursdays at 10am ET)- 6.75 CCEs. You can also join me in beautiful Huntsville, Muskoka on July 10-11 (Thurs/Friday) for the Group and Team Coaching Intensive (15 CCEs)

Group and Team Coaching Intensive - Muskoka: July 10-11, 2014 (15 CCEs)

Plans are gearing up for the 4th Annual Group and Team Coaching Intensive in Muskoka, Canada

(Huntsville) on Thursday July 10 and Friday July 11th.  It's a two day dive into topics related to team and group coaching, in the beautiful, fun and relaxed setting of Huntsville, a great smmer playground.

This program is geared for coaches and other professionals who are wanting to expand their work to group and team coaching. The program is approved for 15 hours of Continuing Coach Education (CCES) with the International Coach Federation.

The program provides coaches with knowledge, skills, practice, and feedback, on their group and team coaching skills. New and experienced coaches can benefit from this program. The course will address specifics for running programs in person and virtually, with teams as well as corporate and public groups.  

Participants leave the program with tools, resources, skills and practice in group and team coaching, including:

-       An understanding of what group and team coaching is, similarities and differences with individual coaching, training and facilitation

-       Core skills and competencies for masterful team and group coaching

-       Foundational principles: group and team dynamics, experiential processes, and learning styles,

-       Designing  and Structuring a Powerful Program (pre, post, during)

-       Creating Connection, Trust and Accountability

-       Exercises, Tools and Resources for Coaching Many

-     Working with, and engaging, different learning styes

-       Marketing Tips for pricing, promotion, positioning and contracting

-       Navigating Tricky Issues

-       Virtual Program Tips

-       Practice and feedback on your skills

Content is also customized based on those coaches who are participating. Pre-calls will be held with each participant during June 2014.

The program includes:

• 15 hours of training ( 15 CCEs  including of 13 hrs Core Competencies)
• An Intensive Manual with exercises, content and resources lists
• An opportunity for you to get hands-on practice and feedback on your coaching skills
• A copy of either one of Jennifer’s books - http://goo.gl/pbldIi
• A light lunch both days
• A post-program group call

Hours: Thursday 8:30-5pm, Friday 8:30 - 4:30pm . I'll also be available to connect for a late afternoon snack for those interested in Huntsville on Thursday.

Venue: Holiday Inn Express Huntsville. Special room rate until June 20th.

Space limited to 8 -10 coaches.

Cost: $1095 plus HST (payable in one or two installments) Register with one or more colleagues and save 10% each.

Here's what past participants have said about the program:

"A must for coaches who want to bring their coaching skills to another level!" – Mylene Beauchamp

"A time for you to focus on group coaching and building your business. A rare treat and strategic business move to participate in person with other great coaches and Jennifer’s excellent facilitation."

"A fantastic incubator for group coaching" 

Download a brochure here.

Here's a quick video about what  Muskoka  has to offer.

A special room rate is available at the venue until June 20th. Contact me for more information.

Looking forward to having you join us!

Best

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC

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

GroupCoachingEssentials.com

(416)996-8326

Audio Post - Group and Team Process Considerations

Last week I had the pleasure of presenting two breakouts at the Capital Coaches Conference in

Washington DC. What a fantastic day! It was terrific to get to speak to, and facilitate dialogue amongst a large group of participants. For those who attended, I forwarded the slide deck to the conference organizers so that you can receive your own copy.

I wanted to share with all of you, whether you were at the conference or not, a reminder of the process groups and teams move through. In this short audio post, I briefly share some of my reflections on the day, and also discuss the stages of group formation. Consider how this is showing up in your work, and what you, as a coach, can do to support those that you work with.

Here's the short 6 minute audio:

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Enjoy!

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
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

Join us for an upcoming program - the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar starting June 11th (at 9am ET Wednesdays) or July 17th (Thursdays at 10am ET)- 6.75 CCEs. You can also join me in beautiful Huntsville, Muskoka on July 10-11 (Thurs/Friday) for the Group and Team Coaching Intensive (15 CCEs)

The importance of a back-up

I'm not sure if you have been experiencing it as well, but it's been an interesting past week with

Created at Wordle.com - Jennifer Britton

technology and technological challenges.  There's an old saying that things often happen in threes, and they did last week. What each experience has done for me has been to draw attention to the importance of a back up, and test out those I have in place.

Flash back one week. I was scheduled to present to an ICF chapter via webinar. For whatever reason, the tried-and-tested technology did not work as usual, keeping several participants off the line. Luckily they were able to record the call for those who could not access it. What do you have in place if people can't access you?

Next, one of my trusty bridgelines, which had been used earlier that day, went down. What could have been a challenging switch was pretty easy as I have a selection of different bridgelines available (with different service provides) at my fingertips when I do a call. What back-up bridgelines do you have? Do you have the alternative information easily accessible? Is it with different service providers - a lot of time if one service has problems, several will have problems.

Over the weekend, my main website went down, along with email. About a year ago I had made a decision to have that site design hosted on a cloud based application, so while the domain went down, I was able to get a mirrored-site up and running by the end of the day with a different host. The main site was back up again in the morning, and the time it took for that company to respond will play into the decision as to where that domain gets renewed another year. What do you have in place in case your domain goes down?

Contingency planning is key for small business owners. What steps can you take to mitigate against these blips?

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Potentials Realized | GroupCoachingEssentials.com
(416)996-8326

Upcoming programs include:
The June 2-3 Facilitation Skills Intensive in Toronto (Two days of hands on training for working with groups)
Group Coaching Essentials - Wednesdays 9-10:15 am ET: starting May 28 or June 11 (6.75 CCEs by phone)
Group and Team Coaching Intensive (15 CCEs with ICF): July 10-11 in Huntsville, Muskoka. Early Bird ends May 30.

The Power of a Visual

It is said that the brain can process images in as little as 13 milliseconds. Read about this MIT research here. han words.

continued to see this play out in group and team coaching and development programs. A few months ago I also shared three visual tools I use regularly in my own programs in my January Effective Group Coaching video. You can view the four minute video here.

These three tools are:
Points of You - The Coaching Game - I had the chance to meet the creators behind this wonderful tool last week in Washington and really enjoyed their experiential session using the cards. They also have created terrific processes coaches and faciltiators can use (questions and layouts) which make them a rich resource. I picked up a set of the Punctum cards and have enjoyed exploring them.

Visual Explorer from Creative Leadership - a mainstay of my visual facilitation conversations for more than five years now. I love the range of photos available

The JICT Journey Cards - Smaller and with questions, the JICT cards are another  great resource.


Last week at the ASTD Conference I picked up a great book by Glenn Hughes and Thiagi entitled "Photo Jolts". It includes 51 ways to work with cards/photos (their own deck and others). Brilliant! I have enjoyed taking a look at it and getting "sparked" by some possible uses to use with future groups and teams.

This has become such a large part of my own work that last month I launched the Conversation Sparker Cards(TM). They were a hit at the ASTD session I led and it was wonderful to see how they provoked some new insights and perspectives around issues for participants. You can learn more about the Conversation Sparker Cards(TM) at our newest website. Download a flyer about them here. Enjoy!

What has been your experience in using photos in your work with teams and groups?

Have a great weekend!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, PCC, CPCC
GroupCoachingEssentials | Potentials Realized
(416)996-8326
Join us for an upcoming program:
Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar starts Wednesday May 28th at 10:15 am ET. Calls on May 28, June 4, 11, 18 and 25 (6.75 CCEs)
Mentor Coaching Group starts Monday May 26th from 10 - 11 am ET. Three month mentor coaching program with 7 hours of group calls, and 3 hours of individual calls. For ACC renewal and ACC/PCC portfolio routes.

Train the Trainer June 2-3 - Facilitation Skills Intensive, Toronto

Are you looking to equip yourself with enhanced group facilitation skills to work with groups? I'll be holding the two-day Facilitation Skills Intensive in downtown Toronto on Monday June 2 and Tuesday June 3rd. We are three weeks away from the start of the program and I hope that you will join me for this hands-on deep dive into group facilitation issues.

This program is for professionals who are keen to learn more about, and practice, the techniques, skills and approaches of group facilitation. This is an intensive small group learning experience and typical group size is 5-10 professionals. We will be looking at skills that are useful in workshops, retreats, teleclasses, and other instances when you work with groups.

The program will provide you with an opportunity to explore:

• The skills, competencies and best practices of successful facilitators,

• How your skills compare through a Facilitator Self-Assessment,

• How to identify participant learning styles and preferences, and implement facilitation techniques to accommodate them

• How to be sensitive to different phases of group formation and how to adapt your facilitation style to meet the different needs,

• How to create a positive climate for learning,

• Specific techniques on how to deal with difficult participants,

• Specific techniques to conduct and debrief learning activities,

• How to manage the logistics and finer details of a learning event (in-person or virtually/by phone) including room set up, media use and other logistics

Participants will also create a personal development/action plan including strategies to further practice their new facilitation skills in their work.

This two day program will be running on Monday and Tuesday June 2-3 (hours 8:30 - 5 day 1, 8:30-4:30 day 2) and will be held in downtown Toronto, accessible by public transit. Those coming in from out of town can benefit from a special room rate at the hotel until May 15th. Contact us for more info.

Registration includes:

1. The Facilitation Skills Intensive binder (100 plus pages of content, worksheets)
2. A copy of either one of my books: Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) or From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2014)
3. 15 hours of instruction over the two days

Cost: $795 plus HST. Discounts are available for two or more registrants from the same organization.

Please visit our dedicated site http://www.faciliationskillsintensive.com for more information and to register.

I hope that you will join us!

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC, CHRP
Potentials Realized | Group Coaching Essentials
(416)996-8326