Without These Powerful Questions, Your Coaching Is Just a Good Chat
Okay, I gotta be honest.
I was surprised and thrilled when Dr. Walt Hastings helped take my coaching to a next level with this simple tip.
I first met Walt when he was assigned to assess the recorded coaching sessions I submitted for credentialing. If you know me you know I am a go-big-or-go-home kinda gal and I had it in my head I should go ahead and apply for CCNI Master’s level credentialing on my first go. Walt was so kind when he let me down easy that I needed a little more work before that level. (I am proud to say I have a CPCC credential now (Certified Professional Christian Coach) and am working toward CMCC this year.)
Walt’s assessment taught me so much that I hired him to do Mentor Coaching for our Bridges Next Level coach training.
In that course, he shared his coaching prep form which shared the simple key I want to share with you today.
Without an articulated outcome your coaching conversation is just a good chat!
A good chat allows the other person to direct the co...
Even If Someone Asks For Advice, The Best Way To Help Them Grow Is Through Coaching
Telling > Teaching > Training > Trusting
That’s the growth paradigm we unpack in Coach Training.
Seems so simple at first glance. It goes like this:
When a child is young we tell them, “You can’t cross the road!”
Then we teach them, “Don’t cross the road without looking - there may be cars coming!”
Training comes next, where we teach them to look both ways and ask them if there are cars coming.
Then comes the day when we trust them and let them ride their bike to a friend’s house on their own and eventually “confidently” give them car keys, etc.
Easy right?
But what about topics where the stakes are much higher.
How does it work with issues like choosing a mate, career choices, financial investments, or even walking out a life of faith?
Often when parents of adult children have questions or concerns they revert back to telling or teaching.
It’s easy to do.
You have such deep concern about your adult children’s lives that you want to chime in and “save” them from poor choice...
Asking Is Better Than Telling: 10 Ways Coaching Can Help You
Coaching is a straightforward and powerful tool for unlocking people's desires and dreams.
But it's not for everyone.
Some leaders are used to telling people what to do. In fact, some even enjoy the power and authority they have.
Coaching isn't for these people.
But if you want to...
- empower and enable those you lead to go farther faster
- multiply your impact by raising up mature believers who can hear and respond to what God is speaking
- free your schedule by not holding repetitive meetings with people who are dependent on you
Then coaching is most definitely for you!
Here are 10 ways coaching can help.
10. You don’t have to know everything for everyone.
Leaders who tell have to know what’s best for every situation and each person in order to be effective. That’s a lot of stuff to know! (And what if you aren’t right?)
9. People love it when you focus on them.
Active listening is the highest form of loving someone. When the focus is on the other person there is a lot les...
Are You Asking Powerful Questions? Eliminate AWKWARD Conversations Once And For All!
Ever have an awkward conversation with a co-worker, client, friend, spouse, child, sibling... really anyone?
Awkward conversations include one or more of the following:
- Rambling one-sidedness
- The same stories over and over
- The same issues again and again
- Shallow skimming - chat about the weather followed by:
- Uncomfortable silence
- Whining
- Blaming
- The expectation of my coming up with an answer or resolution
I used to have conversations with one or more of these elements all the time.
Now, I just ask better questions. Powerful questions even.
In fact, when you have good coaching conversational tools in your tool belt, a lot more than your conversations can change. Awareness can be created. Destinies can be altered. Futures can be gained.
Here are just a few examples that have changed my life and the life of others around me.
- "Where do you want to be in 5 years?"
- "What’s holding you back?"
- "What would your life look like if 'that' was no longer an issue?
- "If you say ...
8 Ways Bridges Differs From Other Training Courses
Simply put, our Bridges training courses were designed with you -- the trainee -- in mind.Â
Here are 8 ways Bridges courses differ from many, or even most, training courses.
No. 1 -- At Bridges, we take very seriously how we certify our trainees.
All our cohort courses require individual interaction where we are looking for each person’s grasp of the concepts.
No. 2 -- We give personal attention to the trainee.
All of our training is face-to-face, not voice-to-voice. Not sure what that means? Many, maybe even most, coach training or destiny discovery courses meet the credentialing requirement for voice-to-voice through group phone calls.
No dis, but I have been on some of those phone calls and have not had the greatest experience. While technically it is live training, there were almost always too many people on the call to feel individually connected, AND oftentimes the trainer would ask someone to respond and they were not even there or it took a long time for them to respond. ...
What’s At Stake If You Put It Off Destiny By Design?
Taking Destiny By Design doesn’t guarantee you a preferred future, and it’s not for everyone, but if you can’t say for sure where you are headed, it’s not likely you will get out of the fog by accident.
That’s kind of like saying your financial plan is to win the lottery.
It’s not very likely. Especially if you don’t play.Â
Here's what’s at stake:
- Wasted time waiting for something to come to you.
- Unrealized potential, because you didn’t even know what to do.
- Missed opportunities never considered.
- Recognition of personal uniqueness: giftings, passions, calling, strengths...
People who need what you have to give are waiting for you to step up.
Not that God couldn’t use another, but why not be all you can be (and we’re not talking about the army)!
Understanding your Destiny by Design may be closer than you think!
What's next? If you can't say for sure where God is leading you, we can help!
Clarity seems to be a buzz word lately, especially in regards to goal setting.
I mean really, you absolutely need it to move forward well. No one orders an Uber but then fumbles with giving the driver a destination.
And yet...
Sometimes we do that with our lives.
It’s like the destination for our lives is more like a Sunday drive with no specific outcome clarified.
The Destiny by Design course includes an exercise that focuses on clarifying your Life Purpose Statement. When you have taken the time to drill down to your core and decipher your internal design, it becomes much clearer what your personal best nexts should be.
Clarity is a hoax when you fake it and pretend you have a clear next step.
Clarity is a hoax if you think it isn’t needed.
Clarity is a hoax if you feel it’s only general and not specific like you’re just supposed to be good all the time rather than knowing specifically what you are good at and how to invest in bringing your best self to the table.
Clarity do...
How 5 Bridges Alumni Are Using Their Coach Training
People often ask what is needed to actually launch a coaching practice.
The answer varies from state to state, but for most, the bottom line is that once you have completed the legal checkoff list for your state, you simply need to be good at your craft.
Most of us don’t check the credentials on the wall of the massage therapist, we just go back if they help us out.
Bridges Coaching Life coach certification is designed to help you do just that – actually help people out! While there is a Next Level Training that Bridges offers (contact us if you want to know more), the first level course was designed to be one-stop shopping. You will have everything needed (skills-wise) to set up sessions that actually help people.
Here are a couple of shout outs to a few of our alumni and their organizations!
Barb Ranck – Your Clear Next Step and Courageously Imperfect
"Barb shared, Hi Cindy! My site is https://www.cicandd.com which stands for CI Coaching & Development. CI stands for Courageou...
5 Fears All Good Leaders Have
We all have them, or at least we should.
Good leaders want to hit the mark. They want to make a difference. They want to be worthy of following. Good leaders want to help others toward achieving clear goals and helping them get there in the best way possible.
That being said – here are five fears all good leaders have.
- Fear of missing the mark.
- Fear of being status quo.
- Fear of leading people in the wrong direction, or maybe just not the best direction.
- Fear of nebulous targets.
- Fear of a floundering pathway.
These healthy “fears” should fuel good leaders toward good leadership!
Yet most of us have probably had experiences where the goals were not inspiring and action steps were not actually clear. Sometimes, it seems we need to go back to a document or email to remember where we were going or what we supposed to be doing.
Good Coach Training will clear up these concerns and alleviate these fears once and for all!
Before understanding the coaching paradigm, it was common...
How NOT To Gamble With Your Destiny!
Do you know what an acorn grows up to be?
How about a kitten? Or maybe a tadpole?
Knowing what is “seeded” within you changes everything! And yet, many people don’t know what they are made of, or what they are meant to become.
When we aren’t sure of what’s in us, we run the risk of gambling with God’s intended destiny for our lives.
Psalm 139:13 says God knit us together in our mother’s womb. He’s the one who decided how tall you would be, what color eyes you would have, whether your hair would be curly or straight and so much more.
These external DNA markers make each of us unique, but wait - there’s more.
So much more.
We have an internal DNA that sets us apart from each other even more than how we look.
Our internal DNA consists of things like:
- Personality type
- Motivational gifts
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Five-fold ministry gifting
- 7 Mountains calling
- Personal passions and unique interest arenas
And the list could go on.
Knowing your unique personal design guides ...