I sit here preparing to write my weekly missive to our wonderful members of Salsaholics Anonymous and I am sick. Sickened by the senseless tragedy that once again befell our city. Sickened by the loss of innocent life. Sickened by the thought of what those who survived but with “life-altering injuries” will have to face….
Last week, I had the opportunity to facilitate a session with some senior managers and directors on the theme of “Coaching for Leadership.” One of the segments was on Coaching for Complex Decision-Making,” which is required when there is no obvious choice, when any among several possible decisions creates different, unique sets of new problems,…
Twice since last Thursday, the same snippet of conversation has happened to me, prompted by the question, “So what do you do?” After explaining that my primary occupation is an Executive, Leadership, and Career Transition Coach, and I do organization culture work, I also toss in, “…and I also teach dance at Bloor and Spadina…
It’s an old joke from Borscht Belt comedians. A man comes to the rabbi and asks, “Rabbi, is it true that a man and a woman dancing together is forbidden?” The rabbi responds rather vehemently, “Yes, of course. It is forbidden for a man and a woman to dance together.” The man goes on to…
Today, I spoke with a client who had attended my Performance Management workshop last week. The seminar asks participants to describe the attributes, behaviours, and characteristics of a “team at its best” and then proceeds to derive the ways in which that team can be created using new approaches to acknowledgement, dealing with problems, reviewing…
I’m involved in an interesting project in my practice that involves analyzing interviews with an organization’s leadership team. The purpose is to inform the thinking for a possible market repositioning exercise for one of the client’s main brands. There are several consultant groups involved (along with the obligatory, complicated political wrangling), as well as many…
When I work with a client in my coaching practice, my primary tool is Deep Listening. You might think this is self-evident: if you’re a coach or working in any other therapeutic profession where meaningful conversation is the foundation of the practice, the ability to listen deeply is pretty much all you have. Similarly, a…
Marina had to be in Vancouver last week for work, so we decided to make a family trip of it, and have the long weekend on the west coast. As luck would have it, there were two family events happening over the weekend, so we were able to participate with the extended family who live…
This being the week after Mother’s Day, almost everyone is coming down from the sometimes-obligatory, sometimes-authentic, sometimes-happy, sometimes-weepy commemoration and honouring of mothers. For many, it can be a day of very mixed feelings depending on one’s relationship with the various mothers in one’s life, and certainly a day of remembrance for those whose mothers…
I’m off for a quick trip to Montreal to do a one-day facilitation on Individual Contributor Leadership. The idea of the session is, what can individuals in an organization learn from leadership principles that will enhance their ability to productively contribute to their organization’s success? I’m working with people who do not have a legitimated…