Articles

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17 Aug 2016Coaching2 min read

Facilitation using Ritual Dissent

I recently read Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed. In the book one of the topics Matthew explores is brainstorming. He talks about how an idea should be exposed to lively debate and challenge in order to refine the idea. Here is an extract from the book:Perhaps the most graphic way to glimpse the responsive nature of creativity is to consider an experiment by Charlan Nemeth, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and her colleagues. She took 265 female undergraduates and rand

12 Aug 2016Coaching1 min read

Are you really Coaching?

I recently read “Brilliant Coaching” by Julie Starr. The book explores practical ways you can apply Coaching in the workplace. She provides great examples of how you can apply a Coaching style moving from Directive leadership to empowering others(Self Directed)In the book, Julie presents a model; the Scale of Influence. This can be used as a model to build self-awareness in your Coaching conversations.Scale of Influence: Brilliant Coaching, Julie StarrIn a Coaching conversation, we may use diffe

1 Aug 2016Coaching2 min read

5 Best Life Coaching Books

Here are the 5 best books that have influenced my professional coaching. These books are essential for anyone training to be a life coach or experienced professional coaches looking for ideas.

25 May 2016Agile4 min read

How to do Example Mapping

A few months ago i came across Matt Wynne’s post about Example Mapping on the cucumber blog. During XP2016 I attended Matt’s Example Mapping workshop. I’ve been using the technique with teams for a few months now. This post will share what Example Mapping is and some of the experiences i’ve had using it.What is Example Mapping?Here is the process taken from the Cucumber blog:Example Mapping uses a pack of 4-coloured index cards and some pens to capture these different types of information as the

11 May 2016Coaching3 min read

When to Coach and When to Mentor

Until recently I hadn’t thought much about the differences between Coaching and Mentoring. I’ve come to learn there are big differences and most recently started thinking about: When to Coach and When to Mentor?What is Coaching?The definition I've been using most recently is from Timothy Gallway:“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”What is Mentoring?In my research for a sound definition i came across

31 Mar 2016Coaching3 min read

Agile Coaching Exchange – Kim Morgan

This week I attended Agile Coaching Exchange meet up in London. The guest speaker for the evening was Kim Morgan of Barefoot Coaching who is co-author of “The Coach’s Casebook: Mastering The Twelve Traits That Trap Us”Kim Morgan & principles of #coaching at #acelon #scrum pic.twitter.com/OJFmTEvRWa
— Helen Meek (@Helen_J_Meek) March 30, 2016Principles of CoachingKim introduced us to some of the Key Principles of Coaching:1. Listening to ignite the human mind2. Presupposing success3. Leveraging M

13 Jan 2016Personal Productivity3 min read

Are you a Super Recogniser?

In 2015 I made a discovery; I have a super power. Unfortunately it’s not the power of invisibility, the power of ultimate strength or the power to fly. Actually, it’s not really a Super Power but if you’ll let me indulge, it does have Super in the name. My power is “Super Recognition”Super Recognisers are the people who quite literally never forget a face, in possession of an extraordinary ability to recognise men, women and children they barely know.
Dr Josh Davis, a forensic facial identificat

15 Nov 2015Agile3 min read

How to have successful conversations

Successful conversations are central to agile teams. As it states in the Agile manifesto:“Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”With this emphasis it is no surprise that many of the agile approaches adopted by teams today focus on enabling successful conversations:User Stories – “3 C’s – Card, Conversation, Confirmation.” Ron JeffriesBehaviour Driven Development(BDD) – “The single most important part of BDD is the conversation.” Liz KeoghThree Amigos – “Conversations between the