Beyond Possibility

Custom Workshops / Webinars Available

We have had a few inquiries regarding Private Group workshops and YES!  we do these. We are happy to accommodate a group of 8 or more with their own private customized sessions.  This can be either based around the Coaching Clinic as a whole or the Coaching Conversation model.  Contact Donna for details ... donna@beyondpossibility.com .

Fall Webinar Series to start October 13th

The Fall 2010 Advisors as Coaches webinar series is starting Oct 13th.  Where did the summer go?  We are excited to bring to the Advisor Community the Coaching Conversation model workshop plus more including how to have Difficult Conversations.  Fall is a great time for change. We will teach you techniques and a model to follow to ensure that you are really listening to your clients and understanding their needs.  The beginning of longlasting, sustainable relationships.

All it takes is 8 one hour sessions and you could earn CE credits as the webinar includes coaching practice sessions to ensure you have the skills mastered.

Sign up now!

Advisors as Coaches Registration Form Fall (77.6K)

Advisors as Coaches Spring and Fall webinar series announced

Don't miss signing up for the Spring or  Fall 2010 Advisors as Coaches webinar series.  We bring to you the Coaching Conversation model workshop plus more including how to have Difficult Conversations.  Now is the time to transform the way you communicate with your clients to transform those relationships.

All it takes is 8 one hour sessions and you could earn up to 12 CE credits as the webinar includes coaching practice sessions to ensure you have the skills mastered.

Sign up now as our Spring Course starts May 12.

Download Advisors as Coaches Registration Form

Let's Make it a Webinar!!

Donna and Janet decided that we should consider offering the Coaching Clinic in a webinar format to expand the reach and to offer all the benefits and flexibility that a webinar format offers.

Once they started reviewing the modules they discovered that a webinar format would offer so much more in terms of flexibility, being able to cater more easily to the audience as the weeks progressed and make the course theirs. 

We set to work over the past 8 months and are now able to offer the entire coaching Clinic as a webinar or subsets thereof and cater it to our audience easily and efficiently!!  More ways to deliver the  skills of coaching to enhance relationships whether it be for managers, advisors, consultants, parents!!!

We are excited to offer a Spring and Fall 2010 webinar series to Advisors on the Coaching Conversation model and all of its elements.

Recent Coaching Clinics

Recent Coaching Clinics – January 09,

Thunder Bay

Donna, Janet and Bill are just back from delivering a program to a 21 person in tact team of ServiceOntario. 

Live and post course evaluations confirm that the program was extremely well received, with repeated comments attesting to the real value of the 7 practical coaching sessions, conducted over the two days, “… the coaching practice was the best.”

There are two keys to successful back at work adoption of any new learning.  The first is the participation and personal endorsement of senior leadership.  Second, is a formalized process of support and practiced application when participants return to their real world.  Leadership, committed to make a change ensures the former and the Coaching Clinic provides the framework and tools to facilitate the latter. It is our observation that both these factors are abundantly in place in Thunder Bay.

 

Beyond Possibility is confident, with leadership’s sustained involvement and support that this new style of communication will stick and reap improved business and interpersonal results, within this unit of the Ontario Provincial Government.

How effective is the communication within your team?  Is it emotionally charged or calming and constructive?  Is the environment trusting and forgiving or does “what’s wrong” get all the air space?  Do your team members comfortably speak to “as it is” or do they retreat to silence and fly under the radar?  How does Feedback work in your workplace? Does it occur at all?

It is the contention of Beyond Possibility that in operating environments where leadership’s intentions are clear, where language is non judgemental or accusatory, that relationships grow stronger.  With more effective dialogue, trust is built and as a result the team grows stronger and results get better.  How’s your team doing?  Consider the Coaching Clinic as real business application to improve your team’s performance.  

Listening on the Endangered Species List!

Newsflash!

 

“Listening has today been added to the Endangered Species List”

 

There is an increasingly critical shortage of real listening in our society!  In the fast paced, emotionally laden, reactive world that we live in, the art of listening is in increasing peril of extinction. 

 

The steady and persistent pace of “change”, coupled with the growth and our increased dependence on new technologies, are taking their toll on our ability to focus intently on what is being said.  Then there is the literal onslaught of information, coming at us from every direction and in unprecedented volumes.  These factors are serving to impair the effectiveness of two way communication. 

 

So much is running through our minds, that in the simplest of conversations, we find our thinking cluttered with the noise of upcoming meetings and pressing/overdue “to do’s”.  So time pressed are we that when the others speak, the little man in our head is busy formulating our rebuttal, instead of honoring and building on the opinions being expressed. 

 

A few facts:

1) In the 1980’s, studies conducted confirmed that leaders understood some 60% -75% of the work performed by their direct reports.  They were expected to have all the answers. What is it today?  Well it’s between 15% -25%.  Fundamentally there is a lot more information out there and it is available to everyone.  Broadened spans of control and flattened organizations have made the task of staying on top of all the information much more daunting.

           

2) If you look at how a work day plays out proportionately, time is spent as follows:

            - Listening   45%

            - Speaking    30%

            - Reading     16%        

            - Writing        9%

Ask yourself how much education and training you’ve had in Writing?  … well it’s years worth, since and throughout primary and secondary schools. 

Reading

?  Ditto.  Speaking, well most have received some training on what you do in front of an audience.  How much training, how many courses have you been on, on Listening?  Did any hands go up?

 

3) More people to manage, with just as much, if not more responsibility, is the mantra of the day.  It’s not like the problems and required solutions are getting any easier.  It makes sense that we need to be more collaborative and to do so means to seek out and listen to the input of others.  But how are we doing at listening?  The reality – you can’t ask good questions, if you’re not really listening!  How can you make good decisions if the questions you ask don’t arm you with facts about the real issues?

 

4) People who are listened to feel valued.   People who are valued, thrive!  No “yeah buts” here, acknowledge what they say and build on it.

 

So what are we to do to stave off the current impairment and potential extinction of this key skill of listening?

Ø     Remove the distractions.  Be present, … be completely with others.  Quiet the thinking or rebuttal of that little man in your head.

Ø     Listen contextually.  Not just to what is being said, but to the tone, to the body language, to the emotion.  It’s often what is not being said that carries the real meaning.

Ø     Use silence.  Give space to the person speaking.  Give them time to formulate their thoughts and replies.  As you listen deeply and provide such space, use silence for yourself.  Pause when the other finishes talking.  Take a moment and think about what you will say next. 

Ø     Ask and listen for what really matters to those you speak with.  This will bring out their values and the true meaning of what they believe.  Build on vs. debate what they say.  Acknowledge their contribution. 

 

Do your part to help save Listening from extinction.

Trust and the Professional Advisor

Stephen M. R Covey, author and son of the famed Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), says that

 

Trust =  Character + Competence

 

In his recent book “The Speed of Trust” he chronicles the distinctions between what constitutes Character, what constitutes Competence and where both are in play together.  The book is definitely worth the read and is recommended to all whose intent is to build long term and profitable relationships with their clients.

 

Regardless, when you think of Competence, knowledge in and of your field of expertise, isn’t that just table stakes?  Isn’t such Competence expected of you by all your prospects and clients, … that you will have the products and the acumen to support them optimize their satisfaction and return on investment.  It’s a crowded market place out there!  Every organization boasts that they possess the best products, but we all know that just isn’t so.  So what will distinguishes you from the crowd?  At Beyond Possibility, we profess that it’s the Character Component of Mr. Covey’s equation that makes the difference.

 

What is Character?  Character has three ingredients.

Intent: The genuine, authentic self that you portray at all times with your clients, where there is no doubt whatsoever, that their needs and interests are foremost in your mind.   

Words/Language: The non evaluative, non judgmental way that you listen deeply and ask powerful questions that get to the heart of what really matters most to your clients.

Relationships: There is no hidden agenda.  You speak openly, honestly and so do they.  The relationship strengthens to the point where the inevitable fluctuations that occur in markets will not shake the trust you have cultivated.

 

These components constitute Character and they result in Trust. 

Testimonials to the Coaching Clinic

The only way of finding the limits of the
possible is by going beyond them into the
impossible."
Arthur C. Clarke

 

Here's what those who have attended the Coaching Clinic are saying:

 

"Fantastic, you're building a culture of communication (here).  It was a great course."

 

"Overall, ... Fantastic!"

 

"The facilitators were very knowledgeable on the subject and made the course enjoyable"

 

"... well designed and well delivered course"

 

"I think that a very positive environment and approach resulted in a very successful session"

 

"It was a pleasure!"

 

"Great job, ... loved it!!  Hope to live some changes, thanks"

 

"I'd like to thank the facilitators for putting themselves out there to help support our change in approach"

 

"very professionally done.  The patient style of the facilitators forced introspection"

 

"By the end of day 2 I was tired, but the Coaching model and techniques are coming very smoothly, thank you."

 

"Great experience.  I would like to see this (program) integrated as part of our Corporate Management Program"

 

"Loved the program and I truly believe in this.  Facilitation was fantastic."

 

"Excellent", "Fantastic", "Overall a great experience", Enjoyed it, and would recommend".

Testimonials

Coaching Clinic™ Testimonials

“I am clear now about the power of the “coach-approach” for managers in today’s workplace. There is no doubt that using these skills will further develop the strengths of my team. I can't wait to introduce the Coaching Clinic to other managers at First Union and other clients in my network.”
Joan 0.Wright, VP Executive Leadership Development
New Leadership College, First Union Corporation

“The Coaching Clinic and Facilitator Licensing Programs are extremely effective in teaching the coaching skills required for individuals to immediately apply coaching in their work and personal environment and to bring coaching to corporations. The most powerful aspects of the program are the simplicity of the material, and the variety of ways used to deliver and reinforce the information. If you are looking to bring coaching to corporations, the clinic is a great place to start.”
Susan M Valdiserri, Sales and Competency Strategist, Coach and Facilitator IBM Sales Center of Excellence -High Performance Selling

“In our line of work, people tend to be stressed due to heavy travel schedules and shortened timelines for deliverables. Most of our consultants are subject matter experts, and communication is not a developed competency. Your workshop takes the mystique out of communication and coaching.”
Cynder Niemela, Consultant and Internal Coach Ernst and Young

“The Coaching Clinic has become the cornerstone training program for our Professional Business Advisor (PBA) development program. CCU has trained over 150 MEP senior consultants who serve small manufacturers throughout the United States. The coaching skills learned enable our PBAs to build strategic relationships with the CEO and executive team, and support the client to develop their own strategic road map for enterprise-wide transformation. Corporate Coach University plays an integral role in expanding our impact on small manufacturers by developing strategic relationships with client executives.”
Dan Pitkin, Strategic Management Services
National Institute of Standards & Technology, MEP

“The Coaching Clinic provided the essential link between coaching as a concept and coaching as an effective model for managing others. The Coaching Conversation and coaching skills overview and practices marked the beginning of a successful effort to develop a coaching culture at the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.”
Dan Stone, HRD Coach/Consultant US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration

“Most of FRA's managers have taken CCU's Coaching Clinic. In a traditionally command and control environment, for most, it was their first exposure to the concept of using a coach approach to supervision. During the Coaching Clinic, it was truly powerful to watch the managers communicate with one another in a way that they never had before, some tearing down barriers that had been there a long time. That experience demonstrated to them the effectiveness of incorporating coaching skills into their management style. This program has truly made a difference in the FRA.”
Brenda Mahaffey, Labor Relations, Employee Relations and Career Development Team Leader
US Federal Railroad Administration

“I used the Coaching Clinic to train our managers how to use coaching techniques. The Clinic is excellent, did not require customization and provided a solid model for our managers to build their coaching skills.”
Isa Campbell, Ph.D., Manager, Human Capital Management Division
US Federal Aviation Administration

Beyond Possibility presents The Coach Advantage: Learn How to Differentiate Yourself from your Competitors

3 Day Retreat for Financial Services Professionals, Oct 1-3, 2008 @ The Briars

Don't Miss this Opportunity to differentiate yourself, enhance or learn new coaching skills. build trust from the beginning, learn how to gain a deeper understanding of your clients' needs and the building blocks to developing longlasting relationships even in difficult times. The Coaching Clinic® will provide you with the skiils to make it happen!