Posts by Frances Shuster, PCC, M. Ed.
Curious and Interested – What Makes Them Different?
Of the 87 emotions Brené Brown names and explores in Atlas of the Heart, let’s take a closer look at the nuances between curiosity and interest. Here are Dr. Brown’s definitions: Interest is a cognitive openness to engaging with a topic or experience. Curiosity is recognizing a gap in our knowledge about something that interests…
Read MoreComing Through Emotional Storms
Spring storms! I left early for a work commitment to try to avoid predicted possibly heavy storms. My journey took me through periods of heavy rain, lightning and thunder and longer periods of calm. I think of this as a metaphor for life. There are times we try to avoid the emotional storms we predict…
Read MoreBeneath the Water Line
We use the iceberg as a metaphor for actions and behaviors that are seen above the surface, while thinking and emotions often remain beneath the surface—sometimes unseen and unexplored by others or even by ourselves. In thinking about the vast amount of uncertainty we have all experienced during the last two years, the emotions Brené…
Read MoreFive Disciplines of Team Coaching
Peter Hawkins, in his book, Leadership Team Coaching: Developing Collective Transformational Leadership, describes five disciplines that support a team coach to focus on the multiple relationships of the team. These relationships include the internal relationship among team members and the external relationship between the team as an entity and their stakeholders. The Five disciplines are:…
Read MoreEmploy Team Coaching for Sustainable Change
Almost every time we facilitate a Leadership Coaching for High Performance seminar, someone poses the question, “Can we use this with teams as well?” Our answer: “Of course. The same skills apply—the essential skills of committed listening, powerful paraphrasing, presuming positive intent, and reflective feedback.” However, there are some differences between individual coaching and team…
Read MoreKnowing What to Stop – Part II
In a recent coaching conversation, my client was seeking ways to respond quickly and positively when he felt attacked, and his immediate reaction was to become defensive. When something triggers us, our first instinct is to react, which often leads to words or actions we later regret. The wisdom literature tells us that between stimulus…
Read MoreKnowing What to STOP
Marshall Goldsmith, in What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, writes of 20 things to stop doing. Goldsmith quotes Peter Drucker, who says, “We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what…
Read MoreLooking Forward
There was something in the air today.I sensed it from a lone bird’s call.I heard it in the busy squirrels frolicking in the sunshine.I witnessed it in the lone purple violet peeking up from the frozen and dead yellowed leaves.I felt it in the gentle breeze blowing through my hair, loose and unencumbered.What is it?Slowly…
Read MoreThoughts for Uncertain Times
“In times of great change, the learners will inherit the Earth while those attached to old certainties will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” Eric Hoffer What is this time of uncertainty teaching us? Coach leaders are present and future focused. We are learners and hold a growth…
Read MoreLeadership in Uncertain Times Calls for Sharp Focus on Interpersonal Skills
If you were to take some time to list the attributes of the best leader you have ever experienced and then make a separate list of the attributes of the worst leader you have experienced, it is likely that interpersonal skills–or the lack of them—comprise a significant part of your list. Most likely, your list…
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