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Coaching. Refined

Geir Isene 41 Comments

I am continually simplifying and refining how I coach people.

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Here’s a HyperList that sums up my current approach:

0. Be direct in the coaching. Speak your mind. Always
1. Ensure the person realizes that he is creating all his thoughts and emotions
      This will enable him to take full responsibility for what goes on in his mind
      It will help him to not blame others for what he himself is responsible for
2. Ensure the person is able to be fully mentally present
      Get the person to read “Mental training – The core”
      Train the person to be “here & now”
3. Establish the person’s “Two lengths of the pool” (2LP)
      Assess his strengths and weaknesses in accomplishing his 2LP
4. Do what it takes to help the person accomplish his 2LP
      There are several tools that can help, such as:
            Unburdening stress and exercize liking everything
            Failing and learning more
            Stop it!

Or the short form:

Realizing he is creating all his thoughts and emotions
Exercize mental presence
Establish his 2LP
Accomplish the 2LP

Appreciating differences

Geir Isene 26 Comments

Last week I did a really fun job up in the north of Norway. Together with a group of 20 people from Nordland County Council, we crafted their new communications strategy. Norway is divided into 19 counties, and Nordland is the second biggest. The task at hand was to create the core of their 4 year communications strategy in 12 hours.

The only way to achieve this was to attack the task with radical simplicity. And the result was a three word sentence backed up with a set of 12 simple questions with short and to-the-point answers.

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What puzzled me was how strikingly smooth the session went. And so I asked the group at the end. Their answer: “We have a great appreciation for differences”. An excellent answer – because it’s not enough to tolerate differences in a group, you have to really appreciate differences. You have to get a positive kick out of other people’s views and opinions. That’s when you get a group who forge new realities. And so we did.

What was those three words? Check out the video and figure out the Norwegian 🙂

Creating the road as you walk upon it

Geir Isene 3 Comments

This is a direct copy of Ed’s latest blog post. I wholeheartedly agree:

“Many people have clear goals. These people often will write down there goals, then break them down into sub-goals and actions necessary to achieve those goals. They then draw a long line between where they are now and where they want to be. And, as anyone who has had basic geography can tell you, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Detours only make the journey longer and less efficient. So, the argument goes, the best way to achieve your goals is to make a clear plan; a linear plan, moving daily one step closer down the long straight line toward your goals.

Now, while this may be an excellent way for many people to live a fulfilled life, I’ve not found this method to be most suitable for me. Rather I have taken another approach; a non-linear one. I wander around and collect new experiences. I seldom walk in a straight line for any length of time. I detour often. And as I do this I’m awake to the opportunity to accumulate and learn numerous new skills, attitudes, ideas, ways of viewing things, approaches, etc. Then after some time I stop up for a while and assess where I’ve been and what I’ve learned. I look ahead to see if any new challenges might match the new skills, etc I’ve acquired. Then I take a hop in that direction and start accumulating new experiences in that general area.

The road is created as I walk on it. This is probably not the best method for everyone, but maybe for some? Let me know what you think 🙂 ”

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Gall’s law

Geir Isene 13 Comments

This needs wider recognition:

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system.”

From Gall’s Law on Wikipedia.

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Thanks to Geir & Jonas @ Telemark Fylkeskommune for bringing this law to my attention.

Ed’s blog

Geir Isene 2 Comments

Brendan had a meeting with an interesting guy. Ed.

Ed has amazing experiences to share. But he didn’t think sharing them was worth it.

In keeping with our direct coaching approach, Brendan challenged Ed to do 100 days of blogging. Not necessarily for his own benefit, but because he could inspire others by sharing his awesome. I think Ed will find great value in doing so.

Ed writes well. His blog is a great read. And he’s only at day 8.

Head on over to Ed’s, leave a comment or two and let him know he has an audience:

edbrownweb.wordpress.com

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Mental training – The core

Geir Isene 41 Comments

Our second OnePageBook™ cuts straight to the core of mental training:
The art of being present.

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Dropping the long explanations and anecdotes. Cutting through the bull. You get the method straight – in a just a few minutes.

This book covers the mental training that helped Tiril Eckhoff become the World Champion in Biathlon last month. Take a close look at Tiril when she hits all five targets in her last shooting – her presence and focus is remarkable. This is the run where she took home the gold medal:

The training described in this book will benefit anyone. It is a simpler and more agile way of training to be mentally present than you will find anywhere else. This will help you focus. This will relieve stress. It will help you get down to the very basic: You… here and now.

Available on Amazon

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Organization – The simple way (a OnePageBook)

Geir Isene 19 Comments

Usually after having read a 200+ pages book, I wish there was a one page summary I could have read instead.

As Thomas Jefferson once said:
“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”

Brendan and myself decided to start condensing our concepts into OnePageBooks. First out is “Organization – The simple way”. In just one A4 page you will get a destilled model and how-to for building organizations.

Available on Amazon

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Fail more

Geir Isene 9 Comments

I just updated my LinkedIn summary. Here’s the new intro:

Geir Isene – Helping people fail

In order to improve, you need to succeed and learn from your successes. But you can learn even more from your failures. Don’t let your striving for success, doing your best and finding the perfect solution stop you from trying and failing and learning even more. Fear of failing can be the biggest obstacle to advancement. You should habitually go outside your comfort zone. Allowing yourself to fail is not enough. Actually failing is required. I help people fail.

Here is one take on why:

Leadership

Geir Isene 14 Comments

It’s so prevalent that it is taken for granted – the need for management, for leadership.

I believe the reason why people would need a boss… is because they had a boss. And having a boss dulls your ability to think for yourself, your initiative takes a hit and your creativity gets blunted. Management normally inspires indecision and dependence on management – simply because everyone wants to be valuable. A manager wants to be valuable as a manager. Hence he manages. And through that managing, he directs and motivates. And the people underneath him directs less and self-motivate less.

A few days ago I attended a meeting where the boss insisted that “everyone needs a boss“. I disagreed of course, leading to a moment of confusion. I rocked a fixed idea. Such “obvious” foundations are seldom challenged and often simply accepted without any questioning.

Your skills increase with practice, and your skills decrease with lack of practice. Having a boss that tells you what to do decreases your decision skills. Having a boss that motivates you decreases your self-motivation skills. And that is on a good day. It becomes even worse if you have a bad boss.

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But I would maintain that no boss is better than a good boss. Which is why my goal as a father is that when my children reach the age of 18, they would never again need a boss.