No-Cost Ways to Develop People

As the economy swirls downward, the needs of our staff don't go away just because we don't have the same travel or training budget as last year. This month, I offer four no-cost ways to develop others who live around the world.

1. Focus and Cast Vision
2. Provide Stimulating Resources
3. Coach over Skype
4. Create a TeleClass

For details, read the whole article. Add you comment below.

Coaching from the Road

This summer I'm in the Seattle area for my family's every-two-years visit. So I'm coaching from the road. Here's a few observations:

Don't use your travel as an excuse. Honor your clients by not making excuses for poor connection or background distractions or postponements.

Schedule your coaching appointments all in a row. Last Thursday I coached 5 people in Asia from 5pm to 11pm with 15 mins between calls. Because they were all one evening, I wasn't distracted the rest of week by appointments, nor did I forget any. This summer I'm basically coaching Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings. My clients were happy to accommodate my limited schedule.

Pay careful attention to timezones, and set according to the client's timezone. Try inputing all your coaching sessions on your computer's calendar with a timezone attached to the event. The calendar then adjusts the time to your local time. When your local time changes the appointment slides to a new time accordingly. The website www.timeanddate.com can also help.

Check out ahead of time your way of connecting (phone, Skype, etc) and make sure your clients know how you'll connect. Or figure it out once you get to your destination and email your clients if there are any changes.

Transition between other things you're doing and your coaching. Take a few minutes before hand to center yourself, pray, and be fully present. Rather than allowing your travel or new location being a distraction, tap into what the new environment stimulates in you during your coaching and use that.

Enjoy your travel and your coaching!

The Focus of Coaching Over the Phone

I've noticed that coaching over the telephone (or Skype if it's a good connection) brings a focus to the conversation that in-person coaching doesn't.

A coaching session on the phone is focused more fully on the client's needs and agenda, and less on the social requirements of meeting together. For one, you can cut the socially required 30 mins of small talk prior to and after an in-person coaching appointment. Instead, replacing it with what the coachee, not society, really needs. A busy schedule keeps many coaches and clients from pursuing face to face meetings. It takes time to travel to meet, and time to get ready. Many more people will commit to coaching if it's just a twice a month one hour call.

But is telephone coaching as good as in-person?

Better, says an article in today's International Herald Tribune. It says, "The late Canadian media guru Marshall McLuhan said that radio is a "hot" medium, whereas television is a "cool" medium, meaning that radio, like the telephone, forces you to focus entirely on the voice, the spoken word, making them much more intimate. You can acquire more information in listening to what people are saying and how they're saying it, than searching for visual clues."

I also find that I'm less distracted in my office using the phone (if I've turned off my email program like a good coach) than if I'm meeting somewhere outside.

What's your experience? Comment here.