Coaching: nothing to do with carrots and sticks

Posted on December 22, 2010 
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As a coach, you can put away your carrots and sticks.

There is evidence that intrinsic motivation, which my financial history proves always works with me, is stronger than extrinsic motivation. Dan Pink gives a hyper and evidence based TED Talk that strongly argues that the carrot and stick methods get results for left brain routine work that is easily managed through old-fashioned compliance but fails to get people to success in right brain conceptual work where as he puts it the “rules are mystifying” and the “solutions are not obvious”.

Really, he said that, just watch and listen.

Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation

Reflective thought today: For organizations, and yes I do mean libraries, that are poised on the brink of the future, and are not certain if they are going to fail or succeed, now is the time to stop failing to motivate the bright thinkers, leaders and creative types with carrots and sticks – give them support and use coaching rather than compliance management and the rewards won’t just be theirs but the entire organization’s.

Coaching workshop for managers

Posted on December 22, 2010 
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This is not a lazy post – it is a concise and thought provoking post.

Train managers on coaching – even if they chose not to use one of the available proven frameworks.

It will be worth it in the upskilling of their management and leadership abilities.

Reflective thought today: That was it.

Advice for tomorrow – must remove myself from Seth Godin’s FeedBlitz as he seems to be influencing my writing.

The coach as the non-expert

Posted on December 22, 2010 
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Why do I like learning about coaching as a style of facilitation? I have many reasons, but one that has been jumping out at me in my readings and discussions is that I don’t need to be the expert.

In fact, I am starting to think that a couple of strengths that I can bring to coaching is my comfort with not knowing and a habit left over from childhood, where apparently I was extremely annoying, of asking too many questions. In coaching, it is the asking of questions, sometimes at this point in learning, rather formulaic and rehearsed questions, to engage the coachee in revealing for themselves their innate knowledge and expertise that I really enjoy. In this way the coachee (I think I’m starting to dislike the word “coachee”) finds solutions, and learns a process to finding solutions, that is meaningful and useful for the rest of their career.

Don’t get me wrong about not being an expert. As a librarian manager, with years spent as a non-professional and professional on the public service desk thinking, and yes even chatting, about managers who I was certain didn’t know anything about library work, I do know how libraries function and are managed, both in the real world and in my imaginary world (won’t get into that one here), but I don’t know how a particular challenge presents itself to a coachee, or what it is that that individual can bring to the challenge, and I most certainly do not know what the best solution is out of a myriad of possibilities (even if I think I do). But I do know that with the right questions, some trust, and mutual responsibility for moving the organization forward, it is possible to help others find their own expertise.

Reflective thought today: The coaching method, when used appropriately, fits in well with my professional development goals as a manager, which include supporting staff to be and feel successful while working within the organizational needs of the library. For this to work, I need to be comfortable as a manager in not promoting myself as the constant expert while being responsible to the well being of the organization. To put it another way, while I don’t need to be an expert on the coachee’s particular situation, I do need to be knowledgeable of, and responsible to, the organization’s values, goals, policies, and directions, and to mediate, as a manager, when the coachee is not taking responsibility with finding their expertise within that framework.

I like that; a responsible and informed non-expert!

Coaching lessons

Posted on December 22, 2010 
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I have been fortunate to learn from and discuss coaching with Shana Ring, from Insightful Coaching and Consulting here in Regina.

On her website Shana has the following answer to “What does a Coach do?”

The Coach ….

I have recently learned that a coach does not…

It would be an easy and pleasurable post to discuss the list of what a coach does, but today I’m more interested in a brief look at my recent (so recent they still smart!) lessons in what a coach does not do.

The first lesson:

The phone rings and from the other end I hear “Barbara I need to you to listen to what I have to say – but don’t tell me what to do. I know that you are always ready to work on solutions, but this time I need you to listen and let me work through to my solutions”.

Well the message wasn’t completely horrendous; at least the caller felt that they could trust me to accept and support what they needed from me, and I did immediately clamp up (well after I said something incoherent about I’m listening blah blah, let me know what you need from me blah blah), but none-the-less it was a very clear message that I need to be aware, as a manager, as to what are coaching moments and what are moments that I need to give direction.

And the second lesson:

Well to be honest, this is a lesson in progress; I find it a challenge to discuss the accountabilities and responsibilities of others. I am getting better at it, but I have had to make it into a bit of trick on myself in that I make it my accountability and responsibility to discuss responsibilities and accountabilities when doing any of the above that a coach is supposed to do. It seems to me that it just isn’t possible for a coachee to have personal transformation and behaviour change without accountability and responsibility for the change. I am learning to say things such as “so when we get together next week what do you expect to have done” or “how would you know if this was successful – what do you expect to see as a result of what you are going to do?” and then to close the conversation with a recap of what is going to be done and that we will follow-up on it next time we talk. And of course that’s only the first part – the follow up conversation is easy when the coachee has taken responsibility for acting on or changing something (even if it didn’t turn out to be the expected success), but it isn’t fun when the follow-up conversation reveals a lack of responsibility taken by the coachee or if the coachee avoids being accountable for their actions or lack of action. I am hoping that a direct and non-judgmental approach, if not popular in the moment, at least should not break the trust of the relationship.

Reflective thought today:
Keep close track of those things that I do and should not do – they are just as important as the things that I do and should do. Well, only if I continue to learn from them that is.

And yes, I am aware that answering the phone with “Hello, I’m listening” would not be the most original of lines.

Managers as Coaches?

Posted on December 22, 2010 
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Yes.

But maybe not always.

To be in a coaching moment is to be totally in the other person’s corner. Its about facilitating that individual’s authentic growth, their creativity, their ability to find solutions, set goals, develop strategies, commit, and self-assess. Its about focusing on that individual’s needs by observing, asking questions, listening, encouraging, and most importantly believing that the individual is worth the time, effort, and support to achieve success. Its about supporting, for that individual, healthy work relationships, competencies, and the necessary work skills.

And management is about the whole organization and the community it serves. Sometimes that means not being in an individual’s corner.

The two aren’t in conflict, as long as it is clear as to what is a coaching moment within the context of managing.

Reflective thought today: Coaching is a tool, I would say one of the most important tools we have today for improving our organizations, but as with all tools it needs to be used for the right task. As well, it should be a transparent tool, as in no one, not the manager/coach and most certainly not the staff member, should be in any doubt as to what is a coaching moment and what is not.

Coaching coast to coast to coast

Posted on December 22, 2010 
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Since early summer I have been trying to track down other librarians, who are interested in what coaching can bring to libraries. Coaching has the possibility to help the library profession and libraries through the changes (I hope/assume that you are working in the midst of change) that we are facing. Given my belief in that, I’m curious about what is happening in libraries throughout Canada. I want to know of success stories, best practices, evidence of desired outcomes being achieved (such as organizational alignment) and any challenges that coaching practitioners have faced in libraries.

I’ve used provincial (BC, ON, and SK) and national listservs, direct calling, asking who knows anybody who is interested and then while I was reviewing my coaching notes an obvious name jumped out – Margaret Macmillan. There was her name on my notes from the EI session “Connect with Coaching – A New Way to Engage and Energize Staff”.

Big smack to the forehead and a quick email to Margaret and the network has begun!

Reflective thought today: I don’t think that it is enough for there to be one person, or one organization, learning coaching as a method for staff development in libraries. There is potential for this method to transform staff development in libraries and the larger the conversation (you know coast to coast to coast) the larger the impact on our libraries.

Give me a shout.

Coaching: A Literature Review (Well not really, but it was supposed to be one)

Posted on December 22, 2010 
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So, I thought I’d check out the literature on workplace coaching. After all, I am a librarian and we are trained to review the literature, to see what knowledge exists that can inform a decision, a proposal, a way of doing things, or in this case an exploration of the dark and seedy side of “new think”.

That’s right, your read it here, the dark and seedy side of the ‘new think” called coaching.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a strong proponent of coaching staff; I have taken coaching workshops, I review coaching tips before going into what I know may be a difficult conversation, I am actively seeking the formation of a coaching in libraries network, and I work to make coaching part of my own organization.

But I am very wary of what I learned in my lit review.

What I learned is that this is a growth industry with a voracious profit margin that is after your organization’s money. I read great stuff: stories of staff growth and increased satisfaction with work, stories of a kinder more supportive management style, stories of warm fuzzy returns-on-investment as everybody started coaching everybody at work, at home, and at the local hockey rink. I even read about how the industrial revolution is no longer in demise as coaching at Bob’s Sweat Shop and Cotton Mill has increased widget production and on the shop floor smiles while decreasing staff sick time and the habit of those slippery wrenches to fall in the machinery.

Okay that last one was silly. But honestly, from my lit review I learned that coaching is a valuable method that I firmly believe will improve a library’s ability to supervise and support its people to achieve an alignment with the organization’s goals and principles and overall success for the community it serves.

But it is also an industry filled with consultants, authors on tour, and trademarked frameworks, that will see us coming from a mile away if we don’t take control of what coaching means in our libraries.

So reflective thought today: We need coaching in our libraries, but we need to be smart about and not let the dark and seedy side of a profit driven industry lead us down a path of consultants on retainer, useless books that are emotionally driven rather than evidence based, and author/experts/charming entertainers who lead us to believe that it is all as easy as they say it is.

More to come this fall as I explore coaching at the library.

How coaching works: a short video

Posted on August 25, 2010 
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I needed a change at the end of the day – no more reading, talking, or writing.

And so I’m watching this ( I think you have to watch the video so you know what I’m talking about. )

And thinking, oh I know about this, and this, and this and then this – not so much:

Imagine a successful you.

Imagine a successful you?

What if I, you, the fellow in the next cubicle, the bright but stalled librarian at the desk can’t imagine a successful self?

What if the language we are hearing and saying doesn’t paint a clear picture of success?

The following words, pulled from the Partnership Job Board, describe successful candidates: energetic, dynamic, innovative, flexible, professional, visionary, strategic, inspirational, effective, collaborative, responsive, enthusiastic, and proactive.

We use these words but can we, and do we, demonstrate their meaning in a way that is not only understood but has the possibility of becoming a shared approach?

This has given me much to think about.

And to think I could have watched the Muppets and Dizzy Gillespie.

Babysitting, washrooms, and obscurity

Posted on July 11, 2009 
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I’m not sure how I stumbled onto this (it may be through the DearReader.com Online Book Clubs that sends me 5 minutes of business reading each day – I think it supposed to encourage me to read more) but anyhow from Harvard Business Publishing I ran across the spot Measuring The Big Shift which in a very small part reads:

Companies must move beyond their fixation on getting bigger and more cost-effective to make the institutional innovations necessary to accelerate performance improvement as they add participants to their ecosystems, expanding learning and innovation in collaboration curves and creation spaces. Companies must move, in other words, from scalable efficiency to scalable learning and performance. Only then will they make the most of our new era’s fast-moving digital infrastructure.

Ooooooh. Once that juicy little bit is parsed out, it actually makes sense for libraries.

I know we actually don’t have a fixation on being cost effective – if we did many of our colleagues working as consultants or for big vendors would be out of work (meeeow) but we do have some unhealthy fixations with expansion (I didn’t say Second Life – did you say Second Life?) instead of making truly “institutional innovations” through reorganizing staff and other necessary resources for meeting community needs effectively. We add “participants” (well sorry not those of you with hiring freezes) and rarely think of performance improvement, never mind connecting learning to performance.

And no amount of monies spent on lobbying and advocacy is going to help us out of this self-designed obscurity. The world of information is moving fast, and we aren’t the information leaders. In fact we are barely keeping up.

While having these thoughts I had the pleasure of attending the 2009 Public Knowledge Project Conference key note speaker John Willinsky on why learning is a different type of intellectual property from say writing a song or a novel as there is a long standing tradition of scholarship and universities operating outside of the regular economy. Most importantly, economically, is that the nature of scholarship is that it’s true value is only realized when it is shared. Naturally he was expounding on the importance of open access and naturally I spun it into the importance of research and scholarship to the good management of libraries.

If we need to be learning organizations for our very survival, and if we think that librarians actually have a role in managing libraries, how is it that we have managed to become so fearful of research and scholarship? At least the academic librarians and many special librarians are openly struggling with it. Most of my colleagues in public librarianship will have nothing to do with it (as in the recent letter I received from a library school student who loves the learning atmosphere at the university library, but wants to enter public librarianship so she doesn’t have to do research or publish ??!!)

So there I am sitting in the Wosk Centre for Dialogue surrounded by folks involved in scholarship journals – editors, writers, academic and special librarians and it was like this year’s kick to the stomach at the Canadian Library Association conference – public librarians were noticeably absent from the discussion.

How much of a problem is it that public librarians don’t, in general, engage in scholarship? How can we be learning organizations without having the practice of formulating hypotheses/queries, researching/investigating and assessment?

And if we are not learning organizations, are we just housing materials, babysitting kids, and providing free washrooms and internet to the people?

The writing is on the wall

Posted on May 10, 2009 
Filed Under Managing Environments | 2 Comments

In Saturday May 9th’s Globe & Mail there is a “Blueprint for Prosperity” by Tavia Grant. She outlines 3 building design themes that successful organizations have adopted or will adopt: Going Green, Close Quareters, and Lifespaces. Going Green is pretty straight forward, it’s the latter two that I think might be a bit more of a challenge for libraries.

If you didn’t click through and read the brief article, or listen to her podcast, I’ll give you the quick notes. She attributes increased innovation and communication to close quarters. Google Inc. uses open floor plans, desks arranged in pods, and gatherings over free lunches in the cafeterias as a way to bring people and ideas together.

Lifespaces, are “versatile, comfortable and homey public spaces” or “community hubs” and can be found at companies such as MediaCom canada’s Toronto office which includes “an airy, open-concept bistro” where people from different departments can meet in a common area promoting better communications, an exciting atmosphere, and increased productivity.

It’s very exciting to think about some of these ideas as our libraries, particularly our regional headquarters and central libraries, try to reimagine their physical public spaces to better serve our communities. Unfortunately I haven’t heard many library discussions about redesigning work areas so we serve our communities better – I’m sure they are happening, just not very loudly.

Well I do run across the occasional library reference to work areas, Stephen Abrahm shared a great product in his post Cool Paint.

Use IdeaPaint to transform office walls, desks, and hallways into collaborative spaces. With IdeaPaint, work environments become areas of increased functionality that evoke creativity and impromptu teamwork and cultivate innovation by providing a dry-erase writing surface without seams, borders, or restrictions. IdeaPaint can be used in a myriad of ways including in open work areas, conference rooms, offices, hallways, and even on columns.

I’m so keen on it I’m going to use it at home – not sure for what. I just like the idea of writing big and messy all over the wall and then wiping it clean!

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