Free Coaching Resources

Learn to Ask Yourself Tough Questions

Have you heard of ‘self-coaching’? A previous coaching client sent me this article and said “Thank you so much for helping me ask the tough questions”. 

If you don’t have a coach who can ask you the tough questions, you might like to take a look at this list of 50 Tough Questions You Never Ask Yourself, But Should and give self-coaching a go.

Take the Time to Reflect

Narrative is a way of making sense of our experiences. Through the insights in your writing, it can also help you find purpose and meaning, or gain perspective and clarity.

A commitment to ongoing reflection and introspection (whether this is with a coach, on your own, or ideally a combination of both) is what creates deeper level insights that can lead you to make meaningful change in your life.

If you have a coach, it is extremely useful to spend some time reflecting on the issues that arise in each session and capture any key insights or learnings. You might also consider journaling your reflections so you can review your growth over time.

This Reflection Calendar, created by David Peterson, provides some great prompts that can help you with your reflections daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly/annually/etc. 

Develop an Action Plan

As a coach, I can help you develop an action plan. 

If you want to get started on your own, here are 10 things to think about when developing an action plan:

  1. What do you want to achieve?
  2. What is it you intend to do?
  3. What do you expect to gain from this?
  4. What are forces for and against your plan?
  5. Who are the key people in your plan? Why?
  6. Are there costs associated with your plan?
  7. What are the key dates of your plan?
  8. What would you need to see half way through your plan to be sure of reaching your target?
  9. How and when can you measure results?
  10. How will you evaluate your learnings from this plan?

Invest some time in continous learning

I love to read. I’m subscribed to many academic journals on leadership and management and I am always on the lookout for practical, current and relevant resources to help the leaders I am working with, like this McKinsey article on the Mindsets and Practices of Excellent Leaders.

I am also a podcast junkie! If you are my coaching client, I will recommend podcasts you might find useful. One of my favourites (there are many, many more) is ‘Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques’. In this episode the host discusses how to embrace failure.

When we work together I will also send you links to relevant videos that I believe will help you to make progress with your coaching goals. For example:

How to Lead in a Crisis is a 4 minute video by Amy Edmondson with some great tips on how to lead your organisation forward using your ‘values compass’.

Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader – a 20 minute talk by Herminia Ibarra, where she outlines how managers and executives at all levels can step up to leadership by making small but crucial changes in themselves.

What it Takes to be a Great Leader by Roselinde Torres. Roselinde spent nearly three decades observing great leaders and in this 8 minute TED talk she breaks down what does and doesn’t work for leaders in the 21st century.

The boss factor: Making the world a better place through workplace relationships – an article about the critical role that managers play in employee well-being and organizational health. 

The boss factor: Making the world a better place through workplace relationships .