Height & Light Blog

Recently, I was on hand for a CEO's first day on the job. He steps in to lead a $400+ international consulting firm. He asked a small group of his senior people a very important question: Starting today, what do you think is most important for me to do over the next...

Do you ever wonder why, despite your best efforts, people you coach don't get any better? I do. My son helped me learn part of the answer in our piano lessons recently. First, some background: I grew up taking piano lessons. I was lucky enough to have a top-notch...

I overheard a conversation this weekend that got me thinking. My wife and I were enjoying a leisurely meal at Julius Meinl, a fantastic Austrian cafe in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. I didn't mean to eavesdrop on the two young women next to me, but I couldn't...

Coach long enough, and you'll likely find yourself in a situation like this: You've helped someone identify a compelling vision of the future. They say they want to change. They even make faltering steps forward. But when you step back and look at it, you know deep...

I was reading a piece by my colleague, Dave Wondra, on coaching recently and it struck a cord. Dave, a master coach, was writing while sitting in his favorite pickup truck, watching his daughter's soccer team practice. He realized that she has improved at soccer...

Not too long ago, a client asked a challenging question: We have some professionals we want to coach, but they refuse to engage. They're lone wolves. How do we get them to participate in our mentoring process? OK, first the obvious. I've written in a previous post...

If you hang in there and coach someone for any length of time, you'll reach a moment where you're completely frustrated with the pace of change. You will feel like you have banged your head against a wall and it just won't budge. The person is stuck, frozen. And you...

Quick quiz: How many professionals go out of their way to get feedback? I don't have a scientific answer to this question, but here's my very strong experience-based hunch: very, very few! Part of my standard coaching approach includes setting up consistent feedback...

And now for some of the most challenging parts of coaching a colleague: the tough feedback conversation. Let's face it, this is why so many of us don't like to coach. It's bad enough that you're investing in someone who may or may not make dramatic progress. It...

In a recent post, I talked about using homework assignments to gain traction when coaching a colleague. A while back, a client asked me this question: What do you do when the person you're coaching hasn't done their homework? This client of mine is an immensely...

Do you ever feel like you're working harder than the person you're coaching? Like you thought they were committed to taking an action and somewhere between your conversations, their tires slipped? Don't despair and don't give up. Anyone who has coached for more than a...

Judy lives one block from my house. For nearly ten years, I have walked by her house, played with my children in the park across the street from her driveway, and even occasionally greeted her in passing. But until recently, Judy spooked me a little. She is getting...