As a practitioner of mindfulness meditation for 46 years, and a teacher of it for 25, I’ve followed the rise of the mindfulness movement over past two decades with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it’s been refreshing to see something I so value getting some airtime. On the other hand, its popularization, a.k.a. McMindfulness, has trivialized the practice beyond recognition, depicting it as a faddish skill you can pick up over a weekend. Mindfulness isn’t a new way to think or an attitude to adopt. It’s a practice, a way of being, diligently cultivated over time. It saddens me to see so many apostles of mindfulness, who clearly don’t practice it themselves, monetizing it.
Read MoreCategory Archives: Integrative Coaching
Do Mission, Vision, and Values Statements Matter?
Many strategic planning processes begin with the planning team creating mission, vision, and values statements. The theory behind such efforts is that defining a shared purpose and long-term organizational objectives is vital to the planning process and to implementing the strategy.
By the same token, some strategy specialists question the need for putting mission, vision, or values statements in writing at all. One of their main objections is that a great many of the statements that result sound generic and aren’t truly actionable. Another complaint is that people often mistake vision statements for mission statements and end up creating more confusion than clarity.
Is Executive Coaching Right For Your Organization?
Executive and leadership coaching aren’t the right change methods for every organization. Ultimately, the organizational culture is a primary determinant of whether or not a coaching engagement can prove effective. To the extent that the following statements describe your workplace, executive coaching has a great chance of improving an executive’s performance and effectiveness. Conversely, if many of these statements don’t ring true, your organization might want to rethink using coaching as an human resources development strategy at all.
What is Organizational Culture?
According to Edgar Schein, organizational culture is the pattern of shared assumptions a group learns as it solves problems of external adaptation and internal regulation. These assumptions have proven to work well enough to be considered valid by the group, and therefore are taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel.
Culture, then, refers to the aspects of groups or organizations that are the most stable and least flexible. It also may be thought of as a group or organization’s “style” and comprises such qualities as:
What is Executive Coaching?
According to the Executive Coaching Forum, executive coaching is an experiential and individualized leader development process that builds a leader’s capability to achieve short- and long-term organizational goals. It is conducted through one-on-one interactions, driven by data from multiple perspectives, and based on mutual trust and respect. The overriding objective is for the organization, executive, and executive coach to team up in order to maximize results.
Read MoreSelecting the Right Executive Coach
Choosing a coach who is a good fit for an executive, as well as for his or her organization, can be tricky. It raises questions as to which selection criteria are relevant? As you evaluate prospective coaches, here are a few things to possibly consider:
Read MoreWhat is Group Dynamics?
Every time you’re in a meeting, whether with one other person or twenty, you’re in a group. Task groups, work groups, departments, committees—all kinds of groups dominate organizational life. In fact, they’re every organization’s basic operating unit. Yet, how many people complain that groups and meetings are the least productive and rewarding parts of their job? As much as we work in groups, it’s sad that their potential often goes unrealized. This is where the social science of group dynamics comes in.
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