The registration is now open for the 2012 California edition of Solutionsurfers‘ Brief Coach Training.

Here is the link with all the information about the program: http://www.briefcoachingsolutions.com/solsurfers2012/

To sign up, please send an email to: briefcoachingsolutions@gmail.com

If you want to find out more about the training program and how it can benefit you,

you are invited to attend one  of the following conference calls:

- Friday, January the 27th, at 12 noon PST (3 PM EST)

- Tuesday, February the 14th, at 9 AM PST (12 noon EST)

- Wednesday, March the 14th, 9 AM PST (12 noon EST) ***please note that the early bird rate is available only until March 1.

Please RSVP with Ms. Corey Godzwa at cgodzwa@gmail.com and you will be sent the information to access the conference call.

Tags: Accredited Coaching Training Program in California, ACTP, Brief Coach Training, Coaching School California, Conference Calls, ICF, International Coach Federation, PURE, Solution Focus, Solution-Focused Coach Training, solutionsurfers, Yorba Linda

Solution-Focus relies on positive feedback – i.e. noticing what is working and going right instead of pointing out what is not working and going wrong.

Even more so with Solution-Focused training: for example, the whole Solutionsurfers’ Brief Coach Training is designed around positive feedback. Exclusively positive feedback. That makes the learning experience unique. At first participants are disoriented – but very quickly they begin to appreciate the empowering nature of positive feedback. Practice session after practice session, each participant’s unique coaching skills develop and evolve, by focusing on what works and ignoring what does not. A process similar to Darwinian Evolution, as pointed out here.

Yet, somehow, not using negative feedback is considered to be a sign of being a wimp. A softie. Out of touch with reality.

Actually, that is quite the opposite.

Everybody can deliver negative feedback. But only expert performers can deliver positive feedback. Because positive feedback is based on tacit knowledge rather than explicit knowledge.

This point has been brilliantly developed by Gary Klein in his latest book “Streetlights and Shadows – Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making” (pages 45-47).

His reasoning:

- “when we try to improve performance, we usually emphasize explicit knowledge more than tacit knowledge”; that is because “it is hard to give people feedback about tacit knowledge”

- so “in giving feedback, we tend to focus on specific procedures”

- but that means “we give feedback about departures from procedures, instead of helping people to notice subtle cues and patterns”.

- conclusion: “we find it easier to give feedback about errors than about skillful actions or about  improvements in mental models“.

So while how to deliver negative feedback is a critical and important skill, delivering positive feedback is an often neglected ingredient for building expert performance.

Noticing what works is an essential part of developing expertise. And you need to be an expert to notice the little things that are working, maybe just a little bit.

Positive feedback is for pros! :-)

Tags: adaptive decision making, Decision Making, expert performance, explicit knowledge, feedback, Klein, negative feedback, noticing clues, positive feedback, solution focused training, solutionsurfers, Streetlights and Shadows, tacit knowledge

In case you missed it, HERE is the 2012 Solution-Focused Coach Training Program!

See you in Orange County, California! :)

Tags: 2012, Accredited Coach Training Program, ACTP, Appreciative Inquiry, Business Coaching, David Chow, executive coaching, Life Coaching, Orange County, Organizational Development, Paolo Terni, Peter Szabo, PURE, Solution Focus, solutionsurfers, training

I had a wonderful time leading the last module of Solutionsurfers PURE Brief Coach Training in Sacramento, CA last week.

I was blessed to have such amazing participants.
And it was a joy to see how much progress they made in their coaching skills and in their coaching presence since we started in June!
As always, I learnt a lot seeing them coaching.
Their questions brought me to new insights about Solution-Focus.
Our conversations, always enlightening.

So I felt great about our training.
I checked in daily, and I was comforted to see it was not just an impression of mine :)
On the final day, I was happy to see that on a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 was meeting all their learning goals, beyond their wildest expectations, and 1 the opposite of that, they rated themselves to be 8.5 or more (some at 8.5, others at 10) on that scale.

I was particularly impressed by a distinction made by one of the participants.
He distinguished the “learning scale” from the “confidence scale“.
On a learning scale, he said he reached an 8.5, maybe even a 9.
But on a confidence scale about being a Solution-Focused  coach, he said he was worst off!
He started the module being at a 7 on this confidence scale, but now he was down to a 3 - he gained a new appreciation of the challenges involved in coaching in complex scenarios (mandated coachees, conflict situations, difficult decisions… the topic of the last module of Brief Coach Training).
He stated: “Between the past module and this one, I had 6 hours of practice; I now realize I need at least 60 before considering having clients!”

I was proud of him.
I already posted here about the Dunning-Kruger effect, i.e. about the fact that novices over-rate their abilities – while experts, knowing the complexities involved, tend to under-estimate their abilities.  So it was good to see this effect being taken care of, right there in front of my eyes, by this gifted participant, all on his own.

Here was a participant who not only had developed his Solution-Focused Coaching skills to an impressive level, but had also developed his meta-cognitive abilities regarding his own skills.

Impressive.

Tags: assessment, awareness, Brief Coach Training, coaching in conflict scenarios, coaching skill, Dunning-Kruger Effect, expert, learning, mandated clients, novice, participant, PURE, rating, Sacramento, scaling question, solutionsurfers, success, workshop

Are you curious about Solution-Focused Brief Coaching?

Do you want to make progress on your projects? Do you need to make a decision? Do you want to get unstuck and move forward, whatever the issue is? Are you having problems with co-workers or people in your life and you would like to solve them?

Then a coaching session might be useful to you!

Here’s the deal.

I offer:

- one free solution-focused brief-coaching session (30 minutes)

- delivered via Skype

It is the real thing, so expect all the benefits of a regular coaching session.

And here is the catch:

- the audio of the session will be recorded

- the session will be made available to my trainees (and only them) for learning purposes (so I would need you to sign a paper authorizing that).

I need more demos so that my brief coach trainees can be exposed to a even  higher number of real life sessions,  in addition to the practice sessions that take place during the workshop, before they set out to coach themselves.

It is a win-win situation: I get more taped sessions to use in my trainings, you get free coaching!

If interested, please send me an email at: briefcoachingsolutions@gmail.com

Thanks!

Tags: demo, free coaching, PURE, recorded session, Solution-Focused Brief Coaching, solutionsurfers, training

I am so excited to be leading Solutionsurfers Brief Coach Training in Berkeley, next week, at the beautiful UC Clark Kerr Campus!

An Accredited Coach Training Program (ACTP) with the International Coach Federation (ICF), the training is one of the best way to learn how to lead Solution-Focused conversations – a method featured in books like Switch, and an established protocol in therapy.

> Here < are some reasons of why learning Brief Coaching skills matters, if you are a Coach, a Consultant, a Manager, an Executive or anyone in a Leadership position. Whenever you need to facilitate change, Solution-Focus is the quickest evidence-based technology we have.

> Here < is what is different, and of value, about Solutionsurfers training program.

And > here < are the details – when, where and how much. At 2,980 US$ for 8 days of training and follow-up Skype sessions, with flexible payment options, the price is hard to beat, considering the quality of the training format refined over the years and delivered in such small groups.

There are still two spots left… send me an email now at briefcoachingsolutions@gmail.com if you are interested in attending next week!!

See you in Berkeley soon!

Tags: Berkeley, Brief Coach Training Program, California, Change, learning, PURE, Solution Focused, solutionsurfers, training