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from the authors of "The Sherpa Guide" (Corbett and Colemon, Thomson, 2005) |
Buy the book Author video University Classes |
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Sherpa Executive Coaching Survey |
The
2008 survey will be posted here.
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Announcement : 12/3/2007 |
Rubi Ho Joins Sherpa Team |
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as Vice President. Rubi comes to us from Procter & Gamble, where he spent nine years as Manager for Global Project Initiatives and North American Corporate Trainer. His Masters Degree in Curriculum Development
enables him
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Getting Out of the Client's Way |
"The Sherpa philosophy resonates with what I have learned over the years: clients have to do the work, and coaches must learn how to stay out of their way." Marshall Goldsmith. |
From The Sherpa Guide:
"Be willing to let your clients solve their own problems. Learn the skills that make you "able to enable". As a Sherpa, clients will bring you challenges; situations in which solutions are quite clear to you. The simple thing to do is provide your client the answer. The Sherpa resists the urge to solve clients’ problems. Your job is to reflect your client’s words back to him, so he can see things objectively. Let him draw his own conclusions and learn his own lessons. When you are tempted to put an answer on the table, ask questions instead. Clients will live by the solutions they come up with on their own." |
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University Speaking Tour with Marshall Goldsmith Cincinnati, Ohio - August 3, 2007 - Marshall Goldsmith, world's leading executive coach and best-selling business author, has signed on with Sherpa Coaching for three university speaking engagements. Goldsmith will speak alongside 'Sherpa Guide' authors Brenda Corbett and Judith Colemon on:
Goldsmith will be a guest speaker in the Sherpa Coaching Certification at all three universities. Students registered in this program will hear Goldsmith speak alongside the authors of "The Sherpa Guide: Process-Driven Executive Coaching”, the program’s textbook. The 60-hour Sherpa Coaching Certification runs in two week-long blocks, with hotel and meals provided on campus. “Brenda Corbett and Judy Colemon are a dynamic team, and they're great people. I am happy to be sharing the platform with them.”, Goldsmith said. “This sort of collaboration could only happen on campus. We thank the universities for making the arrangements. “ Goldsmith adds: “Corbett and Colemon are the next generation of world leaders in coaching. 'The Sherpa Guide' and my new book, 'What Got You Here Won't Get You There' work well together. Together, they deliver the passion and the process we call coaching.” |
Marshall Goldsmith
Brenda Corbett and Judith Colemon |
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"Sherpa Guide" author Judith Colemon |
Sherpa coaches help clients find out who they are when they are “uncloaked.” The client’s true identity can only be revealed when you dig deep and search with diligence. Using the phrase “take the armor off” can help a client to think more honestly and profoundly. Clients are only coachable if they are willing to put down their defenses and examine themselves. As a coach, you will need to help them get there. Self-examination can be very painful. Your clients must be handled with the greatest of care, yet you cannot allow them to hide their problems. |
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"Sherpa Guide" author Brenda Corbett |
The coach is an anonymous
entity, working for the success of a company by improving an individual.
This gives significant freedom to everyone involved. The coach is not the
client's employer. Clients recognize this and understand quite quickly:
the coach is there for them and keeps things they say confidential.
Sometimes information can be shared with a client’s superior or colleague, with the client’s consent. When that happens, both the organization and the employee have a sounding board, an outside perspective. |
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Blame
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Blame is a funny game.
Pointing the finger at someone else can come from fear, or come from laziness.
If you blame, people might go away. If you blame, the problem might go
away. If you blame, people might not ask you again. If
you blame, you look good and someone else looks bad.
Why is it so easy to blame? Well, it can save someone the effort of being caught up in an issue they never cared about, don’t want to be involved in and don’t have the energy for. If your client plays the game of placing blame, then the first thing a Sherpa will direct them to do is to fly straight into the face of negative consequences, and get some practice at taking the heat instead of deflecting it. |
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Book Excerpt
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Silence
is an important technique that should be used more often than words. Some
of the strongest managers you will coach have not mastered the art of silence
and the power of using words at strategic times.
These
three guidelines could change the way your client listens:
Have you mastered silence? |
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The Rational / Technical Approach.
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We've heard coaches object that Sherpa coaching is 'too structured'. It's detailed, yes. It has structure, yes. It enables you to duplicate your successes. It's the only approach that builds a 'rational / technical' foundation for the coaching profession. Yet, you can coach a thousand clients, and use entirely different sets of tools and resources each time. The Sherpas process is flexible, and encourages personal creativity. Book excerpt: "Teach your client something new every week. The Sherpas Guide offers a wealth of material. Use everything you can that applies to each client. Do not leave a client without some “gem” for his repertoire. Take it right from the book, but make it yours and make it meaningful." |
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Gary was a Vice President of Operations. He was intimidating at times. We spent 12 weeks working on listening. Gary put his arms around his weakness and addressed it with his staff and peers. His biggest revelation was this: he was unable to stop talking when he was passionate and excited about something. That led to his people clamming up and not sharing their views and ideas. Gary learned to identify when this happened and constantly worked on this issue. Gary's goal was relatively straightforward, but extremely important to his success. Gary's learned to identify when he needed to stop talking, and really listen. |
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Silence is a wonderful listening
tool. It lets you truly give your attention to someone. You show you are
listening with your eyes, your gestures, and your silence.
Silence makes people nervous because they don’t know what will happen next. Use this to your advantage, to get information when you need it. You're talking with an employee who is upset. Keep in mind that he needs to vent, to be heard. Give him a chance to do just that. Participate in the conversation, of course, but once you have said your piece, be quiet. |
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Being Inquisitive
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Asking questions allows
your client to work on his area of focus and solve his own problems. Sherpas
use questions such as: What do you mean? Can you explain that in
more detail? Can you re-phrase that for me? How could you have
handled that differently? Why is that hard for me to believe? Why
do you think he did that? That inquisitive nature, really wanting
to know more, creates a learning environment for your client.
Sherpas work with their clients until the client can reach a satisfactory answer on his own. Often, a coach does not have to say much more than “Why is that?” and wait for a response. If your client is avoiding a difficult truth, or coming up with answers that won’t solve the problem, challenge that client, again and again, until he gets it right. This can be frustrating for your client. Be sensitive enough to challenge him in a way that’s encouraging at the same time. Be honest in a caring way. That’s what you’re paid to do. |
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Nowhere to Hide I noticed that Jeff was beginning to tap his foot rapidly, and use his hand to cover his mouth. I asked him why. Jeff told me that when he did this, it meant that I was getting close to the core of problem. He hated that there was “nowhere to hide”. He was getting a little nervous. Noticing those signals allowed me to extract honesty from my client.
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Overload Dana kept telling me it was impossible to complete all the work her boss assigned. I asked, “ Does your boss expect you to do all this work by yourself?” “No,” Dana said, “but everyone else is overloaded, too.” “Let’s look at the options.” I said. “ Turn to a blank page in your journal and draw for me what it looks like to have too much work to do.” Dana’s picture showed her bent over with an oversize box on her back. |
I asked, “What will happen if you don’t get rid of some of that weight? Draw that for me.” Her next picture showed her collapsed with the box on top of her. “Can this go on?” I continued, “What are you going to do about it? Is everyone else really so overloaded?” It took time to figure out why Dana was overloaded. It took time to find workable answers to the problem. Once she’d admitted things couldn’t continue as they were, once she’d acknowledged she needed to do something about it, we were on our way. |
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The Cincinnati Business Courier printed an article announcing the new partnership between Sherpa Coaching and the University of Georgia. Within a matter of hours, Business Journals in Phoenix, Memphis, Denver, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Albuquerque, Buffalo, Dallas, Pittsburgh , Wichita, Austin, Tampa and others had picked up the story. MSN Money also posted a copy. Within a week, the story was posted in 400 web locations. Yahoo Hot Jobs wrote about the hottest new certification programs, including Sherpa Coaching at Penn State. Web traffic here has tripled. Full details here: http://www.sherpacoaching.com/y07.html |
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The second annual Sherpa Coaching recertification conference was held June 3 - 5, 2007. Here is a full report with photos: |
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“Accountability enables activities of a
system
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Talk about this definition with
your client. Break the definition down in small pieces.
What are the “activities of a system”? Have them give detailed and precise examples from their organization. What does “held responsible” mean? Get the definition of responsibility before moving on. Your client has to know what accountability means, and create a 'buck stops here' mindset for themselves. This means that, no matter what, your client will become the final decision maker, creator, and manager of what needs to be done. Post your comments in the Sherpa Forum: - (click here) |
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As executive coaches,
Sherpas deal with business behavior. In the Sherpa Stance, we ask four
questions that determine if a conversation is permitted, and whether it's
worthwhile:
1. Is it Precise? Are we talking about a problem, a symptom or a feeling? Sherpas only spend time on problems. 2. Is it Personal? If it's too personal, we don't continue. 3. Is it Present tense? Sherpas live in the moment, and in the future, not the past. 4. Is it Possible? Will a change in your client’s behavior actually fix this problem? We deal only with specific, achievable business behavior. Our process makes sure of that. |
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Sherpa author Corbett
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Spend time in honest discussion about
the barriers that inhibit goal setting, action planning and successful
follow-through.
Potential barrier # 2: The attitude barrier. Clients sometimes consider goal setting, planning and follow through to be exercise in futility. A client who feels relatively powerless might feel as if it’s no use. Remind your client he must choose to succeed. Accomplishing these goals is not something that will happen outside or around him. A positive attitude helps organize his thoughts and behaviors. It helps him move forward positively. We all set goals many times in the course of a day. Let’s pay attention to the really important ones. |
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Corbett and Colemon
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Sherpa coaches spend time in honest discussion about the barriers that inhibit goal setting, action planning and successful follow-through. Potential barrier # 4: Fear of Success Clients might just as easily fear success as they fear failure. Why? It involves a trip into the unknown. What are the ramifications of reaching their action plan? They’ll have more work to do, perhaps, or more challenges. They’ll be more visible, more subject to criticism. Any breakthroughs, 'ah-ha' moments to share? Post your comments in the Sherpa Forum: - (click here) |
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True Outcomes ![]() |
Sometimes, people avoid
accountability in a very strange way: They'll go into denial about what's
really happening, especially if it involves confrontation or conflict.
They constantly look at their outcomes as positive, even when they know
they should be dealing with an issue more effectively.
The goal, and accountability for reaching it, is so important that they can't acknowledge defeat. Instead they'll say: “I did the best I could. We ended up with the best results we could have achieved, under the circumstances. “ This client has to have his feet held to the fire. He must acknowledge that he's not getting the job done. He has to face up to his failures, learn and practice new behaviors, even if it hurts. In another variation of the ‘true outcomes’ scenario, a client will assume they have more power than they do, or will try to take responsibility for a decision that's not really theirs, because being in control puts them in their comfort zone. In these scenarios you, as the Sherpa, might want to bring up the word truth. “Do you ‘skirt’ the truth? Do you always tell the truth? Is this the outcome you want, or the outcome that should be?” |
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One disastrous day on Everest,
two of the world's most famous climbing guides and their clients diced
with death, and lost. "Into Thin Air" is a fascinating movie about that
day. This tragic story makes for gripping drama. Whether or not you enjoy
this movie, you'll learn from it. Know what a Sherpa does, and you'll understand
the role of the Sherpa coach.
In the scene where a female client's boyfriend visits the camp, observe the interaction between Sandy Pitman (client) , expedition leader Scott Fisher (executive contact), Scott’s friend Rob Hall, leader of a separate expedition and the Sherpa guide, in a coaching role. Watch for the role and authority level of the Sherpa and the complexity of a coaching relationship: client, coach, executive contact, related parties. |