Coaching Blog

5 Coaching Lessons Learned from Adele at Madison Square Garden

Posted by Julia Stewart

Adele_ar_MSG_-_Jessamyn_Stewart.jpg

One week ago, today, School of Coaching Mastery quietly closed its doors for a much-anticipated event: Adele's last show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. My daughter and Office Manager, Jessie Stewart, and I had scored tickets last November for the sold-out show and traveled together to our former hometown for a little R&R and to see our favorite singer.

Adele did not disappoint!

As I made my way home from NYC I reflected on my takeaways from the event. Delightfully, there were many.

5 Coaching Lessons Learned from Adele at Madison Square Garden:

1. Be yourself. Adele models this better than anyone. She spent two hours alone onstage in front of over 18,000 people. No warm-up band, no spectacular floor show, no dancing, no pyrotechnics, just one woman in a modest dress and THAT VOICE. Her songs sounded just as sublime as all her records and between them, she told hysterical stories. As Jessie's friend, Meg, said after the show, Adele probably could have a career in stand-up comedy. She is enough as she is. So are you.

2. Hold out for what you really want when it matters, but settle for good enough when it doesn't. Researchers say that people who always want the best are less happy than people who settle for good enough. This probably is true most of the time, but in my experience, holding out for what you really want when it matters is key. Adele was what I really wanted. A fancy hotel room at inflated NYC prices? Not so much. As my mom always said, nobody stays in their room, anyway. So we found a hotel several blocks from MSG with fewer stars and better reviews, were perfectly happy with it, and spent the extra money on heavenly meals.

3. Take happiness breaks. I rarely take days off from work, except when I'm enrolled in a course. But if you want to do your best work, get out of the office occasionally and do something special. We went to NYC at the perfect time. The temperature was ideal, humidity low, no clouds. Our first day, we walked over six miles just enjoying the West Village, SOHO, NOHO, etc. The second day, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By then, we were walked out and took a cab all the way back to the hotel, exhausted but happy.

4. Step out of your comfort zone. As awesome as Adele's show was, one of the most unique few minutes came before we even entered MSG. One member of our party couldn't make it, which left us with an extra ticket for a show that had been sold out for months. I didn't know whether to give it away or sell it, but I knew if I sold it, I wanted to get at least as much as I paid, which was a bit over $100. As we approached the Garden, I heard a scalper yell, "Does anyone have tickets to sell?" I held up one finger and said, "I have one!" Next I knew, we were huddled on a dark corner. First we had to let him inspect the ticket for authenticity. That took some trust, because he could have snatched it and run off. He offered $60. I countered with $150. Then he came up to $100. I said I paid more than that. He offered $120 and let me feel his cash to be sure it wasn't counterfeit. That took trust on his side. I said, "Sold." We went into the Garden $120 richer, and me feeling a bit pleased to have just done something a bit risky that I'd never done before and I even got the scalper to come up twice as much as I came down. I spent all of the money on T-shirts and beer, just in case it really was counterfeit. By the way, Thomas Leonard's 28 Principles of Attraction includes the advice to be a little bad sometimes, because it gets us out of our safety zones and stops us from feeling superior to others.

5. Appreciate what you have. It was so much fun being back in NYC that I fantasized a bit about moving back, but my last morning was cloudy and rainy, which always makes the city look ten times as dirty, and I remembered an old rule of thumb: that when everything goes right, great weather, great food, cabs are easy to get, the scalper buys your ticket, etc.; NYC is the BEST place in the world, but when it doesn't go well, weather is dreadful, passing buses drench you, there are no cabs anywhere, somebody steals your wallet, etc.; NYC is the worst. I was ready to go home, enjoy the quieter, slower pace, and get back to work doing that I love. How fortunate I am to have found my calling and to be able to afford to play hooky once in a while.

So those are my chief takeaways from my quick trip to see Adele.

By the way, we have another Adele at School of Coaching Mastery, who is also delightful, and she's hosting our Positive Psychology Coaching Study Group, starting this Thursday. It's a perfect way to learn more about positive psychology coaching and it's free to everyone. If you'd like to join, click below.

Join the Positive Psychology Coach Study Group

 

Topics: Coaching, School of Coaching Mastery, Thomas Leonard, Attraction Principles, Positive Psychology, positive psychology coaching, Coaching Study Groups

Inside School of Coaching Mastery

Posted by Julia Stewart

Coaching InsidersWe're adding some major upgrades to our students' experiences at School of Coaching Mastery.

One new change is that Dean of Students, Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC, is taking a more active role in orientation of new students, as well as answering questions for ongoing students and helping them stay on track with goals like IAC Coach Certification. Natalie of course, is an amazing coach and master instructor (She's leading our Mastery 6 Clarifying module, this month.). She's also past President and current Lead Certifier for the IAC. This month, she's speaking at the Shanghai Coaching Conference, too. Busy lady! But not too busy to meet personally with new coaching students to help them get off to a fantastic start with their coaching careers.

The second change is one that Curriculum Coordinator, Dee Taviner, has been hard at work on for months. It's a new membership and content management system that is really slick. We are SO excited about the possibilities that this new system adds for our students. Plus, we're adding a whole new way to play for coaches who want inside coaching knowledge, but don't need or aren't ready for a full-service coach training school. We're almost ready for a few beta testers. Please stand by...

And speaking of Dee Taviner, I can't help but mention our ongoing Study Groups. There are so many ways a study group can enhance your career (just ask Natalie), but that topic deserves its own blog post. I DO want you to know that in addition to Dee's Seven Secrets of Certification Student Group, talented SCM coach/student, Heidi Courtney, is now leading the Coaching Co-op Study Group.

join a coaching study group

 

Join a free Coaching Study Group here.

Topics: Coaching, Coaches, coach, Coach Certification, IAC, Coaching Study Groups

Become a Coach: Ten Ways to Succeed Quickly

Posted by Julia Stewart

Want to become a successful coach? Make sure your coach training includes everything you need...

Success at becoming a coach depends on your learning style and how committed you are to the process. For best results, combine at least several of the methods listed below.

1. Listen to coaching classes. Passive attendance in coaching classes is probably the most common method that people use to learn to coach and it can work - eventually. Problem is, you’re not really learning coaching, you’re just learning about coaching. (Big distinction.) School of Coaching Mastery has many classes you can listen to and we encourage you to do far more than that, as well. Read on…

2. Listen to masterful coaching demonstrations. Here, you’re getting much closer to learning to coach. You’re hearing what works. (However, sometimes hearing what doesn’t work is even more enlightening and actually practicing coaching is better still!) All our coaching skills classes include coaching demonstrations from some of the top instructors in the field.

3. Practice coaching other coaches. This is a fantastic way to learn, because it strengthens your coaching muscles and gives you a safe space to make mistakes. (To get full value, though, you need to be willing to screw up in front of your friends! ;-) SCM coaching skills Modules always include practice periods where everyone gets a chance to use what they just learned and we encourage you to practice outside classes and give you tools for finding practice partners, a.k.a. “coaching buddies”, easily. Join the SCHOOL OF COACHING MASTERY ON FACEBOOK to find coaching buddies now.

4. Get expert verbal feedback on your coaching. This is one of the best ways to learn. Get immediate feedback from an expert. Some coaches are afraid to experience this, but when done well, it’s inspiring, not painful. You learn what works, what doesn’t, why you got stuck, why you succeeded, and/or why the client resisted and how to do it even better next time. Great stuff! (Why struggle along, not knowing if you’re doing it right?) At SCM you’ll get frequent feedback on your coaching from your instructors in class and private email feedback after class. Without it, learning coaching skills can feel like target practice in a dark room! Click the link for upcoming coaching classes where you can get feedback are here.

5. Listen to recordings of yourself coaching. This is priceless! You’ll be surprised what you hear and what you learn. (Former President of the IAC, Natalie Tucker Miller, MMC, says she still records her coaching sessions for her own learning.) Your SCM classes are all recorded and you’ll receive those recordings by email within 24 hours, so you can hear everything you may have missed.

6. Read expert written notes about your coaching. This is even more powerful when you follow up verbal feedback with reading written notes and listening to the recording of your coaching session. Big “Aha’s” happen here. (As one coach put it, “Now I’m not flying blind, anymore!”) You’ll get frequent written feedback on your coaching if you take our Coaching Groundwork Advanced or Master Coach Training series. We don’t know of another coaching school that does this for its students. Check out upcoming Coaching Groundwork Advanced and  Master Coach Training modules.

7. Listen to your peers coach and take detailed notes. This uses your brain in a whole different way. When you write down what you’re hearing, you’re imprinting what you’re learning. SCM classes use ICF and IAC scorecards to speed up your learning this way and you can use these scorecards to score yourself when you listen to recordings of your own coaching, too.

8. Give verbal feedback to your peers about their coaching. When you articulate specific feedback about what you heard (Not just “It was nice”), you take a stand for what you know and you find out quickly if you’re on the right track. You’ll learn how to deliver excellent feedback in our Masteries Classes. Learning to do this, while being in service to your colleagues' learning, is fun!

9. Meet in study groups with your peers. No “experts” allowed! Without the presence of a teacher or any other “expert”, coaches start to step up and take ownership of what they know. Often, this is a crucial final step to becoming masterful. (Peer-to-peer learning is powerful!) That’s why SCM has ongoing study groups, hosted by coach/students, like you, meeting every month and they’re free. Go here to find out more: Coaching Study Groups
10. Coaching real clients. (What a concept! ;-). This obviously is what you’re preparing for. Coach real people in real situations. Develop ongoing relationships with clients, because that relationship is about a lot more than one coaching session. If you can get feedback from your clients, that’s a hundred times better. This is one of the many reasons why the Coach 100 Revolution has been so successful. Coaches get written feedback from everyone they coach and find out what works from the client’s perspective. The Coach 100 Revolution is included in the SCM Full Coach Training program.

School of Coaching Mastery is the only coaching school that incorporates all of these methods into our coach training programs and that’s why our coaches learn so much, so fast. To get on the fast track to masterful coaching, join us here.

To talk to a real person and ask questions you may have about the school, call 877-244-2780
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Copyright, Julia Stewart, 2007 - 2015
All rights reserved worldwide.

Topics: coach training, School of Coaching Mastery, become a coach, coaching success, ICF, certified life coach, Julia Stewart, IAC, certified coach, Coaching Study Groups

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