Coaching Blog
A Word About…Choices
I spend more than a little time in my role as a professional coach talking to Christian healthcare professionals. I talk to some of them over coffee in the town where I live; I talk to others on the phone or perhaps on a Zoom call. As a pastor and coach who sort of specializes in coaching Christian healthcare professionals, I have the privilege of spending quality time with some of the brightest people on the planet. I’m always humbled by that opportunity, and I take my responsibility as a coach very seriously.
Read MoreString Theory
His name was Hermon Miller, and he owned the grocery store on the street where I grew up. When it was hot and muggy on many summer afternoons, my mom would ask me to “Go down to Millers Store and get some pork chops for supper,” or perhaps, “Go down to Millers and get some bread for sandwiches, so I can make your lunch. Better get a pound of bologna, too.” I’d hop on my bike and ride down to the end of our street to get what my mom had said I should buy.
Read MoreThe Peace…of Paper
I have a friend, Rich, whose quiet, reflective, manner makes him a wonderful person to talk to. When I’m around him, the impression I get is that he actually thinks before he speaks—a rare thing in humans—and then, when he does speak, his words are distilled, salient and worth listening to. I like to hear him talk. He challenges me to grow. Several months ago, I asked him when we could get together for lunch.
Read MoreA Word About Persistence
I have discovered one of the great joys in life, I think: the joy of watching my grandkids grow up. My wife and I have six, four girls and two boys. Seems like I never get tired of hearing about their latest accomplishments or adventures. And this week, as one of them started high school, I remembered a scene I hadn’t thought of in a long time.
Read MoreThree Questions to Help You W.I.N. in Life
How’s it going? How did you “do” today at navigating the, no doubt, dozens of things you had to do? Those generic, innocent questions we use in everyday life as we interact with others rarely invite deeper reflection in those we might be asking. “Fine,” is probably the most common response we get when we ask someone else how they’re doing.
Read MoreA Word About…Remembering
A few years ago now, our youngest son Simeon left home to attend Seattle Pacific University (SPU). Like countless parents who watch their kids step into the world and out from under wings of mom and dad, we had some not-too-uncommon concerns, I suppose.
Read MoreLeading a Normal Life
One of the most frequently asked questions from people considering coaching is about the “process,” or about what it looks like to work with a coach. Because thousands of individuals have decided they are coaches because they have a particular expertise or experience in a specific area (i.e. sports coaches, writing coaches, even life coaches), it can be difficult to know how to choose a coach or even whether coaching is the right choice.
Read MoreThe Method Behind the Madness
One of the most frequently asked questions from people considering coaching is about the “process,” or about what it looks like to work with a coach. Because thousands of individuals have decided they are coaches because they have a particular expertise or experience in a specific area (i.e. sports coaches, writing coaches, even life coaches), it can be difficult to know how to choose a coach or even whether coaching is the right choice.
Read MoreA Word About Blessed Events
Because October is Down Syndrome Month …
A Word About Blessed Events
Everyone knows that phrase: A Blessed Event.
A blessed event is what happens when a baby is born.
A blessed event occurs when that familiar sound splits the air,
And a neonate cries for the very first time,
And an heir is born who can help carry on the family name and lineage.
Read MoreThe Control Panel of Life
“Control” is a word we use all the time, have you noticed? In science, every researcher insists on the careful documentation of experiments and the importance of control groups for accuracy in successful drug development. Television studios all have some control room, where people sit staring at monitors to determine which camera angle best captures the story that is unfolding. Every large airport in the world has a control tower, rising several stories above the surrounding runways. Men and women sit in those high control towers looking out on the horizon, while simultaneously watching monitors that display the exact location of airplanes wanting to land or waiting for permission to take off. The pilots are certainly flying the planes, but the controllers are in…control.
Read MoreCould You Repeat That?
Communicating through protective masks is something our culture is trying to get used to. Healthcare professionals, of course, have learned to talk through masks as a part of their everyday lives. But sometimes, the challenge isn’t about just being heard. It’s about measuring the weight and value of the words to begin with.
Read MoreA Word About…Our Times
CMDA offers its members and friends some great opportunities for educational travel, and I’ve been privileged to be in Greece and retrace the footsteps of Paul and his missionary journeys. On our trip, I vividly remember standing atop Mars Hill, reading aloud Paul’s address to those Stoic philosophers.
Read MoreConversations of The Inner-man
I recently spent time with a dying man, a wonderful Christian man who was wrestling with end-of-life issues. As a pastor for a long time, I will tell you, this is not the first conversation I’d ever had with an individual facing a terminal illness who seemed perplexed by decisions he never had to think about before.
Read MoreSigns in the Window of Your Life
A loyal customer might look at a sign like that and wonder, “Will the new management know my name, or what I like, or even who I am?” And a potential new customer might wonder what went wrong with the previous management that would result in ‘new’ management being needed?
Read MoreI Was Just Thinking …
As he began his conversation with me, he said, “I hope I’m not disturbing you. But, since I saw your door open, and it looked like all you were doing was thinking, I wondered if I could share something with you?”
Read MoreThe Dilemma of the Grocery Cart
Word pictures represent important tools coaches often use in helping their clients ‘re-frame’ or visualize their lives from a different perspective. And one of the word pictures I have often described involves what I call ‘the dilemma of a grocery cart.
Read More“Is This Gonna Be On The Test?”
During the 2016 presidential debates, one of the big “scandals” of that season was the discovery that one of the candidates may have known beforehand some of the questions that would be asked during one particular debate. That’s, of course, problematic. It’s a lot easier to answer a question you anticipate or know is going to asked, if you have time to think about it ahead of time, especially if your opponent doesn’t have the same advantage.
Read MoreWhat Do You Need Right Now?
My wife and I will be in a meeting this week. We’re a little late this year scheduling our ‘meeting,’ as we had guests in our home over the New Year holiday, and it’s taken us this long to ‘clear the deck’ and be able to focus on what’s become an annual calendar event: It’s what we call our ‘Where have we been, what do we need, and where are we going this year’ conversation.
Read MoreThe “Force” May Not Be With You
December 14, 2017 marks the day “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is scheduled to appear in theatres across the country. No doubt, lines will be long and start forming hours before the first showing, as patrons vie to be among the first to see the latest Lucas Films offering, and remember again those epic words, “The force will be with you.”
Read MoreThe Value of the ‘Reset’ Button
A few months ago, my wife got us one of those fancy vacuum cleaners that will suck up everything from casual dust to extraneous nuts and bolts that might be lying around, without so much as a hiccup. In all honesty, I actually enjoy vacuuming with that thing. Spot a speck on the floor. Roll that wonderful piece of ingenuity over the top of it, and bingo, it’s sucked into the bowels of the machine, never to be seen or heard from again.
Read MoreA Word About…’Fixin’
I’ve been traveling and vacationing in the South for the past several days; Atlanta, and the Stone Mountain area, and then on to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Pigeon Forge, hometown of Dolly Parton. While I grew up in the Midwest, most of my relatives are from the Ozark Mountains of southeast Missouri. Spending the last few days as a tourist in Georgia and Tennessee reacquainted me with a vocabulary word I’d almost forgotten. It is the word, fixin.
Read MoreAs-Built Check List
My wife and I recently decided to add solar power to our home. We’ve lived in our house about eleven years now, and we thought solar power would be a wise investment. Our solar contractor is a personal friend, and after we settled on the location of our panels and an approximate installation start date, my friend said he would ‘get the ball rolling’ down at the county planning office, applying for a solar permit.
Read MoreHow’s The Chair You’re Sitting In?
Often, healthcare professionals I coach feel a need for change in their lives, but they’re not exactly sure the direction of that change, the shape of the change or the timing of the change. Many of our CMDA members have discovered that coaching can be a useful tool in helping to define and clarify effective change in their personal and professional lives.
Read MoreChange, Transition, and Transformation
Dr. Sartori and I recently finished leading CMDA’s 8-week, live webinar, 503 Coaching Change, Transition and Transformation. What a rich time of growth, learning and fellowship! The nine participants have now completed thirty-two hours of ICF-certified coach training with our program, AND, they received the added bonus of twenty-four hours of Category I CME credits.
Read MoreA Word About…Books
WE ARE A FAMILY of musings and stories and books. In fact, I come from a long line of storytellers. Some people talk with their hands. Some people talk with their eyes. I have to talk with my stories. Without my stories, I fumble for things to say. I struggle to communicate. But with stories, musings, “first-person-happenings-to-me,” I am freed from the need to think in words, and I can communicate in pictures drawn with sights and sounds and smells. I guess that’s why I love to write.
Read MoreA Word About…Doors
During my years as a coach of Christian doctors, a common topic of interest has been ‘doors.’ Perhaps a doctor has an opportunity for career change or advancement, and wants to coach about whether to walk through Door A or Door B (or there may even be Doors C, D, E, and F!)
Read MoreThe Ping of the Hammer, the Squish of the Clay
Every day, I live some and I die some; I save some, and I lose some. I find life, and I lose life. Kingdom living is like that. Jesus said, “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” (Lk. 17:33, NKJV) Eugene Peterson’s The Message put it this way: ‘If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms.’
Read MoreFeeling the ‘Burn’ in Burnout
There is absolutely no question that physician burnout is on the rise in medicine today. Numerous studies have supported the reality that physician burnout rates range from 30 to as high as 65%, depending on specialty. Burnout, of course, isn’t a ‘disease’ a physician would prescribe medicine for, or even necessarily diagnose in one of his or her patients. But it is a ‘dis-ease,’ to be sure. Burnout is a long-term stress reaction, which includes emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a lack of sense of personal accomplishment. For a certainty, Christian doctors are not immune to the effects of burnout, and one of the primary elements of CMDA’s coaching ministry is helping Christian doctors manage and address the challenges of burnout in medicine today.
Read MorePerspective…
God is very wise, When He decided it was time for “time” to begin, He divided life into bite sized pieces—seconds and minutes, moments for living—each identical in length to all the others, yet each totally unique.
Read MoreThat’s A Good Question
Experienced and skilled coaches use a variety of tools for helping their clients think, re-think, or ‘new-think’ ways of seeing things. Sometimes, just looking at a circumstance or situation from a slightly different perspective can produce breakthroughs. Asking powerful questions can be amazingly effective in helping individuals see things in a different way. And, as a coach, one of the most affirming comments a client can make to me, (after I’ve asked what may seem like a simple question) is an even simpler response: ‘Hmm? That’s a good question.’
Read MoreThe ‘Ready-Aim-Fire’ of Lasting Change
Ever wonder why achieving lasting change can be so difficult? One of the reasons, perhaps, is that change isn’t as simple as driving a car from one side of a bridge to the other.
Read MoreAre You Suffering from ‘Hurry Sickness?’
Author Lewis Grant describes a condition he calls, “Sunset fatigue,” end-of-the-day behaviors he says may indicate that an individual has been “infected” with hurry sickness. Here are some of the symptoms he has identified. Sound vaguely familiar?
Read MoreThe “Happiness Habit” of Being Thankful
I love Fall. It’s a season of beautiful foliage, football, and a time for me reflect and celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. This year, again, I plan to take time throughout the Thanksgiving season to thank God for my many blessings. (My wife and I are particularly thankful this year, with the arrival of our first grandchild a few weeks ago!)
Read MoreDiscipler, Mentor, or Coach?
I love coffee, especially in the morning. I don’t know how many times I’ve walked into some local coffee haunt for my morning ‘fix,’ and noticed a group of men or women sitting at some corner table, bibles open, as they are obviously having a ‘group’ discussion around the word of God. Invariably, when I notice such a group, an unavoidable question pops into my head: “I wonder if the leader is discipling, or mentoring, or…coaching?
Read MoreNo Easy Answers
One of the most important ‘tools’ in a coach’s toolkit is the skill of asking ‘powerful’ questions. All CMDA coaches are certified through the International Coach Federation (ICF), the ‘gold standard’ organization for professional coaches. And the ICF lists ‘powerful questioning’ as one of the eleven core competencies necessary for coaches to achieve an ICF certification.
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