Current Events

In conjunction with this newsletter, we have launched a completely new web site for Crane Consulting. Please visit us to learn about our upcoming public events and the focus of our continually-evolving consulting practice. Very soon we will begin publishing chapter excerpts from "Coaching Cultures - The Next Wave".

Topical feedback for newsletter:

We invite you to share with us aspects of the coaching process that you like to see presented or discussed in upcoming newsletters. We will include topics like: coaching your boss, coaching the un-coachable, establishing effective coaching relationships, empowering people to take risks, inspiring committed performance, sharing a compelling vision, effectively combining coaching and disciplinary action, and learning through dialogue to name a few. Our intention is to effectively treat one new significant area with each subsequent newsletter.

Our audience:

We believe this newsletter will be an effective resource for the following: executive leaders, middle level managers, members of the team, and sole contributors. We believe if professionals working in the field of human resources, organizational development, and training either as an external consultant or internal resource, will also find value.

Our Next Issue:

In our next month's issue we will share the highlights of all our new coaching culture assessment. The purpose of this tool is to assess the extent to which a team or an entire organization currently can be described as a coaching culture. We will present the business and human case for creating this type of high-performance culture.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of our monthly newsletter – In the Spirit of Coaching. Our purpose is to continue to share thoughts, ideas, and insights from our practice that relate to the wonderfully robust field of coaching. Our work in this field has truly been a journey – one that we have willingly shared with many readers, clients, and colleagues. In this newsletter, we hope to continue the exploration of the wisdom and power of the coaching process.

We look forward to conducting an ongoing dialogue about how coaching enhances leadership effectiveness, builds cohesive and aligned teams, and contributes to overall organizational high-performance. We have shared much of our philosophy and experience in our first book, "The Heart of Coaching ", and are happy to say we have another book (for release in early 2004) that takes this work a step further. This work will be entitled, "Coaching Cultures – The Next Wave." It will continue to describe the process of creating true high-performance organizations through the development of leaders and teams who are both good at coaching and receptive to being coached.

"In the spirit of coaching" has become a signature phrase for me over the years. Let me share how this phrase came about. I began signing books with the phrase, "In the Spirit of Coaching" back in 1998 when "The Heart of Coaching" was the first published. From the very beginning I have been in touch with the deeply human inside of coaching. When done effectively, coaching has the power to change people's lives. People who are coaches touch those they coach. And they touch them with more than just their intellect – their thoughts – their ideas. Good coaches touch people emotionally and spiritually.

This is the unseen side to coaching – where the real power lies. I began to describe some of these deeper dimensions in the Epilogue of "The Heart of Coaching" where I cited many of the world's major religions and their universal messages about compassion. To me spirituality is the family of universal truths that all religions uniquely express. Because spirituality is universal, it connects one religion to another and one human being to another. It is in seeing this universal, spiritual connection between all human beings that coaching draws its most profound influence.

The phrase, "in the spirit of coaching," simply reminds us of our connectivity – our spiritual brotherhood. It evokes what I think of as a positive energy field. It brings forth in us our highest, most positive intentions. It reminds us to be open in seeking new learning, to share our personal experience, to be humble, to be helpful, and to have the well-being of our coachee(s) foremost in our hearts.

The Transformational Coaching process shows us how to have a "coachee-centered" conversation. This is next to impossible to do unless the coach is, in the moment, reminded of these principles. In order for us to be focused on our coachee, we must have the ability to get outside of ourselves. This requires huge doses of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and a spiritual perspective.

Several of my clients have learned to begin coaching conversations with this powerful phrase. It brings people back to the purpose of working together and bring in service to one another. Importantly, it reminds us we are about to either give or receive the gift of feedback.

"In the spirit of coaching" can evoke all of these things, and bring us to the present moment – to the here-and-now. To be present to the here-and-now is the deepest gift we can give ourselves and others.