A Bunch of Words about FIT – Part 1

Monday, December 26, 2011 Leave a comment

I Don’t Tweet, Don’t Ask Me

You can’t Tweet a novel.

Neither can you expand on a concept effectively when you are limited to a handful of characters barely greater than the number of tiles you might draw in the average game of Scrabble!

Since “profound relating” is at the very top of my personal list of Core Values, I find “Twitter expectations” more than a little unsettling — especially when they are shoved down my throat as THE way to reach your clients (or anyone else!)

I have been accused of a lot of things in my life,
but “brief” was never one of them.

As a result, most of MY students and clients are more likely to appreciate something with a little meat on its bones than to extol the virtues of “The Cliff Notes approach to idea dissemination.”

Some of us LIKE words.  Most of us who like words really don’t care much for “brief.”  It’s a matter of perspective and personal preference, not an addendum to Robert’s Rules of Order.  So when I hear apologies for the length of a post on blog after blog, I want to weep.

For those of us in love with language, LESS is simply … well, less!

It’s a matter of FIT.  And whether you are coach, client, or both, the concept of FIT is probably THE single most important coaching concept underlying coaching success.

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Filed under B. Coaching Concerns, B2. Working with an ADD Coach, B2a. Mentor Coaching, ADD Style, D. Coaching with MGH, G2. Rewrite Your Coaching Manual, G3. ADD Coaching Secrets, G4. Mentoring the ADD Coach Tagged with , , , , , ,

Mentor Coaching

Monday, July 11, 2011

LINKS — See also: Mentor Coaching and Football? for context, and How I Mentor Coaches for specifics —

Why MENTOR Coaching?

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, A.C.T., MCC, SCAC
ADDCoach Trainer & Certified Mentor Coach

An older female helping a younger one put a puzzle together

All coaching
targets your functioning,
wherever the application.

MENTOR Coaching targets
your development as a Coach,
first and foremost.

Hiring a Mentor Coach to coach you through the practice development phase helps you put the practice puzzle together:  it straightens out your learning curve and gives you guidance and encouragement as you define and build your career.

Clients ready for a Mentor Coach:

  • have already done a lot of Foundation work, either through a formalized training or from the school of life
  • feel confident that they are ready to work with others in this regard (and may be practicing coaches who have been “flying solo” for some time)
  • have already acquired a great many coaching skills, and may well feel they have been coaching all their lives while making a living at something else
  • hire a Mentor Coach primarily for practice development coaching. 

They look to their Mentor Coach to help them:

  1. deepen their personal growth
  2. hone and expand their coaching skill set, and
  3. strategize steps toward a professional coaching practice that is personally and financially rewarding.

By definition, coaches are on the fast track with personal growth. Mentor Coaching puts them on the fast track with practice growth.

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Filed under B2. Working with an ADD Coach, B2a. Mentor Coaching, ADD Style, D. Coaching with MGH, D1b. Private Mentor Coaching, G4. Mentoring the ADD Coach Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

ABOUT Distractions

Monday, July 4, 2011 2 Comments

NOTE: If you have not read The Dynamics of Attending, the article below will have greater impact if you do that first.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————- 

Monkey Minds – The Dilemma of Distractability

A cartoon monkey climbing a tree trunk, attention elsewhere - obviously distracted

All distractions are interruptions, but
all interruptions are NOT distractions.

An interruption is a momentary disturbance in the projected flow of a physical or mental activity that creates a break in continuity for a relatively brief interval.

Inherent in the definition is the assumption that concentration will return to the interrupted activity, if appropriate, implying that the control of one’s focus is volitional – a factor of the “will-power” of the individual who has been interrupted.

A distraction, on the other hand, is a disruption of an individual’s concentrated attention upon a chosen object of focus. The distinction between the two otherwise similar events is that a distraction is intrusive: it prevents effective operation of the first and third of the three Dynamics of Attending:

  • focusing on the intended object
    and 
  • sustaining the focus. 

As long as the second dynamic – shifting focus at will – operates efficiently, “one quick interruption” remains so.  Most people can get back on track effectively as long as the “distracting” event is not pervasive or repetitive.

Ay, there’s the rub!

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Filed under A. Hopefully Helpful
, A5. Tips, Tricks & Techniques, A5a. Attention & Focus, A5g. Distractions & Transitions, ADD | ADHD | Attention Deficit Disorder, G4. Mentoring the ADD Coach, G5. The Optimal Functioning eBook Series™, G5b. The Challenges Inventory™, G5d. Intentional Attending, G5j. Transition Tamer Tagged with , , , , ,

ABOUT “From My Books”

Saturday, June 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Blogging by Book Excerpt

Drawing of rolling book cart like those found in smaller libraries - loaded with booksAbout those orphaned books I mentioned in Menage a Moi — I suddenly had an epiphany.

Why wait for publication to start getting the content in the hands of those who need it???

So, as time permits (or whenever I’m too covered up to write a new post for one of the other categories), I’ll pull content from one of my MANY books in process to share with you in this section.

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Filed under ADD | ADHD | Attention Deficit Disorder, G. From my Books, G1. The Boggle Book, G2. Rewrite Your Coaching Manual, G3. ADD Coaching Secrets, G4. Mentoring the ADD Coach Tagged with , , , , , ,

Mentor Coaching and Football?

Wednesday, May 25, 2011 Leave a comment

A Successful Coaching Practice
Blackl & white graphic of a football player running for a touchdown and a
Winning Football Team - not that different

Developing a rewarding and lucrative coaching practice is similar to winning a football game: you must score to win!

And touchdowns are only ONE way to score!

Football games are rarely won with a single touchdown, nor are most touchdowns accomplished in a single attempt. The majority of scores happen as a result of a series of first downs. Those hard won ten yards are captured in multiple plays that gain a few yards at a time – and every change in strategy includes a huddle!

But NO points can be won unless the team is in possession of the ball!

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Filed under B. Coaching Concerns, B2a. Mentor Coaching, ADD Style, D. Coaching with MGH, D1b. Private Mentor Coaching, G4. Mentoring the ADD Coach Tagged with , , , , ,

Until they believe they can, they can’t

Friday, May 20, 2011 Leave a comment

An ADD Coach’s single most important task is
the facilitation of THE most essential client shift:

 from “Expectations of Failure”
TO “Expectations of SUCCESS”

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Filed under A1a. Executive Functioning Disorders, A5b. Activation, B2. Working with an ADD Coach, G2. Rewrite Your Coaching Manual, G4. Mentoring the ADD Coach, H. Brain Based Coaching/Training Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

How I Mentor Coaches

Thursday, May 19, 2011 Leave a comment

Old headshot of Madelyn (a.k.a. MGH) long familiar from the web

Mentor Coaching with Me

I want all of my clients to enjoy their coaching time.

I firmly believe that it is impossible to enjoy ANYTHING much, unless it happens in an unconditionally constructive atmosphere. 

As important as that is with any client, it is essential with clients who support clients of their own.

In my experience, coaches need immense support to be able to develop to the point where all of the skills they need are as natural as walking and talking.

(Remembering to deliver charge-neutral communications and stay unconditionally constructive will take a lot more focus than it will once it becomes second nature to do so, for example.)

Coaches often feel a drain on their energies they can’t always identify and can rarely explain as a result.  A huge part of a Mentor coach’s job is to restore those energy balances!

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Filed under B. Coaching Concerns, B2a. Mentor Coaching, ADD Style, D. Coaching with MGH, D1b. Private Mentor Coaching, G2. Rewrite Your Coaching Manual, G4. Mentoring the ADD Coach Tagged with , , , , ,

The Art and Science of the ADD Question

Monday, April 18, 2011 Leave a comment

Don’t ask, DO tell

My heart breaks when an ADDer tells me about past coaching relationships that haven’t worked out.

While I have empathy for any coach who wonders why they couldn’t be effective with any particular client, my heart shatters when I hear from any ADDer whose coach doesn’t wonder about their own contribution to this client’s struggles.

ADD Coaching is not ADD icing on a “vanilla” cake!  

You simply must Rewrite your Coaching Manual™ through the understanding of how the brain “normally” works, and what’s going on when it works differently.

Line drawing of a person throwing a piece of paper and a huge question mark into a trash can.What you will discover when you do is that there are standard coaching basics that won’t work AT ALL with ADDers.

Never.  Nada!  No way, no how!

No matter what you’ve learned – or how well your vanilla skills work with how many bazillions of non-ADD clients . . .
you simply MUST throw them out when your client has ADD.

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Filed under A1a. Executive Functioning Disorders, A3. Linking & Learning, ADD | ADHD | Attention Deficit Disorder, B1. ADDCoach Terms & Tools, D1b. Private Mentor Coaching, G2. Rewrite Your Coaching Manual, G3. ADD Coaching Secrets, G4. Mentoring the ADD Coach, H. Brain Based Coaching/Training Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

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