Dr. Ryan Meers

Pamela, Absolutely! And I'm glad for you that you were able to experience the power of both a coach & a manager. I have a feeling that this has helped you in your own role as a leader as well. Pass it on! Ryan

Cynthia, This is great & I'm so thrilled to see you approaching these conversations in this way. I especially applaud the "accountability" aspect or observing. Coaching does have a "report in" aspect & we don't want to lose sight of that. Great job! Ryan

Avia, I think you hit on two important aspects of an unreachable goal. First of all, it may just be a dream that we won't be able to achieve. Dreams are important, but we all have those "dreams" that we know aren't reality. I dream of retiring at 40 to a beautiful ranch in the mountains...Not happening! The other thing is that a goal may be reachable, but if the person has not desire to achieve that goal (for whatever reason) it essentially becomes unreachable. We cannot want something more for someone than they want for themselves. Ryan

Avia, Great ideas. Regarding projecting your voice, while obviously much of this is physical, I also believe this ties into good preparation & confidence. When we know that we have prepared well, we are much more confident & then our voices will be that much stronger & we will be able to project better. Ryan

Kelly, All great suggestions. I especially appreciate your comment about learning from mistakes & just focusing on doing better next time. While I admit that it's embarrassing to make a mistake when publicly speaking, it is so important to not let these mistakes "destroy" us, but as you said, to learn from them & move forward. Ryan

So true that coaching is interactive & 2-way. In fact, I would argue that the coach (leader) should be doing much less of the talking in these situations & a lot more listening. Great job. Ryan

Eric, Your post made me think of something I heard from an effective leader & developer of others: it is dangerous to want something more for someone than they want for themselves. I think this is what you are saying, the other person has to want the coaching & embrace it for it to be truly effective. Ryan

Yes, knowing your individual team members is a key to effective leadership. Ryan

Great pieces of advice & I feel tied together. The more prepared I am, then when those little things happen (dropping something, etc) then I won't be as flustered. And the more prepared the more confident I will be & especially in the Q & A time.

Yes that confidence is important. Fred Luthans has done extensive work in developing the idea of Positive Psychological Capital & one of those main elements is Self-efficacy. Based on Bandura's work this has proven to be a very vital quality in all workers & students. Ryan