I recently took the time to slow down and thought I would learn about something new. There is a world-wide coaching conference that takes place each year called the World Business and Executive Coach Summit, WBECS for short. It is a fabulous opportunity, through web-based means, to gain access to the latest thinking, trends, research and practices in the world of organizational coaching.
I was particularly excited about a session called “Conversational Intelligence.” We have seen so much show up in our client work lately around having the “right” conversation, at the right time with the right person. So this seemed like something new and cool that I could share with our clients. Based on the latest research, Judith E. Glaser was presenting a new framework for knowing just what conversations trigger the lower brain and what activates the higher-level intelligences – empathy, foresight, good judgment and trust. Knowing those higher-level intelligences are crucial for having the right conversations I was even more intrigued.
She used real life examples of organizations that have employed this approach and the subsequent successes they have seen. Successes that satisfy the head and the heart.
It all sounded so intriguing, I went immediately to Amazon’s kindle store to buy the downloadable version of her book. To my immediate delight, I was reminded that I had purchased the book last year! My reaction went from delight to disappointment. How did I let such a powerful set of learning, sit idle on my Kindle for that long? How many opportunities did I miss to not share this approach with others? How many opportunities could I have been a better coach had I been equipped with this new knowledge?
As I reflected upon what had happened, I learned that while it was good for me to slow down and listen to the webinar, I failed in taking action. It starts with slowing down, but must be followed up with taking action with what I have been exposed to. So often that this the case – we KNOW what we should do – we just don’t always do it. So, there the book sits on my Kindle. My challenge to myself is to read it and blog about it before the end of August.