Autumn 2007 An Edge For You

Dear Readers,

I hope you had a pleasant summer, and are enjoying the first signs of autumn. Not only are evenings getting colder, and work is picking up – after it never really slowed down for summer anyway! The ideal setting for a small break – which the topic of this newsletter is guaranteed to provide you with – as you will see…

Now while some may think sending out four newsletters per year is not an awful lot (and I’d agree!), I tend to pick topics that require quite intensive reading and then writing, and I do three language versions. This autumn I started early, because I knew I had a lot of events to prepare for; with a total of five public workshops, two panel presentations, and one conference keynote speech, my weekends are already being taken care of...

New Developments My Side

New Newsletter Structure

I readily admit that my newsletters were getting a bit long of late. The reason was that I wanted to cram a lot in, and give readers a chance to actually implement some of the suggestions they had just read about.

With this issue, I am presenting a more concise, clearer structure that allows you as the reader to make the choice if you just want to read, or if you want to go a little further: these two elements are now in two completely different documents (and links).

• The newsletter itself will just give you a taste of the topic, and then carry a links that takes you to the full-length article on my website.
• This also means that, as long as you save the link, you can access the document anytime you want.
• In addition to that, newsletter readers will get special access to some thought-provoking exercises that are not publicly available on my website.

This way, even if you only have a minute, you can still read about upcoming events, and get a glimpse of the topic. Clearly, one of the raisons d’etre of this newsletter is to make sure that readers in or near Prague and Hamburg get a chance to participate in some of the live events I offer – full details below in the Calendar section. And if you personally can’t attend, why not pass the invitation on to someone else

Autumn Topic – The Objectivity Trap

As a first topic with the new structure, I have chosen somehting that is not just one of my all-time favourites, but also very helpful for interacting in and impacting on complex systems: “How Objective is Our World?”

It is just so human to believe that our way of thinking happens to be the “objective” way, certainly more so than anybody elses - in the family J, or workplace, for that matter. How tempting to think we could convince others that we had the ultimate opinion on things. Deep down, we all know that things aren’t quite so easy – but do you ever wonder why? Are people seriously NOT seeing the things you are, and if not, would they still be competent, and could they be trusted? Many people are literally “trapped” in this way of thinking. Find out where you stand – and if the ideas presented could have practical value for you! Here is the full article:
http://www.an-edge-for-you.com/E_Objectivism_final.pdf

And if you would like to experiment with a few of the presented thoughts, why not look into another favourite term of mine: problems! “Leaving the Problem Trance” gives you a couple of hard-to-forget metaphors on problems, that may prove very useful in your everyday practice – even if it is just a reminder of something you already do! http://www.an-edge-for-you.com/E_ProblemTrance.pdf

Calendar of Events

October 2nd, 2007 from 8.30 – 11.00 a.m., Prague
Workshop "Create your Personal Self-Development Masterplan"
Location: American Chamber of Commerce in Prague, Dušní 10, Prague 1

After getting some of the fundamentals on personal motivation and change, design your personal 6-month plan, and discuss action steps with your partner in the workshop. If you are seriously considering coaching, this is not just a perfect starting point, but also a way of helping you to find out if my style of working fits yours. So mark your calendars now!

This workshop is free to anybody whose company is an AmCham member. If you are not a member, why not try to find a friend who is, and can sign you up, too?

I often find that with American Chamber events, many people don’t know that anybody from a member company can sign up - since events are free, all this takes is an e-mail! I hope to see many old and new faces at this event. After all, this is a great way for you to find out about the benefits of coaching – for free!

September 20-22, 2007, Prague
International Coaches Conference, organized by the Czech Coaching Association ČAKO
Keynote speaker with my German associate Frank Bresser (Cologne) on "Coaching Cultures in an International Context". More information at http://www.cako.cz/meeting/

This conference is a very special event: Most conferences I attend – or speak at – leave you with the feeling that although many interesting ideas were raised, there was no time for exchange and discussion, which means you take these half-digested ideas back with you, and often don’t get to implement anything really. The Prague International Coaches Conference has developed a better model: there are regular discussion times scheduled where practitioners will share their thoughts, experience and insights with regard to the topics just raised in the workshops before. If you are curious about coaching, come and attend, and/or send others!

PS: These are just the English events, for events in Czech and German see my website: http://www.an-edge-for-you.com/czech/news_cz.htm
and
http://www.an-edge-for-you.com/german/news_ger.htm

Preview – In the Next Issue:

… in the Winter Newsletter, you will read more about one of the following topics:

1. When role clarity issues get in the way: Ever been "afraid" of your team members’ competence? Afraid that they might leave, or worse, be better than you?
2. Are women different - or better - managers? What specific challenges do they face in different stages of their careers? Some research and examples from my practice.

Yours,