Author: Joy Reichart
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We Are All Required to Be Uncomfortable
āThings are not getting worse, they are getting uncovered. we must hold each other tight & continue to pull back the veil.ā ā Adrienne Maree Brown Uncovered, yes. All of it at once, it seems, and undeniably. Racism. Sexism. Abuse. Privilege. Unjust war. Injustice, period. Environmental destruction. The myriad wrongs baked into our human existence,…
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From Hopelessness to Possibility: My Journey to Becoming a Coach
Iām an Integral Coach. Iām also a martial arts instructor, creative director, and workshop leader. I couldn’t have imagined even one of these things as a possibility when I embarked on my year of training at New Ventures West. Many people come into the Professional Coaching Course with particular intentions for what awaits them at…
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The Importance of Self-Development in a Breaking World
I admit it: even as an Integral Coach and the person at NVW most responsible for spreading the word about our work, Iāve had moments in recent months when Iāve second guessed the point of it all. With so much of the world in dire emergency, itās to the point that Iām literally forgetting to…
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Beyond Good Questions: How the Integral Coaching Method is Different
The Integral Coaching method asks questions, of course. We start with a lengthy intake conversation intended to give us a picture of our clientās world. We ask the client their thoughts and feelings about the issue they’ve brought and what they have tried by way of resolving it. We also make sure to inquire into…
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Work-Life Balance: Setting Boundaries from Within
Work-life balance and boundaries In a world that’s becoming faster paced by the minute, work-life balance is a hot topic. In particular, we talk a lot about boundaries: recognizing we need them, developing the competency to assert them (usually by saying ānoā), and vigilantly maintaining them so that weāre not overextending and neglecting what is…
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Adjusting to a New Corporate CultureāCase Study: Executive Coaching in a Complex Environment
by James Flaherty It seemed like a perfect fit: Dr. Chris (not her real name) had the exact andĀ unusual talent and experience necessary to solve the very expensive andĀ potentially disastrous dilemma. Sheād been hired by an insurance companyĀ that was responding to competitive pressure by following an unusual strategy:Ā they had recently purchased several hospital groups and…
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None of Our Business
However life chooses us to be of service in it has absolutely nothing to do with us. Calling is not a choice. Itās not what we think we like or prefer or have aptitude for. Our egos have plenty of ideas about what weāre supposed to be good at: what we excelled at in grade…
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A Conversation with Sarita Chawla
Sarita Chawla’s first career spanned over twenty years at Pacific Bell in management, where she gained experience in total quality, facilitation, dialogue, diversity and leading organizations. Since beginning her second career, she has edited a best-selling anthology about learning organizations, led a three-year race dialogue initiative in the Bay Area, initiated womenās dialogues in the…
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The Neuroscience of Leadership
Breakthroughs in brain research explain how to make organizational transformation succeed. By David Rock and Jeffrey Schwartz Re-posted from Strategy + Business, Summer 2006 / Issue 43. Mike is the CEO of a multinational pharmaceutical company, and heās in trouble. With the patents on several key drugs due to expire soon, his business desperately needs…
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Transparency
Iām a little sad most of the time and Iām not up to much of anything. Great conversation starter, huh? But if Iām honest, thatās my in-the-moment answer to the question of how am I doing these days, and what am I up to. Itās winter, itās dark, my body wants to hibernate, Iām tired…
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Life as a mirror
A few weeks ago, chaos had been tracking me through my days. I felt it chugging through my veins alongside my blood cells: Urgency. Insanity. Nonsense. Annoyance. Rushing. When I get this way a particular part of me takes over: a manic, starving, prowling hyena. I am at her mercy, bending to her frightened, angry,…
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The Agony of Conscious Incompetence
I was recently introduced to a learning model thatās opened up a lot of space around my own development and my work with clients. Itās known as the four stages of competence, the stages themselves being: (1) unconscious incompetence, (2) conscious incompetence, (3) conscious competence, and (4) unconscious competence. Unconscious incompetence is when our blind…
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Extreme empathy
In coaching, we speak a lot about empathy being a gateway to understanding our clientsā internal landscapes. The ability to be sensitive to what another is feeling in our work is, well, everything. Without some identification with the clientās experience, we are in a place of judging or advising from an outside perspective ā nothing…
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Needing to be needed
The other day, a brilliant colleague likened self-care to the oxygen mask drill on airplanes ā specifically, the part about always affixing our own mask before assisting others. In other words, if your own ability to take a breath is compromised, how in the world can you be of service to anyone else? āBasically, if…