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Overview
The CoachVille R&D Team is an intellectual factory and
provides significant levels of feedback and strategic input in the
design, crafting, testing and perfecting of the intellectual property
– and operations – of CoachVille.
Any CoachVille member may join the CV R&D Team. As a member,
you will receive an email 2 to 5 times a week with ideas, questions,
examples; you are asked to comment on the topics you wish to.
How To Join
To
join, first read and agree to the guidelines which are described
below.
(Note: If you have an AOL email address, you'll need to get an
alternate one in order to join the CoachVille R&D Team; our memos
are always in html and are larger than the 30K file size limit imposed
by AOL.)
Guidelines
The R&D Team takes on some controversial topics, some of
which are virtually guaranteed to push your buttons. This is
fine, but the only rule as a member of the R&D Team is to be, at
all times,
CIVIL &
POLITE
We have had a problem with R&D members being so upset by something
we are planning to do, or a project that we have taken on, or a
thought-provoking question, that they have emotionally reacted and
lashed out at us.
Not okay.
For example, when we asked for feedback on the "Everyone's a
Coach" tagline, we got lots of negative responses (no problem –
we like critical thinkers) and several personal attacks (i.e.,
"You are ruining the coaching profession," "CoachVille
is cheapening the industry," "You are evil," etc.)
It's fine to disagree, but when it becomes personal, it hurts.
Part of what CoachVille does IS to be a disruptive influence in our
industry. Disruption is good. Currently the industry is
moribund. We're shaking it up so that it can evolve at the pace
it was meant to evolve at. This ruffles feathers.
So, some tips...
1. Before you share an opinion, FIRST challenge yourself to see what
the bigger place is that you're coming from. If you think from
where you usually think from, you won't be much help on the R&D
Team (or to yourself).
2. When you receive an R&D email from us that you react negatively
to, just hang out with the idea/topic for a day or two before firing
off an email to us.
3. Use the process of being on the R&D Team to evolve and expand
yourself. Every single time you receive an email from us, use it
as a catalyst (or a cattle prod) to think bigger and be bigger.
Don't be the same person you were before you read it.
4. In your comments/feedback, be honest, fully communicate, and point
out what you like about the project/idea and where you see the flaws.
Write from YOUR experience/preferences, not what you think
"coaches" will like/dislike. You are the only one who
matters here.
5. And, make sure you phrase your comments – especially the
criticisms – in a positive, helpful tone.
Good
forms for criticism:
- "I can't imagine that I would
buy the new product as you are describing it because the price
point is too high for me."
- "I like the general idea but
here's the flaw as I see it..."
- "I don't have a solution, but
something isn't right about this idea."
- "Here's what I suggest that you
consider..."
Bad
forms for criticism:
- "That idea sucks." [thank
you for sharing]
- "That's not going to
work." [instead, tell us how to fix it]
- "You don't know what you're
doing." [needlessly insulting]
- "You shouldn't..." [not
helpful]
- "That idea needs work."
[this is assumed, yes?]
Which Type of R&D
Member Will You Be?
Here's a summary of the "types" of coaches who are on the
R&D team. We str asking you to move yourself to Type 1 as
soon as possible. While we can benefit from all types, our best
work is done by Type 1's.
Type 1.
The Creatives
They can hear an idea and
quickly come up to speed with it, integrating it into what they
already knew/felt about the topic, see the potential AND flaws in it
and come back to me with why it's good (far beyond what we had seen)
and what's flawed about it (flaws we hadn't been able to see
ourselves). In other words, whatever idea we share with
them is a catalyst for their thinking/creative process and/or
evolution. They "work it" and grow from it. It's
more than them doing an analysis. And, sometimes, The
Creatives totally TRASH an idea but they are nice about it and they
ask questions or point out missing links in the thinking process so
that we can learn, versus just being told it's a dumb idea. They
help us understand a bigger place to look/listen from, so it works
both ways quite nicely.
Usefulness: We read these emails first, both for the
validation and for how they will evolve/expand our thinking quickly.
Type 2.
The Cautionaries
They can hear the dea, and
while they sense/inkle that it's an interesting one, it takes them
some time to come around see exactly how it's a good one. So,
they wait for a couple of days and then when they do see how the idea
could/would work, they can become quite enthusiastic. But there
is this buffering/arms-around-it time, that takes time.
Usefulness: This is the bulk of the coaching community,
so we enjoy hearing from them and hearing what it takes to "come
around" to see the potential/value of a shared idea. We are
most curious how they make this shift because this is where most folks
in the world are – processing information, especially disruptive or
paradigmical/paradoxical information, and integrating it into their
now-broader way of seeing life.
Probable Source: The buffer thing. Why is it there?
Why is there delay? Where's the bottleneck?
Type 3.
The "You-Should-ers"
These are mostly R&D
members who have very strong opinions, and who often think we're not
too bright. They are quick to give advice from a rather limited
place. They see the world through a single eye. Theirs.
Their theme/mantra is "THIS IS THE WAY IT IS." No
peripheral vision, much less 20/20. Yawn. Reaction city.
Usefulness: They are tiresome but sometimes we find
useful nuggets because they ARE pretty smart in their narrow area.
Probable Source: We're not sure what the source of this
one is. They definitely have a strong desire to help and protect
me from failure. But the motivation doesn't seem very clean.
Type 4.
The Repeaters
They respond to ideas with
comments/ideas based on ideas/situations that they already have had in
their past and repeat what they FELT in the past about their original
idea. In other words, when they heard the idea, they go into
their heads and "find" a similar situation they had faced
professionally and then share comments/advice from THAT place, instead
of using my idea/question to look freshly and upgrade their past
experience to be directly fitting to the idea that was emailed them.
Usefulness: These contributes are usually VERY smart and
experienced. Perhaps too experienced. And, they miss out
on the pleasure of experimenting with the ideas Iwe present.
They jump into "expert or solution mode" too quickly and
miss out on the richness or potential of the idea and instead insert
themselves/their experience too soon. Not a lot of room for
fresh thinking, but the feedback is VERY valuable because we learn so
much of the expert/technical side or potential ramifications of our
ideas.
Probable Source: Inability to recognize subtleties.
Most of our ideas are laced with subtleties. If one jumps too
quickly into repeat/analytical mode, they miss those underlying
subtleties. Subtleties are quite rich.
Type 5.
The Fear Barometers
Whatever idea we have, they
first process the idea through their fear-barometers and THEN they
give their feedback (usually fear-based). They look at the
negative/consequence side. They look to see where they or other likes
them could "lose" if wemoved forward with that particular
idea? They have self-appointed themselves as the watchdog of
what was.
Usefulness: There is definitely some value in this type
of input because probably 25% of coaches think/process
information/ideas in this way. They don't have the
freedom/ability to think conceptually; the value of something is
measured mostly by its potential risk to their status quo. Or to
"coaching in general," whatever that means.
Probable Source: An inability to think/experience ideas
– even disruptive ideas – on a conceptual basis. They route
the idea through themselves first and thus it brings up reactions.
Type 6.
The Contrarian Indicators
There are some coaches who
email us (from the R&D Team and in general) that are incredibly
consistent on being on the other side of the flow. In other
words, when they say an idea is lame or fatally flawed or that we
"definitely should not do that!" then we KNOW the project is
going to be a success! And when they love an idea quickly, we
know to get real cautious real quickly with that idea because it's
probably going to fail in its current form.
Usefulness. Of course, we never tell the person they are
a contrarian indicator!
Probable Source: Behind the times, big time. But they
don't know it. They are living in a carefully constructed world
with few fresh influences.
Still
want to join the R&D Team?
Click here
to join.
(You will need the generic CoachVille Member Area username and
password.)
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