|
"How To Know
If You Need A Coach"
Who
Needs A Coach? On the other hand, if you… …are already pleased with your progress and excited about the future but believe that you have more potential and simply want to access and apply more of it – you may want to consider a coach. …are not achieving the results you seek as
quickly as you would like, or have lost the zest for a career
you once found invigorating… you would probably benefit from
a coach. …are so caught up in your day-to-day actions,
obligations, and routines, so focused on your daily to-do’s that
you’ve lost sight of the big picture….
then you probably need
a coach. …are feeling overwhelmed by continuous stress
and tension to the point where you are immobilized by the
pressure, then you definitely need a coach, (and perhaps a
doctor). Coaching is appropriate - and often times,
necessary, when the tension for change is great enough that you
know you have to do something – you may not know quite what, or
you may know exactly what, but you are ready for a change. Coaching is About Change The first and most important consideration before entering into a coaching relationship is whether or not you are willing or able to commit to the process for change. Some people can’t. No matter how intolerable things become, they would rather continue getting what they’re getting as long as they can keep on doing what they’re doing; In other words - change nothing. Unless you can commit to the process of change, a coaching relationship is not for you. Once you can open yourself to change, however, I would say you are already half-way there. Coaching is About Sorting It All Out If you know the area that you most want to
improve you can begin to look for help in that specific area.
For example, you may recognize you need help in marketing.
There are many ways to get to If you aren’t sure what area has the greatest
benefit for you - an effective coach will help you to narrow
your focus by examining your responsibilities and what you feel
you can or can’t control. Together you will recognize recurring
patterns that led to similar outcomes and talk about why that
is. With help from your coach you will then separate the things
you want from the things you don’t want, an exercise that, in
itself, contributes greatly to a clearer understanding of who
you really are. And it’s within that awareness that your
passion, motivation, and desire for change are ignited. Important:
You must be
excited about where you are going; if you depend solely on
discipline you will find the journey difficult and your
accomplishments less fulfilling. Remember, most everything we do
is a means to an end. Make yours a compelling one - one that you
are personally passionate about achieving. Make it a point to
spend more time thinking about a compelling future and act on
that thought in the present. Coaching is About Commitment Making a commitment to coaching is no different than a decision to take other classes. Why am I taking the class? What do I believe the benefit to be? Is it important enough to invest the necessary time, energy and money required to enjoy the benefit? Will it be a lot of work or something I can naturally integrate into my habits and routine? How much of it will be work vs. fun? Once you have the answers to these questions you are better equipped to make an informed decision. In fact, you should answer these questions about most of the activities you perform. A Coach is Not a Mentor. A mentor is someone who shares his or her expertise in a particular area for the purpose of teaching something they already know. The relationship is generally not a formal one, whereas in coaching - it always is. In fact, it’s mandatory for success. What I mean by formal is making the commitment to create the time to be fully with the coaching process where there are no interruptions or distractions, and to follow-through on all assignments. Tennis pros don't haphazardly train when they can fit it in to their busy schedules and still expect to make it to the finals. If you are paying your coach to help you obtain predictable results - you will need to be predictably responsible and committed to the process. A Coach Does Not Have to Be an Expert in
Your Field A good coach needs to be an expert at coaching you toward the specific end you seek. Coaching is about sharing repeatable steps to accomplish something you want sooner, whether it is physical, mental, instinctual, financial, relationships, better health, etc. The majority of our clients are already successful. They are very good at what they do and want to spend more time doing what they enjoy and what makes them money when they are working. Yet, many spend the bulk of their time on tasks that are not profitable or enjoyable. That means less time is available for those areas that are profitable and enjoyable, (i.e. high pay-off areas). A coach can help you spend more time on what really matters by providing the necessary tools to reduce, eliminate, or delegate the things that need to get done - but are not your highest and best use or critical to your success. An Aside: I have been playing music my
whole life and I am pretty proficient at it, but still use music
teachers to improve. In some situations I can play better than
my instructor, but she knows things that I don’t, which
accelerates my journey toward the end I seek. Could I learn it
on my own? Of course, but I don’t have the time or the energy
right now to pursue the long path of trial and error.
Most of
you, if you are committed and focused are going to arrive at a
preferred destination. How long do you want to spend in pursuit
of it, and what are the benefits of getting there sooner? Simply put, good coaches help people to do things differently or better than they normally would on their own, in order to get something they want. They provide objective feedback to aid in the necessary clarity of thought that must precede appropriate and effective implementation, teach strategies to improve effectiveness, and are a supportive partner on the path to greater accomplishment. First Things First Once you commit to working with a coach, the first thing you will need to do is take a long hard look at where you are and what you did to get here. You and your coach will examine prior cause. You arrived where you are based on past experience and beliefs that you adopted as a result of those experiences. Your belief system determines everything you do. It determines who you become. You must learn to re-create your beliefs, not run unconscious programs generated from a past that is gone forever. “Our past holds our future
hostage“---Stephen Covey What you need is a recent history of wins. They don’t have to be big - but they need to be steady and aimed toward a compelling end. Every time you attempt something that you have not done in the past there is a leap of faith, so it is crucial that you have the confidence that you can accomplish something that you have not done before. Not all coaches start with a sorting process, but I believe the good ones do. Once the sorting is done, goals are set, and you can begin to confidently focus on the high payoff improvements for your better future. Coaches can help in many areas of life and business. Some are specialists and some are more general. Regardless, a few things that a good coach can offer you are as follows:
Provide the
exercises and dialogue that help you to understand yourself and
what you seek to accomplish. Even though you may be focusing on
a specific area of interest, a coach can help you tie the work
you are doing to a greater purpose in your life. When people can
clearly connect the two, the work becomes more meaningful and
enjoyable. Help you to focus and
hold you
accountable for doing what you say you will do. Many people know
what to do, but are having difficulty managing the distractions
and finishing what they start. The process must help you learn
to set and consistently achieve goals and objectives.
Teach or
assist you in developing the skills you need to be more
effective in the specific areas of your life and business where
you wish to improve.
Sincerely
desire your success. It is a much more satisfying experience
when making changes in your life to have a trusted partner to go
through it with you. It shouldn’t be “you go and do this“,
rather, “let’s go do this together.”
Support and
teach you to establish a new mindset that allows you to think
differently about situations and circumstances that arise. Most
thinking is based on past programming that may or may not be
serving you.
“I have had
a lot of tragedy in my life. Most of which never occurred.”
---Mark Twain
Help you
become more organized. Whether it’s organizing your desk or your
priorities, organization is how we make order from chaos.
Help keep
you enthused, motivated, on target, and passionate. Ultimately
it’s an inside job, but having a partner can make the lows and
highs more beneficial. Every experience has a lesson. A coach
can help you learn, even from mistakes, so you don’t keep
repeating the past.
Help you
focus on what is working - rather than what is not working. What
you focus on grows. Be careful of your inner dialog. Is it
helping you, or are you running a program that has you convinced
you that you lack value or the ability to reach your goals? Often
clients come to us already having considerable success, but due
to ineffective thinking or lack of a process, acknowledge their
wins too infrequently, seldom enjoying the most significant
benefit, which is greater confidence and appreciation of
themselves and their value to others. Push
you to
break out of your comfort zone to stretch to new levels of
accomplishment.
Continually raise your level of commitment as well as comfort in
your ability to step out and take on bigger challenges and
projects.
Offer a
time and space for you to think, ponder, plan, practice, and
discuss. Most people are so busy taking care of business,
family, and personal issues that they rarely take the time to
think strategically about building a better life and business. A
great benefit of participating in a coaching program is it
allows you the time to focus - guilt free - on yourself. What should I pay for coaching? Ideally you should pay what its worth. This is a difficult question to answer because so much depends on you. I know of individual coaching programs that cost $15,000 dollars per year. If you are earning $250K or more per year and could increase your effectiveness by 15% and enjoy the benefits every year for the rest of your career, that’s a pretty good return on your investment. You can also afford the investment in pursuit of your goal. There are shorter and group programs that may be more appropriate and affordable for you (A few hours to several sessions) offered through associations or organizations that can cost $200-$500 dollars. They won’t be as extensive or as personalized, but could be a good way for you to test the process and learn something about yourself. As always there are the extremes at both ends. Most people fall somewhere in the middle. If you’re going to invest more than $1000 dollars, learn everything you can and talk to people who have been in the program. Prepare questions that you would like answers to in advance of your meetings. If it is a personal program or large commitment of time or money, be sure to schedule a formal phone or face to face meeting to get to know the material and the coach or facilitator. If it is going to be a long term (several months or longer) period of time you better make sure you like or at least respect the person you will be working with. Reason: At times you may receive some less than pleasant criticism and frank feedback. Some personalities and organizational styles just don’t work together. You aren’t looking for a shoulder to cry on, you want results, but you are looking for a confidant that you feel sincerely wants to help you succeed and you believe has some tools and processes to help you do so. It may come in the form of tough love. If you have doubts about the program or the person - keep looking until you feel excited and committed to the program and yourself. So, who needs a coach? Probably most everyone - at one time or another. Even coaches sometimes need coaching. When we find ourselves doing less and less of what we love and more time being consumed by those things we have to do; when we’re feeling overworked and underappreciated; lethargic about the day ahead of us or confused about where we’re headed; when we have ceased to put “who we are” - because we no longer know who we are - into every sale, every encounter, and every aspect of our lives; or if we are feeling great and are simply ready to learn something new to help us to be better at a given task - coaching can be an invaluable step toward a better and more fulfilling life and business. Our motto is: We help business builders
collapse infinity to a point: There are an infinite number of
things you could be doing. Our job is to get you to do what
really matters, personally and professionally first. Have fun helping more people enjoy the benefits of your good work while you create the future you most desire. Steve Konig is a coach and
president of Results Plus, a training and development company
based in
|
