Executive Coaching or Owner of Business Coaching usually tends to take place initially during times of change or as a result of a sudden or unanticipated real or potential impacts on the business.
Oftentimes it takes place when individuals are being or have been promoted to a new position, take on new responsibilities and accordingly, they face new challenges both from the business and from a personal perspective
The higher you go in an organisation the more alone you may become, the colder the climate may be, and to fully understand what is happening at the coal face you need to receive regular and reliable feedback.
To quote the Oracle of Omaha Mr. Warren Buffet “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked” a definite scenario to be avoided.
In a recently held presentation to a group of senior managers by Summit Business Coaching, we asked the following question of the participants:
If there were 5 Frogs on a Log and 4 Frogs decided to jump off the log, then how many frogs would be left on the log?
Five Frogs on a Log:
(A CEO’s Field Guide to Accelerating the Transition in Mergers, Acquisitions and Gut Wrenching Change) by Mark L. Feldman & Michael F. Spratt.
Oftentimes participants say one frog will be left which is incorrect, however, if you said five frogs then you gave the correct answer.
The moral of the story is that there is a world of difference between deciding to do something (jumping) and actually committing to action (doing the jumping).
Ideally, we all need to avoid the almost daily, even hourly internalising and procrastinating energy sapping will I won’t I sessions that focus on our decision-making process. The feedback from our coaching clients over the last 6 months suggests that in the current climate making key decisions continues to be a challenge. Jumping off that log can therefore prove difficult as clients come to terms with the what if syndrome and trying to understand all the consequences of their action.
In a small (SME) business the Kitchen Table usually doubles up as the Boardroom Table and the feedback elicited comes from a reliable, dependable and trusted family source but still a confined source in terms of the overall experience. We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions and what often happens is that we assume an individuals’ intention from their behaviour . We tend to only notice those things in our lives that confirm and reinforce the beliefs we already hold. It begs the questions:
Are we therefore just reinforcing the beliefs we already hold when faced with challenges that impact on our business?
Can such an approach be holding us back?
In larger organisations, there is greater emphasis on teamwork, collaboration, co-operation and sharing of information. By developing cross-business relationships and increasing the level of awareness individual skills are developed to be more intuitive and innovative. Many of these organisations now bring in external coaches and through individual one to one coaching or group coaching sessions and these offer a way of developing a different perspective for the business and its core management team.
Research has shown that building a collaborative team with strong relationships across organisation are key factors to building the potential of any business both in terms of the human capital and financial capital invested in the business. In a nut shell, an ability to enhance your relationship with other colleagues can enable you to achieve better execution of the strategic decisions and actions to develop your business.
So if you want to improve your relationship and execute your decisions into actions with a Co-Director, Colleague or Business Manager then why not try to adopt Positive Psychology and adopt the acronym:
CHIT (Confidentiality, Honesty, Integrity, Trust) to help build relationships and:
- Be more positive, focus on what is working well.
- Look for regular feedback on what you can do to change, to improve.
- Become a better listener, don’t shut down good ideas by thinking about what you are going to say, stop interrupting.
- Avoid mushroom management keep all stakeholders informed.
- Show appreciation and overtly acknowledge meaningful contributions.
- Remember the two very powerful words….
THANK YOU
Say it…. and… Mean it.
At Summit Business Coaching we encourage our clients to challenge themselves, their beliefs, their learning, the way they take on the daily challenges. We encourage our clients to build the TRUST between all stakeholders to be able to effectively take on the challenges that all business encounter in our world of constant change.