Posts Tagged ‘business coaching’

Deliberate Practice – Reflection

 

Shut off all of your electronics and take some time to REFLECT on what you have accomplished in 2011 and set some goals for 2012.  Really reflect on what you did well and where you have room for improvement.  Don’t take the easy way out and say that you did everything well in 2011 and there is nothing that you should work on in 2012.  You and I both know that would be a LIE!!!  Is that really how you want to start out the new year? If you really want to challenge yourself, go a step further and ask a co-worker, friend or mentor to hold you accountable on what you have committed to for 2012.

Coaching Pitfalls and Joe Paterno

Joe Paterno’s situation amplifies pitfall #8 from Coach to Win the Leadership Game…Assistant coaches who betray the coach’s core values.

8. Misaligned Assistants
I have worked with organizations that have senior executives who are able to model the company’s values, yet allow a few of their mid-level managers to act in ways that are not in alignment with company stated values. The most common reason for this is that the mid-level managers are technically excellent or produce high levels of financial results, but are unable to model the company’s values.
You can see the slippery slope this creates for senior executives. This behavior sends the message, “We really believe in our core values and want everyone to follow them but when it comes down to it we are tolerating misalignment because certain people produce great (technical or financial) results and we are unwilling to draw a line in the sand.” That is a recipe for disaster from a leadership standpoint.

Stay tuned since we will discuss the other 7 pitfalls that will undermine coaching!

Communicaton 101

One of the most frequent areas of skill building in our business coaching programs is in the area of communication.

Participants in the coaching are required to bring a “highlight reel” of their successes and/or challenges.  One particular executive I worked with was struggling in his relationship with his direct report.  His direct seemed to be falling into a pattern of making excuses rather than solving problems.  In the communications coaching, the client learned how to use language to more effectively set the context for the conversation and use the language of curiosity (versus the language of blame or judgment) to open up the conversation.

The client was amazed how open his direct report was when he used a different and more thoughtful approach to word choices.  The language of curiosity created a more open and collaborative space.

If you think about it, we are linguistic beings – words are “the water we swim in”.  Yet it’s startling how incompetent, sloppy and downright stupid we can be about our word choices.  Mastering communication skills lead to higher leadership effectiveness, business results and personal satisfaction.

Don’t you love it when you see passion in business performance?

Okay let’s face it… every day we are giving a performance!  Like great musicians and actors, we are going to have an opportunity to hit the notes just right, “nail the scene” or “mail it in”.  It’s our choice.  It’s our responsibility.

We seem to forget that at times.  This is true in our business performance, our friend performance, our coworker performance, our significant other performance, and our parent performance.

Let me give you an examples of peak performance.

Let me introduce you to Veronica Lodge.   Veronica is the shoeshine professional over at V’s Barbershop in my neighborhood.  Let me set the backdrop.  I’ve been having the same person at an unnamed shoe shop shine my shoes for the past 10 years.  I have been a loyal customer.

I’m in getting my hair cut at V’s last month and Veronica comes over with all her enthusiasm and attitude and starts to tell me what it takes to be a really great shoeshine.  She goes on with such confidence and determination explaining how her shoe shines are like no other.  She says, “They last longer.  Look better.  Keep shoes looking like new all of the time.”

I’m sold.  She takes my shoes, shines them, all the while, still talking on and on about a great shoeshine.  I have to tell you it was a great shoeshine.  I’m taking my shoes to Veronica even when I’m not going in for a haircut.

What’s most amazing about Veronica is her passion, determination and confidence about what she does.  Of course the best part is her business results are equal to her promise she makes in her confidence in her service.  I have to say, as a business coach, I run across many people who have confidence that doesn’t equal the results they produce.  Back to Veronica.  Please don’t take this the wrong way Veronica .  Veronica is selling a five dollars service.  A service some would say is less than glamorous, not high on their career choice list.  But to Veronica it is the most important thing in the world when she is at work.

I’m thinking to myself, what would happen if all of those business people I work with every day had the same kind of positive attitude, determination and confidence that Veronica took in her shoeshine service?  The world would be a better place.

In our business coaching we are trying to help business people, CEOs, and business leaders be more like Veronica.  Be passionate about what you do.  Be the best at it.  Go confidently after acquiring more clients and deliver on what you promise.

In the meantime, just hope Veronica doesn’t switch to your profession.  My guess is she would kick your ass.

Oh yeah.  Do me a favor.  Take your shoes in to Veronica and if it isn’t the best shoeshine you’ve had, let me know.  I’d be surprised.