Coaching Example

As I continue down the path of describing coaching through real-life situations, my goal is to bring clarity to the coaching space for people reading my posts - to see the value of hiring a coach.

A few of my clients are sales managers who manage people and profitability in the demographics they are responsible for. One of their focuses is to not only motivate their people to increase profitability but to build strong relationships with their teams and develop leaders in the process. The biggest challenge most sales managers have is around the very crucial skill of good communication and clear expectations. Personality types play prominently in relationships: introvert, extrovert, thinkers, feelers, profile identifyers, etc. Also factored in are life experiences, education, training, how you were raised, etc. This is important information to understand how the client communicates, what challenges they have in communicating with others and especially leading others. A question I ask is "if I met xxxxx, what would they say about your leadership style?" I encourage them to sit down with their direct reports and get really clear on what each other expects in their relationship and talk about it.

The soft skills focus is my passion and so I really get to know my clients by discovering how they think, feel, what they want their relationships to look like with the people reporting to them and the interaction and relationships they have with their managers and with others. We explore different perspectives and options they have and figure out what they want to do differently through tools, actions and accountability and create their plan. Sometimes during the relationship, we deviate off of the plan and change direction, coaching gives them the ability to do this if something isn't working or if a new idea shows up.

During the coaching, the agenda is always the clients. It's not my place to bring in my suggestions or ideas without their permission. Whatever day to day issue that shows up typically has a higher meaning and we really focus on what that is and how it's impacting the client. This is really important.

Because I have a sales management background, I really enjoy coaching sales people and push them out of their comfort zone to think of new ways of being and doing.  The success factor is so much higher for people who hire good coaches because they can work on their own aspirations and vision as well as creating excellent teams.