The extra edge secret of numerous people in all walks of life from business to sports, from student life to married life, from the Boardroom to the Zoom room is they work with a coach.
A coach who helps to bring out the best in them.
A coach who holds them accountable for their actions or lack thereof.
A coach who reminds them to remain focused on their purpose
…and much more.
Here’s a couple of recent actual working calls I’ve had with clients.
Both are a work in progress, however, by sharing these stories you may gain some insight into how I work with my clients as their coach. The Company name, client name and position have been changed.
As the owner and person in charge of his 100 plus employee company, Bill has a full schedule every single day.
After exiting corporate at a senior level years ago, he joined a small company and then he purchased the company. Our work together started with the strategy and plan on how to grow the company. This involved many specific areas from the target, the timeline, funding, the structure and organization necessary and more.
Most of the time I was a listener and a sounding board as Bill described his ideas and thinking. We quickly began to work on leadership and communications as well. I noticed that Bill seemed distracted at times on our afternoon Zoom calls. After a few conversations about it, I suggested we both go for a walk during our calls. We would talk on our phones and use video if we wanted to have some face-to-face time. It was during these walks when I found out Bill had stopped working out except on the weekends. He said these walks were the only exercise he was getting during the week. Further Bill said he started to feel so energized after our calls he really looked forward to them.
Now I’ll stop here as of course I do hope at least part of that feeling is from our conversations working together. The answer we mutually came to was for Bill to schedule in at least 30 to 45 minutes every day for some type of physical activity. The options he came up with were weight lifting, yoga, golf driving range and the cross trainer. The time came from a mixture of waking up 30 minutes earlier combined with recording audio emails and responses to emails.
Micha and I started our work together on her confidence and career advancement desires.
She works in a fast paced corporate environment. When Micha shared her story with me about how she really blew her important presentation the day before, I thought she was going to breakdown. She shed a few tears and completed her disaster story. Together we discussed her preparation which we had designed beforehand. The clothes she would wear, she even showed me photos of the clothes, which I reviewed with my wife for any tips.
Everything went according to our plans.
The piece that was new to the story was everyone had gone to a special cookout as part of the event that day and Micha ate a burger with onions, a fried chicken breast, a scoop of potato salad and an orange soda soft drink at the bar-b-que for lunch, two and a half hours before her presentation. She said the food was absolutely delicious.
She knew she was in trouble once the afternoon session started as she almost nodded out during the first presentation of the afternoon. Micha and I never really discussed her eating habits before, however, this began a new aspect to our work together. The importance of the mind, brain, heart and body all working together as optimally as we allow them. She has already started to see results in her weight loss and higher energy level.
The point of sharing these two real life stories is to show you that not all coaches are specific to one area of expertise or only want to probe and ask questions.
At times we may ask a lot of questions, yes, that’s true.
The point is to have the client consider these questions and respond in order to flush our the issues, the directions, the goals and desires of the client. In addition, an experienced coach has many contacts who are top notch professionals in a variety of fields they are able to tap into for advice, information, resources and even referrals depending upon the circumstances.
I continue to meet people like this when speaking at a conference or networking with other professionals. We stay in touch and discuss a variety of topics. Many are well known authors and thought leaders in their fields of expertise.
What a coach is not – a coach is not a cheerleader.
A coach is not going to cheer you on as you drive off the road. I’ve heard it said that someone has a coach that cheers them on no matter what they do or say.
My response – “So how’s that working out for you?”
Remember the difference between first place and second or third place is often a hundredth of a second.
The extra edge you may need is working with a coach.
Interested in working with a coach?
Contact me here to schedule a free 15 minute discovery call.
Wenkroy International LLC is a boutique consulting company with a main purpose of helping entrepreneurs and business people create the strategy, the plan and the steps necessary to achieve that person’s vision for their business and often their life, while navigating the obstacles which may be blocking them from reaching their goals. The process may involve one on one coaching, advising, laser focus days, personal growth workshops and more. The process is utilized for individuals, teams, divisions and across entire companies. People are now able to focus on what matters most to them, because, they have clarity on where they are heading.
You may be interested to know:
Do you know I’m interviewing stroke survivors, their spouse or partner as well? The purpose is to compile these stories in order to share the information with others. The stories will inspire others, help them with tips for handling what they are going through now and what they may face in the future. It may even become a go to resource for stroke survivors and their families. Here’s the link if that’s you or pass on to someone you know.
https://mitchtublin.com/survivors
As always share the information in this article with people you know.
