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Just back from a week in Provence with an abundance of divine bread, butter and cheese, vacationing Europeans on the wildest roads I've ever driven (It's oh so fun to have two cars' side mirrors bump with a sheer drop on one side and have the other driver reach out and pop your mirror back -- "Nice to meet you!"), and lovely friends at the most relaxing retreat I've ever experienced.
One of my favorite parts of travel is that I experience "fresh eyes" -- both when I'm away and when I get back. Everything is so new, it challenges my normal (I can hear my children laughing) ways of thinking. Parking a car can be a 30 minute process -- getting the machine to converse in a language I understand (I did understand the French error message that said: "Find another meter"), walk up another long hill to new meter -- only to discover I need my rental car license plate, and down the hill I go. Then when you get home, it's familiar and easier, but I see things that I didn't notice before that are so American -- such as walking through the Philadelphia airport with more food options than I've ever seen (unfortunately nothing close to that bread, butter and cheese). Fresh eyes expose what's been invisible to you. When you have a new hire in your organization, you want to take advantage of their fresh eyes before they get assimilated. They'll ask obvious questions and potentially notice practices that you may have engaged in for a long time that are inefficient or inconsistent with your values. Those observations are gold for your organization if you listen and value their perspective. If you don't listen, they'll start to be quiet. This is also one of the challenges business owners and executives face. As the company grows or they get promoted, they are challenged to download the gold inside of them to others who will replace them. They don't realize how much they've learned over time and how much mastery they have. I enjoyed discussing this on a recent interview with Rick Nuske on his podcast My Future Business. You can listen to the podcast here. If you'd like to discuss creating fresh eyes to increase both your business results and your day to day satisfaction, let's talk: https://calendly.com/kerrywalls. I promise you'll see new ways to approach situations that may be frustrating you. I find that most of us wait too long to ask for help. That's something I notice as a theme when I talk with potential clients. Sometimes we have to get darn miserable, upset or frustrated -- before we ask for help.
Combine that with the plethora of coaches out there, and finding a coach that's right for you can be a challenge. As I study the coaching field and watch what's going on, I am concerned about what I see. I heard from a colleague about folks going into coaching because it's easy to get into and easy to make a lot of money. I'm not sure that's a reason to become a coach. I'm concerned what coaches post in Facebook groups -- about confronting people who say they can't afford coaching. I gave up confronting clients a long time ago. If you have a strong relationship with your client, confronting them isn't necessary. They just listen because they trust and respect you, and they take a look at what you're saying and see if it makes sense to them. Here's another cringe worthy example in this promotional email I received from a coach: "I don't want to waste your time and I don't want you to waste mine, so if you aren't into investing a few thousand into your business - this is NOT the right program for you. Also, if you aren't actually prepared to put in the work and take action to grow your business, this is NOT the right program for you. That said, for the ROI you get on what I've built into the program, (name of their program) is a friggin' steal at the price I'm charging!" Interesting tone. Does this work? If you're a client of this coach, will you start using that arrogant, disrespectful tone with your clients? How do you wade through all those coaches to find someone who will work for you and understands your situation?Watch my short video here on what to look for in hiring a coach. (Please like or share it with your LinkedIn network if you're so inspired.) There are tons of coaches out there. Take the time to sort through the fluff to find one with integrity and caring--who puts you first, and not their own agenda. If you'd like to discuss to discuss coaching and how it might help, let's talk: https://calendly.com/kerrywalls. |
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