COACHING
Everybody Needs A Coach
What You Need To Know
Google Chairman and former CEO , Eric Schmidt recently spoke about the best business advice he ever received . His unqualified answer was to get a business coach : “ I initially resented the advice [ to get a coach ] because after all , I was a CEO . I was pretty experienced . My argument was , ‘ How could a coach advise me if I ’ m the best person in the world at this ?’ But that ’ s not what a coach does . The coach doesn ’ t have to play the sport as well as you do . [ The coach has ] to watch you and get you to be your best . A coach is somebody who looks at something with another set of eyes , describes it to you in […] words , and discusses how to improve your performance .”
Bill Gates noted a similar idea in his TED Talk : “ We all need people who can give us feedback . That ’ s how we improve .” According to a survey in the Harvard Business Review , today ’ s business coach is heavily involved with the whole process of scaling up a company . As a business coach , I bring the best practices in business and personal development from a wide variety of sources . As business has become more complex , business owners are increasingly turning to coaches for help in many areas . Good coaches do more than influence behaviors . They are an essential part of a senior leadership team ’ s strategic thinking and execution planning , providing knowledge , opinions , and judgment in critical areas .
SCALING UP In his latest book , Scaling Up , Verne Harnish identifies three fundamentals “ that drive every-thing else that ’ s important in business .” Those fundamentals are as follows :
1 . Priorities — Business managers should be able to articulate their main priorities for specific time periods , such as for the year and for the quarter .
2 . Data — Performance should be measured against an objective metric .
3 . Rhythm — Establish “ daily , weekly , monthly , quarterly , and annual meetings ” to stay on track with stated goals .
Certified Gazelles Coaches , trained on the Scaling Up methodology , work with business owners to implement these three fundamentals in their businesses .
CASE STUDIES Stop Hunger Now , an international hunger relief organization in Raleigh , North Carolina , was struggling to adapt to its rapid growth and an unprecedented demand for its services , experiencing 57 percent annual growth for eight years . As a result , the organization quickly outgrew its original operational framework . After discovering Verne Harnish ’ s book , CEO Rod Brooks and his management team successfully applied the principles they learned in order to course correct and meet the demands of their new organizational landscape .
Stop Hunger Now used the Gazelles One-Page Strategic Plan , which streamlines and simplifies an organization ’ s core goals , values , and objectives . Everyone from senior management to part-time employees became aligned around a common purpose and plan of action . The organization also conducted a “ daily huddle ”— a seven- to ten-minute check-in at the beginning of every day . This huddle sets the tone for the workday and helps each team member appreciate his or her contribution as a part of the larger whole . As a result , the entire organization became significantly more productive and reenergized in just a few short months .
Carolina Partners in Mental Healthcare — the largest outpatient private mental health practice in North Carolina — has been in business for over twenty-two years . CEO and cofounder Stan Monroe realized that as the company continued to expand , it became an increasingly complicated operation , so he decided to invest in business coaching . When he was asked to evaluate the value of business coaching , he explained that when you ’ re in charge of a company , your proximity to the business can create “ tunnel vision ,” which can be detrimental . “ You get too close . You can ’ t see it clearly . You ’ re in the weeds . Jim helps us take a hard look at our weaknesses and helps us to understand what we ’ re good at and what we need to be better at .”
THE ROLE OF THE COACH A business coach serves four critical roles for their clients :
• Co-architect – The CEO has to be the head architect of the company ’ s growth . The Coach acts as a co-architect , working to create a vision , develop a plan , and create and manage the team that is responsible for ensuring the plan is executed wisely and to the best of everyone ’ s ability .
• Teacher – Coaches provide education on skills , tools , and
12 | SPRING 2017