Generating a business breakthrough

I often find that business owners want to dedicate time to working on their business, but rarely take the opportunity to do so. That’s what this format is all about. Usually, I have coached one or two people in their business and they have first-hand experience of how effective coaching, and my approach can be. 

Before we meet, I gather (confidential) feedback from people in the business to get a feel for the issue(s) they see as holding the business back. Often, the issues that these people see are different from the ones you, the business owner, sees.

In one case, the senior leaders in the business felt that the unacceptable turnover of new graduates was due to them not understanding the strategy of the business and their role within it. It turned out that the underlying reason was that the new recruits felt isolated and homesick…and left.

There is a specific case where involving an independent coach is invaluable. That is where people in the business report that the block to growing the business is the business owner himself. During a recent assignment, several people expressed that the way the owner treated people was leading to a loss of motivation, a loss of ownership of their part of the business and a general feeling of stress throughout all parts of the business.

A typical quote was “I really wish we could have the genius part without the twat part.”

Frankly, very few business owners will receive this honesty of feedback from your people during normal business operations. They just feel they have too much to lose, their jobs. It is only when feedback is confidential, aggregated and discussed anonymously with the receiver that perspectives such as these become clear.

I would like to say that the business owner involved has taken this feedback on board and we have been able to support him in transforming his company. At the time of writing this copy, this is not the case. He is not answering my emails…

So much for “speaking truth unto power” but that is the role.

Fortunately, the feedback underpinning most intensives is far more positive and provides a great starting off point to our sessions. Often it comprises suggestions to improve the business that have not been discussed. That is usually not because anyone is consciously hiding these suggestions but more likely because “business as usual” is busy and the ideas are lost in the activity of the day.

My accountant had a great poster in his office. A picture of a guy being chased by an alligator, with the caption “It’s pretty difficult to remember that your primary goal is to clean the swamp when you are up to your arse in alligators”

Over the two days, you will find that the million and one issues that you thought you came with start to group themselves into areas to focus on. You can predict some of them; people; product; finance and so on. What you will be surprised at (and this is guaranteed) is how, having talked these issues through, just how simple and clear the solution shows up.

You will leave with a clear plan so that you are not only clear on the actions you need to take, but you are also committed to completing those actions and have thought through issues in implementing the way forward.

In the last hours or so, we discuss if you want any support in making the plan happen. This is entirely flexible and can range from the odd phone call to regular meetings to driving particular projects.

When you are ready to step back and work out the next phase of your business, give me a call or drop me an email to arrange an initial chat.