Every business person has had the experience of looking back on their past actions or reflecting on how their behavior did not represent their peak of performance. While the reasons are understandable given the; stress, tension, frustration, and time constraints within which many actions are taken – the result is still an outcome that is less than the full potential of that business person.
After a fifteen year career in corporate HR functions across many different industries and companies, Liz Carey recognized that many corporate teams and individuals were achieving less than optimal results. As a result, she has founded a leadership consultancy company, Leadership Connections (www.leadership-connections.com) focused on providing executives with workshops to help participants develop the awareness and skills needed to get productive outcomes from difficult workplace situations.
Who Needs It?
Ms. Carey points out that, “People who hire a coach for themselves are usually the type of people who strive to be the best they can be. They’re already good, and at the same time, they realize that there are some areas where they might be able to do a little better.” She further acknowledges that, “We all have stressful lives and a good coaching relationship helps the client navigate that stressful landscape with greater ease, more energy, and better financial results for themselves and their companies. Everyone’s looking for an edge, a way to be their very best, and more and more people are using a coach to provide that edge.”
According to Ms. Carey; among the possible indicators that a business person is not operating at their best and may benefit from working with a coach, are:
• Having a difficult time with a co-worker, colleague, subordinate or others to the point of becoming a distraction and making it harder for the person to get the job done
• Noticing the team morale and productivity are down because of cutbacks and layoffs
• A recent promotion that has overwhelmed the person and led to a decline in performance.
What Does It Look Like?
When asked if coaching is at all like therapy, Ms. Carey was quick to point out, “It’s definitely not therapy! It’s just a tool that more and more people are using to help themselves get better results. The goal of the coaching is to help people improve their performance by increasing their awareness of their habits and tendencies, and understand how they are perceived by others.”
She then gave some more specifics about what the coaching exchange would entail by sharing that while each client dynamic is unique:
• It generally includes meeting with the coach two to three times a month, sometimes by phone and other times face-to-face
• An engagement may begin with a six-month commitment – and occasionally extends into longer term assignments after a specific need has been addressed and additional needs have been surfaced
o The coach will work with the client to identify the specific area(s) to work on improving
o Different intervention techniques will be employed to address those specific areas
o Occasionally, the intervention may include others aside from the person being coached (other co-workers, family members, etc.) based on the needs of the client. This offers an opportunity for others to offer encouragement, monitor improvement, and express support for the client’s professional development.
What Will The Outcome Be?
For many small business owners, the concept of leadership is perplexing and often elusive. Liz Carey sheds some light on that by explaining, “We all have our own natural form of leadership, and that’s something we’re born with. People can learn to recognize their leadership style. They’ll learn what their habits and tendencies are, when those tendencies are likely to produce great results, and when a different course of action may produce better results. They learn how to flex to what the situation demands, while still being authentic to whom they are as a person and as a leader. It’s not a “one-size-fits-all” leadership model.”
Ms. Carey then elaborates further by explaining, “Part of the beauty of working with a coach is that you can practice with them. If there’s a particular issue that’s popping up with some regularity in the workplace, the client and the coach can discuss the issue, and possible ways of getting a better outcome. The client can then pick a new way of handling the situation, and practice that way with their coach. It’s a great, no-pressure way to practice. Then, when the situation pops up again in the workplace, they have already practiced a new way of dealing with it.”
For the coaching to be successful, Ms. Carey reminds, “An open, trusting relationship between the client and the coach is critical to success. If the client isn’t open with the coach, or if the coach doesn’t gain the client’s trust, the relationship will probably struggle.”
By way of sharing an analogy that many people can relate to, Ms. Carey makes the comparison to sports, “If you look at the world of athletics, you see that even world-class athletes hire coaches to help them be their very best. They realize that with a little help, they can get even better. Hiring a coach is a smart move that pays off in dollars and cents and in quality of life. A good coaching relationship is going to help the client make better decisions, build stronger relationships, and reach their career goals more quickly. It’s also going to help them enjoy their life more because they will constantly be adding tools to help navigate the difficult situations that everybody encounters. Difficult relationships, shifting priorities, pressure to meet numbers – everyone faces it. And the better someone can handle those pressures, the happier they tend to be, and the better they tend to perform at work.”
The advantages offered by Leadership Connections, and Liz Carey are inspiring and can improve the results of any business executive seeking to improve their performance. Many of the techniques employed by Ms. Carey are innovative and involve working with horses, providing insights into a client’s old habits, comparing the results of new habits versus standard approaches, etc. Liz Carey welcomes the opportunity to discuss her successes with other clients and can be reached at lcarey@leadership-connections.com to provide greater insight into her coaching model to help people be their best.
