SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT
Imagine if we started each day or each meeting with something like the following…
Father God, and the Great Spirits, I pray that just for today I choose to uplift others by reinforcing their strengths and maximizing my strengths. And just for today I pray that we choose faith over fear in every decision. Amen
There are 2 kinds of coaches in the marketplace. Those who 1) work based on value and those who 2) work based on hourly transactions.
(And perhaps a third kind, who are aspiring coaches or underemployed.)
The value of performance based coaching is based on transformation. Too many people, such as HR professionals, regard coaching as a transactional event. Yet coaching cannot be billed hourly. That is unethical. It leads to inflated billing, inaccurate expectations, or time waste. Can you imagine how long a transactional coach might have to “work with you?” It may be years! Instead, if the coaches goal is to help someone change beliefs or behaviors, then the coach should be paid based on results. The value is not time spent, or wasted. The value is results. I do not understand why any professional would suggest billing hourly.
Instead, we use internal champions to 1) show the value of coaching, 2) sell the value of coaching.
Here is a representative dialog thread. It led to a meeting with the next buying agent, and a 12 month engagement.
From (Champion):
Thanks. I am not suggesting it’s not fair & know that Lou has direct experience in this sort of thing. Just instincts, and they may surprise me. I may continue with coaching even if they don’t fund the shadowing. I’ll follow-up with you after I can get in touch with Lou.
From: Doug Gray [mailto:doug@action-learning.com]
Sent:
To:
Subject: RE: next steps: performance based coaching
Good morning (Champion),
Welcome back from your well-deserved spa time.
1. There is nothing more important than driving employee engagement/ response. What gets tolerated causes emotional responses and delay. You have an urgent need.
2. This proposal reflects a fraction of your value to the company. Assuming a 10:1 ROI, these numbers are more than fair.
3. I remain glad to speak to Lou, or anyone at any time.
Respectfully, Doug Gray, PCC
To: Doug Gray
Subject: RE: next steps: performance based coaching
Sorry Doug – I didn’t get a reply from Lou on the message I sent him before vacation. (I kind of have a problem with that). Have 1:1 with him tomorrow, but to be honest, not sure they will fund this expense.
From:
Hello Champion,
As we discussed on Tuesday, September 6, here is a proposal with 3 options. We have an opportunity here to create significant change/ impact…
We have tentatively set aside Tuesday, October 4 as the first day to meet/ observe your team in Atlanta. Please let me know which option you would like, by Friday Sept 23, so that I can submit an invoice.
(In the interim I certainly hope that you can enjoy your well deserved vacation time!)
I look forward to helping you apply/extend your leadership skills to your team.
Here are at least 2 questions for you:
1. What does your team need?
2. And how are you being a champion?
Naturally, I urge you to contact me ASAP so that we can discuss your needs.
ActionLearningAudio
Yes, I am serious. Listen to this audio.
Consider how many people you know who have ignored their health, or made poor choices about their partner, or refused to relocate, or let a character trait such as stubbornness prevent them from some desire.
Now consider how many people you know who have chosen to define their values, develop daily habits to reinforce those passions, or chosen to serve thousands of others.
Passionate Actions define us. Just as you choose to take care of your aging parents, or call that friend, or exceed your client’s expectations, or regularly exercise, your passions define your individual actions.
Passionate Actions also define us as a species.
Consider what happens when we build a business, commit to a relationship, care for others, develop long term friendships, congratulate a colleague, show kindness, speak positively about others…. Ultimately, we are choosing constructive acts for our species.
There is plenty of fear in the world. And we can choose to polarize and divide (e.g. select any blog RE: political, ethnic, cultural, social, economic debates…) We can choose fear. Or we can choose passions.
You can make anabolic, constructive choices to live serving others.
What are you choosing to do?
Hello _________,
I have been thinking about our conversation all day and have some initial thoughts,
1. Change starts with the overwhelming BELIEF that you DESERVE a better life/ desired change.
2. That idea may sound cyclical, or odd, but it is overwhelming to me at times. And I see it in the most difficult coaching clients too. It requires you to adopt some beliefs. And frankly, that is the hardest step.
3. IMHO, many people were raised to believe many limiting beliefs about money, wealth, deserving a rewarding career, health, you name it. My family of origin caused me to change many beliefs. I have struggled. My coaching clients struggle. You may not struggle, I understand.
4. As a gift, I have just ordered you a book that has helped me a lot. And I enjoy giving it to many clients. It is called “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”, by Harv Eker. He claims that he can predict anyone’s financial or career future after 2-3 minutes of conversation. His experience is that we all have financial blueprints about wealth and opportunity and success.
5. In graduate school I learned how these can be re-programmed. Thankfully. The brain is elastic. It cannot separate “I am stating that I deserve a new career” from “I deserve a new career.”
6. So, a coaching question to explore may be, “What would it take for me to BELIEVE that I DESERVE a better life?”
7. Coaches help people change. There are three well-proven steps that help all of us move from 1) awareness to 2) constructive action, to 3) individual and team accountability. Our beliefs are a choice. I have changed. You can change too.
Here are some options for your consideration. I am willing to:
1. Talk daily for 30 minutes as you define your passions and next career
2. Meet weekly directly, or over Skype, or on the phone, to do the same
3. Provide best of class articles on career search, etc,
4. Provide assessments to help you assess your strengths and consider next steps
5. Steer you toward digital resources, essential networks
6. Share the above with your wife
7. Be a coach at times
8. Be a friend at times
9. Be uninvolved at times
10. Something else/ any combination of the above.
So, what would you like to do next?
Once again, 2010 was a wonderful year for our family. I don’t know why. Perhaps one reason is because “Hope” is my favorite advent candle. As we emerge from the longest night, the winter solstice, and the holidays, it seems timely to think about how we choose to say, or do, or react to stimulus.
Consider these facts:
– There is currently more global peace, per capita, than at any time in the recorded history of mankind.
– More people have more physical needs, for food and shelter and clean water, than at any time in recorded history. Preventable illnesses like polio are nearly eradicated.
– More information is available to more people than at any time. Over 3 billion of our 6.5 billion people have access to the internet. Literacy rates per capita have never been higher.
– The ancient need for free expression of ideas has enabled more oppressed people than ever to voice their needs using technology. That trend has led to changes in microeconomics, democracy, social and racial equality, global distribution of products and services, social marketing, interpersonal connections… and will lead to more changes.
– We know the ingredients for a successful life include a healthy diet, regular exercise, connection with others, purposeful work, autonomy, free choice.
So, how do I/you choose to be a hopeful American? Here are some of my recent favorites:
– www.TED.com for almost any uplifting subject and global commentary
– www.NetFlix.com for PBS documentaries such as Dr. Andrew Weil’s “Healthy Aging”
– www.SuccessFinder.com for a focus on your top strengths and how to implement them at work and in life
– Any financial literacy website, or authors such as Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman
– Drive, by Daniel Pink, explores how business is catching up with science to drive self-directed thinking and motivation and suggest future work patterns
– The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, reminds me how our Personal Legend can lead to vast wealth
– Mojo, by Marshall Goldsmith, provides a framework for changes in inertia
Perhaps, if there is a common thread among these favorites, it may be that I choose to be Hopeful. And keep my head down, while persisting on a long, slow run
What is my wish for you? That 2011 may be all that you desire!
In peace,
Doug Gray, PCC
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