Everyone Needs a Coach

Photo by Nik MacMillan on Unsplash

While talking with a colleague recently I was reminded of this truth, “everyone needs a coach.”  Heck, even professional coaches need a coach!  I was telling this person about how engaging a social media consultant/coach was positively impacting my marketing plan.  Positive in the sense that I was finally executing on it!  

The proverb “physician heal thyself” is true in all professions.  Yet as any consultant knows, it’s harder to apply your expertise in your own business because as is the case for our clients, we get in our own way!   It’s harder to get perspective on our own situation because we’re knee deep in it and we need an objective perspective to bring clarity, focus and accountability. 

So if you’re struggling to execute on an important initiative in your business and you feel frustrated and stuck, you might want to consider engaging that business coach.  If you bristle at the thought because you’re technically competent to do the necessary tasks on your own, then ask yourself, if it’s so easy, why isn’t it getting done?

Top Performers Need Purpose and Plan

Photo by Ricardo Rocha on Unsplash

Top performers want to belong to an organization with purpose and a plan.  In a survey done to evaluate what employees value most in an organization; the number one quality cited was the “feeling of being in on things”.  It wasn’t a higher salary or time off employees wanted but rather the sense they were engaged in meaningful work. 

Work is more fulfilling when it’s building towards something that’s growing and expanding.  Top performers in an organization want to know the game plan and they need to see how they’re contributing to it in a meaningful way.

It’s not uncommon for a disconnect to exist between the purpose and plan in the mind of the business owner and that of their employees.  The leader often “assumes” his people know where the business is headed because he’s shared that vision.  The biggest problem with communication though, is the illusion that it has taken place.  And that problem is especially true in a growing organization as the complexity of communication grows exponentially with each new employee. 

This reality drives home the need for every leader to ‘over-communicate’ the purpose and plan for the organization.  Ideally that message is being delivered and reinforced on a quarterly or even monthly basis.  Helping employees stay focused on that vision will go a long way towards insuring they stay connected and have the feeling of being engaged they desire.