Think differently – and get different results! If we continue to do the same things in the same way, we are likely to get the same results.  Einstein apparently said something along these lines and he was absolutely right.

It’s too easy to stay within our comfort zone and do the same over and over.  There often comes a time when we become frustrated with the status quo but we are so far entrenched in our habits or repetition, of sticking to what we know, we cannot break out of it. This is where we need to think differently.

Think differently – try something new.

Ask yourself what someone else might do, what might your future self do, what might a competitor do?

There are so many possibilities but in the day to day of business and stress, it’s not always easy to identify them,  This is where coaching comes in extremely useful! Getting a view from the outside, and external, non judgmental perspective, can encourage you to think differently, try new ways and start seeing the change you’d like.

Get in touch if you’d like to discuss coaching.

Impostor Syndrome

What is impostor syndrome and can coaching help?

Do you suffer from impostor syndrome?

You can listen to this on my podcast.

A number of clients that I work with say they feel like a fake, an impostor at work.  They dread the moment when they will be found out and everyone realises they shouldn’t be there.  These feelings, beliefs and behaviours have been identified as Impostor Syndrome or Impostor Phenomenon and awareness has grown substantially over recent years, with many more people identifying this as one of their challenges. The term was first used in an article written by clinical psychologists, Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes in 1978.  It is present in many leaders and senior executives who have achieved a great deal and are respected by their peers – no matter how successful they are, or how many times they’ve been promoted, they still feel deep down they are there by chance.

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confidence tips

Self confidence – how to build it

Confidence is something that pretty much everyone struggles with. Some people are very good at hiding it and coming across as confident, accomplished people.  I can guarantee you that when you get them to a safe space where they can talk freely, you’ll hear all sorts of self doubt and worries.  But they’ve learnt that to achieve what they want, they’ve had to work hard to overcome these and dive in regardless.

When I discuss confidence with coaching clients, some will say they don’t want to be too confident as that means they’d be arrogant.  I think this thought holds people back too. It’s as if suddenly, they’d go from quiet, self doubting and humble person to super arrogant, shouty one. It’s really important to challenge this belief as the likelihood of this happening overnight is pretty low.  They are still in control and still able to decide how they come across.  Having self belief makes it all a lot easier.

Prefer to listen to this? Click on the podcast

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Coaching and fear of failure
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Is fear of failure holding you back?

Are there things you want to do, to change perhaps, but something is holding you back? I’m fascinated by what holds us back, what gets in the way of us achieving what we want and will be looking at this over the next few posts. One theme that comes up over and over during coaching conversations is the fear of failure.

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Your beliefs are not facts

Change your limiting beliefs

Are your limiting beliefs holding you back?

On the simplest level, if you don’t feel generally satisfied, comfortable, strong about you and your place in the world, then it’s highly likely you will have some limiting beliefs holding you back. These can weigh you down and create an unhelpful narrative in your mind, which can be the instigator of impostor phenomenon or syndrome.

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Case study – planning for further, more focused business growth

Coaching for the next steps in business growth

Already the owner of an extremely successful business, client S now wanted to take a step back and consolidate before moving forward again.  He had grown the business to an extremely healthy level of turnover and profitability and had 50+ people working for him. He  had reached a moment in time where he felt that the business had reached a turning point with little strategy or planning and wanted to get some plans in place to ensure the next phase was more strategic.

His natural talents for seizing opportunities, disrupting the market, being committed to customer service and quality offering had got him this far, but felt that ‘winging it’ would be a risky strategy to carry on with.  He was clear that he wanted to continue with a strong level of growth but realised there were a number of changes that could be made to improve profitability and a restructure could be necessary to enhance productivity. There were some issues around work / life balance also which he wanted to address.

S chose to work with a coach as he felt he had a lot of the information and knowledge already but wanted to clarify how he wanted the business to be, with clear milestones and a plan for growth. He wanted to consider his own role in the business and whether an exit in the near future was something he wanted. He knew that an impartial view from the outside would benefit him and his business.

Take an outside view of the business

As a coach, I ask questions that an outsider might ask, which gets business owner thinking about a different perspective on how things are done. We started with the story so far and what had and hadn’t worked.  This provided invaluable learning and enabled us to spend some time looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the business.  A plan to address any weaknesses was put together as well as a plan for how to spotlight and further enhance strengths.

Marketing plan

One weakness identified was a somewhat scattergun approach to marketing.  There was no marketing plan, so S decided to bring in a marketing consultant to advise on a more cohesive marketing approach for the team.  Internal communications were sporadic and with staff levels growing, he realised this needed to change. There is now a comprehensive marketing plan with measurable targets that fits in with his overall plans and targets for the next stages of business growth. On the subject of marketing, we worked on a customer journey and a snapshot of how the customer might experience buying from their business.  This provided a great deal of useful insight into changes that needed to be made.

How profitable?

A large turnover is not enough to maintain business success.  Profit is vital and this had not been a priority.  We worked on a plan for increasing profitability and very soon, the results were seen, which was extremely satisfying.

Once an overall strategy for growth was put in place, S chose to continue with the coaching on a monthly basis, to ensure that there is accountability and a space for discussing any further challenges as they arise.  A level of business flexibility is required and S finds the coaching meetings valuable for decision making on a variety of issues which perhaps can’t be shared with others within the business.

This is a very short summary of the business growth coaching work with S, but hopefully will give you a flavour of the impact coaching can have on a business.

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