John Mattone

Keynote Speaker on Leadership, Talent & Culture: John Mattone

We Only Hire the Best: Why Do We Need Leadership Training Programs?

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No one disputes the value of hiring well. Companies that invest in a hiring process that is thorough, considered, and un-rushed are far less likely to experience the heartbreak (and expense) that comes from a poor hiring decision.

Bad hiring decisions can set entire companies back in terms of progress.

While hiring the right people is absolutely essential to take your organization in the direction you need it to go, good hiring alone isn’t enough to ensure this. An executive floor full of the “best and brightest” can wreak havoc if all those bright people have different goals or different interpretations of organizational goals.

Leadership training programs make sense for every organization, including (and perhaps especially) organizations that are meticulous about hiring. Here’s why.

Dangers of Untrained or Undertrained Leaders

Before motorized transportation and air travel, people who lived in arctic areas depended on sled dogs to help with transportation. Dogs were chosen for characteristics like strength, stamina, and speed, with efficient gaits. A trained sled team develops an almost mythical ability to “read” the direction and speed of the team, and as a result, the entire team moves together with great fluidity as a unit.

But what if those strong, fast, efficient animals all went in whichever direction they pleased? At worst the result would be chaos, and at best, you’d reach your destination far more inefficiently. Upper leadership at a corporation is analogous. When everyone understands the direction and has their goals aligned, you’ll “get there” far more efficiently than when they don’t.

Hallmarks of Great Leadership Training Programs

Leadership training programs aren’t all alike, nor should they be. But they have things in common that allow them to help organizations’ top leadership work together for the benefit of the organization, its workers, and their own goals. Look for leadership training programs that do the following:

  • They should develop a leadership attitude amongst top leaders
  • They should deliver training in the proper context of your organization (your industry, size, location, culture, etc.)
  • They should encourage a culture of learning and continuous development
  • They should help leaders know when and how to delegate
  • They should help leaders improve their emotional intelligence

When these elements are in place, only then can you have a leadership team that knows how to work together to take the organization not a higher level of functioning.

Leadership training programs are worthwhile even in highly competent teams.

Leadership Is a Skill That Must Be Practiced

Some people may come across as “born leaders,” and there’s no denying that some people take to leadership roles more readily than others. However, leadership is a skill that must be developed, used, and practiced just like any other. Furthermore, there’s no single style of leadership that is “best.” Rather, great leadership teams are usually composed of leaders with differing, but complementary leadership styles.

Leadership training programs are a great investment for any organization with ambition, and they may be the best possible investment for organizations that strive to hire only the best, because they can help these great performers perform even better.

Leadership coaching as a follow-up to leadership training programs helps ensure that each individual leader understands their potential, their strengths, and their weaknesses, and knows how to address skills gaps and build upon their strengths so they can lead their teams to the greatest possible accomplishments.

Hiring well is table stakes in today’s world of business. You’re expected to hire the right people. More than that, however, you’re expected to equip your top leadership with the skills and resources they need to take your business to its peak level of performance. Leadership training programs are designed to facilitate this. And when leadership coaching is provided to top leaders, the potential for your company becomes seemingly unlimited.

If talent leadership and peak performance are interests of yours, I invite you to check out my books, all of which delve into important aspects of organizational excellence, such as talent leadership, cultural transformation, executive coaching, performance management, and succession planning.

Why You Should Consider Working with a Career Coach

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To most people, it is obvious how private executive coaching can be a great investment for the new C-level executive. Few people could jump into such a role and hit the ground running, and world-renowned CEOs frequently talk about the coaches with whom they have worked (and may still work with).

Coaches are a coveted benefit among top corporate leadership.

But what about the early- or mid-career engineer, attorney, editor, or accountant? Could these people benefit from business coaching? The answer is almost certainly “Yes!” The career coach, similarly to the CEO coach, helps clients determine strengths and weaknesses, set goals, map out plans to reach goals, and develop and practice the skills necessary to get there.

Unlike the CEO coach, whose primary concern is assisting the CEO in learning to oversee operations of an entire company effectively, the career coach works with professionals to help them have the best possible career for their aspirations and qualifications.

Signs You Could Benefit from a Career Coach’s Services

Some people who seek the services of a career coach have a clearly identified need, such as a specific promotion they want. Others may work with a career coach because they feel like their career is at a standstill. Still others hire a career coach when they want to make a major career change to another industry, or even to another profession. Here are four categories of professionals who are likely to benefit from the services of a career coach:

  • Professionals who want to maximize success and satisfaction in the job they have now
  • Those who want an entirely new job in the same field
  • People who want to change careers
  • Professionals who want to explore the possibility of launching their own new venture

In short, hiring a career coach is likely to benefit you, and is about making your life better in some fundamental way.

What to Look for and What to Expect from Coaching

There are many qualities you should look for in a career coach, including:

  • Sincere interest in you as a person
  • The ability to help you identify strengths and weaknesses
  • Experience and a proven track record in coaching
  • Strong belief in your competence
  • Clear communication
  • Unbiased feedback, including negative feedback
  • Commitment to your plan

It’s OK to expect a lot from your career coach. After all, your career matters!

The right career coach can help you avoid the trap of leaving your career development to chance. Waiting for the right opportunities to fall into your lap is hardly a great career plan, and a career coach helps you avoid doing that by articulating and setting goals, creating a plan to reach them, and working directly on the skills you need that will get you there.

Activities you may participate in with your career coach include personality and skills assessments, brainstorming, practicing articulating your career goals to those higher up in your organization, practicing certain skills (like good communication skills), and learning not to be shy about having lofty career ambitions.

None of this will work, however, if you’re not invested in the process at least as much as your coach is. There is nothing they can do that will magically turn you into the professional you imagine yourself to be, so you must be prepared for hard work. If you are, then the prognosis is excellent.

How You Can Benefit from the Right Career Coach

A career coach doesn’t turn you into someone you fundamentally are not, but they can help you become the person you envision, whether that person is more assertive, a better delegator, or more of a proactive go-getter in terms of generating opportunities.

Career coaches can also help clients learn how to showcase their successes – successes that can be all too easily overlooked in today’s fast-paced business world. They can help clients build and strengthen professional networks, raise their profile within their profession, and connect with mentors who can guide them over the long term. Working with the right career coach can, in fact, be life-changing.

Many businesses and individual professionals have yet to realize the amazing potential that career coaching can have. It’s not just for CEOs and other top brass, but for any professional that is determined to guide their career to the highest level and make it as rewarding as they always imagined it could be.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out the following links:

 

2500 Words: Everything You Should Know About Business Coaching

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Companies in every industry and of every size hire business and executive coaching services. Individual entrepreneurs hire business coaches too.  Their reasons for doing so vary widely.

Sometimes coaches are called upon when a business changes its direction significantly.

The CEO of a business that started as a sole proprietorship may not understand their role completely, having spent so many years making the business functional and operational. A company may hire a business coach for its CEO when the business’ direction changes significantly. Some companies, as a rule, hire a business coach for each new C-level executive they bring on board.

The ambitious junior level executive may hire a business coach to assist their trajectory to the top level of company leadership. And while some companies may hire a business coach in an effort to save a top leader who has gone off the rails, this is far less common than it used to be. For many companies, this is seen as “throwing good money after bad.”

Today, it is far likelier that a company will invest in a business coach for a leader in whom they have great confidence, so as to maximize their return on investment. If you are a top-level leader and your company has suggested hiring a business coach for you, then you should take it as a major vote of confidence.

Business coaching is an investment, and companies aren’t going to spring for that kind of investment unless they are confident that it will pay off. Here’s what you should know about business coaches, whether you are involved in hiring them, or will be working with one.

What Business Coaches Do (And Don’t Do)

Some people confuse business coaches with business consultants. They’re not the same, although their techniques and tools may overlap some. In general, consulting is far more prescriptive than coaching. The consultant, for example, would advise a company on how to solve a problem, while the business coach would work with the client to build their capacity and confidence as a leader. Consulting is more externally driven, while coaching is based on tapping internal motivation.

Coaching and consulting are complementary, not competing.

A business coach will not train a C-level executive on how to do their job. The executive is expected to know how to do it, or else they wouldn’t have been appointed to the position in the first place. A business coach isn’t a therapist either, because there are qualified people who do that job. Business coaching can be viewed as analogous to sports coaching, something many people are familiar with.

A child who wants to play baseball probably understands the basics of the game, like what you’re supposed to do when you’re at bat, on base, or when your team is in the field. Maybe you’ve watched MLB players swinging a bat, or practiced in the backyard, so you have the general idea of what to do.

The job of the coach is to evaluate how you swing a bat, how you hold your hands, your stance at the plate, and how you evaluate pitches. The coach then offers an objective opinion about what you do well, and where you could improve. As you improve your technique, your coach offers minor corrections and encouragement and helps you practice until your improved technique becomes second nature. Business coaching is similar.

What Clients Want from Business Coaches 

The individual who works with a business coach wants to come out of the other end of the process as a more effective leader, whose own skills are sharpened, and who is more effective as a delegator and a communicator. They want to inspire the confidence of the people who report to them, and they want to make the organization better in some measurable way. They often want to use the coaching experience to help them develop emerging leaders and create a long-term plan of succession, to be confident that their good work will carry on long after they’re gone.

Sometimes the individual coaching client has specific skills they want to work on, like effective delegation, communication, or avoiding micromanaging. Other times, the individual wants to take their overall performance to a higher level. Working one on one with a coach, it’s possible to clarify and articulate goals and define the objectives that lead to accomplishing it.

Coaches may work with clients on specific skills, like interpersonal skills or communication skills.

Businesses that invest in business coaches for their top leaders want to ensure the best performance from their top tier. They may want the brand new top executive to develop confidence in their new role, or the new CEO to be prepared to grapple with the many challenges ahead. If a business is changing direction, coaching may be an investment that helps ensure that top leadership pivots to new expectations and responsibilities effectively.

How Business Coaches Gain Their Qualifications

Unfortunately, anyone can call themselves a business coach, because there is no single qualification the way there is for a doctor or a CPA. Fortunately, coaching has grown enough that people know they need to dig a little to ensure that the person calling themselves a business coach has done something more than having business cards printed. Today there are business coach training programs as well as training accreditation programs, so you can find out if someone claiming to be a business coach has undergone training in an accredited program.

The importance of business experience in a business coach would be hard to overstate. Even the most highly trained coach needs to have experience in business (though not necessarily in a specific industry) to be effective when working with a top business leader. Many business coaches have owned or operated businesses or have been high-level executives themselves. Knowing what it’s like from the point of view of the client is invaluable to the business coach.

Motivation in a business coach is also indispensable. It’s hard to put in effort and demonstrate enthusiasm in the presence of a coach who seems to be “phoning in” their coaching services. Most qualified, reputable coaches will openly share what motivates them and where they’re coming from. Motivation often comes from life experience and overcoming obstacles. And most coaches are happy to share with you where their motivation comes from.

The ideal business coach combines training, experience and motivation.

How to Evaluate Business Coaches Before Hiring One

There will always be a strong element of self-trust in the selection of a business coach. Sometimes there simply isn’t a good personality fit between the coach and client, and that’s OK. Good rapport is necessary for coaching to work, and much time can be wasted trying to make a bad-fit coaching relationship work.

Asking for personal recommendations is a tried and true way to identify great business coaching candidates. And fortunately, in the age of the internet, we have access to many tools that can help us understand what drives and motivates coaches. Social media accounts can often grant insight into whether the person is genuine and practices what they preach.

If a coach you consider working with has a blog, dig into it. There you’ll learn more about their philosophy, their tools, and their commitment to coaching. A blog should provide you with unique and original content, rather than just content repackaged from other coaches or from their coach training program.

While it’s not strictly necessary, most clients choose business coaches with direct business experience in the same industry or a closely-related one. A financial services client may get good results working with a coach with experience in the healthcare industry, but it only stands to reason that they would probably get better results from working with a coach who has work experience in financial services themselves.

Many professionals prefer to work with coaches who have experience in the same industry as them.

Though coaches typically have confidentiality agreements with their clients, most of them will have some clients whom you can contact to learn more about their experience. If you have this opportunity, do it! You can learn so much from talking with people who have directly encountered the coach you are considering working with.

Tools Business Coaches Use

Between the time you sign an agreement with a coach and your initial meeting with them, you are likely to receive materials to help you get oriented. Coaches use a variety of tools, especially at the outset of the coaching relationship.

Some may use personality or skills inventories, or they may have developed their own questionnaires that inform them about who the client is, what drives them, and what goals they want to pursue. Coaches should explain exactly what their tools are for, and how they will be used to help you achieve your goals.

It is important to note that while assessment tools are seen as highly necessary and useful by most successful business coaches, use of those tools is not the same thing as coaching. The tools are there to help the coach get to know about you, so they can help you as you define goals and set objectives.

And it should go without saying, but expect your business coach to use technology as a tool. You may meet in person with your coach at the beginning of your work together, but your regular check-ins and progress reports may be done by phone or video conference. Some coaches use communication modes like texting or live chat, and others don’t. You can expect to use email with your coach, if only to receive preliminary materials. The more comfortable you are with communication technology, the easier the coaching process will be for you.

How Long the Coaching Process Lasts

Each coach-client combination will work out a term of engagement during which they plan to complete the bulk of the coaching process. This term will vary from coach to coach, from client to client, and will depend on the individual client’s needs. As a general guideline, you can expect the business coaching process to take six months to one year, give or take. During this time, it behooves you to give your time and effort to the coaching process, because it really is a unique opportunity to make yourself more effective as a leader and as a human being.

Some, but not all coaches offer limited follow-up services after the main period of coaching is over. This could be, for example, a follow-up phone call after one month, three months, and six months. If your coach offers follow-up services, you should avail yourself to them. Coaching is designed to “stick,” but the periodic catch-up call can actually work wonders as far as refreshing your commitment to what you have learned.

If your business coach offers follow-up calls after the coaching term is completed, you should take advantage of this service.

Before hiring your coach, you should discuss how long the typical coaching engagement lasts, when and for how long in-person meetings will take place, how frequently you and the coach will check in with each other during coaching, and whether there will be any follow-up afterward. Knowing the proposed schedule will allow you to be prepared so that no time spent with your coach is wasted.

Changes Clients Should Expect after Business Coaching 

Businesses that invest in business coaching for their top executives expect a strong ROI. They want their top leadership to go from good to exceptional, and they want leaders who will be better equipped to help the company reach its goals. Businesses also expect coached executives to be even stronger representatives of the company when dealing with the public or other top industry leaders.

Businesses may have specific goals for the executives they hire coaches for. They may want one top leader to develop better communication skills, and they may want another to break their tendency to micromanage, for example. In general, however, they want executives who have gone through the coaching process to become more self-aware, motivated, and committed to their own and organizational goals.

The individual involved in executive coaching should expect to become more self-aware and to understand themselves better by the time the coaching term has concluded. Not only should they expect to have reached the goals they set out to (assuming they and the coach have done their work consistently), they should expect to be better leaders, better colleagues, better representatives of the company, and better people in general.

Unquestionably, good business coaching requires hard work from both participants. It’s unreasonable for an executive to expect a coach to come in, wave a proverbial magic wand or say some magic words and somehow transform them into outstanding leaders. Good coaching requires commitment and follow-through, but when both parties put in the work, the results can be disproportionately great!

The top executive who finds out they will be working with a company-hired business coach should in no way feel like this indicates they need “remedial” attention. There may have been a time when this was true, but today’s businesses aren’t going to make the investment of time, effort, and money to hire a coach for someone they don’t have the absolute highest hopes for. In fact, if your boss says they’re hiring a coach for you, it’s a good thing. It means the company believes in you and believes you are capable of greatness.

Companies don’t invest in coaching for people they don’t believe in.

I have been involved in business transformation and coaching for over 30 years, and I have seen the coaching industry grow and change tremendously. Today, the International Coach Federation exists for the accreditation of top coaching programs, and people are used to world-class business leaders working with coaches, just like world-class athletes and artists do. I myself was fortunate to work with the late Steve Jobs and other top business leaders.

Business coaching is an investment, but it is one that pays off handsomely if the right coach is chosen for the right reasons, and if both coach and client commit to improvement and achievement of goals. If you are interested in business coaching or in business transformation in general, I urge you to check out my books as well as my speaking and training services. 

Glossary of Terms

Accreditation – official recognition that someone or some organization has fulfilled requirements or qualifications to perform a particular activity. Some business coach training programs are accredited.

Business coach – a professional who works one-on-one with individuals who want to improve their leadership skills, prepare for a major new work role, and become the most effective professional they can be

Coach training program – the program that trains business coaches on how to coach clients. Some are accredited, and some are not, and not all coach training programs are of high quality.

Extrinsic motivation – motivation that comes from the outside. For example, being motivated by “We have to make these numbers by the end of the month” is an extrinsic motivator. It is effective in the short term, but intrinsic motivation works better long term.

Intrinsic motivation – intrinsic motivation comes from within. It is what makes a person want to be better today than they were yesterday. Intrinsic motivation applied correctly, helps a person achieve goals for the right reasons, and generally leads to better long-term results.

Personality inventory – an evaluation or assessment tool used by business coaches (and other types of professionals) to gain a better understanding of a client’s various personality traits, apart from their role as a professional

Remedial coaching – coaching to try to “turn around” a leader who is faltering. Remedial coaching is rare these days because most business leaders understand that coaching gets the best results when used with highly talented people who show great promise.

Self-awareness – a person’s conscious understanding of their own feelings, motivations, and the makeup of their character. It is a primary component of honesty with oneself.

Skills inventory – an assessment tool used by many coaches and other professionals (like recruiters) to learn more about the particular skills a professional brings to the job. Coaches often use these to identify skills gaps and help develop appropriate goals.

How a Transformational Coach Is Like and Unlike a Business Coach

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The word “transformation” traces its origins back to Old French and Latin, and means to change in shape, or “metamorphose.” The use of the word to designate undergoing a change of form dates to the late 16th century.

Transformation implies a fundamental change in a being or organization.

Even today, transformation indicates that some fundamental change is taking place, and not just a cosmetic or surface change. Businesses hire business coaches, but they also hire transformational coaches, and the two are not the same. Transformational coaching is more holistic and overarching than typical business coaching.

Similarities Between Business and Transformational Coaching

The goal of business coaching and the goal of transformational coaching is often the same or at least very similar. When a company hires one of these types of coaches, they do so with the goal of a more effective business, with more effective leadership. In other words, they want to make the business measurably better in some way.

Business and transformational coaches may work with top leaders within an organization in an effort to help them tap into their unique greatness and recognize where they need to improve. Both the business and transformational coach strive to have clients that end up more self-aware, confident, and goal-oriented.

Differences Between Business and Transformational Coaching

But business coaching and transformational coaching aren’t interchangeable. Think of it this way. If you want to redecorate your home, you may repaint, replace furniture, change the drapes or blinds, or change the flooring. The end result can be a much more enjoyable, attractive, and usable home that looks significantly different from the way it started out.

If you want to renovate your home, however, you will make changes on a more fundamental level. You may take out walls, change the function of various rooms, make some rooms bigger and others smaller. You’ll likely do many of the same redecorating tasks like repainting and rearranging or changing furniture. But once you’re done, the result may be completely unrecognizable as being the same dwelling as it was before.

Transformation may require tearing down walls and otherwise going back to the foundational structure of an organization.

Transformational coaching in business tears down the walls, reassesses functions, and sometimes rebuilds from the ground up. It’s more thorough, far-reaching, and can create a “new” way of doing things that are vastly different compared to how it was before.

Choosing a Transformational Coach

Choosing a transformational coach is similar to choosing a business coach. You have to do the same due diligence, with respect to tasks like checking a coach’s qualifications, certifications, and experience. Choosing a coach who has undergone an accredited training program is important regardless of which type of coach you want to hire.

Personal testimonials can be immensely valuable whether you’re choosing a business coach or a transformational coach. Because of the greater intensity of transformational coaching, it’s even more critical that you talk to people who have undergone the process and learn all you can about what it was like, what changed, and how they have benefited from it.

Will you be unrecognizable as a professional after undergoing transformational coaching? Probably not, but you should feel and perform as if you have undergone a fundamental change in terms of how you view situations, how you understand problems, how you develop solutions, and how you move your organization forward.

Transformational coaching and business coaching share similarities, but they’re not identical concepts. In my publication, “John Mattone’s 21 Laws of Leadership and Cultural Transformation” I go into more depth on what actually has to happen for business transformation to take place. It’s a good place to start when weighing your business coaching and transformational coaching options.

Both business coaching, corporate transformation and transformational coaching benefit businesses that make a genuine commitment to the processes involved. In today’s business world, standing still or relying on the status quo is not an option if long-term success is the goal. If you are interested in cultural transformation, I invite you to check out my books (which delve deeply into the subject) or check my speaking and training services.

How to Prepare for Your First Meeting with an Executive Coach

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If you are in a position of leadership and your boss informs you that you will be working with an executive coach, that’s excellent news.

If your company hires an executive coach to work with you, it means they have tremendous faith in you.

The fact that your organization would bring in such a coach indicates that they have immense faith in you and believe your promise as a leader is great. You are, in other words, a Yo Yo Ma or a Renee Fleming in your organization, and you are well worth investing in.

The initial meeting with your executive coach can be a bit nerve-wracking, but if you go in prepared about what to expect, you can expect it to go well and to establish a great foundation for the personal and professional growth you’re about to experience. You can expect your coach to have prepared extensively for your first meeting because it’s the ideal time to clarify expectations, ground rules, and the tone of the executive coaching relationship.

Building Rapport: Expect Your Coach to Be Prepared Too

You can expect your coach to have learned something about you from having researched your professional accomplishments. If you have been in the public eye – either locally or nationally – you should expect your coach to have read up on you in the media. Expect your coach to view you as an equal partner, not as a pupil in need of correction. Expect them to know your name and demonstrate good professional etiquette.

One critically important component of an initial meeting with your executive coach should be a discussion of confidentiality. Your coach may be obligated to share some information with, for example, the HR department that is paying for your coaching. However, you should expect confidentiality so you can build a strong coaching relationship. If your coach doesn’t bring this up, you should.

Be Open-Minded and Willing to Discuss Your Goals

You may be somewhat skeptical about having a coach, but if you go into the process honest and with an open mind, you can expect outstanding results. Be ready to discuss your professional (and to some extent, personal) goals. If you are having difficulty defining or articulating your goals, say so. Part of executive coaching is the defining of goals, and honesty and forthrightness will help both of you in this task.

For your initial meeting, be open-minded and expect the same from your coach.

Open-mindedness is also important because you may feel like your coach isn’t right for you. This may be the case in very rare situations, but the coach-client relationship is more about complementarity than about finding a coach who is just like you. In fact, the slight friction that results from working with a coach who is different from you is often the very thing that helps you examine yourself, your performance and your goals more objectively.

The Reason for Those Survey and Assessment Tools

There is a good chance that your initial meeting with your executive coach will involve completing various personal and professional surveys, inventories, and questionnaires. The best coaches are extensively trained in administering, scoring, and interpreting these tools so they can help you define your goals, recognize your strengths, and discover skills gaps. Take these tools seriously, particularly if they are given by an experienced, reputable coach with a long track record. Checking all those “strongly agree” and “strongly disagree” boxes may seem dull or trivial, but in aggregate, the assessment tools benefit both you and your coach.

You should expect your executive coach to have prepared as much as you have for your first meeting. Any coach worth their salt knows that clients are far from interchangeable, and that the coaching experience will be significantly different from one client to the next. Expect your coach to give their best, and commit yourself to giving your best, and you can count on your first meeting to be the start of a productive working relationship that will make you a more effective leader.

Whether or not your organization offers executive coaching, it’s up to you to make the most of your position as a leader so you can make a difference today and leave a lasting, positive legacy. I invite and encourage you to check out my books, which cover critical leadership topics such as corporate culture transformation, performance management, and succession planning in great detail.

The Personal Stories That Will Help Your Business Coach Help You

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Coaching isn’t the same as consulting. Neither is it the same as counseling. An effective business coach functions as a mirror, an illuminator of context, and a champion of the client’s best self.

Business coaching must be rooted in reality to be effective.

Therefore, it’s important that coaches gain a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the client as a professional. This requires the use of evaluation and assessment tools, just plain talking, and knowing some key things about the client’s background. If you become a business coaching client, therefore, you will need to share some key truths with your coach.

While a coach doesn’t necessarily need to know highly personal details, they do need to know what made you who you are as a professional. And the narratives that define that shouldn’t be sugar-coated, exaggerated, or made to sound worse than they are, because a business coach does their best work when working with the truth, however exciting or pedestrian it ends up being. Here are some of the key narratives that will help your business coach help you.

A Story of When You Succeeded

When did you plan a course of action, follow it, and succeed? Maybe you succeeded at obtaining a college degree when you had neither the money or the grades that would have made it seem likely. Or maybe you moved up through the ranks of the company through sheer hard work, curiosity, and determination. Your coach needs to know how you set goals and how you accomplish them. There are countless paths to the top of the mountain, and the more your business coach knows about yours, the better equipped they will be to help you set new goals and map out a plan to accomplish them.

A Story of When You Failed Miserably

“Learning from your mistakes” is far more than just a cliché. In fact, it’s safe to say that there are many cases when we learn considerably more from our huge, glaring failures than we do from the successes we map out and methodically achieve.

It’s not necessarily enjoyable to rehash a major failed project or some other time when you gave your best, only to fall flat on your face, but like your successes, your failures help your business coachwork more effectively. We all need to acknowledge that we’re not perfect. If your coach sees that you’re self-aware enough to do this and that you were willing to at least try to figure out where you went wrong, they’ll have far more to work with than if they remain blissfully unaware of your failures.

Coaches can help you use your biggest failures to power your greatest successes.

A Story of When You Overcame Major Challenges

We like to think of the times we overcame challenges as stories worthy of the stage, or at times when through sheer determination we do what “they” said couldn’t be done. But for many of us, overcoming those major obstacles probably involved a certain amount of hiding, brooding, and bewilderment as we wondered what to do next.

Your coach needs to know this about you too. The typical business coach has been around the block enough times to know that the “hero story” usually involves plenty of behind-the-scenes thought and action that might be viewed as anything but heroic. After all, if you really have overcome monumental challenges while maintaining your grace and composure 100% of the time, then you may not need business coaching to begin with.

Business coaching isn’t about putting the final polish on a professional who is already nearly-perfect, but about working with the real raw materials of success to help people become more effective, more self-aware, and more successful. Your proud successes, your dismal failures, and the times you gracefully (or not-so-gracefully) faced and overcame obstacles all inform the professional you are today, and all help your business coach help you.

As a business coach, I have been fortunate to work with some of the top executives in the world. And I can tell you that not a single one of them started out or ended up “perfect.” Business coaching is rooted in reality, and reality includes the things you love sharing with people, as well as some of the things that are harder to share. If the idea of working with a business coach interests you, I invite you to learn more about my executive coaching services.

Why Leadership Coaching Works at Earlier Career Stages

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If you played a sport as a kid, you probably started out working with a coach who taught you the basics and help you lock down the skills you needed to participate. Wouldn’t it be terrific if we were assigned a similar coach the first day on a new job? Having someone to explain the overall strategy, the specific skills, and the quirks of the workplace and our co-workers would help many of us get up to speed faster in a new job, but rarely do we have such a luxury.

Leadership Coaching Early Stages

We know that coaching works for every skill level.

It’s generally at the top of the leadership chart where companies invest in leadership coaching for their people, but that doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on the benefits coaching provides. And if your long-term plan is to be named CEO one day, you may benefit greatly by investing in leadership coaching yourself, well before you get an office on the executive floor. Leadership coaching works at every career stage, and if the opportunity and resources to use it present themselves, you should take advantage. Here’s why.

Turnover at the Top is Brisk; It Pays to Be Prepared

In 2015, CEO turnover stood at 16.6%, up from 11.6% in 2010. Yet despite the fact that CEO turnover has risen sharply, only 29% of business leaders in the US believe their organizations give all necessary and appropriate support to new leaders. Nearly three-quarters of new leaders feel like they’re unprepared for their new roles and expanded responsibilities. The good news is that tailored leadership coaching for those taking on top leadership roles can significantly raise the chances of the appointment being a success. The bad news, however, is that only around one-third of businesses use coaching.

Coaching Now Can Help You Gain the Corner Office Later

You don’t have to wait to work with a leadership coach. While you probably don’t have the budget that your company does for hiring a coach, there are many coaches who offer webinars, online coaching, and short-term contracts that are more affordable for the professional who is investing in their own future in leadership.

Coaching Online

Some coaches offer online resources that are affordable for the mid-level professional.

Working with a coach helps you plan and develop the full complement of skills you’ll need as a three-letter executive. When the time comes you can take up the challenge having already done more due diligence than most people in the same position. And if, as a new top executive, you’re offered further coaching, paid for by your company, you stand to benefit even more from it, having had the experience of working with a coach previously.

Develop Your Long-Term Strategic Vision

One of the most important roles of leadership coaching is helping clients develop their long-term strategic vision. Doesn’t it make sense, though, to start developing your long-term strategic vision well before you make it to the top of the organizational chart? With the help of a coach, you can learn to make both short- and long-term plans and map out the objectives that will get you there. Furthermore, you can discover potential skills gaps now, so that when the time comes for you to take on a top leadership role, you’re likelier to have a better skill set than you would otherwise.

Create a Plan to Fill Skills Gaps

Working with a leadership coach, you can create a long-term plan to fill any skills gaps you may have. This may involve obtaining certifications, taking professional development courses, or going back to school for a Master’s or Doctorate. The earlier in your career you plan these skills upgrades, the more you can benefit from them, and the faster you’ll be qualified to climb the corporate ladder.

Leadership coaching can be a big investment. But it can be an investment that pays handsome dividends, and keeps paying them with time. If leadership coaching sounds like a good investment in your career, even if you’re not at the top of the leadership chart, you have many options for finding coaches willing to develop programs that work for you. In the meantime, I invite you to check out my blog, which addresses core tenets of leadership and company culture and can help you as you map out your path to the top.

Should I Hire a Leadership Speaker for my Business Event?

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Leadership speakers aren’t just for industry events and conferences. Sometimes, in the course of ordinary business, occasions arise where a speaker can elevate the discourse, motivate people, or help them celebrate their hard work. While you don’t need leadership speakers for ordinary celebrations like ones for people celebrating birthdays in a given month, there are other business occasions when leadership speakers can be just the right addition to the agenda to make it more memorable and effective. Here are some of the times when hiring a leadership speaker can be a smart business idea.

Leadership Speaker

Milestones and accomplishments sometimes call for a celebration program, complete with an inspirational speaker.

When a Big Challenge Is on the Horizon

Every industry and every business faces “push” times. Perhaps a new government regulation is requiring a major update to how you do things, like the time when healthcare businesses had to switch from ICD-9 coding and billing to ICD-10 – a process that was described as “becoming fluent in a new language.” Or maybe your company is about to go up against serious competitors for a major contract.

The point is, there are “make or break” junctures in every business, and sometimes leaders like to kick off these periods of intensity with a special occasion of some sort. Leadership speakers can be a great addition, particularly if you choose one who speaks regularly about overcoming obstacles and succeeding.

When a Milestone or Major Accomplishment Occurs

Let’s say you landed that major contract, or reached the ICD-10 deadline successfully. It certainly doesn’t mean that the hard work is over! In many ways, the hard work is just beginning. Yet, it’s important to let everyone appreciate all the hard work that went on and bask a little in their part in the organizational success.

Whether it’s with a celebratory picnic or an afternoon of entertainment in which you choose to show people appreciation for their contributions, a leadership speaker can make the event better. Here, you want someone who is positive, upbeat, and falls a little more on the “entertaining” side rather than inspirational. You want a speaker who will prompt people years from now to occasionally think, “Remember when?”

When a Company Is Stuck in a Rut

CEO Executive Playing

Sure, things are ticking along as they should. But sometimes it’s good to light a fire under people. 

Maybe there’s nothing really wrong with the company progress or morale, but there’s nothing really great about it either. In some ways, being stuck in a rut indicates that you’ve found your bearings as a company and are “clicking” with your role in the industry. But that’s not good enough over the long term.

If things have been going along, business as usual, for a long time, maybe a day-long, or half-day event capped off by a rousing leadership speaker could help everyone shake off the monotony and go back to their work with renewed inspiration. If it’s in your budget and schedule, then perhaps it’s worth considering.

When You Want to Maintain Momentum

Isn’t it great when your company hits its stride? You have a great team, and you’re all working together to reach common goals. You’re respected in the industry, and other companies look to you as an example. What could be better?

Some companies in this position choose to maintain the momentum through programs like “lunch and learn” sessions, or weekly awareness series. Most companies don’t have the budget to book high-profile speakers for such a series, but you don’t necessarily have to. A series of lunch and learn sessions could be highlighted by presentations from your own team members, or local dignitaries, perhaps capped off by a final session featuring a noted leadership speaker. This can be a great hedge against falling into a rut, and can help keep everyone on their toes.

Leadership speakers can elevate even rather ordinary business events into something memorable and inspirational. They’re not just for kicking off a trade convention or wrapping up a technical conference. Some of the more ordinary or company-specific events that come up in the life of any business can be a terrific opportunity to book a speaker and take the event to the next level. If you’re interested, I encourage you to check my speaking availability. Don’t let opportunities pass your company by where you have the chance to motivate, celebrate, inspire, or encourage your team to excel.

What We Can Learn from Generation X Leaders

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There’s no official consensus on who makes up Generation X – the generation between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials. Generally, they’re considered as the people born from about 1965 through 1980. Which of these generations has had the most impact on Gen Xers may depend on whether they were an older child, with younger siblings in the Millennial generation, or younger children, with Boomer brothers and sisters.

Generation X Leaders

Gen Xers have had to fend off “slacker” stereotypes from older people, and allegations of being technologically backwards from younger ones.

This smaller, in-between generation may not have had the overwhelming populational effects of the Boomers or the Millennials, but as leaders they offer something that neither of the generations by which they’re book-ended can offer. Here’s some of what we can learn from leaders who are part of Generation X.

Buffeted from Both Sides

Baby Boomer parents may have wanted their Gen X children to grow up and move out, while the children of Generation X remain in the home to older ages owing to an oppressively expensive housing market. To boomers, Generation X represents “slackers,” and to Millennials they represent a generation that is technologically unimpressive – despite the great technological leaps that are credited to Gen Xers. After all, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who started Google, were both born in 1973.

As a result, most Generation Xers were schooled in both the “old” ways and “new” ways of doing things, and in the leadership suite, this can be a tremendous advantage. Leadership coaching with clients from Generation X often allows for mining from a rich vein of varied experience.

Learning That Technology Comes and Goes

Generation X knows, probably better than any other, that technology comes and goes – including technology that totally upends the status quo. They remember replacing their vinyl record albums with CDs, only to find their CDs taking up unnecessary space once everything could fit on an iPhone. They remember having rotary-dial phones with no features or attached answering machine, and they probably carry a smartphone that has significantly more computing power than the mainframes they learned to program on in college in the 80s. This gives Gen Xers the benefit of being impressed by technology, but not so overcome by it as to think it’s permanent.

Generation X Technology

Generation X is used to watching technology evolve.

What Generation X Leaders Bring to the Table

In 2018, Generation X accounts for slightly over half of all leadership roles in the world, despite the size of the preceding and following generations. In other words, the generation has clearly given lie to the ideal that they’re slackers, while having more understanding of the value of work-life value than perhaps some of the older generation’s leaders.

Gen X leaders know how to work hard and how to play hard. They know how to take informed risks, and how not to take themselves too seriously. And despite protestations of some of their Millennial siblings and children, they embrace technology. It was largely Gen Xers who were addicted to their Blackberry devices, but who were happy to move on once smartphones demonstrated their superiority. By bridging the older and newer generations, they are key to continuing to transform the world of business and the world in general.

Shaping the Generation X Leaders

Leadership coaching works with a lot of Generation X clients these days, because so many top leadership positions are held by people of this generation. The conventional wisdom has it that Baby Boomers aren’t interested in work-related feedback, preferring a “no news is good news” relationship with colleagues. It also has it that Millennials crave feedback for everything. Generation X, then, may occupy a sweet spot, being more open to feedback than their older counterparts, yet not requiring the frequent hand-holding of their younger ones.

With more Generation X professionals in leadership positions, the old stigma of coaching being a “remedial” or “last resort” endeavor is falling away. Leadership coaching, in fact, is for the best of the best, and it’s far easier for coaches to work with clients who view it that way. I have many years of experience in leadership coaching, and I encourage you to learn more about my leadership coaching services – whichever generation you belong to.

How to Use Social Media to Evaluate Your Potential Business Coach

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In an era when you can follow your snack foods on Twitter, it’s no surprise that business coaches promote their businesses using social media. In fact, businesses of all types are advised to “engage” on social media. Even businesses with deeper pockets have discovered that paid social media advertising is remarkably targeted, allowing them to get a better return on their marketing investment. And they too use “organic” social media engagement to build stronger bonds with potential customers.

Business Coach

The scope of social media was something we could hardly envision a generation ago.

If you’re searching for a business coach, you will find many of them on various social media platforms. For the most part, this is good, because the web can be unforgiving of people who are discovered to be someone other than who they portray online. Impostors are eventually found out, in other words.  But if you’re looking for a business coach, you shouldn’t rely solely on social media to make your decision.

The Benefits of Engaging with Coaches on Social Media

The very concept of social media is wonderful. It allows anyone to interact with just about anyone else, sometimes in real time. It has helped people find family and friends they hadn’t heard from in years, and it offers a terrific platform for sharing life’s milestones.

You could, for example, contact a business coach through social media directly, learning more about them directly. It can be an excellent tool for learning whether your personality and needs are a good fit for a particular business coach.

Potential Drawbacks of Relying Too Heavily on Social Media

At the same time, however, social media is not necessarily reflective of real life. People who portray themselves as someone fundamentally different than who they actually are can be depressingly commonplace on social media sites. It’s entirely possible that the mental picture you develop from the interactions you have with someone on social media can be wrong.

Maybe you’re actually talking to their representative, or maybe they’re not truthful about their experience or qualifications. Someone purporting to be a business coach could conceivably misrepresent themselves entirely, and these people are almost inevitably caught and shut down. But you don’t want to be the first person who discovers someone isn’t who they say they are online.

Social Media Business Coach

Don’t be the person who discovers that a “business coach” isn’t who they say they are.

Evaluation of Potential Coaches Should be Well-Rounded and Multi-Sourced

Social media can be part of your evaluation process when you’re looking for a business coach. Many good and well-qualified ones are active on social media, and represent themselves honestly. But it should be supplemented by other due diligence steps, so you can be confident that your business coaching investment will be a good one.

Ask if your candidate coach has references you can talk to directly. You may or may not get to do this, since many top-level coaches use confidentiality agreements with their clients, but some clients will waive confidentiality to an extent that allows them to talk about their experience. Learn how your potential business coach gained their qualifications. Did they attend an accredited coach training program? Did they go to the trouble of earning reputable certifications? How long have they been in the business of business coaching?

Social media is valuable, but it is just a tool. And tools can be used for good (like the right-sized crescent wrench tightening a nut) or for ill (like the same crescent wrench trying to drive in a recalcitrant nail). Using social media to interact with potential business coaches is a good thing, as long as you do so with eyes open. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of people calling themselves coaches and consultants and trying to drum up business on Facebook without the qualifications to back up their aspirations, and it’s important that you know how to weed them out.

Business coaching is a noble vocation, but it’s not something that just anyone can do. Some top coaches use social media to build their reputation and business, and honest coaches can see great results from this. Use social media to help you evaluate potential coaches, but don’t let it end there. Get multiple points of reference before spending your resources on a business coach so you can be confident in your investment.

Whether or not you’re interested in working with a business coach, I invite you to check out my blog. It’s packed with valuable information on corporate culture, leadership, and talent management, and can help you make more informed decisions about your business and your career.

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