Bits and Pieces

Vol 1 Issue 4

Information, opinions and news you can use in Business and Life. The Martin Team provides bi-weekly information from articles, books, client research and experience in Business and Life

Let’s talk about Coaching.

If you have visited The Martin Team web site and clicked on coaching you have a clear definition of what coaching is. You may not however know who needs it, when or why they may need it.

Let’s start with who might need a coach. Perhaps a better question is who doesn’t? When was the last time you were really listened to? I mean really, really listened to. You may recognize really, really listened to as when the person you were talking to was focused on you and nothing but you. They were interested in your issues and were not busy formulating what they were going to say as soon as you were finished. They had no objective other than to listen to you with the intention of helping you. They had no hidden agenda. They were not clouded by the relationship they have with you. They were visibly focused on you and giving you are the visual signs that you were the only thing on their mind. If you have had a conversation with all of these elements present you have been very lucky.

Perhaps you are thinking, so what? I don’t have that big a need to be listened to, my life is going just fine, thank you. You could be right, everything may be going perfectly and always will. We are all happy for you and hope your good fortune continues. If there are a few people reading this brief note whose lives have not been flawless in every way we will provide some key moments where a coach might add value, if you are ready to be coached.

Some key moments where coaching can help:

* Your work life balance is a little out of whack. Business and/or career are going great. In the meantime you are not up to speed on what’s going on with your family or your fitness is out of balance or your diet is suffering or your friends, outside of work, barely see you. Perhaps you are noticing this fact by your physical condition or that sharp pain in you stomach, once in a while, that you don’t know where it comes from. There are many subtle signs of work/life imbalance and if not heeded they can lead to a disaster in many facets of your life.
* You have recently been promoted to a position of leadership from a position where you were a high performing technician. You notice that you are having trouble keeping up with the demands of the job and that has never happened to you before. You are wondering why your team is not responding. You are wondering what is going on in general and you’re worried about your image and perhaps your job.
* Your boss just told you that you are the most recent victim of a downsizing but that you have a six month severance. You’re surprised and six months doesn’t sound very long, it’s a tough job market, so what do you do?
*There is a great job that you want and you know you are going to be a candidate and you have a job interview in two weeks. This is very exciting but you haven’t interviewed for a job in over three years. You really want this job, what do you do?
* You have one subordinate that can’t communicate and one that can’t delegate. They are both valuable to the team, what do you do?
* You just became the CEO of a company with big challenges. You have plenty of technical advisors but nobody to really talk to. What do you do?

These are just a few examples of situations where coaching can add value .The examples could be endless because there are many key moments that show up for all of us on a regular basis. In many cases these key moments can be life changing and we could use some trained objective source of support and feedback.

Take some time to think back and remember some of the key moments in your life. We all can recall a few occasions when we might have handled some of these key moments differently. As we think about the impact of the past on where we are today we may tend to dwell on it and wish it were different. The value of the past is to use it for today. The past is gone and the future is not yet available so the true value is to live in the moment. The time we are in, at the moment, is the only time we have any control over. One of the key values of a coach is to help you live in the moment and take action to make whatever change you want to happen become a reality. If you don’t have everything about your life figured out yet, perhaps you could use a coach.

We will talk with you again soon.