-
what the strategy is all about
and how it can help your business, your department, you;
-
how to create systems around
the strategy, to improve your business; and, most
importantly,
-
why one would bother to go to
the trouble of creating systems around these strategies … and
then stay
focused on the new system until it becomes habit …
until it becomes “the way we do things around here.”
Let’s start with:
What is Professional Coaching?
As promised, in a nutshell:
Coaching helps transcend the obstacles between you and your
dreams.
Professional coaching challenges
and supports people in achieving higher levels of performance
while allowing them to bring out the best in themselves and
those around them. It facilitates
·
learning
·
self-awareness, identifying how we best
operate/what’s the best way for “me” to do it?
·
self-development with the purpose of
§
improving performance
§
enhancing effective action, goal achievement,
personal satisfaction
MLJ Coaching & Consulting,
specifically, is known for holding people accountable towards
reaching their goals of higher levels of performance … and
whatever the specific goals are. Coaching can challenge
and support people all the clients like, but at the end of the
day if they don’t follow through on what they plan to do in each
coaching session, they will never reach those goals. They
will never achieve higher levels. MLJ Coaching &
Consulting’s clients achieve higher levels … in their
departments, in their businesses and in their personal and
family lives.
For lots more detailed
information on the benefits to you of hiring a professional
coach, check out our websites at
www.mljcoaching.com
or
www.TradeContractorsBusinessSchool.com,
sign up for our newsletter, send an e-mail to
Lynne@mljcoaching.com, or give
us a call at 613-353-9941.
What is Professional Coaching not?
Training, which we actually
offer in The Trade-Contractors’ Business School, is the “how to
do” something.
Consulting, which we also offer
in The Trade-Contractors’ Business School, is the “what to do.”
MLJ Coaching & Consulting’s style of consulting, however, is
offering up “what to do” … if the consultant were in your
shoes.
Coaching, which is MLJ Coaching &
Consulting’s principal component, is the “why would I” do what I
just thought of, with the coach’s gentle, though inquisitive,
questioning. Remember the expression in the late ‘90s:
Why wouldn’t I? Well, that’s justification for doing
something you already want to do and are likely to do. The
“Why would I?” that coaching support and clarity offers you,
is how we turn those great ideas that flit through our minds
into action, which then produces results.
So, in filling the other half of
the nutshell: Coaching is like a science experiment:
It turns energy (thoughts) into matter (results). Simple
as that!
8 Strategies which are Key to Every Successful Business
The following is a synopsis of
the strategies which are not only the foundation of my business,
but the foundation of every business. How strong are the
bricks in your foundation?
Check out our websites
www.mljcoaching.com
and
www.TradeContractorsBusinessSchool.com
and see if there’ll be a workshop happening here around the
dates that you’ll be visiting Kingston … or maybe in a town
close to where you are. During the winter you’re apt to
find locations where you can attend a day-long workshop covering
all 8 strategies at once. At other times you might find a
workshop focusing on any one of the strategies over a couple of
hours or half-day.
Stay tuned to this web-page.
Add it to your favourites. As the months pass I’ll be
focusing on one strategy at-a-time, with real live examples from
real live clients (though changing the names to protect their
privacy, of course), of a challenge they were facing, the system
they created, maybe the resistance they got from staff … and
themselves, and the results – whether the desired result or,
since coaching propels our results, maybe something not even
dreamt of. I’m thinking of one such case for Strategy #1,
so be sure to come and visit us again soon.
In the meantime, the helpful
advice I’m offering today is:
1.
Assess where you are in each of these strategies, below.
Be a tough marker. Your inflated grade will only keep you
from improving that much more.
2.
List one thing for each strategy that could be improved.
3.
Decide what you will focus on doing over the next month for each
of the strategies, putting more emphasis on one than the other
7, but still acting on all 8.
4.
Put the action steps into your agenda. Block off a
sufficient amount of time to complete the step.
5.
Share your goal with someone who, like me, will hold you
accountable to following through on the promises you’re making
to yourself.
6.
Meet with your accountability partner every week at the same
time on the same day and share your successes with this partner.
Have the meeting. It can be shortened, but not missed.
7.
Reward yourself for your successes. Don’t be stingy.
Make it a good reward. (For your lack of
follow-through
remember: Your excuses are only justification for letting
yourself down. What would
the consequence be if one of
your children didn’t follow through on a promise? Give
yourself the same consequence. Fair is fair.)
And, finally, the strategies:
1.
Construct a powerful 3-year vision
and you will have the blueprint for creating exactly what you
want.
By regularly reviewing the blueprint, you will see
which modifications are necessary to keep you on schedule toward
finishing the project. Ask yourself right now:
“Where will I be in 3 years’ time? What needs to happen
for me to get there?”
2.
Plan the time to Plan
and business development will no longer be a pipe-dream, a
hodge-podge of putting out fires and flying by the seat of your
pants.
We often talk about what we want … but when we
look back at our wants and wishes from last year, how many of
them have materialized?
3.
Hold yourself visibly accountable
by sharing your
vision with others, and you will have the support necessary to
get around the challenges and obstacles that seem to come flying
at you from out-of-the-blue, thereby being able to stay focused
on your 3-year vision, your 1-year plan, your 90-day action,
your monthly management, your weekly reflection and your daily
tasks. It’s
easy to fall off the wagon and to stay off, too,
but that only sabotages us. Coaching support gets us back
on the wagon and in control of the reins.
4.
Take back your power by controlling your
finances,
knowing you’re getting paid top dollar for the
work you do, knowing your debt-to-income and debt-to-asset
ratios, knowing your 3 financial support teams are working
together in your favour and are truly supportive.
5.
Empower your support
and you will truly be leading a championship
team.
One of the biggest problems a self-employed
person has is handing over the reins to his/her staff.
Together we will create systems for what you think only you can
do. The systems will then be expertly executed even when
you’re not there.
6.
Impress your clientele
by
systematically providing the essentials, as well as the little,
yet powerful, value-added things, and you will have the ideal
company/client relationship where you and your staff respect the
clients and they respect you, your staff and your company.
7.
Get Referrals
from those impressed clients, who already expect
a fully respectful relationship, which ensures that you only
work with A-clients who respect you, your staff and your
company.
8.
Enjoy life
every day of the week and every week of the year
by getting away from it all much more
often …
often enough to recharge your batteries. With fully
charged batteries and the time to invest in
yourself, your
health and your family you will, inevitably, love what you do
and do what you love.
This 8th strategy is no joke. It’s not easy, I
know, but it is achievable. First, however, we have to
implement systems to off-load a good chunk of what’s weighing
you down right now, so don’t be in a hurry and rush to enhance
Strategy #8 when by doing so any other one before-hand would be
negatively affected. Patience and perseverance will get
you there.
The next article will be much
shorter – I promise – and will focus on Strategy #1. Be
sure to visit us to see how a
3-year-old home-based business materialized the major part of
its owner’s 3-year vision in less than 3 months!
We’ll check in on her today, too, and see how her business is
doing.
Until then, wishing you more
profit while having more time off,
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