The commercial upside of coaching

A quick shimmy on LinkedIn will leave you super clear – streamlining, cost-cutting, and focussing specifically on the ‘cost of business’ is pretty much on all our agendas right now

The thing is – as anyone who has launched their 27th cost cutting project dressed up as a “transformation project” knows – knee jerk cost cutting, in fact knee jerk anything has a frustrating way of taking us backwards rather than forwards in business

So, what do we need to do to genuinely move those business measures which make us all feel a bit more joyful about why we do what we do? Maybe the answer lies in investing in being more who you want to be – who knew it!

According to Harvard Business Review’s recent report about the most successful businesses right now, they say,

“Instead of exploring how they can improve the bottom line, these regenerative leaders work backward and ask: How could we invest in our people to create a long-term impact? How could we work together differently to build a different kind of business? They push past short-term goals (succeeding this quarter) and refocus on long-term sustainability (regenerating for the future and nurturing a sustainable business model)”

So what do we mean by investing in our people and working together differently? That can be easier said than done. In truth, one of the key things which is often missed in business is the power of coaching to help people achieve more out of themselves and their business, and in particular, turn around their attitude to failures. It’s an uncomfortable word – yet let’s face it, failures are ever present in our ever changing business world. Learning, adapting, and growing our business today really means trying new things, taking risks, and as a consequence often not getting things ‘right first time’

Here's one for your Finance Directors – interestingly, a recent study found that 77% of executives who worked with a coach discovered improvements to at least 1 of 9 business measures, with overall productivity and employee sastisfaction receiving the biggest increase. Researchers concluded that executive coaching produces a 788% return on investment!

OK, so as impressive as these results are from a commercial standpoint, executive coaching is yet more impactful for us as individual leaders. So why’s that then?

Guess what the no.1 thing clients cite as transformational when they have coaching with us? Might surprise you to know it’s being able to reframe their failures

All of us fail. All of us have messed up. All of us have to deal with the difference between how we would like to be and how we have been. Most people are burdened by past failures, they restrict their progress, and the associated mind-set holds them back like a straitjacket. We call this mind-set the “failure falsehood”

It's false because every failure gives us a chance to learn. Every failure gives us a chance to course correct in the future. Every failure highlights our missteps. Every failure can impact our attitude and beliefs. Every failure can be turned into something positive. The failure is still there, yet we don’t have to hold on to the consequence. Our failures don’t have to be the end of the story  – they can become the condiments that give success its flavour

In our coaching practice we share methods and tools that enable people to turn failures into future success, swapping restrictive “failure falsehood” mind-sets into releasing “progress mind-sets”

Pause and really think about this seriously for a moment, are you holding yourself back due to restrictive “failure falsehood” mind-sets

Coaching helps reveal the lies that holds us back so we can move forward

So coaching has a key role to play in regenerating you, so you have a new perspective on failures, and are able to take steps forward to being more the person you want to be – more courageous, more action orientated, and more connected to your teams and goals. This creates lasting business value and contributes to a future that works better for everyone. This broader and more sustainable long-term success is achieved because problems are addressed with a holistic mind-set

Today how about you decide where you can change your mind-set, let go of “failure falsehoods” and let progress begin

Coaching is all about facilitating someone’s learning and growth so they can progress in ways they never envisaged possible yet always wanted to achieve. Surely your business and you deserve that …

Discover our Coaching offer here