The Secret Physics of Business Coaching
Over 22 years ago when I nailed my business coaching “shingle” to my office wall, not many people had even heard of a business coach. A few people knew about “life” coaches (thanks mostly to the marketing of people like Tony Robbins) – but what was a business coach?
The question did not bother me, as I was simply there to help people get better results from their businesses. It does not take much to get most businesses working better, or at least working more profitably.
Yep. It’s true. Over the first few years I discovered that contrary to what I believed, a great number of business owners are miserable despite whatever profits they have. Obviously, it is much nicer to be miserable with a bigger profit, but misery persists until the owner decides to change things about themselves.
That sounds difficult, but it is not really.
Humans are nearly always happier when they “feel” momentum. It is like the difference between treading water and swimming. Treading water sucks, and if you are doing that you are far more likely to drown.
Swimming infers that you have first decided on a direction, then managed to act strongly enough to get horizontal, and then move in that direction. (Floating is better than treading water – but you still are at the mercy of the tides, currents and winds.)
The word MOMENTUM comes from physics (I love physics), and simplest version is MASS x VELOCITY. And velocity has two components – SPEED and DIRECTION.
And there you have the secret to effective business coaching.
You assist your client (a person under your protection) to first choose a direction, and then you guide the increase both mass and speed in the business. Done properly, momentum is created – and that progressively reduces the misery (and increases enjoyment) of the business owner. Simplicity itself.
Oliver Wendell Holmes said “For the simplicity on this side of complexity, I wouldn’t give you a fig. But for the simplicity on the other side of complexity, for that I would give you anything I have.”
If your level of misery is too high or your level of enjoyment too low – then have a think about what level of discontent you are choosing to “put up with”, or “cope with” or even just ignore before acting to change things.
In Australia we have the historical story pressure of being willing to face extreme and ongoing hardships bravely – continuing on when others have stopped and given up. We do “put up” with things longer, we “hold on”. In a battle these might be positive traits, but in business it is not usually a good choice.
There is a tenet (a principle) that you get more of what you put up with. When you transfer this to business language it means that you set your standards, and then that is what you get. If you accept a low standard – guess what happens? If you set a higher standard, a different path opens.
That different path is integral to your selection of your direction for you and your business – and ultimately your momentum and the happiness that it generates for you. It takes courage to select and then commit to higher standards.
Courage is the first value needed to make important decisions. We humans are designed to avoid risk, and any change has a far higher risk than keeping the same standards (staying where you are – treading water). If you want to change your circumstance, your health, your business, your relationships – then you need to realize that by definition you must change your standards.
And that feels like “fear”, because of our pre-programmed aversion to increased risk. But like all fear, it disappears once you look more closely at it, “pull it’s beard”, and then move forward in the direction of your choosing. Pretend fear is not there and you miss the opportunity to squeeze some “momentum juice” out of it. All you need to do is decide, and then move forward.
Sometimes moving forward just means taking a pen and deciding what you want or don’t want anymore. That is the real purpose of setting goals – to make a tiny movement in a specific direction by picking something that exists in the direction you want to go. The goals are just guides on the track in the direction you want to go – and to get you in motion – in a direction.
Because you if attempt to swim in all directions, you are treading water. Hard work, unrewarding, depressing, poorly paid and you will most likely drown.
Stop doing what does not work more, harder or faster. Read that again. Doing more of what does not work will fail. As will doing it longer, faster, harder or more expensively. Doing more with an angry face or a stiff neck headache does not make it work.
I guess that gives you an idea of what I consider to be business coaching?
