The
Value of Coaching to Support Your Business and Your
Life:
by Dr. Joe Rubino
---In
our daily lives as well as in our businesses, we typically
operate from the perspective of doing the best we
know how to do in dealing with life’s challenges
and opportunities. If we knew what it would take to
be more effective in our relationships, more productive
in our activities or more successful in reaching our
goals, we would surely alter our behavior to correspond
with these insights. The only access we ordinarily
have to impact our lives comes from the areas of “what
we know” and “what we don’t know.”
In our efforts to achieve more, we usually resort
to increasing what we do know by learning to do things
a little better, a little different or we simply do
more of a behavior that produced a certain result
for us in the past. This behavior can predictably
result in small, incremental increases in our ability
to impact our business and our world. Likewise, by
educating ourselves in the arena of “what we
don’t know,” this knowledge then becomes
part of what we now do know. As an example, if you
are computer illiterate and you apply yourself to
learn how to adeptly operate a computer, you will
have successfully taken something that you do not
know and converted it into what you now know. More
than 95% of our efforts are spent in these two arenas
¯ what we know and what we don’t know.
---However,
our most extraordinary growth comes from outside the
arena of what we know or don’t know. This composes
the vast variety of ideas that we are blind to, not
knowing that they even exist. It’s in this arena
of “what we don’t know we don’t
know” that breakthrough or ah-ha experiences
occur.
---So
how do you gain access to this fertile territory if
you don’t even know that it exists? The answer
lies in recruiting the help of a coach who can support
you to explore this rich domain that is outside of
your customary way of viewing the world and acting
upon its challenges. Your coaches should be individuals
who themselves possess the key principles that make
them powerful in the particular arena they offer coaching.
A coach may be powerful in some arenas but not necessarily
in others. The same person who is qualified to coach
you in business matters may be totally unqualified
to coach you in the area of relationships or spiritual
matters. True coaches do not give advice or lend their
opinions. They are value based, not ego based. They
do not manipulate or exploit to carry out their own
agenda. They are totally nonjudgmental. They are not
the same as counselors or therapists. They do not
try to protect, control or rescue those they are coaching.
They instead listen for where one may be experiencing
challenges or may be missing some key element that,
if put into place, would impact a desired result.
Coaches support us in seeing something that we may
not be aware of by listening both to what we say and
to what we leave out. They have empathy for the person
being coached but are not emotionally attached to
an outcome. They serve to champion people to have
their lives work optimally. They do this by asking
questions, exploring possibilities, making requests
and, at times, confronting issues that may need to
be examined. Skilled coaching is a fine art and a
highly valuable service.
---For
a coaching relationship to be possible, there must
exist an open willingness on the part of the person
being coached to undergo the process. Of course, total
confidentiality must exist to allow for the freedom
necessary to explore any and all areas that may need
to be explored. The absence of judging and advice
creates the opening needed to fully examine any possibility.
---Coaching
is typically undertaken in any of six major areas
of life: business/career, health, wealth, relationships,
spirituality/personal development or recreation/passions.
A good coach will clarify if his or her coaching client
is open to explore any or all of these areas or if
the coaching relationship is agreed to be limited
to any one or more areas. True coaches are value-based
and interact with honor and respect while, at the
same time, they are not reluctant to call someone
on their “stuff” out of a solid commitment
to champion the person’s excellence and best
interests..
----Successful
coaches:
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Listen
for what may be missing to accomplish a result
or honor a person’s values. |
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Lead
by example and champion others to step into leadership. |
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Are
committed to their client’s excellence and,
at the same time, not attached to his or her responses. |
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Are
grounded in value-based personal development principles. |
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Hold
those they coach as totally capable and competent
while looking for what might be missing for them
to fully experience their magnificence. |
|
Source
the person coached to be their best and live with
passion while playing full out to accomplish their
goals. |
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Never
make the person coached small or dependent. |
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Champion
the person coached to be the best they can be
with the goal of ultimate invisibility for themselves
as a coach. The coach’s ego must not be
a factor in the relationship. |
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Have
permission to tell the truth and not step over
uncomfortable topics or situations in order to
avoid discomfort or look good. |
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Create
a safe atmosphere that allows for the client to
be vulnerable and open to possibilities. |
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Support
their coaching clients in an accountability structure,
ensuring that they follow through on what they
say they will do. |
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Support
the free flow of ideas and conversations for possibilities
through idea streaming. |
---It
is helpful for any coaching relationship to begin
by developing clarity with respect to the client’s
overall vision. This vision should include every aspect
of the person’s life and business. From this
wide-ranging perspective, it is then possible to develop
a plan to accomplish any goals. These goals would
themselves comprise a component of the big picture
by fulfilling or working toward one aspect of the
vision’s realization.
---A
productive coaching relationship can focus on either
a life or business project. In the realm of business
or network marketing, a coaching relationship is often
best undertaken within the context of a project or
action plan that is grounded in time. By focusing
on producing specific and measurable results, a coach
can support a client to best work through any business
stops or life challenges en route to the accomplishment
of one’s goals. A coach can also assist in gaining
clarity on all conditions of satisfaction that may
be important to a project’s fulfillment. Such
conditions might include those non-measurable items
that would need to take place for a project to be
considered a success. These might include developing
stronger relationships with family members, spending
quality time with children, devoting a minimum amount
of time daily to meeting one’s own needs, taking
a well deserved vacation, etc.
---Many
people mistakenly assume that they can be successful
in business without being successful in other areas
of their lives. Our businesses are an important component
of our lives, but only one such component. If there
is an imbalance in any of the six prominent areas
of our lives, any business accomplishment will be
somehow incomplete. For this reason, a good coach
will support a client to adapt a whole-thinking perspective
in which mastery of all areas of life is the ultimate
goal. For this reason, personal development is an
essential component of any business coaching relationship.
As one undertakes the personal improvement process,
increased business productivity will surely result.
---Just
as an Olympic athlete in pursuit of a gold medal would
not think of undertaking such an accomplishment without
the support of a coach, most people would likewise
benefit from a coaching relationship. Coaching can
add fun and excitement to every aspect of your life
as you take on the challenge of reinventing yourself
and your business, always in search of excellence.
And of course, one of the major benefits of an ongoing
coaching relationship is that you will develop the
coaching skills yourself that will be necessary for
you to impact the lives of others, who will likewise
look to you for coaching. If you are in business and
do not yet have a coach who is committed to championing
your success, I strongly encourage you to look into
how such a relationship might support your goals and
move your business and life forward with velocity.
---Dr.
Joe Rubino is North America’s Success Coach.
He is an internationally acclaimed trainer, author,
personal effectiveness coach and the co-founder of
The Center For Personal Reinvention, http://www.CenterForPersonalReinvention.com
. He has been published in more than 100 leading magazines
and publications and is the author of the best selling
books, “Secrets Of Building A Million-Dollar
Network-Marketing Organization From A Guy Who’s
Been There Done That And Shows You How To Do It, Too”,
“The Power To Succeed - 30 Principles For Maximizing
Your Personal Effectiveness, Book I”, “The
Power To Succeed: More Principles For Powerful Living,
Book II ” and “The Magic Lantern - A Fable
About Leadership, Personal Excellence and Empowerment”.
---Joe
is the cofounder of “Conversations For Success”,
a 3-day course in personal and productivity development
for network marketers and The Visionary Success Academy
Tele-Course, a 12-week teleconference course. Joe
is also a top distributor and a member of the advisory
board of a well-known international network marketing
company. In December of 1995, he was featured on the
cover of Success Magazine for his ability to champion
others to achieve success.
To order any of Dr. Joe’s
books, for information on coaching services
or to learn more about attending one of his courses,
www.CenterForPersonalReinvention.com
888-821-3135 | drjrubino@email.com
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