As a coach I ask a lot of questions such as what makes you different?, what value do you add? and how are you playing to your strengths? These questions help to get clients thinking about who they really are and where they can add most value. Your value comes from who you are – not what you do.
My aim as a coach is to enable my client to develop a more thorough understanding of self, recognise their strengths and the importance of focusing on these to add the most value and achieve fulfilment.
To get full value from coaching you have to be open to really looking at yourself and recognising your impact from different perspectives. What I do is effectively ‘hold up a mirror’ which can feel painful at times. A courageous attitude and the ability to understand the potential value of changing the way in which you behave are the keys to success.
In my book I discuss the importance of ‘fit’ and ‘being at the right party’. Three of my recent coachees, all of whom were senior executives and having difficulties in their roles, had never fully recognised who they really are, the value they bring and the relevance of these two factors to their challenges.
James had been in his Director role for 12 years and with the business for 20. The business had been led originally in a very autocratic fashion, with a distinct hierarchy which James had been ‘brought up in’. This, together with a natural personality type to ‘get things done’ has developed someone who is now perceived to be ‘old fashioned’ in his leadership style and focused on detail, despite having successfully led some of the most significant programmes of change in the business. Coaching enabled James to recognise that his strengths remain of immense value to programme management but that they are now perhaps better placed elsewhere. He has now left the business.
Steve had been in his role as a shareholder of the business for a number of years but was no longer considered by the rest of the partnership to be contibuting sufficiently in terms of income generation. Steve was very aware of feeling stressed in his role but was not doing anything to understand why and make a change. With the help of coaching and personal profiling Steve developed a better understanding of where his value was and stepped down from the Board, remaining in the business as a Director and as such, is now making a much more significant contribution and is much happier.
Sharon had been in a senior, technical role in a large business for 25 years and moved to a broader role in a much smaller business where the ability to influence strategy was key. She hadn’t thought about the attributes required or the change of context, only her qualifications and level of technical experience. Like many businesses, the mistake the leaders recruiting made was also to focus on qualifications and technical expertise and in their minds they had ‘value for money’ in someone who was technically ‘over qualified’ for the role. Some very painful coaching sessions enabled Sharon to acknowledge the fact that a better paid role previously did not mean she was overqualified for the new role and that indeed, the new role was not where she played to her strengths and the working context was not where she, as a personality was necessarily a ‘good fit’.
In my book I talk about the importance of being in a place and role where you can play to your strengths because that’s when you will achieve, be fulfilled and bring most value to the business.
All three coachees were in ‘auto pilot’ behaviourally and struggling to recognise when their personal attributes and strengths were not the best fit with the business.
The key question, what is my value? Applied in all three cases above and when explored fully, enabled all three individuals to gain clarity about the answer and feel confident about moving to a place where they can play to their strengths and in so doing, be of more value to the business.
If you would like to discuss coaching with me, please email me at: bev.lockwood@unlockedltd.com or give me a call on 07747 456351.