The marketing industry has taught us a lot of wonderful things about how to reach people, especially this one: identify the problem you help them with. This can be for personal branding, career development, as well as for your own business.
And this is seriously valuable. It has helped me escape the nowhere land of the typical brand new coach with vague statements like “I help you become the person you want to be” or “I’ll help you get unstuck” (it’s entirely possible that I have literally said these things in the past).
Because what does that even mean?
Now, to be fair to my younger self, and those new coaches who are at this stage: coaching really can help you with ANYTHING.
And something that happens for all of my clients is that they like themselves more in the process. Why? Because they live up to their aspirations for themselves, they walk their own talk.
But defining clear problems really helps people know whether I can help them or not:
- At this senior level, I need to be an enabler and develop my team so they deliver the results- but I’m a problem solver, and I know how to get it done faster. How do I make this transition?
- how do I handle the politics at the senior level when I hate the politics game?
- what is my leadership style? I’ve seen lots of different styles promoted but I want to be authentic.
- how do I stop working evenings and weekends and still get everything done?
And taking away a current pain point is a great motivator.
Nothing will move me to taking action than when I am no longer willing to put up with the pain of something.
Like finally getting and installing screens for the windows after waking up 3 times a night to kill the horde off mosquitos that keep buzzing around my head and leaving welts everywhere they bit me.
I now have a wonderful breeze and am not being bled dry. Best of all, I’m not being woken up by that annoying mosquito bzzzzzzz that I can’t sleep through.
Or like knowing that I was stalled in my business and what I was doing wasn’t giving the results I wanted, so I signed up for that 15k leadership program I had on my “one day” list.
Since then so many aspects of my life have prospered: my coaching and training business took off, I’m a better parent, I co-lead and created a foundation to create community for coaches, and more.
So solving problems is important.
BUT solving problems isn’t the only way to make your life better.
Here’s what I mean.
I was checking client feedback from last year and this GM reminded me of something important
Q: What was your biggest frustration before working with me?
A: No frustration whatsoever, I feel that we have a great connection – you understood my character, and my needs.
Which made me wonder, “well what did they work with me for?”
And these answers tell it all:
Q: How did it feel when you experienced the results?
A: Felt absolutely amazing.
Full clarity coming out of our sessions on what I needed to do – super actionable insights and also at times peace of mind.
Ooooh this makes me so happy! Actionable insights are something I always aim for, but I love that they also got peace of mind. To me, that is the priceless magic from coaching: a mind at peace is something we all deserve.
Q: What has become possible for you since engaging me?
A: “you have accompanied me through my biggest transformational years – so everything has become possible.
You supported me and helped me manage a career jump / stretch that I did not feel possible.”
This GMs life was fine. They were a top talent and making strides.
And the coaching helped them elevate their career and impact in ways they didn’t think was possible.
Sometimes we hire a coach because we want to live for more.
If you were to live for more, what would that look like?
This post is part of my special Coaching Tips Series. This series was inspired by my clients and the core themes in their challenges. When we can apply these tips, we bring a lot of ease into our lives and step into our leadership. Want to talk it through with me? Call me and let’s make a Game Plan together.