Shownotes
“Coaching is not a magic pill. It’s a collaboration with someone who can help you navigate challenges and identify what you want your life to be like professionally and personally.”
Coaches help leaders develop their teams, make better decisions, and encourage others toward growth and success. In this episode, Floyd Senior Executive Coach Michele Marquis discusses all the benefits of coaching and explains why it has to be viewed as an investment, not an expense. Listen in to hear how an outside perspective can help leaders create action plans, hold them accountable to achieving their goals, and ultimately grow their business.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What is the importance of setting aside time for intentional thinking
- How having a coach keeps leaders moving forward and accountable
- Which questions to ask yourself to establish goals and priorities
Things to Listen for:
[00:46] Shifting perspectives on training and development
[05:47] The power of asking great questions
[09:30] Being intentional about “think time”
[16:07] How coaches help identify a path and keep you on it
[20:11] Why a third party person can see what you can’t
[24:55] Questions for leaders to consider
Resources:
Connect with the Guest:
Connect with the Host & Floyd Coaching:
Transcripts
Today. People need to coach way more than they need a manager. We need to be held accountable and we need to hold our teams accountable to fulfill the mission of their role and the organization. I chatted with Floyd, senior coach Michelle Marquis, about all of this and more. We hope you enjoyed the conversation.
I am very much looking forward to our conversation today on your favorite topic, all about the benefits of coaching. What does coaching actually do, uh, for leaders and. right before we hit record, Michelle and I were talking about, there's this article that I was reading in the Harvard Business Review and it was talking about how. Companies get training and development wrong. And the way that they do that is because they're really looking at training and development as on the, when it comes to the, like your p and l, your balance sheet, you're looking at it as an expense. You're looking at it as, I'm paying for coaching, or I'm paying for a training for somebody to come in and do like a leadership training with my team.
And that is seen as an expense when really. If we don't have great people, if we're not developing our people, then how are we expected to really grow the business? How are we expected to make sure that people, are getting better? They're getting better at their decision making.
They're getting better at their team building and communication and trust and all of those things. And, and if we can't do that and we can't create that great culture, and make sure that everyone's fulfilling the mission, we're really not gonna go anywhere as an organization. And so I thought that was an, it was an interesting article really talking about.
The perception of when we're looking at, what you're investing in, what you're purchasing, what you're spending your money on, and how training and development for so many organizations kind of is the first to go, or they view it as kind of an extra a bonus instead of something that's should be a high priority.
[:So it's just as important when you think about training and development to really focus in on the how the, how you expect people to work in their role within the organization. So, it's funny you say that because I was reading some stuff about coaching too. That so many more companies are bringing on coaching into their organization and mostly for high potentials, right?
they wanna invest
in those people. So to your point, looking at it as an investment, in upgrading their software and doing things like that, they're investing in their assets. So if they start to shift their mindset that people are their greatest. And really looking at what am I doing to maintain right that great asset and grow, grow from there.
[:when you hire someone and you see the potential in them, it's up to you as a leader. To say, oh, I'm gonna help them get there. Right? Like, I think so many people, so many people don't necessarily see their superpower. They don't necessarily see the, what they're really strong at, and that is what a coach does.
That is what a leader does, is they get to kind of push that person out. Their comfort on a little bit and help them think about their skills, their strategies, how they are looking at growth and development. and that's really what coaching does. Coaching allows for that. It allows that space to really under understand and uncover, Hey, what am I really, really good at?
What are the things that I'm really challenged with? And then those things that you're challenged with. What am I gonna do to improve? What am I gonna do to get better? And together with your coach and with your leader, with everyone on the team, you kind of get to work together on that. it is shifting that mindset of how one of our clients, we talk about it all the time.
I love that. One of our clients said to us one day, we asked him, why do you invest in coaching? And bottom line, he said, I invest in coaching because it's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do for my people. They need to grow, they need to get better and coaching is the the way to do that.
And I thought, That's an amazing response, right? It's the right thing to do for your people.
[:I was actually did a list of all the people that I've done executive coaching with, executive or business coaching for entrepreneurs specifically, they don't have the time to think about what they're doing. , right? They're just going, oh, well, I have my plan and I'm just gonna do my plan. And then the year's over and they stick their head up and go, oh, , what just happened?
So I'm going through that right now, right? It's January, it's sort of the, fresh start, beginning of the year, so succession planning is one that I've been talking a lot about, so what's next? Like, who's your successor? And they're like, oh, haven't thought about that.
But the other side note to that as I'm having these conversations is one of them made a comment that By participating in coaching myself, I'm naturally developing a more coaching style, which I thought
[: [: [: [:So you become more aware of your own communication style and how to really motivate people and grow people, because coaching grows people because you don't just give them the answer,
[:That is what they do. That is kind of their role, right? Like you have to take all the data that you get from someone that you're talking to, and you get to decide what am I gonna ask them? That helps them shift their mindset, think a little bit differently about a challenge because they've been in their head for so long thinking about it.
It's, they can't find the solution, but they have it. They usually know what it is. We just have to get them thinking differently, and that's by asking great questions. So when you start doing that, they notice it after the fact. When they're talking to one of their, with one of their team members.
When they're talking to even their, their family members, their friends, their colleagues, you think, oh my gosh, Michelle asked me this great question and then you can use that same question. And so that's what I love about it, and, hey, building a dynamic culture principle number six in the culture solution.
Create a coaching culture, right? So if you're getting coached and now you're creating that coaching culture of asking great questions and really pushing people to grow, you're gonna see it expand in, in the rest of the organization. So I, I love that the client was so aware that that was even happening, right?
Like that shows a lot of self-awareness too, that he might not have, seen prior to, to getting.
[:that more than anything sparks such great aha moments for some of these leaders. It's like, oh, I never thought about that. And oh wow, I wonder what we are doing. I need to talk to hr.
I need to talk. And then they bring it up and it, it's incredible. I had one, one client in particular, you know, I said, well, it all starts with your mission. what's your mission? And he read this paragraph, and he goes, well, I guess that's not such a great mission, is it?
It's kind of, you know, but I go, yeah. So if you can get that succinctly, you know, messaged, right, get it to the point where everyone knows your mission, if you just start with that, and it took almost six months. for them to wordsmith it down to something that they could all rally around, but now they're doing it and they have, they have really, just catapulted into such a different, I'll say intentional plan to build a dynamic culture within their organization.
And it started with that one thought.
[:you know, how many people do we talk to that are just putting out fires every day? And they just feel like, oh my gosh, I get in the office at eight 30 and by the time I leave, I'm thinking, what have I even done? What have I accomplished? And, I love that you keep saying the word intentional, right?
Like, we have to be intentional about our day. We have to be intentional about how we're structuring our day. It's like we know what we need to do, right? Like we know how to be efficient, we know how to be productive. We know we shouldn't have to-do lists with thousands of things on them, yet we still do it.
So it's almost like you need that person to hold you accountable, but we also need that time that is dedicated and focused on just thinking. And also a third party person that has no agenda. They just do not care which way, which direction you go, because ultimately that's not their role. Their role is just to help you decide which direction you wanna go.
And to be able to take an hour or two hours every month is huge. It doesn't seem like it's that long, but it is when you don't ever do it and when you know that you're meeting with that person. So talk a little bit about that, the. Just the importance of giving yourself that space and time once a month to have a coach and what that experience is really like for someone.
[:And so many exec, they don't do that, right? They're just trudging along, doing, doing, doing, doing. And I'm like, okay, so is that where you wanted to spend your time? How efficient was that? How productive was that? And so many, just that one question, right? That one exercise, they go, wow, not only am I wasting my time, I'm wasting other people's times with meetings with,
what comes out of that is, Why am I not delegating more? why are you spending your time in that, in those areas? That alone, we could just talk about for two hours, that alone, because that translates into, where's your think time?
Where's your think time on your cal? And I literally in between sessions, so say we meet twice a month, I'll say, okay, next week when we're not meeting, I want you to schedule an hour for yourself to just think about all the things that we've talked about. And that that alone helps people so much because they don't have how many executives, I'll, I'll throw it out.
How many executives have think time on their calendar? Not.
and it's so important. It's that, you know, again, pull your head up and really look, look and see what you're doing. What are people doing? You know, a again, I, I can't say it enough. that's probably, number one. Number two, in terms of what, you know, executives, when we talk about time and then their energy, and then that leads to priorities.
What are your prior. because we all have the same amount of time as Matthew says, we all get 24 hours. You get to pick what are you gonna put your time and energy into?
[:What do we need to do? What do I really need to focus on? And I love that idea of that think week and for us to be able to just put it into our calendar and know that it's valuable. I think that's a challenge that a lot of, people have is that If think time is on our calendar, it's an easy thing to let go of.
It's an easy thing that when someone says, I really need to meet with you, do you have time? And we say, yeah, sure. And they, the block of time that they had for think time is now in another meeting or a phone call. They let it go. Whereas if that was actually. A meeting, a call that you had with someone, you're not gonna reschedule that, you're not gonna cancel that.
And so we have to give that the same, priority that we would other things on our calendar if we really expect to move forward. What I love what you said too, Michelle, about the think time is only by doing that Can we kind of highlight some of the tasks and activities we might be doing that are unnecessary? how many organizations and people and leaders are doing things just because we've always done it.
We don't revisit after a year or two years. Is this still the right way to do
[: [:we kind of set it and forget it,
[: [: [:this is really starting to happen because.
you can't just keep doing, doing, doing and not step back and think, you know, again, have setting aside that time to really focus and, to your point about, making that sacred time, you know, and not letting someone, you know, impinging on that is with coaching, you have plans, right? You create action plans.
You, you know, one of the first things we say is, okay, well what do you wanna. What are your two or three goals that you wanna get done this year? So by creating that, that action plan, you have specific things you have to get done, right? So when you're not meeting and talking and thinking through things, that following week is when you get some of those things done.
So again, they have a strategy to, to go walk through this process. And I think that's another thing that, I know the executives like, you know, because. They get back into that do mode because they view, thinking as like a luxury.
[: [: [:Get you back on track and then hold you account. Right. in the culture solution, Matthew talks about the, the two reasons why things don't get done in any organization as one. we don't have clearly defined written expectations, so that's like step one. We gotta identify those priorities that we are working towards.
And then number two, we're not holding each other accountable. So if you don't have anyone holding you accountable, then you're less likely to do it. You're gonna take that think time off your calendar. And so when you know you have a coach and someone that's gonna say, Did you do the thing you said you were gonna do?
[:it gets back to that definition of insanity, right? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. and I had a, coaching client yesterday said to me, , uh, because I, I kept challenging her on things, and she looked at me and she goes, I know when my habits change, my life will change
I'm like, yep. and then we, that started a whole conversation about discipline. I go, why do you think people are successful? those people that, again, we hold 'em out and we say there's, they've been successful. Give me, you know, two or three attributes that you feel they have.
And discipline was number. and discipline is just habits. it's making the best, creating the best habits for your life, no doubt. And again, going back to, you know, creating think time, having a coach, those are good habits. Those are just good habits. And I feel like, those that have used coaching year, after year, after year, those are the ones that they're like, I can't, I have to have a.
they've created that habit for themselves and it's a healthy one because coaching not only talks about the professional side of your life, but it seeps into the personal side of your life as well. Right? because we're not two different people, we're one person. I had one coaching client, she owns a small business, she's owned it for 10 years.
Very successful. And we started coaching cuz she wanted to really. more intimate with her she wasn't sleeping. I'm like, how many hours of sleep do you get? Like five hours?
She's exhausted all the time. Totally burnt out. So I said, okay, well time out, . Let's talk about how you. more sleep in your life. it's that personal professional, and we worked on that for about six months.
And now she just had a big aha moment about three months ago and says, I don't like managing people.
[: [:it's not a magic pill. Coaching is not a magic pill. It really is a collaboration with someone who can help guide you to really think through, your challenges and then really what do you want your life to be like profess. and personally, because it get the work life balance thing, right?
Every executive I've ever talked to, it's like, I don't have any balance in my life or, I need to spend more time with my wife, my kids, how do I do that and still, be my best self. it's amazing. You know, what coaching can bring, in all different, I mean, every single one of my clients, they're all different, but they're all the same.
They all want the same.
[:like even that one client that you just mentioned, I immediately thought of the book The Emith. Right. Like by Mi Michael Gerber. Because it's the typical, oh, just cuz you love to. . It doesn't mean you should open a bakery. Maybe you don't like doing all these other pieces, but if you don't like doing all these other P pieces, then you need to find that person that does enjoy doing that.
But if you're going, going, going all the time and you're not even thinking about that, I mean, think about how many other opportunities, how many different directions you can go, how many different choices you can make, but you don't see them. You just literally don't see them because you're. in the business. You say, this is the direction, this is what, where I started. This is the challenge. And you just keep hitting your head against the wall cuz you're trying, things just aren't working, but you didn't even consider something completely outside of, and that's what I love about some of these aha moments is that it's easy for a third party person.
it's why we love giving advice, but we're bad at taking our own advice, right? Because we see someone else's challenge as, oh, I very clearly see what's happening in Michelle's world. and I can maybe ask some questions to help her uncover or see some of the things that I see that she's not seeing.
But Michelle doesn't see it. Cuz you're,
you're in it. You're way too in it. Uh, so I, I, I really love that. So Energy and time and, and really helping, to see and explore some of those opportunities. what do you feel are some of the more common reasons that people are considering having a coach, especially those that have never had a coach before and they're thinking, what is this coaching thing?
these are some of the challenges. What are some other kind of big challenges that you're seeing executives, dealing with?
[:So it was a referral, and he said, you know, when we first met, he goes, just tell me what to do. Just tell me what to do. And I was like, okay. So then I, pivoted to, you know, asking him a bunch of questions about, his culture and what's going on and, his biggest challenges and what he felt like, what were his priorities and what did he wanna see?
what did he want to be different one year from now? Because that's another really great coaching question. and it makes people pause and go, oh, like, you know, the magic wand question's always a good one too. if I gave you a magic wand and you know, next year could be everything you want it to be, what's that look like?
And that really helps them to take inventory of what have they, you know, what's been keeping them up at night. Like what are the things that always like bubble up as a problem?
oh, some of the other ones are, these are, owners of businesses and they're gonna hand it over to their children. So we get a lot of that. Also. It's like, how do I do that? I'm afraid to walk away , you know, like, so what do I need? What do I need to make sure is in place so that I can walk away and feel good that they are, they're ready.
I start with coaching with them and then coach the, I'll call it the incumbent, right? the person that's coming up to take over.
[: [: [:So there's definitely Some conflict that when you have a third party person can be, can help it become healthy conflict and not toxic conflict.
[:So instead of attending the meeting every single week, she's starting to back off and attending every other week. it's a process and it's a very intentional way, right, of managing what's about to happen.
[: [: [:What are some questions that you think are really great for some leaders to consider right now?
[: [: [:And then talk about in those areas, right? And for an executive, revenue, people, process, products, look at your organization at a high level and just how do you want this year to be different than last year? And that'll start to highlight for you where some of your priorities need to.
[:And then from there, you get to decide, how am I gonna structure my day around the work, around the priorities? And, I love Matthew's quote. It's one of my favorite quotes, from Matthew, Kelly, when he said, we overestimate what we can accomplish in a year and we underestimate what we can achieve in a decade.
And I think when we're thinking about leadership and building a culture, like Michelle said, it's, it's not an overnight thing. It doesn't happen quickly. It happens over time. And when we're thinking about our priorities, that is one of the things that we see is that so many people we have, there's so much on the list of things to do this year that.
Much of it doesn't get done because we're not focused on the right things. And so when we can really be focused and recognize, Hey, this year, this is the process, and I think having somebody that helps you helps remind you that, hey, It's a process. It's all right. Just keep showing up, keep doing the work.
Do do the things that you know you need to do and the results will happen. and having that time to reflect on that is really important. alright. I love those questions. Michelle. Anything else you wanna add around coaching and what leaders need to be thinking about for themselves and their.
[:how are you investing in growing your people? Just take a, take an inventory right now. How are you investing in growing your people? if coaching isn't one of those things, then it should be considered for sure. I mean, I just saw Amazon is now providing coaches for their, frontline workers.
So coaching is really hot right now. It is one of those things that, again, can't be duplicated. You know, I just read somewhere else, Xerox, did a study and the impact of, you know, they, they put a lot into training, right? A lot of dollars, a lot of investment.
What they found was when they included follow up coaching, the productivity increase of the training or the effectiveness of the training increased 81%.
[: [: [: [:It's a no-brainer. all I wanna say. It's a no-brainer.
[:Coaching really is such a gift that we get to give to people, when you are a leader. And hey, coaches need coaches, and coaches love coaching. So, great people love to get coached because great people really wanna grow.
[: [: [: [:If you are interested in learning more about Floyd's coaching experiences, go to Floyd Coaching dot. And if you're enjoying our podcast, we would so appreciate it if you would give us a five star rating and write a review. It really does help so other people can find the show. You are awesome and as always, until next time, lead with culture