Tweet

Lost in the Jungle

Written by: Michael Heah

Article Overview: How can a business coach help in a moment of a business owner's dilemma over falling profits and demoralised team? Using a Question & Answer (Q&A) approach, here's Michael's analysis of the situation and coaching direction for the client.

Lost in the Jungle

The Client shares... "Honestly, I am in a "state of lostness" in today's economic crisis. I am lost in what my company's business direction should be heading in order to pull through these tough times. My team of people is equally lost, bewildered, scared and with morale at an all-time low. Since the middle of last year, my business profits have plunged more than 35%. How do we prevent further business losses, and to stay above ground and of course preserve our sanity?"

The Coach says:

Leading in times of turbulence and ambiguity is what modern leaders need to accept as the way of life for a long time to come. This is not new because the world has been in this sort of instability since the turn of the 21^st century. So the place to start now is to acknowledge and suppress it. Do not be reactive but rather, take the lay of the land and see the circumstances for what they are rather than what you wish them to be. In doing this, you need to distinguish what is clear and not clear about the situation. Share with your people, the boundary of clarity and lack of clarity. Then you can fill in those gaps (together with their help) with real information on what you want to do, and tell your people what is expected of them.

The Bottomline:

Acknowledge ambiguity first and then decide what you do not know and what you know.

Powerful Questions:

• What is it that you are not clear about? Define them.
• What is clear to you? Define them.
• What will you say to your people? What information do you need?
• What do you expect from them?

Related Articles
  Throwing the Elephant
  The Retail Jungle…where vision become real( part1)
  Is Your Website Like A Jungle?
  Home Based Business - Don't Get Lost in the Internet Jungle!
  Business Opportunity in the Internet Jungle

Article Tags: business coach, business owners, coach, coaching, dilemma, jungle, lost



Related Forum Posts
Lipstick Jungle & Cashmere Mafia - Has anyone been watching these shows? I have been watching Cashmere Mafia and really enjoying it, until I watched Lipstick Jungle last night. Finally - a show that really reflects what successful women are having to deal with! your thoughts??
Reality in Television - [quote="SueB":2xhla35c]I've been watching Cashmere Mafia but not Lipstick Jungle. What I like about CM is that these incredibly powerful and success business women are imperfect and older. Kudos to Hollywood for hiring 3 lead actresses who are actually 39-40 vs 25 playing older. The 4th is early-mid 30's.... I'm not sure how old the actresses were in Sex and the City when it aired... Imperfect in that they do have challenges balancing the various aspects of their lives. Take Juliet for instance. She's this high-ranking if not head of some large company (I don't really know what she does) yet she let her husband take care of the money! She probably knows the cash flow particulars for her business though. Common error that many women make but that you wouldn't expect a power woman to make. In this week's episode I thought it was rather interesting and perceptive of the Mia character to realize that her ex-fiancee Jack could only be with her if he was on the same level career-wise. Otherwise his self-esteem took a beating and he left. Her fear being that this is a pattern that would continue. Mind you, her character didn't do anything to support his self esteem when they were competing for the same position. Just a few thoughts...[/quote:2xhla35c] Interesting how they are incorporating real life mistakes that many women make and having their characters do the same things. You gave a couple of very good examples. I can't believe the people - male or female - who turn their paychecks over to their spouse or significant other and have no clue where it goes. I have an aunt that did that for 10+ years and then he husband left - with a large chunk of money she didn't know "they" had. Then she got married some years later and did it again. I wonder sometimes what it takes for people to learn a lesson. Shri


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Four Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Should Blog

Maximum Impact Restaurant Greening

Why Use an Advertising Agency

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.