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HOW TO 'MAX OUT' WITH YOUR BUSINESS COACH

Guest post by: Ron Hequet

Article Overview: Not having a Mentor / Coach, whether for business, or career, is akin to going it alone and contrary, to the principles of achievement. My 'real-world' application experience, resulted in outlining for you, the primary, '7 Keys', to follow in order to maximize the ROI from a Mentor or Coaching program.

HOW TO 'MAX OUT' WITH YOUR BUSINESS COACH

It's Tuesday and I am sitting on a plane, flying home, after working with a mentor client. I like being there with clients, when a ‘plan', whether business or personal, comes together "on paper". Remember the rule, a plan that is not written out is not a plan, it's a wish. I recognized more today than ever before, how decisive and courageous the people are who ‘invest' in consulting, mentoring or coaching. I regularly encounter people for whom ‘the time isn't right', ‘need to wait until I can afford it', or ‘will when things turn around.' Unless you ‘invest' in your own development, the time will never be right, you'll never be able to afford it and things will never turn around. Poverty thinking doesn't get results.

For many years, I have seen people have their lives completely changed because they connected and ‘invested' in a Private Mentor, or Coaching Program. The mentor / coach analyzed their business or personal direction, repaired the leaks in their bucket, developed and implemented a winning formula. Many of these clients success exceeded even my own when I was operating a particular business that I owned. I salute them and feel elated every time I think of their achievements. For me, they are the essence of how anyone can achieve positive results when there is a plan and subsequently coached in making the tactical moves, that make it happen.

Deciding is not taking action, enrollment is action, and when you finally take action to ‘invest' in a mentor or coaching program, allow me to offer a short list of, ‘7 Keys', for you to follow in order to maximize the many mentor / coaching program benefits, and to achieve your desired results.

1. Tardiness:

If you are scheduled for a thirty-minute coaching call and you call-in 3 minutes late, you've robbed yourself of 10 percent of your investment. Essentially, you are ‘investing' in time with your coach, and that block of time is yours and can't be given to anyone else. For instance; if I rent a car from Hertz for the week, I don't get to go to the counter later and say, "I didn't get all my work done this week, so may I have a discount?" It was Hertz's responsibility to provide the vehicle for the week. It was my responsibility to use it accordingly. Schedule your personal calendar so you are on the line five minutes prior to your coaching appointment.

2. Not Submitting A Set Of Questions / Scenarios Prior To The Coaching Session:

Coaching sessions have a distinct difference in the outcome when questions / scenarios are sent in 48 to 72 hours prior to the appointment. When a coach is given time to consider and maybe perform some research, they can most often be more thorough than when hearing a question or situation for the first time. As soon as a coach is done with one appointment, they move on to the next scheduled item, and don't spend time reanalyzing the previous appointment in order to re-respond. Those who are or learn to be organized and have a plan for the coaching appointment get considerably better results than those who call-in and shoot from the hip.

3. I Am Not Your Pal:

Because of the nature of the Coach / Mentee relationship, it can be easy to get enamored with a personality and feel like friends who do business together. Don't allow yourself to go there. You are a client doing business with a professional, with whom you happen to enjoy interacting while you are learning and achieving. When you become too friendly, you tend to waste valuable coaching time conversing about amusing, but unrelated matters, instead of taking your business or personal performance to a higher level. Keeping this at the forefront will sharpened your focus and reminded you to keep everything in its proper perspective.

4. Don't Take It Personal:

Being excited and believing in one of your creative tactics, is good but don't get offended when your mentor / coach, without hesitation say, "It sucks." You may think they are being short-sighted and or that they don't appreciate your genius. You must learn to separate the coach's thinking about your tactical plan, from your personal feelings. A tactic is just a tactic. There are good ones and bad ones. A good mentor / coach will tell you the truth...the whole truth. If they have to disguise the truth to avoid making you feel bad, you put yourself at a disadvantage and counteract their effectiveness in your life. Rejecting an idea is not rejecting you. Suck it up and get over it.

5. Don't Expect Your Mentor / Coach To Tell You What You Should Want:

I have had clients who went in a different direction each time I arrived in person or on the phone. I have witnessed entire position responsibilities and duties altered because the person hired for that position proved not to be able to perform at the required level. The client confused themselves and me at the same time. Your mentor / coachare like the GPS in a car. You have to tell them your destination and then they provide you with the best way to get there. If you don't know where you want to go, no mentor / coach can help you get there.

6. Doing More Talking Than Listening:

A mentor / coach who doesn't listen first, is not focused on helping you and only you. But, when they do the greater majority of listening during a session they're a therapist not a coach. Why would you pay to talk about yourself and tell them your opinions on everything? A mentee should be spending time picking their brain about strategy, tactics and implementation / execution. If you know you have a tendency to control the conversation, learn to force yourself to begin by saying, "Mr. Coach, what are your thoughts about..."

7. Seeking Validation Rather Than Truth:

Many times over the years, clients have tried to ‘sell' me on bad strategy or tactics, and often because of the ‘feelings' attached to a particular concept. If the idea, strategy or tactic is seriously flawed or is altogether wrong, you need to know. It does you no good to be praised by your mentor / coach, because you want to stand on ceremony, and at the expense of turning your mentor / coach, into a yes-person. Nothing matters more to a qualified mentor / coach, than results.

Visualize having to climb a mountain and a mentor / coach comes by on a lift and hoists you up to the top. To achieve results, all you had to do is hold on and follow directions. Take advantage of these, '7 Keys', and the greater the return on your ‘investment' will be in a mentor / coaching program.

The Strategist

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Article Tags: 7 keys, application experience, business coach, contrary, mentor coach



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