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Tips and Tools for Small Business Leaders
December 2020
As the owner of a small business, you give answers and tell people what to do. But your people also want a boss who understands their goals, taps into their strengths, and helps them make meaningful contributions.

Coaching skills fall under the umbrella of leadership.  And after the 2020 we've had, we think coaching skills can empower your people and help them achieve the greatness that lies within them.

In the Jan. 2021 Growth Plan Workshop we’re discussing the book Unlocking Potential, by Michael K Simpson. Simpson agrees the small business leader must also be a coach and identifies 4 principles and 7 skills to help you do so.

The Small Business Leaders Must Also Be a Coach—The 4 Principles

1.  Building Trust – For people to genuinely trust you, you must genuinely care about them. You must also have personal integrity and honesty and keep their confidences.
How?  Listen empathically, be very present, and don’t be distracted. Talk straight. Keep promises. As you develop trust, people will share their vulnerabilities; be diligent about keeping these confidential. Trust takes weeks and months of careful nurturing to build but it only takes one incident to lose it.

2. Uncovering Potential – coaching isn’t about making the person be better at what you want them to be better at. It’s about uncovering what the person’s goals and strengths are, then helping them create a plan to get there.
How? Put aside your story and your goals and focus on uncovering the person’s “story.” Look beyond their words for insights into the person such as repetitions, themes, topics repeatedly avoided or that invoke strong emotion.

Conversely, when their perspectives strike you as doing a disservice, challenge them. For example, someone might be overly critical, too optimistic, or possessed with an overabundance of self-confidence. Maybe you pick up that one of your managers believes young people don’t want to work hard. You can help them remove this limiting belief so they can become a supportive coach to their young team members.

3.  Gaining Commitment – You can’t require commitment, but you can create an environment where people are inspired to commit to the goals they want to achieve.
How?

A.  Start by helping them identify their goals: What do you want to accomplish? What contributions do you want to make? What are your goals both personally and professionally? What would you like to have accomplished in 5 years?

B.  Advance commitment by asking “What are you currently doing that’s moving you toward this goal? What obstacles are in your way? What if you don’t achieve this goal? What are the benefits if you do?

C.  Confirm the details…“What are the 2 or 3 most important things you could focus on to start? What actions would you like to focus on in 30 days? 60? 90? What resources will you need?

4.  Execution – Help the person turn goals into habits. A good coach knows that repetition helps develop habits.
How?  You can help create repetition by creating accountability, i.e. regular meetings to follow up on progress. Your goal is to help him/er get into that exhilarating state of being “in flow.”

The Small Business Leader Must Also Be a Coach—The 7 Coaching Skills

1.  Build Trust – Your goal is to help your leaders to A) become trustworthy and B) establish trust with their employees and peers. Start by diagnosing and discussing your manager’s motives and agenda. If you discover a motive that is suspect, i.e. isn’t open, transparent, and mutually beneficial, ask questions that help him/er discover and reframe. Second, do the same for the individual’s competence. In other words, diagnose and discuss ways the person needs to improve his/er track record.

2.  Challenge Paradigms – This entails asking questions like “It sounds like you may be assuming…” “How do you know this is the case?” “What’s another way of looking at this?” “How would the probable outcome achieve your desired intent?” etc.

3.  Seek Strategic Clarity – Here’s where you ask questions that guide the individual to create a mission and strategy with actionable goals.

4.  Execute Flawlessly – The main reason execution fails is that the craziness of the day-to-day overwhelms. As the person’s coach, help him/er A) Focus on the Wildly Important Goal (WIG), B) Act on the lead measures, C) Keep a scoreboard, and D) Create a cadence of accountability, ie a rhythm of regular meetings.

5.  Give Effective Feedback – Ask questions that cause the person to give themselves feedback first: “What went well?” “What didn’t go well?” “What would you do differently?”  If you want to offer an observation or suggestion, ask, “May I offer a thought?” See also our blogpost on how to give feedback.

6.  Tap into Talent – Most people underestimate themselves. So your job as coach is to help them tap into their unique strengths. Ask questions like “What are you passionate about?” “What’re your greatest talents?” “What gets you excited?” “What aligns with your values?” Then set performance goals and watch for opportunities to remove barriers along their journey. 

7.  Move the Middle – Who should you focus your coaching efforts on? Rather than spending your time coaching the lowest performing 20% of your team, focus on moving the middle 70% into the top 20%. For the top 20%, focus on rewarding them more than coaching them.

As you can see, being a coach is mostly a mindset. With enough repetition, coaching will become a natural habit in your normal day-to-day conversations.

Upcoming Events
Growth Plan Workshop

We've held 2 safe and socially-distanced Growth Plan Workshops to rave reviews (especially the taco bar)!

Are you ready for 2021?!  Join us and create your 2021 Small Business Plan

January 7, 2021    9-3 pm

Discover the potential in your business by completing your Single Sheet Business Plan.  Then break it into quarterly, monthly, weekly & daily goals and get a line-of-sight from your daily tasks to your 10-30 year purpose.  Step out of the day-to-day business for just 1 day, get organized, complete a prescribed planning process, and walk away with an action plan that leads to greater profits and free time back.

Get more out of your business in the next 90 days than you ever thought possible!


Holiday Inn Indianapolis Airport
8555 Stansted Road, Indianapolis 46241


For owners & leaders of small to medium sized businesses. Bring your 2nd-in-command or your whole leadership team!

*Registration Required

NEW Small Business Finance Workshop
Do you need to get a handle on your business’ financials once and for all?

January 28, 2021   9-1pm

In just 4 hours, you'll walk away with a
completed month-by-month budget for 2021...and a deeper understanding of your financials. 

Holiday Inn Indianapolis/Carmel
251 Pennsylvania Parkway, Indianapolis, IN 46280

For owners & leaders of small to medium sized businesses.


Led by Inspire Results Business Coach & financial expert,
Brad Justus





*Registration Required

Our Why is Morphing…
At Inspire Results, our WHY has been to strengthen small busiinesses so that communities are stronger.

As 2020 closes and we review vision and strategy, we’re realizing our WHY has gradually become more focused. It’s about improving the quality of business owners’ lives.

Small business ownership is tough… and small business owners are an under-served population. Small business owners can’t leave the work behind at 5:00 pm. They don’t have a peer. They feel personal responsibility for their employees and the families their business is supporting. What if they can’t make payroll? Or worse yet, go under? They have few opportunities and little time to network with other small business owners. Some haven’t taken vacation in years. The business often directly involves the whole family. Over 40% of our business coaching clients are family-owned. That means that uncle, Mom, brother and sister each have roles and they each have a stake… and that can lead to conflict.

“When we started this company, we knew we wanted to make life better for small business owners,” says Roger Engelau. “We want to create a culture and structure that allows business owners to have engaged and inspired employees who share their load. We want to help them create processes that give them peace of mind knowing things will get done and get done well without them.” Inspire Results business coaches don’t sail in, give advice, and leave. They are a fulltime partner, a peer you can call anytime. “We don’t price by the hour because we want business owners to feel they can call any time something comes up,” Roger says.

Small business ownership is a lonely job that most times leads to a grueling, stressful lifestyle. But it doesn’t have to be. Partner with an Inspire Results business coach and get your life back.
 
 
It is better to have Grade B strategy with Grade A execution
than the other way around
.”  Michael Porter

317-908-5809 | InspireResults.com
 
 
Inspire Results, 6521 E. Rolling Valley Ct., Mooresville, IN 46158, United States

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