Coaching takes up too much time!
Feb 13th
UK managers are too busy to coach, according to the latest research.
Nearly half of UK and Irish respondents to an international survey on the effectiveness of coaching say they find coaching employees too time consuming.
And nearly a third said their biggest coaching challenge was that they “didn’t have all the answers”.
Global consulting firm BlessingWhite conducted the survey among 2,041 employees and managers in 17 countries, exploring a number of business issues including the prevalence and effectiveness of coaching.
According to the findings set out in The Coaching Conundrum 2009, 42 per cent of managers in the UK and Ireland said coaching takes them too long and competes with other priorities. Thirty per cent said they didn’t coach because they “didn’t have all the answers”.
As a result, nearly two thirds (61 per cent) of employees in the UK and Ireland who took part in the survey said they received no coaching from their managers.
According to the research, these issues are global. Thirty two per cent of managers around the world cite lack of time as the major obstacle to effective coaching. In the US, the number was slightly lower at 29 per cent and in Asia the number was 38 per cent.
BlessingWhite’s UK MD Tom Barry said: “It can’t be forgotten that employees are a business’s greatest asset, even in the midst of the global financial crisis. Coaching is one of the most effective methods of aligning employees with organisational priorities. It can also boost performance, develop the leadership pipeline, engage employees and improve retention.
“Senior management must work to address this perception [that coaching takes too long], especially at a time of economic difficulty.”
Coaching could become time-consuming if managers got too involved in their subordinates’ work and felt as though they had to solve all the problems: “These managers don’t lack energy and commitment but they do lack focus and a clear understanding of what coaching is, and what it is not.”
Solution: Bring in an external coach to help solve the poblem! 
Pricing your services
Feb 13th
Worried about what price to charge for your services?
Legend has it that Picasso was sitting in a cafe in Paris enjoying a coffee and sketching on his pad when a lady spotted him. She came over and introduced herself and told him what an honour it was to meet him. She asked him if he would sketch a picture of her and that she would naturally pay him for doing so.
He agreed and set about creating a picture for her. The lady was delighted with his work and sat there proudly looking at an original Picasso sketch. “How much shall pay you?”, she asked.
“5,000 Francs”, came the reply.
“But it only took you three minutes” she politely replied.
“No, it’s taken me a lifetime” Picasso replied.
Experience has value
Another urban myth:
A machine in a factory has malfunctioned, and the engineers on site can’t find the source of the problem.
So they call on a retired worker who had spent a long time working with the machine. He comes in, walks up to the machine, looks at it for a minute, pulls out a piece of chalk and draws a circle around the screw that needs to be tightened.
He then writes them a bill for $5000.
“$5000, that’s ridiculous, all you did was draw a circle around a screw!”
So he writes them a new bill:
- drawing a circle around a screw: $1.
- knowing where to draw it: $4999.
People will pay for the value of what you can supply them with
Inspirational figures
Feb 13th
It’s not a sin to get knocked down; it’s a sin to stay down.
– Carl M. Brashear
Master Chief Brashear was the first African-American US Master Diver.
Brashear faced an uphill battle when he joined the Navy in 1948 at the age of 17, not long after the U.S. military desegregated.
“I went to the Army office, and they weren’t too friendly. But the Navy recruiter was a lot nicer. Looking back, I was placed in my calling.”
Brashear quickly decided after boot camp that he wanted to become a deep-sea diver.
“Growing up on a farm in Kentucky, I always dreamed of doing something challenging,” he said. “When I saw the divers for the first time, I knew it was just what I wanted.”
In 1954, he was accepted and graduated from the diving program, despite daily battles with discrimination.
“Hate notes were left on my bunk,” he said. “They didn’t want me to make it through the program.”
Brashear retired from the Navy in 1979 after more than 30 years of service. He was the first Navy diver to be restored to full active duty as an amputee, the result of a leg injury he sustained during a salvage operation to recover a bomb from the sea bed..
During the mission, Brashear was struck below his left knee by a pipe that the crew was using to hoist the bomb out of the water. Brashear was airlifted to a naval hospital where the bottom of his left leg was amputated to avoid gangrene. It later was replaced with a prosthetic leg.
The Navy was ready to retire Brashear from active duty, but he soon began a grueling training program that included diving and running.
“Sometimes I would come back from a run, and my artificial leg would have a puddle of blood from my stump. I wouldn’t go to sick bay because they would have taken me out of the program,” Brashear said “Instead, I’d go hide somewhere and soak my leg in a bucket of hot water with salt in it — that’s an old remedy I learned growing up.”
After completing 600-foot to 1,000-foot-deep dives while being evaluated for five weeks at the Experimental Diving Unit in Washington, D.C., Brashear became a master diver in 1970.
The benefits of Coaching
Feb 13th
A recent study by the International Coach Federation revealed the following benefits of coaching were reported by individuals:
Increased self-awareness 68%
Better goal-setting 62%
More balanced life 61%
Lower stress levels 57%
Enhanced self-discovery 53%
Increased confidence 52%
Improved quality of life 43%
Enhanced communication skills 40%
Increased project completion 36%
Improved health or fitness level 34%
Better relationship with co-workers 33%
Better family relationships 33%
How can we help?
Feb 13th
Leading a team of people and not sure of the best way to lead them to improve performance, improve morale and empower them? Time spent with The Coach Potatoes can help you unlock your full potential to drive your business and people forward and achieve your goals.
Want to engage and influence others? The Coach Potatoes can help you exploit your personality and communication skills to the full.
Setting up your own business and not sure of how best to sell and market your company and the many benefits you can offer potential clients? The Coach Potatoes can help you clearly define the steps you need to take to achieve the success you seek.
Want to have someone to talk through issues and bounce ideas off? The Coach Potatoes can provide the confidential objective sounding board that many Directors cannot find within their company.
The Coach Potatoes can help you use the benefits of coaching to develop your full potential and take your business forward.
You have everything to gain from just picking up the phone and calling us on 0151 633 2028 to discuss matters further.
You can also e-mail us at
support@thecoachbusiness.com
