| “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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Posts Tagged ‘coaching’
The power of goals
Monday, October 24th, 2011Setting Goals & Completing Them
Monday, October 10th, 2011| “The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.” - Earl Nightingdale
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Looking Forward – Light Bulb Moment #1
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011I coach leaders from sunup to sundown Monday through Friday and have been doing it for more than 8 years.
For some reason, this year has been filled with tons of “Light bulb” moments for me. In these moments, I have had some profound breakthroughs that I know to be absolute truths. I am confident that if you internalize these lessons, you will see great results.
It’s almost as if as soon as I hit the 8 year mark Obi Wan Kenobi sent me a text saying, “CJ, the force is strong within you…”
I’ll share some from time to time in this space.
I’ll start with one that hit me especially hard this week. I’ve noticed that some leaders want to focus on what went wrong during the past week, month, year, etc. Conversely, I have others who will briefly learn from their experiences and then go forward.
Guess which leader has more success?
I’ll admit that it’s tempting to replay past events over and over as if this obsession will change the past.
It won’t.
There is zero value in dwelling on your mistakes.
Leave the past in the past.
CJ
Entropy
Monday, May 16th, 2011The Law of Entropy simple states that everything is in a constant state of decay. That includes your car, your body, your mind and (unfortunately) your hair.
This term came to mind the other day when I was coaching a group of professionals. A handful argued that they were content with their current position and were satisfied with maintaining the “status quo”.
I told them that was fine, but it was impossible. You are either getting better or getting worse – there is no staying the same.
How are you improving today?
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore, which teaches small business owners how to build a business that runs without them. For more resources on business leadership, please visit reachmore’s seminars
Blind Spot
Monday, April 25th, 2011Have you ever changed lanes in traffic and been startled by a loud horn from someone that you just cutoff?
Unless you ride the bus to work, this has probably happened to you on multiple occasions.
The problem we all have as drivers is that there is a small area that you can’t see in your rear view mirror called your “blind spot”.
What most people don’t realize is that they also have blind spots in their personal and professional lives.
These are areas where we have (and often have had for a long time) deficiencies we don’t realize.
For example, in my first few years in business I would attend many networking events. Rarely did I meet anyone interesting and often left the event wondering why I had wasted my time.
One evening a good friend and client of mine (Larry) walked up to me and said, “Why don’t you just go home?” When I asked why he suggested I leave, Larry told me that, “Everyone can tell you don’t want to be here. You stand in a corner with this awful look on your face like you are better than everyone else. Do you think people want to talk to someone like that?”
Initially, my feelings were hurt. However, now I was aware that the reason I wasn’t getting good results from networking was because I was a jerk.
I changed my behavior and built my business attending these events.
Where’s your blind spot?
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore, which teaches small business owners how to build a business that runs without them. For more resources on business leadership, please visit reachmore’s seminars.
How to Choose a Business Coach
Sunday, January 30th, 2011
A couple of my clients over the past couple of weeks have given me the awesome “stall” from buying of, “I would like to shop the competition”.
My standard answer is that I am that best educated in the Indianapolis training industry, and can help them shop better that they could themselves.
For my committed readers who are considering coaching with us (or one of our competitors), but who aren’t sitting in the hot seat in my office signing an enrollment form underneath the illuminated Keystone Light sign, here are a couple of tips on how to select the right coach for you and your business:
1. Choose your Outcome – After you finish multiple weeks or a year of coaching, what outcomes would you like to see in your business? Is your stress level lower? Are your sales higher? Do you have systems in place that allow your business to run without you? First select your systems, and then make certain that the program you choose produces those deliverables.
2. Fit the Format – There are 2 general training formats – immersive and time-spaced. Immersive training is usually run over 2-5 days, with 5-12 hours of instruction per day. These programs are highly interactive, and focus on delivering a powerful result quickly via experiential learning. Immersive programs create immediate change, but not necessarily new habits. Time-spaced programs create new habits, have shorter class periods, and are run for 6-12 weeks or more.
Within the 2 training formats, there are 2 basic training styles – accountability by personal pressure or group pressure. Would you rather have someone intensely holding you accountable and sometimes yelling, or would you rather have the pressure of letting the “group” down hold you accountable?
You will also want to consider if you want 100% personal attention, or if the collective knowledge of a group coaching environment would help you grow faster.
3. Determine Your ROI – How much you pay for training doesn’t matter. How much additional revenue you generate from the new skills you have developed does matter. When thinking about which training program to invest in, don’t think about your budget; focus on how quickly you can double your investment with what you have learned.
Your business is everything to you, and selecting the best training program to fit your needs is an important decision. If you follow the three guidelines above, you are guaranteed to make a confident and competent decision.
PS – Come visit me soon so you can sign an enrollment form underneath the illuminated Keystone Light sign…
Jamar Cobb-Dennard is the Vice-President of Business Development for reachmore, which teaches small business owners how to build a business that runs without them. For more resources on business leadership, please visit reachmore’s seminars.
Strengths
Monday, January 17th, 2011Yesterday, I went to the hobby store and bought a precut Pinewood Derby car for my son who is in his first year of Scouting. I decided to forgo the cutting of the car myself because it required a bunch of tools that I didn’t own and looked really difficult.
I was almost certain that I would have spent the entire day, going through a dozen blocks of wood, cursing loudly in front of my son and possibly even chopping off a finger.
I was not born with, nor have I ever developed, the “handyman” gene. And a few years ago I realized that I don’t care.
We can’t be good at everything.
One of the keys to your success in 2011 is deciding where should you develop your expertise.
Can you be great at sales, operations, finance and technology? I doubt it.
Why not pick 1 and become the best?
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore, which provides leadership coaching for small business and executives. Email CJ at cjm@goreachmore.com for the latest on reachmore’s revolutionary executive coaching program, Summit.
Feedback
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010About 1 year after I began coaching business owners I started sending out a customer satisfaction survey asking my clients how I was doing.
The first few response were great. I had responses like, “For the first time in my life I have a clear direction for my business” and “one of the best investments I have made as a business owner”. I felt great!
Then it happened.
I was sitting in my office and heard the familiar hum of the fax machine indicating that a message was on the way. I looked over and noticed that it was coming from a current client who had recently received the customer satisfaction survey. I was seconds away from reading another glowing testimonial about how my coaching had transformed another business owner.
Unfortunately, that’s not what I read.
Instead, this feedback form was filled with comments like “this isn’t what I expected” and “I am receiving very little value from this program”.
My heart sank. I literally felt like I was going to cry.
But guess what? I am a much better coach today because of feedback from that very honest business owner (who remained my client for more than 3 years).
There is no better teacher than a very honest assessment of your performance.
I realize that sometimes the feedback might be negative. That’s OK. This feedback is by far the most valuable of all.
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore, which provides leadership coaching for small business and executives. Email CJ at cjm@goreachmore.com for the latest on reachmore’s revolutionary executive coaching program, Summit.
The Great Shake Up
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010The other day as I was flipping through the channels, I saw a commercial for the most ridiculous item I had ever seen in my entire life – The Shake Weight.
The commercial featured a handful of guys, who probably worked out 12 – 15 hours a day, shaking this ridiculous looking weight in their hands. At first, I thought it was a joke, but I soon realized that this was a serious advertisement for an actual product.
I remember thinking “Surely no one is stupid enough to buy this idiotic gadget, then stand in their living room and shake themselves silly until they get ripped muscles.”
But, then I saw the magic phrase that convinced me that this product would be a hit – “instant results”. The maker of this silly tool claimed that in just 6 minutes a day you too could look like the guys in the video.
We are a nation full of people that are absolutely addicted to immediate gratification. We want to put in as little effort as possible to achieve amazing results in every aspect of our lives.
I have some bad news for you. That’s not the way it works.
If you want great relationships, a healthy body, a solid personal financial statement and smarter kids it’s going to take a lot of work.
There is no such thing as a short cut or a quick fix.
I just finished a great book called Talent is Overrated, by Geoff Colvin who argued that the most successful and talented people in the world were not born that way. Tiger Woods wasn’t born with innate golf skills. Nor did he buy a magical instructional golf video after watching an infomercial that turned his game around. Colvin argues (persuasively) that like all great achievers Tiger Woods became the best golfer in the world because he outworked everyone else.
So, then next time you are tempted to buy a product or service that guarantees immediate results, resist the urge.
Remember, success comes from a handful of behaviors practiced over time until they become a habit.
There are no short cuts.
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore, which provides leadership coaching for small business and executives. Email CJ at cjm@goreachmore.com for the latest on reachmore’s revolutionary executive coaching program, Summit.
Create Today Anew for Breakthroughs
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010A couple of weeks ago, I was driving to Berny Martin’s house, and I had a catastrophic imagination. My brain thought, what if my tire blew out, and my convertible rolled into the cement median, crushing my skull. The imagination continued with me months in a coma, and waking up with severe brain damage. After recovering, I was still able to function in life and go back to work.
As a result of the brain damage, my brain now had to function in a different way. I could still think and get things done, but I couldn’t do it the same way I did before the accident.
After the accident, I could also clearly remember how my brain used to function, and that memory paralyzed my ability to create a new way of thinking with my reconfigured brain. I couldn’t move forward with rehabilitation and new success because I was so stuck on how I used to create results.
What if my re-configured post-accident coma brain actually functioned in a way that would bring me bigger breakthroughs in life than my old brain could?
Here’s the point. To achieve breakthroughs in our business, we have to do something different than what got us to where we are. Reproducing activities and thoughts from the past will only produce the results that we got before. You may not have brain damage, and may not be in the process of to re-learning how to function, but if you survived the recession – you have to re-learn how to function.
Do you want 2010 to be a breakthrough year? Analyze what thoughts and activities that may limit your ability to get to the next level, and eliminate them. Be confident in taking risks to run your business in a new and more effective way than ever before.
Jamar Cobb-Dennard is the Vice-President of Business Development for reachmore, which provides leadership coaching for small business and executives. For more resources on business leadership, please visit http://blog.goreachmore.com.