The End Goal

3rd October 2013

Coaching is a great career. I love what I do, and I know I am lucky to be doing it. I get a huge amount of pleasure from seeing my clients doing well, freeing up time, and making lots of money, and I get paid for it. However, it is always important to keep reminding myself why I do it, i.e. that it is not for my satisfaction or feeling of accomplishment, it is so that my clients can make their lives better, for themselves, their families and their employees. So it can never be my goals or dreams that I impose on them, it must always be to achieve what they want out of life.

I was reminded of this just recently when my daughter was playing hockey. Her coach is extremely keen, and wants them all to improve and do well, but it seems to have taken on a new meaning for him in the past few weeks, forgetting why he is there. Despite his heart being in the right place, suddenly it is all about winning for him. It is his team, and he has started to concentrate on the players he seems to think are best, and is side-lining the less good ones. Now of course everyone likes to win, but he is in danger of causing disharmony in the team, and he needs to re-address his values.

Of course this can’t be likened exactly to a business situation, except that it is just as important to concentrate on the weaker areas of the business, to improve them, as it is to revel in the glory of taking the easy wins. In business it is so much easier to focus on the things you enjoy doing because you are good at them, rather than work hard on the bits you don’t like because you don’t fully understand them or know how to do them well and efficiently. But for true and meaningful change, every area of the business needs to work well, because then you will have a happy team all working towards the same ends. It may be a lot harder work both for the business owner and the coach, but the rewards will be far greater in the long run.

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