Interview with Melinda Emerson
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This document provides answers to 12 questions about coaching, consulting, emotional intelligence, and growing a business. Key points: 1. Coaching can help identify gaps and achieve breakthroughs faster than working alone by reducing errors. Mentoring is relationship-focused for both current and future development, while coaching is task-oriented and performance-driven. 2. Emotional intelligence, like self-awareness and relationship management, is as important as IQ for leadership. It can be developed by strengthening connections in the brain through practice. 3. Common business frustrations include a lack of control, people issues, insufficient profit, and failure of strategies to work long-term. Focus and planning tools from a coach can
Interview with Melinda Emerson
- 1. 12 Question QA guest blog post June 5, 2016 Q1: WHY DO I NEED A COACH OR CONSULTING FOR MY PERSONAL OR MY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT? A1. To identify gaps in performance, and/or achieve breakthrough performance faster, quicker, better than you could accomplish on your own. To reduce the number and frequency of costly decisions and implementation errors that are inevitable in business development and execution. 1.To develop high potentials or facilitate transition. Business owners large and small, have as an ongoing challenge, recruiting, hiring and retaining employees. A business begins to grow exponentially when you introduce leverage to it, and one of those leverage points is the ability to hire more staff and employees. Alternatively, you can grow your business in this area by working with contract individuals (1099s), rather than expanding the number of direct payroll related employees. This is what I recommend, initially, for new startup businesses. 2. Act as a sounding board. All too often solo-preneurs operate in a vacuum, because they have no partners or team. The absence of a partner, team member, mentor or coach contributes to the potential of isolated and potentially wrong-headed decisions. 3. Address derailing behaviors. Derailing behavior is anything or anytime that your personality gets overtaken by events and by your emotions. You lose control of your rational thinking and hence begin to make decisions, and process information that does not serve you or your circumstances well. Q2: HOW DO I FIND A COACH/CONSULTANT? THE COACHING FIELD IS FILLED WITH CONTRADICTIONS.COACHES THEMSELVES DISAGREE OVER WHY THEY ARE HIRED, WHAT THEY DO, AND HOW TO MEASURE SUCCESS. 1. Google search and Linkedin search. 2. Referrals from previous coaches and friends. 3. People whom you trust to give you great advice. 4. If you work for a larger organization, ask HR. 5. Ask your immediate Manager/Leader for a referral. 6. Friends and family. 6. Professional Counselors. 7. People in the Leadership and personal development realms. Q3 WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COACHING AND MENTORING? Differentiator #1: Coaching is task oriented. The focus is on concrete issues, such as managing more effectively, speaking more articulately, and learning how to think strategically. This requires a content expert (coach) who is capable of teaching the coachee how to develop these skills.
- 2. Mentoring is relationship oriented. It seeks to provide a safe environment where the mentoree shares whatever issues affect his or her professional and personal success. Although specific learning goals or competencies may be used as a basis for creating the relationship, its focus goes beyond these areas to include things, such as work/life balance, self-confidence, self-perception, and how the personal influences the professional. Differentiator #2: Coaching is short term. A coach can successfully be involved with a coachee for a short period of time, maybe even just a few sessions. The coaching lasts for as long as is needed, depending on the purpose of the coaching relationship. Mentoring is always long term. Mentoring, to be successful, requires time in which both partners can learn about one another and build a climate of trust that creates an environment in which the mentoree can feel secure in sharing the real issues that impact his or her success. Successful mentoring relationships last nine months to a year. Differentiator #3: Coaching is performance driven. The purpose of coaching is to improve the individual's performance on the job. This involves either enhancing current skills or acquiring new skills. Once the coachee successfully acquires the skills, the coach is no longer needed. Mentoring is development driven. Its purpose is to develop the individual not only for the current job, but also for the future. This distinction differentiates the role of the immediate manager and that of the mentor. It also reduces the possibility of creating conflict between the employee's manager and the mentor. Differentiator #4: Coaching does not require design. Coaching can be conducted almost immediately on any given topic. If a company seeks to provide coaching to a large group of individuals, then certainly an amount of design is involved in order to determine the competency area, expertise needed, and assessment tools used, but this does not necessarily require a long lead-time to actually implement the coaching program. Mentoring requires a design phase in order to determine the strategic purpose for mentoring, the focus areas of the relationship, the specific mentoring models, and the specific components that will guide the relationship, especially the matching process.
- 3. Differentiator # 5: The coachee's immediate manager is a critical partner in coaching. She or he often provides the coach with feedback on areas in which his or her employee is in need of coaching. This coach uses this information to guide the coaching process In mentoring, the immediate manager is indirectly involved. Although she or he may offer suggestions to the employee on how to best use the mentoring experience or may provide a recommendation to the matching committee on what would constitute a good match, the manager has no link to the mentor and they do not communicate at all during the mentoring relationship. This helps maintain the mentoring relationship's integrity. When to consider coaching: § When a company is seeking to develop its employees in specific competencies using performance management tools and involving the immediate manager § When a company has a number of talented employees who are not meeting expectations § When a company is introducing a new system or program § When a company has a small group of individuals (5-8) in need of increased competency in specific areas § When a leader or executive needs assistance in acquiring a new skill as an additional responsibility When to consider mentoring: § When a company is seeking to develop its leaders or talent pool as part of succession planning § When a company seeks to develop its diverse employees to remove barriers that hinder their success § When a company seeks to more completely develop its employees in ways that are additional to the acquisition of specific skills/competencies § When a company seeks to retain its internal expertise and experience residing in its baby boomer employees for future generations § When a company wants to create a workforce that balances the professional and the personal. Q4. WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND IS IT AS IMPORTANT AS IQ? “A leader’s intelligence has to have a strong emotional component. He/She has to have high levels of self-awareness, maturity and self-control. She/He must be able to withstand heat, handle setbacks and when those lucky moments arise, enjoy success
- 4. with equal parts joy and humility. No doubt emotional intelligence is more rare than book smarts, but my experience says it is actually more important in the making of a leader. You just can’t ignore it.” – Jack Welch, chairman of GE, speaking to the Wall Street Journal Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. The most significant derailer of leaders and managers in business and organizations is the inability to be effective and get things done in a convivial atmosphere, where people have shared ownership of outcomes. Organizational and individual progress and outcomes are sometimes thwarted, and people do not know why … until NOW! It is generally said to include 4 skills: 1. Self-Awareness, including the ability to identify your own emotions and those of others. This is accomplished and measured through a 360 degree assessment; 2. The ability to harness emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking and problems solving, under the heading of Self-Management; the ability to manage emotions, including the ability to regulate your own emotions, and the ability to cheer up or calm down another person. 3. Social Awareness, which has to do with being friendly, approachable and a conversationalist in social settings; not timid or shy. 4. Relationship Management: Relationship Management is your ability to use awareness of your emotions and the others’ emotions to manage interactions successfully. Q5. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION AND GROWTH CRITERIA FOR MY BUSINESS. HOW CAN I HIRE THE VERY BEST PEOPLE FOR MY BUSINESS? 1. My experience in hiring and developing people spans the better part of 4 decades. Among the key considerations when hiring, is to determine the organizational temperament, and then assess and evaluate individual temperament for fit. I recommend a battery of personality profiles as a part of the interview process, along with a realistic job preview for the candidates. I have lead an organization of as many as 900 sales people, hence my experience. 2. I propose that all potential contractors and new hire employees at a minimum be tested for reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. The personality profile assessments are appropriate, prior to the first, second or third final interviews. Your interview skills, as the hiring manager must be impeccable and consistent from applicant to applicant, otherwise you could face problems with the local and state governing bodies over your hiring practices. Applicant files must be maintained in logical centralized locations like file cabinets, computers etc. 3. Have all final candidates participate in a realistic job preview, where they participate
- 5. in viewing and observing the tasks required in the position the actual experience of performing the job for which they are interviewing. Q6. Can Emotional Intelligence Can Be Developed? The communication between your emotional and rational “brains” is the physical source of emotional intelligence. The pathway for emotional intelligence starts in the brain, at the spinal cord. Your primary senses enter here and must travel to the front of your brain before you can think rationally about your experience. However, first they travel through the limbic system, the place where emotions are generated. So, we have an emotional reaction to events before our rational mind is able to engage. Emotional intelligence requires effective communication between the rational and emotional centers of the brain. “Plasticity” is the term neurologists use to describe the brain’s ability to change. Your brain grows new connections as you learn new skills. The change is gradual, as your brain cells develop new connections to speed the efficiency of new skills acquired. Using strategies to increase your emotional intelligence allows the billions of microscopic neurons lining the road between the rational and emotional centers of your brain to branch off small “arms” (much like a tree) to reach out to the other cells. A single cell can grow 15,000 connections with its neighbors. This chain reaction of growth ensures it’s easier to kick this new behavior into action in the future. Once you train your brain by repeatedly using new emotional intelligence strategies, emotionally intelligent behaviors become habits. I can offer your listeners and readers access to my Amazon Best Selling Ebook “Let Your Emotional Intelligence Do The Talking!: The 17 Skills Necessary for Performance Leadership with Your Boss, Family, Team, or Anyone Else Who Is Important to YOUR Transformational Life Goals.” As a complimentary download from my website, at www.coachmiguel.com Q7. AVOID LETTING YOUR BUSINESS RUN YOU ... INSTEAD LEARN HOW YOU CAN RUN YOUR BUSINESS. Stop letting your business run you and instead, take control of running of your business. We'll discuss five key categories that any small business owner needs to consider - numbers, time, resources, marketing and leadership - and then ways you can strengthen your business operations. I teach, coach and mentor individuals and business owners the EOS®, the Entrepreneurial Operating System, which is a complete set of simple concepts and practical tools that has helped thousands of entrepreneurs get what they want from their businesses. Implementing EOS will help you and your leadership team get better at three things:
- 6. • Vision—getting everyone in your organization 100% on the same page with where you’re going, and how you plan to get there • Traction®—instilling focus, discipline, and accountability throughout the company so that everyone executes on that vision—every day • Healthy—helping your leaders become a more cohesive, functional, healthy leadership team Here is what I teach: Getting Focused and Clarifying Vision The Focus Day™. A day to give your leadership team tools to clarify who’s responsible for what, set priorities, improve communication, resolve issues and track critical numbers. Your leadership team then uses their new tools for the next 30 days to experience real improvement. Vision Building™ Day 1. Another day with your leadership team that starts by reviewing and sharpening the Focus Day tools. You will then begin to use the Vision/Traction Organizer™ (V/TO) tool to clarify your vision, starting with who you are, why you exist, what you do and where you are going. You will also get a great tool for reviewing your people. Your team again uses the tools for the next 30 days to experience more improvement. This is a spaced-learning approach which has proven to be most effective for quickly gaining proficiency with the tools. Vision Building Day 2. Another day with the leadership team to master the Focus Day tools and continue using the V/TO tool to complete your vision, clarify your Marketing Strategy, 3-Year Picture™, 1-Year Plan and priorities for the next 90 days. With your leaders now focused and all on the same page, you’ll use the tools for the next 90 days to execute your plan and experience more improvement. Achieving Traction Quarterly Sessions. A day with your leadership team every 90 days to evaluate their performance, refocus, set priorities for the next 90 days and resolve any issues that might impede progress. Your team experiences measurable growth and improvement every 90 days – Traction®. Annual Sessions. Two days with your leadership team each year to work on team health and update the vision and plan for the next year and next quarter.
- 7. The Result: A healthy, focused leadership team and organization that makes continual progress towards achieving everything in their vision. Q8. MARKETING MOTIVATION: STRENGTHEN CUSTOMER ATTRACTION AND ENGAGEMENT, WHILE BUILDING BRAND AWARENESS. 1. What is your Core Story? And that of your business? For that matter... what is a core story and why do you need one? We'll discuss this and more, including the purpose of buyer education and how it creates and builds brand loyalty. The end result? More customers... and more sales! 2. Your core story is the crux of your value to existing and prospective customers. It’s the thing that drives business your way. A core story gives you the opportunity to be an orange when compared to apples in your market. Especially in commodity markets, this makes your sales less dependent on price and availability — it’s harder to compare your offer to others and as such, it’s harder to compare price. Your core story allows prospective customers to get it quicker, making your offer more compelling than those you compete against. The result is your close ratio increases and your sales cycles shortens — both lead to making more money. 3. Selling more and selling faster isn’t about trickery or gimmicks of any kind, shape or form. The secret to selling more and faster is communicating better — that’s what core stories are about. When you’re versed in the core story of your business, everything you do makes more sense and is much easier to talk about. It’s a way of thinking and looking at the things you do as a means to do things for your customers — things they acknowledge as worthy of owning. Q9 The 5 Common Frustrations of Starting or Running a Business. If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you’re probably experiencing one or more of five common frustrations: 1. Lack of control: You don’t have enough control over your time, the market, or your company. Instead of controlling the business, the business is controlling you. 2. People: You’re frustrated with your employees, customers, vendors, or partners. They don’t seem to listen, understand you, or follow through with their actions. You’re not all on the same page. 3. Profit: Simply put, there’s not enough of it. 4. The ceiling: Your growth has stopped. No matter what you do, you can’t seem to break through and get to the next level. You feel overwhelmed and unsure of what to do next. 5.Nothing’s working: You’ve tried various strategies and quickfix remedies. None have
- 8. worked for long, and as a result, your staff has become numb to new initiatives. You’re spinning your wheels, and you need traction to move again. Q10 SO… WHAT ARE THE NEXT LOGICAL STEPS I CAN TAKE TO START OR GROW MY BUSINESS? You need to have a planning tool and perhaps a coach/mentor that can assist in completing this goal of developing your plans quicker faster better than if you tried doing it own your own. I teach all of my clients that you “cannot be cheap” on your way to success. It will cost you time, mistakes, errors and ultimately the money you are trying to skimp on, because you will still have to do it over and recover. There are two affordable tools planning that I recommend for those who are bootstrapping their business: 1. The EOS Model: this will take you through the process of answering the following questions about your biz: what is your vision, what data are you capturing and measuring to give you feedback, what documented processes do you have, how could you get leverage and traction in your business, what are the issues standing in the way of your growth, and what about your people? 2. The Pagepage Planning Book, that comes with its own editable CD disk, written by Jim Horan. The investment for the book through Amazon is <$40, and it will get anyone off on the right track. I also provide a 3 hour consulting session, once the book has been purchased, for those needing additional coaching and breakthrough consulting, for $900. Q11 WHAT IS THE MOST DIFFICULT HURDLE TO OVERCOME WHEN STARTING OUT? I call it the FUD Factor. Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. This is why I am such a proponent of hiring and working with competent coaches and consultants. They help bring clarity and more importantly ideas and solutions to help you move forward. It is also important to honest and truthful with yourself about your skill sets. The most dangerous phrase in the realm of personal and professional development is: “I Know That” or “I Can Do That”. I often relate the story of the cobblers kids having no shoes. Why, because the cobbler was so busy IN his business, with little time focusing ON the business, that they never had time to focus on the own business needs, or in this case their family needs. Q12 Take A Personal Inventory of your values I encourage my clients to take a personal inventory of their values, the things that “float their boat,” and then to stack rank these values from MOST imposrtant to the LEAST important. Examples are:
- 9. 1. Recognition : positive feedback and public Credit for work well done. Respect and admiration. 2. Advancement: growth, seniority and promotion resulting from work well done. 3. Help Others : help others attain their goals. 4. FAME : To become prominent, famous and well known. 5. Autonomy : Ability to act independently, without constraints. 6. Reflection :To take time out to think about the past, present and future. 7. Love : To be involved in close, affectionate relationships. 8. Enjoyment :Fun, joy, laughter. 9. Authority : Position and Power to control events and activities of others. 10. Economic security: steady and secure employment. Adequate financial reward. Low risk These are just a few, that we can explore further through discussion.