Your growth mindset tells you that you need a business coach, but what kind of consultant do you need?How do you identify the right kind of consultant to align with your growth mindset needs? Searching for a business coach can be like shopping when you are hungry. We all know you should never go grocery shopping when you are hungry. The grumble of your stomach can override your better senses and you soon find there are items in your cart that you don’t need. Hiring a consultant has similar dangers. Be clear about your vision for your businessEverything starts with vision. Vision at times requires us to get clarity on who we are and where we are going. Effective shopping starts with a list and a purpose. I want to make a delicious spaghetti dinner so I go to the store for noodles, sauce, meat and a side. Effective shopping to execute on this vision requires:
Clarity in hiring a business coachYour grocery list does not need to lay out the menu for every day of the rest of your life. Unless you are only buying canned and frozen foods, this is implausible. What do you need in the next month or quarter to help you move towards your personal or professional goals? A consulting plan requires some thought
If you hunt for a business coach or consultant without a plan, you may be writing a blank check. Don’t leave yourself susceptible to scam artists or under performing professionals. The importance of vision in hiring a business coachIf you have put your short term grocery list together, you know a few key areas that you need help. Rather than leaving the list open to your hunger for change, compose a list of potential partners that can help with your specific needs. If you need a financial specialist, don’t hire someone in the legal niche. If the coach you are interviewing cannot tell you what they specialize in, they likely are not suited to your needs. Rather than leading with your needs, as questions to draw out their abilities. Fast Company identifies aspects of legitimacy in consulting which includes identifying specialists. Questions when screening a personal or professional consultant
Structuring accountability in business coachingGet some references from your potential consultant. Ask to speak to a business leader that this consultant has assisted from your industry. Ask to speak to a professional who is working through the same challenges you are working through. Key perspectives when hiring a consultantArriving home with a trunk full of groceries when you left home for a gallon of milk may be amusing. In business, these habits and mishaps can cause long term damage to your business. A strong growth mindset includes discipline to maintain vision is executed consistently. Hiring a personal or professional coach can set you forward or hold you back. Read more – what is a consultant IZ Ventures - more than business coaching and consulting, we help you connect, collaborate and conquer.
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In the quest for exponential growth hacks those in a position of leadership ought to be careful not to become entrepreneurial hacks themselves. News of General Electric being removed from the Dow reminds business leaders to analyze whether their growth mindset is in line with their values. General Electric is one of the largest organizations in the world with a diverse investment portfolio. When it comes to history, it doesn’t get much richer than GE who was founded by inventor Thomas Edison and banking mogul J.P. Morgan. In 1896 General Electric was one of the 12 original companies to be listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (the Dow) which is utilized as a reference for health of the market and investments strategies. GE has grown internally as well as by acquisition and diversified their portfolio of businesses to become a leader in multiple industries to become a multinational conglomerate ranked in 2011 as the 6th largest firm in America. Recently General Electric was removed from the Dow as an indication of its lack of performance, down 55% over the past year (a net of nearly $100 billion) with is stock being valued at an average of $13 per share in comparison to Walgreens which now replaces GE and has a value of $68. Many speculate that this is another brick in the wall, which the Wall Street Journal notes as, “The unraveling of its finance business and competitive problems.” If your exponential growth strategy is through acquisition do you reach a point where there is nothing more you can buy? If you grow by acquisition what is the collateral impact of poor integration of cultures between business units? Back in 2009, Forbes reported on a $50 million dollar fine issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that General Electric had to pay after, “An investigation into accounting shenanigans that severely tarnished the company’s reputation and helped set the stage for last years collapse in its stock price.” Forbes compares GE’s shifty accounting practices to those of professional baseball players using and covering performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in order to keep up their appearances on paper that they were meeting or exceeding analysts expectations. Chairman Jeffrey Immelt, the hand chosen predecessor to famed CEO Jack Welch, carried practices which many convinced themselves were in the spirit of teamwork where the company would shift money from businesses to reduce or minimize losses in other areas and in this particular case sold locomotives to what appear to be ghost companies to increase sales numbers. If you focus on rapid growth does the haste have an impact on long term internal systems such as accounting and production with regards to sustainability? If the accounting goals become the metric for growth, rather than a measure of progress, what consequences are there when an organization begins to manipulate the numbers to see what they want to see? We can learn a lot from the fall of pyramid schemes such as the $60 billion dollar ponzi scheme pulled off by the now infamous Bernie Madoff in that the glut of growth can cast a wide net. While Madoff took the fall for being the master-mind behind the scheme, something he still seems to believe and relish, no participant in the earnings or the machine can wash their hands in the collective draw from the system. WNYC Studio’s Radiolab created a podcast titled Ponzi Supernova which dug into the story behind the worlds largest con and was able to get feedback from Bernie Madoff himself. In short, Madoff viewed himself as an outsider and refused to be dismissed which started a process of winning by any means and he stumbled across a method for doing just that. If the accounting goals are the driver for business growth rather than the checks-and-balances of you operation, you can convince yourself – like General Electric, Bernie Madoff, or perhaps more notably the employees and participants in both declines – that what you are doing is necessary. What do we tell ourselves? Everyone is doing it. If you hear yourself say or think these four words then you shouldn’t ignore the historically proven red flags. Like professional athletes, do we tell ourselves, I’m only going to do this to jump start or get back in the game and then I will go back to doing it the right way? Again, our systems have red flags, but if we ignore them we are headed down a path that it is difficult to return from. The gains of rapid growth are alluring but the consequences are severe as in the examples above where building on shaky ground can erodes over a century of performance or shady dealings can land you in prison. Three simple principles for checking yourself before you wreck yourself:
Tips for defining your needs when searching for a local business coach or consultant.In the pursuit of personal and professional growth, many have turned to consultants. What is a consultant? A consultant is a noun. The simple definition – a person who provides expert advice professionally. So, let’s deconstruct that and dive further into the question, consultant – what is it? Consultant as a personPeople need people. We all have our people but not all our people are helping us move towards our vision or live out our values. Synonymous with consultant is the mentor. As we noted previously in The Daily Positive, “Professional athletes have coaches and trainers even though they are at the very height of their professional skills, earning, and influence. Seeking the assistance of someone who can assist you to tug, carry, or chart your way through the murky waters of personal development can be a very positive and fulfilling addition to your professional adventure.” The perspective of another person can be a helpful thing. Forbes outlines that for a person to be successful as a consultant they need to be – different, strong and committed. Consultants and expert adviceThere is an odd paradox in most organizations where those in a position of leadership (PIAPOL), if they are willing to recognize that they need to improve they often overlook the resources within their own teams. I remember working with a church in California and hearing, a consultant is anyone that doesn’t work in your own organization. Expressing the sentiment that leaders and organizations will often turn outward before they turn inward for ideas. Scott Adams, the famed creator of the comic Dilbert puts it this way, “Consultants have credibility because they are not dumb enough to work at your company.” Expert advice should be born of expert experience rather than just expertly worded or presented information. Consultants as professionalsTo the cynic, a mentor is anyone who convinces another person that they should be paid for their opinions. Frequently consulting firms are hired based upon their branding, name recognition, rather than individualized skills or perspectives relevant to the organization that they are assisting. I recall early in my career working with a company in Oregon that had hired a consulting firm. A young man fresh out of school came and ran a weeks worth of interviews and metrics only to share with us a few generic recommendations. The bill did not match the attention, recommendations or follow through from the firm or the expert we were assigned. A consultant should be a person, but that should not be the only qualification. A business coach should have unique skills to bring to the table and should have expert advice earned through experience in helping organizations achieve their goals. Consultants can draw out the bestLike a skilled personal trainer who assists clients to reach their health goals, a business consultant will be skilled in drawing out the vision of the person they are working with, outlining a progressive plan to identify, build upon and reach their goals. It’s fun to watch someone like Gordon Ramsey who is an entertaining character but has crafted a persona of getting in, getting the best out of a team and then getting out, as he does in his newest show 24 Hours to Hell and Back. The consultant works with the client, coming alongside them and progressively working themselves out of a job. A good mentor, coach or consultant will be mindful to ensure there are developing the will, the skill and the chill of their client rather than making them dependent. A quality consultant relationship will help you connect with resources, collaborate on ideas and conquer your goals. IZ Ventures - more than business coaching and consulting, we help you connect, collaborate and conquer.
Keys to ensuring that you are making progress on your personal and professional goals. Moving forward isn’t the only measure of success as it is possible to be moving forward in an endless circle that goes nowhere. How do we ensure that our efforts are not being wasted? What steps can we take to ensure that our will is in alignment with reality? We will discuss a few key components to skillfully navigating the challenges of the market place. 1. Measure correctly Moving forward isn’t the only measure of progress. Like being lost in the woods, we can be walking with great effort and purpose and yet find that we have succeeded only in arriving at the spot from which we started. We moved forward in a large and arduous circle. It wasn’t for lack of effort, but for lack of skill and commitment to identifying a reference point. In business we need benchmarks that track our progress. 2. Identify a reference point(s) We recently, and successfully, trained our first adolescent driver in our immediate family. The one thing that we continued to stress, whether they were positioning themselves in their lane or preparing to reverse into a parking spot, was that you have to identify a reference point. If we are going to reach our goals we need a reference point tells us whether we have made progress and directs our steps forward. 3. Onward and upward Most in a position of leadership would say that they have the will to succeed, yet our dreams need a framework in order to evolve into plans in action. Align your will to succeed with a direction based on your reference point to ensure you are moving in the right direction. Honesty with one’s self is as essential as constructive input from trusted mentors. Growth requires moving beyond one’s comfort zone and progress requires will, skill and chill in to reach one’s goals. The will to succeed combined with the skill to accurately assess whether we are making headway can provide the chill to endure any obstacle. Moving in circles is moving forward, one must dig deeper to ensure effort isn't wasted. IZ Ventures - more than business coaching and consulting, we help you connect, collaborate and conquer.
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AuthorThoughts on personal and professional development. Jon Isaacson, The Intentional Restorer, is a contractor, author, and host of The DYOJO Podcast. The goal of The DYOJO is to help growth-minded restoration professionals shorten their DANG learning curve for personal and professional development. You can watch The DYOJO Podcast on YouTube on Thursdays or listen on your favorite podcast platform.
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