July, 2017 - Results Derived From Within

For the last ten years, since its inception, I have bought the "Woman's Advantage" calendar which has a quote per day from a successful business woman. The quote for today was... "Not taking risks may be the riskiest move of all" by Valerie Young. www.changingcourse.com.

This quote was very apropos as I'd literally just gotten off the phone with a client who called to share good news about his choice to take a risk. Matt and I had been working together for almost two years, as he reminded me, and I smiled as I remembered the beginning of the engagement VERY well. Let's tell the story from the beginning...

To arrange business coaching for Matt, Robert the Human Resources director, and I had an instant rapport on our first call. Robert shared that he was interested in a coaching engagement for Matt his creative director. And so...Matt's journey began.

After six months, it became obvious that Robert, the HR Director, was a very "execution" oriented type of person. We discovered that Matt's strengths were the total opposite, not surprising as Matt was perfectly suited to his creative director role. In the schedule "check-in" meeting with Robert, I remember so well explaining that the two men had such different strengths and Robert's strong reaction. His reaction was that he did not care that Matt was not "execution" oriented, he needed Matt to be more "results" oriented and help move the organization towards getting programs out the door and delivered to customers. The meeting became uncomfortable and Robert left Matt and I with the distinct impression that Matt needed to step way out of his comfort zone and become a better implementer.

I pondered the result of this meeting for days and when Matt and I next had a coaching session; Matt agreed to "step up" to Robert's request. Over the next year, in his own way, Matt began to improve the creative process and found ways to smooth out program delivery. The organization became more successful and began running larger and larger campaigns. Matt did all of this without a direct team that reported to him, it was all on a matrixed, work together organizational structure. They also won some industry awards. I also encouraged Matt to promote himself both internally to his organization and externally to his industry.

Fast forward and our coaching sessions have evolved from Matt talking about technical improvements to strategic initiatives for the organization that he has taken upon himself to create and implement...and then the call came today. Matt was told by Robert and the head of the organization that they were going to take six people and create a team that will report to Matt that will have the sole responsibility to continue creatively developing and delivering programs to their clients and move the business forward. Matt and I both were: elated, excited, exhilarated.

Matt took the risk of being open to coaching when Robert first invited him to meet with me. Then upon hearing some harsh feedback from Robert about him having to step out of his comfort zone and deliver anyway, Matt did exactly that. His reward for thinking as a global owner instead of an individual contributor was bigger that he had ever thought would happen in this company. As his coach, I am ecstatic for him and honored that he had to call me and immediately share his good news.

For my readership, I would suggest that if you have been thinking about pro-actively taking a risk - or if you have gotten some feedback about making a change that involves taking a risk DO IT. As the calendar quote said, "Not taking risks may be the riskiest move of all."

Congratulations, if you take a risk your inner leader will shine and you just might get a larger reward that you ever thought possible.

Professional Certified Coach and a member of the International Coach Federation

July 2017 - Do You Take Risks?