Being in media, broadcast or advertising is a crazy job. It’s stress filled, panic driven and a wild, exciting ride if you can hang on.
It’s difficult to focus on your own performance or improve your ability because there is never enough time.
That’s where a turbo boost from a coach can help.
The goal of your coach is to help you build on your success, look at ways of maximising your potential and help you stay at the top of your game.
How can you keep the excitement and lower the stress?
A coach will help you eliminate the things that you keep batting away; things that cause you doubts, problems that aren’t creative, issues managing up or managing your team, things that gobble your time.
A coaching session is a hothouse for new ideas, new ways to do things, ways to change the game with your team, your career or your client.
Clients can be great, encouraging, open and supportive.
They can also be hyper critical, demanding and treat you like a supplier.
Coaching will help you look at those tough relationships and figure out how to smooth out the wrinkles without sacrificing your values.
You’ll get a chance to think about how you can manage people differently and how you want them to relate to you. Most relationships are cause and effect – if you can deal with your difficult relationships in a new way, you’ll get a different reaction back.
Your coach won’t yell from the side lines…
Often called Executive Coaching, this style of coaching it isn’t limited to people with executive titles and it isn’t in front of the rest of the team.
It is individual coaching, one to one, related to your work or work/life balance.
You and your coach will come up with new ways to deal with problems, tackle what’s bogging you down, recognize your strengths and understand your blind spots.
Your coach won’t give you “the answer” because their job isn’t to give you advice. There isn’t one right answer to much in life; their goal is to help you figure out the possibilities and solutions that are right for you.
It’s a lot like a two-person guided brainstorm, totally focused on you and where you want to go, and it’s often paid for by the company.
Between you and me…
Part of the reason it is so successful is that your coaching is strictly confidential. You have the freedom to talk about the boss you can’t stand or the project that terrifies you, without worrying that your comments will float back on the office grapevine.
But the real strength lies in moving you out of the eddy of your own thoughts.
Your coach will guide you with focused questions, allow you time to think things through and help you define your next steps or approach.
Why would your company offer you a coach?
CEOs were the first to begin using coaches. They found a vacuum as they moved up, fewer people challenged their decisions and many were hesitant to question their thinking.
They found a coach helped them generate more options, offered impartial feedback and helped them recognize how changes in their own behaviour impacted the rest of the company, for better or worse.
CEOs realized the value of their own coaching and began offering it to other senior managers. As coaching has become more affordable, individual coaching has expanded and it is just as effective for the new graduate as it is for the man at the top.
If you are offered a coach, take it as a compliment, it’s generally offered to successful people the company wants to invest in.
They are giving you a chance to work on things that are completely individual to you and not lumped together in a training course. Then it’s up to you to put your new knowledge into action or practice a new approach until it feels natural.
Most coaching sessions are face to face, they often run 1.5-2 hours and can be a single session or a predefined series of sessions: four to six sessions is very common.
It’s your life – don’t sit on the side waiting to play
Good coaching helps you push the first domino to direct where your life will take you.
Using a coach of any kind, an Exec Coach, a sports coach, a teacher or mentor requires an investment in your time and a willingness to do things differently.
It’s totally your agenda so keep in mind that Coaches can help you most effectively when you’ve got something you want to change.
If you’re content with the status quo, for the near future, there’s no need for coaching.
If you want to move up more quickly, change directions or explore the limits of your potential, get a coach to help you get started.
Kathy Reeves Consulting 