Last week on a call with one of my long-term VIP coaching clients, the objective was to clarify her personal and professional goals so she could earn more money in fewer working hours. I mean, who doesn’t want that? Right?!?
Except she’s not driven by money and her current compensation structure is primarily salary with limited incentives on bonus income. Also, relevant in this scenario is that I know this woman.
She cares deeply about her family and is fiercely loyal to her company. That loyalty means she says yes to projects that take her off task from the things that would contribute to bonus money based on the structure of key performance indicators. It also means she works above and beyond the hours promised and that dips into family time.
The net of her loyalty and competence leaves her feeling a little overwhelmed and guilty about the things she can’t get to that are important in her personal life.
So, we got to work distinguishing the things on her list that could be outsourced or delegated, particularly things that did not require her level of skill or were time consuming obstacles in the way of doing the things only she can do, personally and professionally.
Talking things through with a professional coach who brings objectivity and real solutions puts you on the fast track to getting unstuck. I know this, because for more than twenty years I have consistently been on both sides of the equation.
As a coach, I’m privileged to work with top performing business leaders, challenging their thinking, providing alternative perspectives, and working with them to see new possibilities.
As a client of a variety of professional coaches and advisors over the course of my career, my belief has always been to pay for the services of other coaches and consultants because I can’t ask others to do what I am unwilling to do myself.
The solution to my client’s challenge lies in three categories, not surprisingly the ones that make up The Open for Business Framework that I regularly share with keynote audiences: Mindset, Mechanics and Motion.
- Mindset, what you think.
- Mechanics, what you say.
- Motion, what you do.
I’ll share more details about the framework in future blog posts, but in this situation, we started with a focus on Mindset.
Why did business activities always trump personal tasks, specifically related to home schooling her daughter?
Here’s what she discovered:
- There were services she wanted to purchase for her daughter that required more money, so she justified the extra work in lieu of family time because it would help her daughter.
- There were aspects of lesson planning that she didn’t feel as confident about as she felt doing her job so she gravitated to doing things she knew she did well.
- The dedicated space for home schooling was unorganized and she felt stress being there.
By the end of our quick coaching call she had marching orders on all three.
- Prioritize work activities related to accomplishing her KPIs and focus on commission generating tasks.
- Find support in the home-schooling world for proven lesson planning techniques or done for you kits.
- Hire a professional organizer to clear the clutter in the space and make a plan to maintain it.
When we ended the 30-minute call she had clarity and a plan to execute. Most importantly she felt a shift in mindset that was exciting to her.
If you are open to exploring the opportunity of working with me as a 1:1 VIP coaching client, I have three spots left for the year and when they are gone, they’re gone until someone drops out. To book a conversation and see if we’re a match to work together, click this link and choose a 30-45 minute meeting for us: https://bookme.name/MeritKahn