My first question was, ‘Why are you asking for my help?’.
My client responded “I don’t know if I am doing things in the best way, and I always like to make sure everything is done in the best possible way.”
I followed up by asking him, “Why did he think he wouldn’t be running his business in the best way?”
To which his response was that he “just wanted another pair of eyes to take a look and give it the once over.”
From the answers to these 2 questions, I already had a good idea of what was happening, so this enabled me then to hit him with the killer question… “So, how is business at the moment?”
A seemingly innocuous question, but the response came as no surprise, and made clear why my support as an Executive Coach was required. The next ten minutes were filled with a thorough overview of the business, sales, operations, people, the whole shooting match… and within that came out at least a dozen major issues, all of which were clearly taking up a big chunk of his time, emotional energy and losing him valuable sleep. Once he had finished ‘offloading’, I merely played back to him the key things he had told me, and immediately his eyes opened up. The real issue isn’t the list of issues that he gave me, but the fact he had dropped so deep into the weeds, he wasn’t even able to tell me what was wrong when I asked him.
Not knowing when to ask for help is one of the most common issues that I come across.
By the time leaders recognise that help is required, the hole that’s been dug is already a big one, taking a long time to get out of. Luckily, this client didn’t wait too long, and even though he hadn’t got clarity himself on his challenges, he knew he had some, and knew to reach out to me for support…
The program I am now working through with him involves more clearly mapping ‘the standard’ to how he wishes his business to operate, as it is only by knowing the standard that we can know when there has been a deviation from that standard – it’s all too easy to slip into bad practices without realising it…how many times have your eyes dropped to the speedo on your car to find you have crept up over the limit. Mapping this out has already identified areas where clearly elements are not working the ideal way, and we are building up a task list to knock these issues off and drive improvements through.
One of the biggest challenges he expressed was about having the right information to scope and deliver a project. Working in a business driven by data, availability of the correct data regarding product functionality and appearance was essential to him and his team. The solution is simple, albeit not routinely applied outside of manufacturing – but 5S is required to declutter and make available all the right data, at the right time.
I am really excited about this project, working with several senior leaders to help them prepare their business for the next phase of growth. We will be using a six sigma structure for the project, and applying the lean tools as and where appropriate. There are many that still believe that the Lean tools don’t apply in their world, but my nan would have a word or two to say to them – “there’s none as blind as them that can’t see…”