November 7, 2022
Future Self
What Amazing Things Happen When Your Company has a People’s Coach
One of the positive effects of COVID-19 Pandemic is that it has made people more aware and concerned about their well-being. People are seeing the need and the advantages to having a guide to have a better life or become a better person. However, choosing a guide is not simple as there are those who only provide lip service. Let me give you a few insights on this. I will likewise highlight one of my recent experiences as a speaker and people’s coach. Do read until the end to know the amazing things that happened in a company I connected with.
COVID-19 Impacts businesses
The COVID-19 pandemic has tremendously impacted the business sector. Hundreds of thousands of business establishments closed while other companies tried to survive by lessening the number of employees as lockdowns were implemented.
People were confined in their homes to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus. The implementation of social restrictions created a massive shift in the way people worked. Working remotely became the norm to adapt to the given limitations.
As workers shifted to working from home, individual connections or work relationships were either lost or minimized. This brought about additional stress on a person alongside job security and affected their mental and physical wellbeing.
Aside from these issues, the onset of the pandemic has brought to light other matters such as social injustices, social inequalities, lack of communication, and other inadequacies in company policies. These concerns remained even as Covid-19 protocols eased up.
People began to realize the need to reinvent business strategies and priorities to ensure survival amidst uncertainties. What was previously only a concern of the Human Resources Department of companies are now being dealt with by top management.
Executive leaders have now focused on the people as their top asset and have started to prioritise and invest in workforces’ mental and physical well-being. Personal development activities, improving mental health, taking note of employee vacations, adapting flexible work shifts as need arises, better work-life balance, and having more open communications are now given more attention.
Companies are making sure that the policies in place are intentional for the workers’ security, safety, transparency, and empowerment. They are defining job roles to assure that each one is working on agreed goals. Each one is aware of their significance in the company.
Why companies need a coach
Given the shift in business strategies as each business adapts to the ever-changing and challenging times the need for a better coach arises. Having a coach provides several advantages.
In fact, a study done by Joy McGovern and her fellow researchers on Fortune 1000 companies showed that the return on investment for coaching was 5.7 times the initial cost of the coaching price. This means that coaching increases the income or gains of a company.
Furthermore, CEOs and decision-makers need a guide to direct them on the right path or approach to take to ensure success. He helps develop business plans and strategies that boost your business or resolve your needs.
A coach sees the potentials as well as the deficiencies like skills and knowledge gaps in any company. He can provide insights, evaluations, and recommendations without biases. He can help identify sound ideas that are directed to maximise potential and increase productivity.
A true coach makes you accountable for your actions. He makes sure that the right policies are implemented and followed and that the actions done are all toward the achievement of the goals.
A happy working environment can be achieved through the services of a coach. He can provide a fresh perspective, inspiration, and motivation by unifying the worker’s life goals with the company’s targets. He can enlighten the workers to see their value within the business. This directly affects their job satisfaction.
If employees are more satisfied with their job, then their productivity increases. Positivity, compassion, and cooperation arises in the workplace where job satisfaction is higher as people feel more secure and fulfilled in their companies.
Determining the best coach for your company
The pandemic has brought with a greater concern for physical and mental well-being of individuals. This likewise paved the way for a higher demand for coaches and further increase in people providing their services, but not all are true to what they say.
How does a company or its decision-makers then determine who the best coach to hire is? How can one maximise the benefits of coaching and not fall for lip service individuals?
First is to make certain that the person you intend to hire is genuine and sincere. Look at his values and principles. Does he understand your vision and your needs? Can he provide you with the insights you need? Can he genuinely inspire and motivate your workforce? Does he act on his word?
These questions are significant when looking for the best person to match your company’s needs. Take note of them when considering different persons. Make certain their skills match your goals and needs.
Another factor to consider is the person’s experience and expertise. Look at not only his professional or academic credentials but more so the impact that he has made on others. Though an academic degree assures that a person has knowledge and possesses a certain skill set because of training, what matters more is how he applies the theories and learns and grows from real life experiences as well as connects with people.
A true coach leaves a track of people behind him whose lives have changed through his mentorship. He is a game changer. He has the power to change policies, mindsets, and behaviors to accomplish his goal of helping companies achieve their targets.
When you want to hire someone to guide you or your company, see if he has the capacity to provide everyone with a safe space for vulnerability. Can he provide the perspective and unbiased insights you need? Can you trust him to have an authentic partnership with your company?
Having that safe space allows workers to express their thoughts and take in new perspectives as well. These are vital if change is wanted, for change can only happen when perspective changes and not when you tell people what to do.
Furthermore, ask for initial consultations. Have a meeting, a direct conversation with him. Through this you can better assess what the person is all about and how authentic and passionate he is. You can better determine if he understands your vision through personal interaction, how easily he can connect with people.
Now I want to tell you a story of a recent experience I had and the unexpected things that happened.
The amazing changes in TAKEDA
Recently I was invited as a keynote speaker in Dubai. This was an exciting event for me as I too was affected by the pandemic. For more than two years the work which I loved doing came to halt. The social restrictions prevented me from physically interacting with people and speaking in front of them.
As countries opened after the pandemic lockdowns, I was again able to travel and speak in front of a live audience. While in Dubai, I did a three-day conference and touched base with a company I have been remotely working with during the pandemic, the Takeda Pharmaceutical.
Takeda is a Japanese pharmaceutical company that has branched out in Dubai. It is a business that is focused on better health, better people, and better futures. At the time of our meeting in Dubai, I learned of the impacts I have made on their company while providing virtual coaching services in the time of the border restrictions.
Quite frankly, these impacts astounded me as I never expected to be a game changer in their company. I was skeptical of the effects I would have while speaking through the camera and virtually providing my insights.
One of the impacts that they mentioned was the change in perspective. Before the pandemic, their workforce was on a routine, and no one questioned the way people worked or took care of themselves. Everyone was not paying attention to these matters.
After the virtual event, their mindsets changed, and they were stirred up. People realized the need to prioritize themselves and their health to have the capacity to help others. Workers started to ask about well-being measures and what the company was going to do about it.
This worked up the executive management and made them think how to better care for all the employees including the top-level management. As a result, the company released well-being guides. Meeting times changes, decisions to better track their well-being were made.
Tracking made them aware that people were not taking vacations, they were not taking the time to disconnect from their work and energize themselves. The company then decided to have shutdowns to ensure that everyone would not be bothered by emails or meetings and totally veer away from work.
At the end of the temporary shutdowns, their well-being scores improved. This was a significant improvement despite the difficulties of the pandemic and when most people were not taking care of themselves.
Additionally, Toby Shepard, executive director of Takeda ICMEA, even mentioned the significant impact I made on how they develop people for future opportunities. Before, skills development was nonexistent, but now they provide their employees with opportunities to develop new skill sets. There is now a need to enhance leadership skills and develop their future leaders.
Improving their leadership skills gives them the understanding of how to improve their workforce and their teams for them to have a significant impact as well. Coaching allows people to understand how they can improve and achieve targets whether it be moving up the corporate ladder or getting new opportunities,
Truly remarkable and unbelievable that even through the lens of a camera I can change people’s lives. This is what fuels me more and inspires me more to do what I do. My passion for helping people move to where they want to be or who they want to become will always be burning inside me.
As I carry on my work with Takeda and take on more tasks for companies willing to instill positive change, I will be more inspired, energized and motivated to guide people, so connect with me and let me help work towards a better future.
You can click the link and download the Stop One Start One Habit Tracker app (APPLE, ANDRIOD), a tool my team and I developed to help you change habits for you to be the best version of yourself and live the future you want now.
I will continue to be the people’s coach that people have deemed me to be. I will keep changing people’s lives for the better.
Watch the video and see for yourself what the executives of Takeda have said.
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Future Self
