What can we do? We often try to solve this by talking it through with friends and family, which brings a different perspective – but can then confuse us more as they bring their opinion into the mix – adding to the problem instead of diminishing it!

A client was having exactly this problem.  Trying to drum up new business he was working hard in the channels and industries he had been successful in before.  However these industries were struggling which meant that even though he was doing all the right things he wasn’t getting many enquiries.  While I was chatting and asking questions about what he did outside of his business he told me that he had a degree in a totally unrelated field.  I asked him if he had ever looked for clients in this area.  He was quite surprised as in his head he had never linked his hobby with his work!  By helping him to rise above the issue we have now identified a whole other area that he can look for business in.  Would he have got there on his own? I am not sure but it would certainly have taken longer!

This is where a good coach can help, by bringing another perspective and thinking about the problem from different angles.  Can I help you think differently?

Jacqui Hanbury is the Managing Director of The Pathway Communication Company Limited and is a specialist in helping you find the thing that is stopping your business from achieving as much as it could be. Follow her on LinkedIn to find out more.

The Pathway Communication Company Ltd provides a personalised plan to help you and your business move forward. We might help you set goals, a strategy, a communication plan, facilitate a meeting, be a coach or mentor. Whatever it takes. Find out more at: www.pathwaycc.co.uk

The post How a coaching question can change your perspective! appeared first on The Pathway Communication Company.

Many people do not have experience of coaching in a business environment, in most people’s experience coaching is associated with sport. A coach in sport is defined as an ‘instructor or trainer’.  They teach, tutor, educate their pupils or team. 

An executive or business coach typically doesn’t offer information. 

Their skills lie in listening and asking questions to help their client work out an answer for themselves.  However skilled we are at self analysis and making decisions, sometimes we get tangled in our thoughts and we are unable to see clearly through the fog. Talking through the issue with a coach can untangle your thinking and help you come to a decision.

A couple of examples …

• A senior executive in a large company who is not sure if there are opportunities for her or whether she needs to look elsewhere.  This is not a question I can answer, and neither can she!  But what I can do is ask her questions and give her some tools (in this case create a mind map ) to start to find the answers herself.  I will meet with her again in a few weeks after she has mapped out the issues and has a clearer picture of the options. We will then talk through specific parts of the map she has created to start to unravel her thinking.
• A manager who has just joined an organisation and is having issues with one of his staff.  The member of staff is not communicating well in meetings or on a one-to-one basis. He is unsure if the problem is him or the staff member.  We discussed the way he works and compared it to the way she works. He recognised through talking that actually they work in a similar way – this led him to set a series of actions that meant he changed the way he talked to her. I will meet with him again to see how this worked and what further steps, if any, he needs to take.

Both are situations that can be dealt with alone, but it is hard! And you make a decision and then second guess yourself!

I can help! By listening, showing empathy and picking up on specific phrases or comments you make I can ask questions which lead you to clarify your thoughts and perhaps help you to think about your issue from a different perspective.

To find out more and experience executive coaching for yourself then contact me.

Jacqui Hanbury is the Managing Director of The Pathway Communication Company Limited and is a specialist in helping you find the thing that is stopping your business from achieving as much as it could be. Follow her on LinkedIn to find out more.

The Pathway Communication Company Ltd provides a personalised plan to help you and your business move forward. We might help you set goals, a strategy, a communication plan, facilitate a meeting, be a coach or mentor. Whatever it takes. Find out more at: www.pathwaycc.co.uk

The post Executive Coaching? What is it and what can it offer me? appeared first on The Pathway Communication Company.

Coaching can help! As a fellow small business owner and a business coach, I can help untangle your mind and put an action plan in place to help you decide what to do next – and what not to do yet.

It fascinates me to listen to a creative business owner talking passionately about all the ideas they have and then helping them to slow down; talk through each one and see them start to form solid plans to put each idea into practice!  They feel so excited that the plans are going to come to fruition. And how amazing for me to see them move forward instead of being frustrated that the ideas are there but with no progress. 

A garden designer is created!

One of my former clients is a garden designer but due to family circumstances she mostly does garden maintenance at the moment.  She is very creative (as you can imagine!) and was itching to move forward with all the designs she has in her head; she particularly loves adding water features to gardens and combining the different features. 

She had ideas but no plans as to how to move her business forward to get the clients she needed to become a garden designer. Over a series of online coaching sessions we uncovered and discussed the different ideas she had, crystallising them into actions which she then carried out between our sessions.  She now has a new business name, a website, business cards and is promoting herself as a garden designer.  She has already done some quotes and is starting to win some business.  Her creative side can now truly come out as she designs some amazing gardens! 

So the answer to the question: “Can Creative people benefit from coaching?” is yes! When you are paralysed by the ideas and have no idea how to put them into action call me!

Jacqui Hanbury is the Managing Director of The Pathway Communication Company Limited and is a specialist in helping you find the thing that is stopping your business from achieving as much as it could be. Follow her on LinkedIn to find out more.

The Pathway Communication Company Ltd provides a personalised plan to help you and your business move forward. We might help you set goals, a strategy, a communication plan, facilitate a meeting, be a coach or mentor. Whatever it takes. Find out more at: www.pathwaycc.co.uk

The post Can solo business owners benefit from coaching? appeared first on The Pathway Communication Company.