How a coach can help you coming out of lockdown
- You’re scared
The first few weeks felt like an adrenaline rush, a roller coaster of emotions trying to quickly solve immediate challenges. You felt worried about your loved ones and teams, the uncertain future, and what would happen business in the longer term. This feeling was totally understandable. But remaining in this state, debilitates you as fear kills more dreams than failure ever does. ‘92% of what we fear is not real, and of the 8% real, we can only control 4%.’
Leaders more than ever need to be courageous and take risks to do things differently. Easier said than done, a coach will help you take the first step and support you through the challenges. Businesses who are risk adverse, are going to find it difficult to survive in the ‘new normal.’ We have witnessed many businesses fail because they didn’t have the courage to take risks and do things differently; Kodaks downfall and Netflix wiping out Blockbusters. The ‘new normal’ will see more changes than ever before and leaders need to have be courageous and take the leap. Everyone feels fear, the only difference is between those who have developed the ability to manage it and get through it quicker. A coach will help you develop this and accelerate at a faster pace.
- Speed of change
The current speed of change, uncertainty, complexities and volatility will certainly continue to be the ‘new normal’. The speed Coronavirus hit, and the wide spectrum of impact it had on business, health and our way of living. For the first time in history, the upstairs in businesses asked the downstairs for help. Leaders were frantically learning new ways of working, asking staff to help with their zoom calls to keep in touch. No one could have ever foreseen this. You feel confused, uncertain, as daily changes in information and challenges came at you. It’s like speeding round a roundabout, with twenty slip roads coming off it and you don’t know which one to take first.
A coach will get in the car beside you and help you navigate the route. When your mind is confused it just says no. Like driving through fog, it’s not easy to see where you’re going. A coach will help you get clarity, so you can make decisions and take action quicker. This will be crucial to navigate effectively after lockdown. I say to leaders, ‘either you create the change, or it will create you.’ This is going to be so critical to navigate successfully out of this pandemic.
- Don’t have time to think properly
The main barrier to creativity and innovation is, “having the time to think properly.” When I ask the question where your best ideas come from, I hear, “out for a walk, in the bath, falling asleep.” Thomas Eddison, proved the importance of taking quality time, being silent, slowing the mind and tapping into our subconscious to get the best ideas.
This is the first step to think differently, expand your imagination to create new ideas and sustain your business. Entrepreneurs need to strengthen their ability to find new ways, otherwise they won’t survive in the ‘new norm.’ Our own expertise and experience create one of the biggest challenges to thinking differently. Success to date has come from years of experience doing the same things. But some of these habits and expertise are exactly what will need to be changed to succeed in the future. In the ‘new normal’ the old way of doing things won’t necessarily work anymore. So, it’s critical to develop an imaginative ability within yourself and your business. A coach will help you think of different ideas and see things from other perspectives to create solutions to the new challenges you will face.
- Loneliness
Loneliness is one of the biggest challenges for business owners. As a leader there is no one you can be 100% totally honest and authentic with except for a coach. With your board or clients, you have to put on your best performance and with your team you need to remain in control, calm and inspirational. With your family and friends, you don’t want to be honest with your problems and challenges as you could worry them. With your coach, you can be 100% honest and bring your whole self, both work and personal to the conversation. This truly has a phenomenal impact on both your performance, business success and quality of life outside work.
- You find it hard to stay on track
This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. Many entrepreneurs find it easy coming up with great ideas, in fact they have so many that it is choosing one is the hardest part. But staying on track and committed until delivery is a huge challenge. Now there are so many moving parts and new solutions to be created and it’s very tough to keep the momentum up yourself. Just like getting fit, it’s much easier when you have a personal trainer to keep on track. Although entrepreneurs are highly motivated and disciplined, they are only human. It’s much easier to slip back into old ways of doing things, than to break habits and continue with the new ways. I know from my experience having my own leadership coaches, they will help you stay on track and achieve more quickly the goals you set out from the beginning.
You can contact Cara @ [email protected] or visit www.caramacklin.com.