Having spoken with Karla, Abby and Dana, it was clear that they were very capable women, each with a great business idea. It was also clear they needed to know the difference between a Coach and a Mentor. As a Coach, my role is help them learn enough about themselves to help them develop "personal mastery" and to transfer some basic skills so they could continue to grow into successful business people by also knowing themselves better and asking the right questions:
- How do they like to make decisions and why?
- What are their preferred styles of leadership?
- When do they need to listen to their inner voice and when do they need to seek advice?
- Who can they turn to when they need support?
- Why is their "personal mastery" a vital key to their individual success?
Being an Executive Coach as well as a successful business consultant in two of the world's largest firms, CSC and Accenture, where I managed 859 people on three continents, I learned that at the root of every business success was a leader who took the time to learn about themselves. We call this discovering your inner strength.
Step 1
My first job as a Coach (not just a Mentor -- or someone who tells you how they did it and how they were a success) was to provide each of the winners with a personal profile to help them understand themselves well enough to be able to ask the right questions and to increase their awareness about who they were as decision makers and leaders.
If you are interested in a personal profile you can certainly take mine by going to www.h2cleadership.com, but you may also go to the American Psychological Association website and looking at all the profiling tools available. Most companies who have your best interests at heart and want to help you bring the best of your skills to the workplace will have you take a personal profile assessment at some time in your career. These are not used for hiring or firing but for helping "apply your strengths" on the job. Many of these tools are also available in management and leadership books you may have on your shelf.
Here are some examples and places to get a personal profile or assessment tool:
www.authentichappiness.com offers a list of free tools to assess happiness as well as personal style which can also be found in their book: Authentic Happiness, by Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD.
www.truenorthleadership.com offers a host of tools and assessments on leadership style and emotional intelligence both on their site and in their book, The Leaders Playbook by R.Nadler, Ph.D.
Step 2
To learn more about coaching and personal style for business success you can go to the Internet or your local library for these books on the subject of coaching and performance.
Personal and Executive Coaching: The Complete Guide for Mental Health Professionals by Jeffrey E. Auerbach, PhD.
Coaching for Performance: Growing People, Performance and Purpose by John Whitmore.
The Psychologists Book of Self Tests: 25 Love, Sex, Intelligence, Career and Personality Tests Developed to Reveal The Real You by Louisa Janda, Ph.D.
The Power of Self Coaching: The Five Essential Steps to Creating The Life You Want By Joseph J. Luciani, Ph.D.
What Happy Women Know: How Findings in Positive Psychology Can Change Women's Lives for the Better, by D. Baker, PhD. and Cathy L. Greenberg, PhD.
All of these books are easy to read and are readily available at Amazon as well.
By tooling yourself with information about "you" and how your style impacts others through buidling your "emotional intelligence" you can increase both your life satisfaction and your job effectiveness by more than 50% in just one session.
Step 3
Happiness is a critical factor and a key to success both personally and professionally. When your talents and skills are matched to your role and your responsibility, your happiness and satisfaction on the job increases. When you are delivering on your "talents" through the role you have in the job you are in your happiness increases by as much as 93%. Research just released in 2008 shows that there is a .89% correlation between optimism and leadership success. At h2c, LLC we believe that the bottom line on personal profiles and success is "Happiness=Profit"!
When we combine Steps 1, 2 and 3 we can begin to see why self knowledge and having a personal executive coach can make all the difference in being a "happy leader" who is successful. That's my job and I love it! So join in and take the challenge to learn about yourself on the journey to being a successful business owner, business leader or entrepreneur....your success is tied to your ability to develop "personal mastery" where the new science of happiness can make a dramatic difference in your long term success. Stay tuned. As I help our Seeds For Success Winners develop their plans for personal success, I will continue to share insights with you as well.
