Today was day one of three days of Coaching paid by the company I currently share my week days with. I can’t begin to preach on how important this coaching is for the company to attain new heights.

I have sadly learned little material today as I have already attended similar seminars, but I feel some of my colleagues have learned a great deal!  What has sunken in today was greater than any lesson, I got to know the managers and team leaders I work with every day and had the chance to analyze them and understand how they tic.

More companies need to invest in such training or coaching. Hiring a Facilitator can help improve every day operations by as much as 40%(in my opinion) taking your company to new levels. Best of all, it’s a taxes deductible, costing the company little no nothing.

A facilator/mentor is not here to judge or change the way people work, but (t)here to make you aware of what other companies are currently doing. Most managers in small to medium sized businesses tend to stagnate because they have been employed by the same employer for so long often ten or more years.

I would like to highlight two positive theories, one of which I’ve mentioned on my blog earlier and the other which I have yet to bring up.

1. Listen (Elaborated during one of my earlier discussions)

It does not matter whom you’re having a conversation with, your wife, a colleague or your employee. Stop giving immediate advice, stop giving feedback on the fly and start listening to the people talking to you. Only then will you truly understand conflicts, issues and gather great ideas. Take a leap outside the box and look within, you will be astonished by your discoveries.

2. Managers / Team Leaders or should I say Influencers / Motivator

What is the difference? Well generally a Manager influences team leaders, they shine, connect(a blog post on its own) and moderate policies and procedures while a Team Leader successfully motivates people to follow these policies and procedures guiding them towards a common goal. Keep in mind that policies and Procedures should never be implemented without the consent of both managers and team leaders, both parties have to be convinced with the outcome.

Now what I’ve learned today may seem very basic, but if an Influensor can also motivate and if a Motivator can Influence, this alone will propel your department and company leap years ahead of the competition. There is no reason why a good Team Leader or a good Manager can’t become great with both sides of the spectrum. As my facilator highlighted today, for the next twenty-one days, if you’re right handed try brushing your teeth with your left hand or vis-versa. At first you will witness  a mess, but after twenty-one days you will witness improvement. Stop this practice before then and you will witness little to no change in your habit.

Eric