I firmly believe that as an SME Business Owner, my emotional attachment and sense of responsibility towards my business is akin to that of my children. I am not alone. The positives are clear; We have a warm glow about our achievement and are passionate to see success for our offspring. The downsides may be less so; We may lack objectivity and consider planning as a form of ‘straight jacket.’ We may find it challenging to reflect and act on our responsibilities.
As a Senior Leader in my police career of 34 years, my Leadership was accountable to a wide range of stakeholders. To a large extent, ‘success’ was evaluated by those same stakeholders. I was personally responsible for my performance and that of those I had responsibility for. However, Policing was my profession and career. It was NOT my business. Achieve Success UK, however, is very much my business. I sought to reframe my experience, expertise and accredited skills in the Police for the benefit of SME Business Owners and Executives who are open to developing a coaching style of Leadership. The story of how I became accredited in this style of Leadership is told below:
In 1998, I was awarded an Executive Diploma in Leadership and Management. One module concerned ‘Coaching as a Leadership Style’. Such a style does not rely upon behaviours and a mindset such as ‘ Do this because I’m a higher rank than you’, ‘ Do this because I’m ordering you too’, or ‘This is how we do it here’. This could be described as the ‘Command and Control’ style of Leadership. It is still, remarkably, prevalent in the police in the UK.
A Coaching Style of Leadership depends upon achieving trust, rapport, and honesty between the participants of the dialogue. In our syndicate, were some 30 Inspectors. In the role play, I played the part of an Inspector; a colleague played the part of a poor performer who was reluctant to admit it. This person was a high performer who hated even pretending to be a poor performer! My focus was on the person sat opposite me, colleagues in the room faded in my peripheral vision. The scenario became real on many levels.
The power of the coaching style of Leadership in my view is the connectivity between two people. There is no bullying or overt display of authority; rather, a clear pathway of authentic mutual understanding. I achieved the desired result in the role play. My colleague’s feedback described how his responses produced the desired outcome. We both agreed that this was a powerful demonstration. I resolved to use and develop my coaching style of Leadership at every subsequent opportunity and did so. My expertise ensured authentic engagement and motivation of Teams, Departments, and Partner Organisations, in this corporate world.
I readily empathise and understand the challenges facing SME Business Owners. If Time is your enemy, make it your friend.
The challenge of holding ourselves accountable, can make objectively evaluating your business and where best to focus and enhance ‘the bottom line’ is one that can defeat us.
As a Business Coach, who has faced the challenges you face, I am honoured to be trusted with working with you to develop and grow ‘your baby’. What are the challenges that you face? How would it feel to be able to discuss what’s important to you, and then develop a plan that enables ‘your baby ‘ to reach its full potential?
Thank you for reading and reflecting on this article. Now do something about it by contacting me by your preferred means, to have an initial, scoping, conversation.
