By Brendan Taylor

I recently watched a speech by Atul Gawande about a new trend of coaching in his field as a surgeon.

It previously went like this. You go to school, study, learn, practice, graduate and then work. Any improvement from that point is from experience.

But… “How do you get better at what you do?”

Approach 1

He concluded that some people are capable of managing their own improvement.

“Make your way on your own”. It can work!

Approach 2

The contrasting view comes from the sport analogy

You are never done
Everybody needs a coach
Everyone
Even the greatest

Atul had an epiphany.

Somewhere along the way, he’d stopped improving:

“I’m not getting better anymore. Is this as good as I’m going to get?”

So, he tried the coach approach for himself, in his field.

He paid a colleague to come in, observe, critique, advise, instruct and suggest improvements. The results were surprising.

A coach observes:

They are your external eyes and ears
See what you cannot see
Paint a more accurate picture of your reality
Break your actions down and build back up again
Bring a whole other level of awareness

However there can be problems along the way.

It can be:

Painful
Confronting
Could get worse before you get better
Creates a bit of doubt

But the end result was a significant improvement in Atul’s skills and the beneficiaries of that are his patients.

This got me thinking…

Wouldn’t it be great if our business clients could get a coach:

Someone who could observe them at work
Someone who can identify their strengths and weaknesses
Someone who can see their method of communication
Someone who can provide, from the outside, an accurate picture of their reality that they can’t see because their head is always in the game

Then it occurred to me - that should be us….. your accountant.

For some of our clients, in many ways, we are their eyes and ears. The outside observer.

Business people are largely, otherwise, on their own:

Making their own way
Making decisions
Making judgements
Sometimes mistakes
Sometimes aware of those mistakes and sometimes not

Imagine if you had a coach who had worked with over 150 businesses for over 20 years.

That’s a tidy bit of experience.

The knowledge gained during that time would have to be useful, if it was accessible to the business person making their own way on their own.

Think about what your accountant has seen in that time.

Employment
Sales
Marketing
Finance
Conflict
Negotiation
Good times
Tough times

I acknowledge that we don’t know your business like your know your business.

But we are the objective observer. Without the same level of emotional attachment to the business, that can cloud judgement.

So a business coach? – that’s an interesting idea.

Think about it.

‘It’s not about how great you are, it’s about how great you’re going to be…’

MSWA Albany Swim

Support MS Swim-a-thon Albany on 24 February 2018 by making a donation to our team of fundraisers https://mswaswim.org.au/champion/albany-2018/LincolnsLappers

We have again put together a team of 10 called Lincolns Lappers. We will be swimming for 8 hours to raise funds to help local people cope with everyday life while living with MS.

MS is a debilitating disease that affects people of all ages. They have various symptoms that affect their daily lives. There is no cure for MS – people with MS have to manage the symptoms the best they can.

It is a fantastic day to experience, you are welcome to come down and observe from the poolside as the day unfolds. Another opportunity for Lincolns to bond further as a team while contributing to the community.

Farm, Finance and Family - a free workshop

Want to be more efficient in your farming business? Lincolns is partnering with Agrimaster and Agricultural Consultant, Rod Grieve, to host 4 free workshop next week.

To register for a place and for more details, click the relevant workshop link below:

Albany on Tuesday 27 February
Jerramungup on Wednesday 28 February
Lake Grace on Thursday 1 March
Kojonup on Friday 2 March

Come along to learn ways to grow your business.

Agenda

10am-11am - The Magnificent 7
How to use Agrimaster features for efficiency

11am-12pm - How to manage risk in decision making
Managing risk with guest speaker Rod Grieve

12pm-12.45pm – Lunch
Light lunch provided

12.45pm-2.00pm - Around the Kitchen Table
Advice on family decision making with Lincolns

Yes coach