Results are merely souvenirs of great endeavor!

Posted on December 3, 2012 by pdncoach

No one knows you and your business better than you do. So if you want someone to show you how to run your business, hire a consultant. They are everywhere.

No one knows your work better than you do. If you need someone to teach you, hire a trainer. They are everywhere.

Yet even your highly refined ability to see what is needed is limited by your own assumptions and beliefs. Who do call on to expose your assumptions and help you and your team work through the challenges you now face? Who do you know that is an expert at asking the tough questions you either fail to ask, or fail to adequately answer when the success of your work depends on it?

The greatest creations in any field require action by people who move the endeavor forward. Everyone gets excited over the results, but the process is where the genius of endeavor occurs. That’s where the right questions get asked; once people have answers they move on to bigger questions.

The final result is a souvenir. 
Once people achieve a result, they’re ready to move on.  Those souvenirs are what I call IRs.  Everyone – every business, team or individual that I meet – is looking for Improved Results of some kind.  Some are ready to take action. How about you? What kind of IR do you want? What would your business look like if you:

  • Had more time to focus on new goals and opportunities?
  • Increased sales?
  • Increased loyal employees?
  • Increased loyal customers?
  • Had more productive meetings?
  • Reduced customer complaints?
  • Reduced internal conflicts?
  • Reduced turnover?
  • Expanded?
  • Made better use of your limited time and resources?
  • Had more time free from work?
  • Could get past the challenges you now face?
  • Achieved more of your goals more often?

What is your great endeavor? 
Chances are you don’t need someone to show you how to run your business. You don’t need someone to teach you how to do your job. You need someone to ask you the right questions, test the limitations of your own assumptions and beliefs, so that you and your business reach your greater potential. You need a coach.

Why would an already successful person, team or business seek the services of a coach?  Why do so many professionals focused on performance hire coaches, from athletes to artists to business executives? Why do so many people already in top positions demand an executive coach as part of their benefits package?


Why would you hire a coach?
Because you know from experience that even your highly refined ability to see what is needed is limited by your own assumptions and beliefs.

  • A highly effective coach helps you see what you’re not already seeing.
  • A highly effective coach asks you questions that you cannot always answer right away, questions that require hard thinking, questions that test your assumptions, reveal possibilities and lead to right action that you might not otherwise have conceived.
  • That is why successful people hire coaches for themselves, and to develop leaders and teams within their organizations, and to facilitate strategic thinking and planning for their organizations.

So why not you? If you want someone else’s answers, hire a consultant or trainer.  If you want to be answering the right questions, hire a coach.

NOTE: Want to hire PDNcoach? We make it simple: We Coach. You Get Results.®
Owner Mark Sturgell is a Certified Business Coach with nearly 20 years of helping people and organizations get from where they are to where they really want to be. 

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in assumptions, belief, business consultant, coaching, continuous improvement, results, souvenirs, training, why hire a coach | Leave a comment

Your Potential Matters

Posted on September 11, 2012 by pdncoach

Are you familiar with the equation E = MC2?

Albert Einstein is perhaps the most famous scientist of the 20th century. One of his most recognizable accomplishments is the formula E = MC2, or the now well-known “Theory of Relativity“.  
Despite its familiarity, many people don’t really understand what it means. I am no physicist, by any stretch. But Einstein’s equation holds some meaning for me. I hope this explanation will help you, as well, even if it won’t get you an “A” in physics!

One of Einstein’s great insights was to realize that matter and energy are really different forms of the same thing. Matter can be turned into energy, and energy into matter.

Now I have learned the fascinating fact that each of us is made up of billions upon billions of pieces of matter. None of these nanoscopic pieces of matter (smaller than atoms) are alive, yet somehow when they are put all together they make YOU…and well, of course YOU are alive.

Because you are a collection of so much matter – and you matter so much — you also have an enormous amount of POTENTIAL ENERGY (remember that matter can be turned into energy and energy into matter).

POTENTIAL is a key word here, you see, because even Einstein — considered to be one of the greatest minds of the 20th Century — believed that he used only about 10 percent of his potential! Yet that potential – that amount of released energy — gave his life MEANING!


I believe that if Einstein was only using about 10% of his potential on a regular basis, then it’s doubtful anyone else uses their full potential either.

But using MORE of your potential IS possible and…in fact, tapping into hidden potential is the key to success! The more of your potential you use, the more potential you create.

Believe it or not, you can use more of your potential, regardless of your circumstances. In fact, using more potential and, therefore, creating more potential is the outcome of coaching.
Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in coaching, E = MC2, Einstein, energy, matter, potential | Leave a comment

How do you engage others in your cause?

Posted on July 11, 2012 by pdncoach

I am reminded of the board of directors for a quite successful non-profit with whom I worked recently. They had a well-crafted strategic plan, including a vision and mission that was serving them well, even though they called me in to review it – to help them “bring it back to life”.

When I asked the simple question, “Why do you exist?”, they were stunned.  They realized quickly that they were ill-prepared to enlist others in their cause.

Uninspiring – Don’ts
I find that most people, and most organizations, have a pretty firm grasp of “What?” they do, and even “How?” they do it. Far too few know “Why?” they do. They fail to grasp, let alone articulate their purpose, their reason for existence, indeed, their CAUSE. As I work with individuals, teams and organizations, this reversal of interests is quite common, even epidemic.

Too often we try to sell people on our cause without even engaging them in that cause; we start with our answer to the questions, in this order, “What do I/we do?“, then “How do I/we do it?“, then — maybe, if ever we get to it — “Why?“.

This explains why some people, teams and organizations are able to inspire and others are not. OK, so that’s my “don’t”.

Why do we exist? – Do’s
Set aside that nagging question of “What do I (or we) want to be when I (we) grow up?” Ask the right questions:

  • Why do we want what we want? 
  • Why do we exist? 
  • What is our purpose? 
  • Why do I want to get out of bed in the morning? 
  • What ideal or idea that may seem just beyond my grasp drives me to action? 
  • How will my life, and the world I live in, be different because I have the courage to take action on the thing that is most important to me now?

Get me to listen and understand your CAUSE as you describe it in this way, and I’ll be interested in what you do and how you do it. Most importantly, I will know whether I want to support you or even engage in your cause with my discretionary behavior, time and money. WHY do I want WHAT I want? Don’t get it backwards – most do.

That’s why my promise – my CAUSE – is that I will help people understand and articulate their purpose as readily as they do their name, address and telephone number. Or as I typically put my CAUSE:

“I help people with dreams become leaders with vision and purpose who add value through their relationships.”

SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE WORD
I have another CAUSE, while I’m at it. I am the father of three sons: the two oldest boys are hockey players; the youngest one is a gold medal equestrian in Special Olympics. I hate to see any of them hurt, and some words hurt as deeply as other words can lift people up. So why not just lift people up? Please take a few minutes more (less than three!) to watch this important message.

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in #therightquestions, Cause, Purpose, spread the word, strategic planning | Leave a comment