Our Approach
Whatever the situation, we are sharply focused on our client’s success. Our advice will be candid, and always constructive.
The principles which underpin all our work with clients are:
Coaching must build on existing strengths, rather than an ‘image-made’, approach.
It must be easy to remember and execute, in order to endure.
Coaching content should be client-focused; it should reflect what reality actually looks like for any particular client.
Building on existing strengths
We come from the unique standpoint that our clients have to be good communicators already, otherwise they wouldn’t be in the jobs that they are. In fact, when relaxed and confident is when most people are at their best – they are easy to listen to.
We reject much of the conventional wisdom on communications coaching. The price of learned techniques such as: forced smiles, clever sales closes, hand gestures (such as the thumb point), and changing the intonation of the voice, is authenticity. In the sophisticated environment in which many of our clients operate, this is indispensable.
If you look at things from a listener’s perspective, actually many of those changes are just cosmetic. After all, people don’t come to a results presentation or competitive pitch to be entertained. Actually, presenting in you own conversational style is what makes it easy for people to get an accurate impression of your genuine self. It is also the easiest way to listen – and thus allows you to capture and maintain attention.
We show clients what makes up their own, conversational style, and give them communications ‘tools’ to put this into action, under pressure.
Enduring change
Some of the coaching we ask clients to consider is counter-intuitive, and some requires discipline. That means it’s critical to do everything we can to help it stay with them after coaching is complete.
To make that happen, we structure the delivery of coaching over a longer time period, to let clients digest what they have learned, and to give them an opportunity to practise between sessions.
We also make sure that we provide the opportunity for clients to refresh what they have learned in their own time, when they need it. That comes in the form of physical aide-memoires, and online personalized solutions.
Finally, what we do is dead simple. The tools and thought-processes we teach clients are easy to use and remember; they should not distract you from the content of your meeting or presentation. The ‘rocket science’ comes in how you choose to apply what you have learned.
Client-focused content
It’s important when we work with clients for us to understand what reality looks like for them as quickly as we can. Typically that comes from a mix of existing experience, and what we discover before we begin coaching.
Time is invaluable for most clients, so before we start using it we’ll do as much background work as we can, and fine-tune the advice we give to be as relevant as we can. Much of the materials we use and coaching content we produce will be made specifically for each client.
Coaching is a two way process: we learn from our clients to shape the advice we give.
