The Coach Potatoes
A good coach will make people see what they can be, rather than what they are.Archive for Public Musings
Encouragement and support
I recently read an interview with Fernando Torres about his time to date at Liverpool. One of his comments about playing at Anfield and in front of the Kop really stood out for me:
“With just 45,000 fans there, that roar they give makes you think you have wings on your feet.”
Torres scored the winning goal for Spain in the final of the 2008 European Football Championship, and is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest strikers (if not THE best! 🙂 ) He was made Club Captain at the age of 19 at his previous club, Atletico Madrid, so we are not talking about a guy you think might be lacking in confidence and self belief.
Which makes his comments about the roar at Anfield and the effect it has on him all the more interesting. He clearly believes that the encouragement and support he receives from the Liverpool fans helps him raise his game and produce that extra level of performance.
This is someone who is already at the top of their game, and they still feel that encouragement can help further improve them. Just how much of an impact can we have on our family, friends and colleagues if we vocalise our support and belief in them on a regular basis?
Too often we seem to operate on the basis of finding things wrong, telling people what they need to do better.
In the various roles we have in life, Manager, Mother, Father, Friend, Colleague etc, how often do we take time out to tell someone we care about, that we believe in them, that we value them?
It works for Torres, why can’t it work for them?
To finish on Torres, here’s one of my favourite ads:
Improving career prospects…
A recent survey of 2,000 adults by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) found that while over half (57%) of workers are concerned about their jobs as a result of the economic downturn, a similar proportion (51%) said they would focus on training to improve their career prospects and job security.
Chris Banks, chairman of the LSC, said learning a new skill was crucial to weathering the economic storm.
He explained that it was true that learning new skills and retraining can lead to a refreshing career change, but it’s also important to realise that employees with transferable skills are often seen as the biggest assets to employers.
Banks went on to say that a small investment in learning new skills will make anyone better prepared to tackle any eventuality, particularly in a tough economy.
According to the survey, the top three skills employees wanted to learn or refresh were communication, IT and literacy (32%), problem solving (26%) and self-management (22%).
Do you Twitter?
follow Coach Potatoes on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/coachpotatoes
We can also be found on Squidoo!
The Benefits of Coaching
A recent study by the International Coach Federation revealed the following benefits of coaching were reported by individuals:
Increased self-awareness 68%
Better goal-setting 62%
More balanced life 61%
Lower stress levels 57%
Enhanced self-discovery 53%
Increased confidence 52%
Improved quality of life 43%
Enhanced communication skills 40%
Increased project completion 36%
Improved health or fitness level 34%
Better relationship with co-workers 33%
Better family relationships 33%
Inspirational figures
It’s not a sin to get knocked down; it’s a sin to stay down.
— Carl M. Brashear
Master Chief Brashear was the first African-American US Master Diver.
Brashear faced an uphill battle when he joined the Navy in 1948 at the age of 17, not long after the U.S. military desegregated.
“I went to the Army office, and they weren’t too friendly. But the Navy recruiter was a lot nicer. Looking back, I was placed in my calling.”
Brashear quickly decided after boot camp that he wanted to become a deep-sea diver.
“Growing up on a farm in Kentucky, I always dreamed of doing something challenging,” he said. “When I saw the divers for the first time, I knew it was just what I wanted.”
In 1954, he was accepted and graduated from the diving program, despite daily battles with discrimination.
“Hate notes were left on my bunk,” he said. “They didn’t want me to make it through the program.”
Brashear retired from the Navy in 1979 after more than 30 years of service. He was the first Navy diver to be restored to full active duty as an amputee, the result of a leg injury he sustained during a salvage operation to recover a bomb from the sea bed..
During the mission, Brashear was struck below his left knee by a pipe that the crew was using to hoist the bomb out of the water. Brashear was airlifted to a naval hospital where the bottom of his left leg was amputated to avoid gangrene. It later was replaced with a prosthetic leg.
The Navy was ready to retire Brashear from active duty, but he soon began a grueling training program that included diving and running.
“Sometimes I would come back from a run, and my artificial leg would have a puddle of blood from my stump. I wouldn’t go to sick bay because they would have taken me out of the program,” Brashear said “Instead, I’d go hide somewhere and soak my leg in a bucket of hot water with salt in it — that’s an old remedy I learned growing up.”
After completing 600-foot to 1,000-foot-deep dives while being evaluated for five weeks at the Experimental Diving Unit in Washington, D.C., Brashear became a master diver in 1970.
Superior customer service….
There are 3 supermarkets within 6 miles of my house, one 6 miles away, one 5 miles away and one 2 miles away.
This morning I made the mistake of visiting the one nearest me. I like shopping for food, I find it quite relaxing (during the week anyway), but I hate shopping in the nearest one to me. I find the aisles too narrow, the selection isn’t as good as the other 2, the staff are miserable, items are often priced incorrectly, but it is relatively cheap and it is convenient to go there when you only need a few items.
So I went in about 9am to grab a few things as I didn’t have much time as I needed to get to a few meetings I had lined up for late morning. As usual the narrow aisles were full of pallets and trolleys as the staff stocked the shelves, why this can’t be done before the customers arrive I will never know. Still, I got on with it and put a couple of items in my basket before heading to the tills.
This supermarket has about 25 tills, I’ve never seen them all open, but this morning they had excelled themselves by having 3 open. Customers were 8-10 deep at each till, and there was a variety of staff wandering around. I asked one of them if it was possible to open more tills. She couldn’t possibly help and suggested I asked the manager.
So I did.
“I don’t have enough staff for that”, he replied before turning on his heel and walking away.
It’s great to see superior customer service is thriving and well in supermarket land.
Pricing your services
Worried about what price to charge for your services?
Legend has it that Picasso was sitting in a cafe in Paris enjoying a coffee and sketching on his pad when a lady spotted him. She came over and introduced herself and told him what an honour it was to meet him. She asked him if he would sketch a picture of her and that she would naturally pay him for doing so.
He agreed and set about creating a picture for her. The lady was delighted with his work and sat there proudly looking at an original Picasso sketch. “How much shall pay you?”, she asked.
“5,000 Francs”, came the reply.
“But it only took you three minutes” she politely replied.
“No, it’s taken me a lifetime” Picasso replied.
Experience has value
Another urban myth:
A machine in a factory has malfunctioned, and the engineers on site can’t find the source of the problem.
So they call on a retired worker who had spent a long time working with the machine. He comes in, walks up to the machine, looks at it for a minute, pulls out a piece of chalk and draws a circle around the screw that needs to be tightened.
He then writes them a bill for $5000.
“$5000, that’s ridiculous, all you did was draw a circle around a screw!”
So he writes them a new bill:
– drawing a circle around a screw: $1.
– knowing where to draw it: $4999.
People will pay for the value of what you can supply them with
What’s in a name part II
So, I’ve been getting some feedback on which name I should use for a coaching company that is geared to the world of business. I want something that is memorable first and foremost, but it also needs to be something that will have universal appeal and will be taken seriously…..
I’ve been using The Coach Potatoes for the blog, whilst I get everything up and running. This name seems to produce a marmite moment, so certainly appears to fail the second criteria and therefore probably the third. Therefore I think this will fall by the wayside, although I might keep it as a general blog.
Here are the other names I have considered so far:
1) The Coach Doctor – suggests you are dealing with problems?
2) The Coach Surgery – as above
3) The Coach Business – seems to be popular amongst the business people canvassed to date. :-0
4) Brilliant Coaching – hmmm
5) The Community Coach – not business oriented?
6) The Flexible Coach – ???
7) The Coaching Mentor -???
8] The Business Zone -???
9)The HR Coach – a bit restrictive?
10) I need a coach – hmmmm, perhaps not.
11) Business Coach House – ???
12) Improve Coaching – ???
3,6 and 11 seem to be the most popular so far – any thoughts? 🙂
The Coach Potatoes 