Coaching in Commercial Awareness

If you are in the job market or considering changing your job/career you need to be aware that commercial awareness is a sought after skillset.

Commercial awareness is up there with Leadership on the list of sought after skills within businesses and organisations.

This means that businesses hire individuals with a track record of sales beating targets, budgetary control and acting positively on customer feedback. Demonstrating specific examples of where you have done that and presenting this well is key.

This also means that organisations need to ensure that their performance management process includes organisation specific key performance indicators (KPIs) and targets.

Commercial awareness also means developing leaders to retain good people through engagement and development activities, since lower turnover organisations are almost always the most profitable and productive.

If you are thinking that this is only relevant to the private, commercial sector then think again. The need for commercial/business acumen or an eye on the money and profitability, transcends sectors now with every organisation required to achieve and meet financial metrics and KPIs.

Managing talent properly, to this end, is key. as is workforce planning to ensure the right numbers of people with the right skills, right placement and of course role clarity. All of these elements are relevant to the bottom line.

The CIPD [The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development] defines business acumen as "understanding your organisation, the commercial context and the wider world of work....using  commercial mindset and enabling change to create value", a core behaviour on its Profession Map.

So what does business/commercial acumen look like so we can develop it? Contributing to financial success whilst delivering well for customers, through an increasingly digitalised territory, is a good place to start.

This does not mean that you need to talk numbers with the same degree of fluency as the average Chief Financial Officer/Director of Finance but it does mean that all of management need to have commercial awareness. For most organisations the people cost is the largest controllable cost so managing that properly will have a profound effect.

Also from a customer perspective people skills and the effort that you put into customer relationships make the most profound difference to the quality of goods and services people receive.

Think about what levers you can pull to achieve your business/organisation's ambitions. To do this you need to understand the business strategy and model of the organisation. What relevant data is available to you?

Coaching leaders in these areas is a no brainer in that it will improve results in all areas including cost reduction, productivity and profitability.

Think about the areas where value is created in your business. For example the cost benefits of certain technology, best practice people management and financial control. Aim to focus on these areas. Business today is about three key areas - money, people and technology.

If you are interested in using professional coaching to make changes please get in touch at enquiries@westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk or telephoning 01761 237400.

Best Self Better Results

If you want to work towards being your best self and achieve your best results yet, then this blog is for you.

I am an experienced professional executive coach who specialises in individual improvement using an eclectic range of tools from psychology including Neuro Linguistic Programming, Solutions Focused Coaching and Mindfulness. The people that I coach achieve the results that they want.

We all need to coach ourselves if we are to achieve our best self best results yet. This is because you know yourself better than anyone and this foundation approach is a must even if you decide to recruit a professional coach to help you. This will help you to achieve results on a consistent and ongoing basis.

So how do I coach myself? In this blog I share with you some of the daily habits that I do, aside from having regular professional coaching myself.

Each year, in January, I ask myself what my best self would look, sound and feel like twelve months from now. Using the senses is a powerful way to bring my vision to life. The answers serve as qualitative data and information about what will be happening a year from now when my vision is achieved. A year is a good timescale to work with as research shows that this is an optimal time for our brains to handle.

For me, as a kinaesthetic person, I write this out as a story. If you are more of a visual thinker you might draw a picture or assemble a collage of you and your life a year from now.

Again research shows that once we are clear about the 'end in mind' (begin with the end in mind is one of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Effective People) the mind looks for all of the options and ways that we might achieve that end in mind.

My advice would be to start making notes on what comes up for you once you have your vision. You can turn these options into an action plan over say a month. I would advise that you take baby steps so that you feel that the actions are achievable and are therefore more likely to do them.

If you would like some help to get crystal clear on your direction and outcome as well as help in getting there, please get in touch via enquiries@westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk. All coaching starts with a complimentary consultation. Following this meeting sessions can take place face to face or remotely.

2018 Goals

If you have set your goals for 2018 and are struggling to get going or keep going this blog is for you.

It is completely normal to start a new year with new goals covering aspects of your life you want to change.

It is also completely normal to struggle to get going and even more normal to struggle to keep going!

My idea is that you use your character strengths to get motivated.

For example, if a character strength of yours is love of learning, think about what you knowledge and opportunities you will gain from your mastering Italian.

Or if you are a creative person, what novel ways you can think of to overcome a barrier in the way of you completing a goal, such as being promoted or moving into a new career this year.

You can even develop new character strengths through moving forwards with your goals. For example, if your goals is to eat healthily during the week, you could work on building your character strength of self-regulation. That is being disciplined and controlling your appetites and emotions with regards to food.

Let us know how you get on by e mailing us as enquiries@westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk. For all of your personal and professional development support needs please visit www.westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk

Are you in the right career?

If you have a feeling or even a pattern of thoughts about being in  the wrong career then this blog is for you.

In my experience the most typical reason for your thoughts and/or feelings is due to the lack of congruence between your values and those of the work that you are doing. You may interpret this as a lack of job satisfaction or not enjoying your work content.

Just now I was talking to a client on an initial complimentary call to discuss her career needs now. This individual soon alerted herself to her 'family values' background and how these were at odds with her current 'sales' focused role. We are going to be working on identifying her work values as part of a career transition diagnostic that starts with a blank sheet of paper!

What are your values? What is important to you at work and in life? Remember that you bring your whole self to work so whole life values will impact your work and what you think and/or feel about it.

I suggest that you start by reflecting on your values. If you require help with this or any other career support please get in touch on 01761 237400 or through enquiries@westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk