#icw2022

What is Innovation?

As defined in Managing Creativity and Innovation (Harvard Business Essentials, HBR Press, 2003, p. 2), ‘Innovation is the embodiment, combination, or synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services.’ It’s about fresh and helpful things that offer value, to put it another way. Being inventive in a way that provides value to the customer in whatever you do or how you do it is already innovation in our eyes. The customer could be internal or external — or even you!

Why innovation for Coaches?

To make innovation happen, you don’t have to be the innovator yourself, nor do you have to do it alone. You will likely collaborate with and require assistance from others in an organisational setting. You can act as a catalyst for innovation, doing whatever it takes to get things moving.

Driving the innovation process and making it happen include contributing to the creation of a culture that encourages idea development, deciding what to do with the ideas generated, and then putting them into action. When it comes to becoming a catalyst for idea development and driving innovation, the best place to start is with yourself – and making it nothing less than a purpose to do so.

Coaching Conversation Drives Innovation

What conclusion can be drawn from the story of the stone age? For me, I guess some people have a natural tendency to ask these kinds of questions, but they may not realise that this is coaching. Others may ask questions with greater awareness. Whatever the case may be, I believe it is safe to conclude that very little innovation would occur without the creative inquiry and production of various ideas that result from asking questions. So the point is that every coaching conversation drives innovation. Why??? Several elements go into while having a coaching conversation. Two of the most crucial are the use of strong questions and paying close attention to the replies to these questions.

Purpose-Driven Coaching

Everyone has the ability to make a positive difference. Purpose brings meaning to life. It gives you the kick to go the extra mile. People and organisations both benefit from having a sense of purpose. People and organisations with a strong sense of purpose can make a positive difference in the world.

Purpose-driven coaching allows you to wake up every day with a sense of purpose, knowing that your contribution is greater than what you accomplish. Not simply beating the clock or quitting an organisation, but your legacy takes priority over anything. It not only stays with you but transcends down to other people like the employees and colleagues in the sphere of influence.

Being purpose-driven indicates that you have an internal purpose for which you are aware of what you are doing, where you are heading, and who you are leading. This is where a coach helps you, they fill the gap from where you stand to where you want to be.

Principles To Achieve What We Value

This year in the International Coaching Week, Meryl Moritz will join us to explain how can we create a better world. These are a few principles according to her that can help us achieve what we value…

We should promote a purpose-oriented mindset to create a positive impact in the world.

We can imagine a better world and we solve the challenges to achieve it.

We can measure, incentivize and verify to ensure a lasting positive impact on people and the planet.

We can increase profitability by maximizing positive lasting impact.

We can increase the total wealth of the ecosystem through reciprocity.

We should adopt and promote an abundance mindset.

We should increase access to new and existing opportunities by embracing technology.

We should take purpose-driven decisions while being conscious that we are accountable to the global ecosystem.

We can execute concrete actions to improve our environment.

We should foster and encourage others to make them act to improve the world

Remember, problems must be handled by implementing one or more solutions in order to attain purpose-driven goals. You can achieve everything you set your mind to. Just follow a  goal-oriented mindset in order to make a positive difference in the world. Being conscious of and connecting our actions with the motivation that motivates us to behave is what a purpose-driven mentality entails. This encourages us to recognise issues and develop solutions that have a beneficial impact.

We can definitely visualise a better world and work to overcome the obstacles that stand in our way. Starting with our goals allows us to identify and comprehend the obstacles that must be overcome along the road. We seek out new approaches and welcome change in order to progress.

Coaches must hold the belief that post-traumatic growth is possible for our clients. How can we be catalysts for a reimagined future? By embodying a coaching mindset WHILE evoking awareness in our clients. A scenario, break-out rooms, and a written commitment to act will crystalize is the intent of this session. Register now.

Coaching and Sales: Are They Related?

What happens in a sales call? At its most basic level, a sales call is a conversation between a salesperson and a prospect about the purchase of a product or service.

This conversation navigates through a process where a salesperson  

     Understand the needs of the prospect

     Help them relate to the solution being offered through their own product/service.

     Overcome their objections

     Finally agree on the purchase

The key underlying factors that help in the success of this process is how well the prospect opens up and shares their needs/concerns which in turn means how good is the salesperson in helping raise awareness about the prospects’ own situation/needs and stimulate thinking. The Prospect’s willingness to open up and respond to the salesperson’s questions depend on the extent to which the salesperson built their trust with them in the interactions preceding the sales call.

Building trust, raising awareness, helping make a discovery, sounds similar?

Coaching: A Way To Do Authentic Selling

Once in a sales meeting, I had given my everything. The pitch was great, I had the hook but suddenly, I don’t know what happened but the client gave me a cold shoulder and refused to accept my proposal. That incident taught me the value of being good while sitting across the table from a client. In that instance, I learned that one must master the art of the client/prospect discussion to be exceptionally effective as a salesperson.

Sales is just not selling the product, it is about making the people happy. The ultimate secret of sales is to change the conversation away from a standard sales strategy and toward a process that blends the structure of consultative selling with the art of a coaching conversation. The basic goal of a successful salesperson is to add value to the buyers’ life by making them happy.

A coaching approach to sales is establishing a connection between a sales expert and a potential customer that fosters respect, safety, challenge, and accountability. This relationship pushes everyone involved to find the best solutions and co-create successful and profitable outcomes for both the sales professional and the prospect wherever possible. These beneficial outcomes frequently have a positive impact on both company and life.

Understanding Emotional Agility

We may have evolved to live in big houses and no longer need to hunt for a living, but emotions remain essential. They not only assist us in better understanding ourselves and others, but it also assists others in better understanding you. The goal is to help you become more aware of your emotions, learn to accept them, and then flourish by increasing your emotional agility. This will allow you to make peace with even the most difficult emotions, improve your ability to enjoy your relationships, achieve your goals, and live a life of purpose.

That, however, is only the ’emotional’ aspect of emotional agility. The ‘agility’ section focuses on your thought and behaviour processes – those mental and physical habits that can prevent you from prospering, particularly when, like the captain of the battleship, you react in the same obstinate way to new or different situations.

So, what exactly is emotional agility? Emotional Agility is a process that helps us to be present in the moment, modifying or maintaining our actions in order to live in ways that are consistent with our goals and values. Emotional agility involves loosening up, calming down, and living more purposefully. It’s all about deciding how you’ll handle your emotional alarm system.

Emotional agility has been found to help people with a variety of issues, including negative self-image, heartbreak, physical pain, anxiety, depression, procrastination, difficult transitions, and more, by bridging the gap between how they feel and what they do about those feelings. However, emotional agility isn’t just useful for persons dealing with personal problems. It also draws on a variety of psychological disciplines to investigate the qualities of successful, thriving people.

Emotional Agility in Leadership Development

Isn’t it true that today there is a fixed standard for everything? Be it a car, a spa, or even a leader for instance. As leaders, we are always expected to maintain a stand but we must learn to connect with our true selves, accepting the messiness of our life experiences, both good and terrible. We can’t deny what we’re experiencing or how emotions affect us, and we can’t suppress those feelings.

This will allow us to connect with our authentic leadership and communication styles, allowing us to escape the trap of pretending to be someone we aren’t, which is unsustainable and often leads to mistrust. But emotionally agile leaders recognise that they set the tone for what is acceptable in their businesses in terms of emotional expression. They are able to express a wide range of emotions in suitable ways, allowing their employees to do the same. They give proper channels for emotional expression for their employees.

In this ICW 2022, we connect you, with Dan Newby, who has acted as a catalyst, to bring emotional agility to your coaching game. Join us in this session to learn:

The power of pairing emotions with intellect as a leader

Practical techniques for identifying and shifting emotions