For any organism to survive and thrive, its rate of adapting has to be equal to, or greater than, the rate of change in its environment – i.e. A ≥ C. This applies regardless of whether that organism is a single celled bacteria, an individual person or a multinational corporation.
Since 2000, this equation has been the central subject of my professional work. People have sought my partnership to assist them adapt to change.
Sometimes people have come with a pro-active orientation towards a change they can anticipate is coming or they wish to cause.
Other times they come to nLIVEn amidst a period of major change – either by their own hand or another.
However, most often change creeps up on people and catches them by surprise.
The initial part of our work together has involved clarifying what kind of changes they most want to make. Broadly speaking, their aspirations can be classified under four headings or areas, which I call The Four Habitats, that I wrote about in an earlier article.
The following list of 100+ kinds of transformational changes is a sample of what people have been seeking assistance with from nLIVEn, since 2000.
A. Personal Changes / Aspirations
- Improve health / wellbeing (diet and exercise)
- Lose weight
- Reduce stress
- Improve sleep
- Get fit
- Achieve a personal goal: run a marathon, join a band, learn to dance
- Reduce or eliminate medication (particularly blood pressure and cholesterol)
- Move on from the loss of a loved one (divorce, death of a partner / parent / child)
- Take more / longer holidays
- Plan and take a sabbatical / cultural immersion program
- Design / build / renovate / buy their dream home
- Buy a beach or country property
- Develop a new hobby / interest
- Improve their relationship / find love / companionship
- Create inner peace and calm
- Become a parent
- Plan life in retirement / semi-retirement
- Relocate to a different city / country for a lifestyle change
- Preparing and executing a will and power of attorney
- Planning a special event or occasion
- Identify an organization you want to support (via volunteering or donating money)
- Start writing a regular blog
- Write and publish a fiction book
- Migrate to a 4-day workweek
- Create better work-life balance
B. Professional Changes / Aspirations
- Wealth creation – e.g. buy a property, setup a share portfolio / self-managed superannuation / retirement fund
- Get more organized to achieve more whilst reducing working hours and increasing personal time
- Improve their project management skills
- Re-invention: redesign the business / field they are in and make a successful transition
- Personal branding: understand, articulate, develop and express their distinct individual style
- Developing a transition to retirement financial plan
- Restructure their financial affairs to reduce risk and minimize tax
- Secure new opportunities: connections, introductions, speaking opportunities, board roles
- Become the chairman of a board
- Relocate overseas to gain international work experience
- Design and take a professional working sabbatical in a different field
- Develop, expand and improve the quality of their network
- Develop executive management skills – e.g public speaking, media skills, conflict resolution, negotiation
- Become a professional investor
- Develop and document a career development plan
- Change / engage a new team member: accountant, financial planner, lawyer, virtual assistant, etc
- Embrace and integrate a new technology into their life: iPhone, Apps, software
- Win an award / recognition
- Get interviews / publicity to build their personal profile
- Write and publish a non-fiction book
- Decide which masters degree to pursue
- Upgrade their resume
- Get promoted to the CEO role
- Step down as a CEO
- Engage a sponsor/s (as well as coaches and mentors) to champion their professional progress / create opportunities
C. Organisational Changes / Aspirations
- Secure a Promotion – with your employer, with a competitor, within your industry, in a different industry
- Move sideways – with your employer, with a competitor, within your industry, in a different industry
- Start your own service firm
- Grow your service firm
- Downsize your service firm
- Go from selling services to selling products
- Start your own business (products)
- Buy a business
- Grow / develop your business (products)
- Internationalize your business
- Business acquisition
- Business merger
- Business capital raising
- Create a joint venture
- Business IPO
- Management buy-out
- Systematize or franchise your business
- Downsize your business
- Transform your business
- Succession from your business, including management buyouts
- Re-engineer the way your business makes and wastes stuff
- Apply for grants
- Win awards and industry recognition
- Migrate or introduce a new piece of software into their enterprise platform
- Establish or upgrade a professional board of directors
D. Global Changes / Aspirations
- Volunteer for a community organization
- Serve on the board / committee of a community organization
- Initiate humanitarian projects in third world countries
- Write and publish a thought leadership book
- Serve as a politician
- Serve on an industry association board
- Travel to / holiday to discover a new part of the world
- Take an extended cultural immersion program in another country
- Speak internationally at conferences
- Deliver a TED Talk
- Join a movement
- Develop and launch a podcast
- Become a mentor for people within your community
- Take on a leadership role within their religious community
- Become a patron of a community organisation
- Serve as a member of their school council / committee
- Create and implement a bucket list
- Establish a charity / charitable trust
- Do public speaking and advocacy work
- Get involved in a local community project
- Find a community leader and support them
- Become a regular carer for a grandchild
- Make peace with a former life / business partner
- Coach a local sports team
- Attend the Olympics and help celebrate sport
The above lists are not intended to be exhaustive but rather a guide to the diversity of goals and objectives different people bring to personal and business coaching programs.
If you are new to coaching, the above lists may help you expand your imagination and understanding of how coaching can remain relevant over a longer-term period, of ten years and beyond.
Remember, successful tennis players don’t abandon their coach once they make it to Wimbledon – they continue to add additional specialty advisers to their team to strengthen and augment how they consistently leverage their best performance.
To help you get started, deciding on what to focus on, take seven minutes to watch the following video, an animated book review of The One Thing by Gary Keller:
Resources
Video: Animated book review “The One Thing” by Gary Keller
Book: “The One Thing” by Gary Keller
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Aug 2016