Listen to the Coach

When it comes to running a company, business acumen is essential, but it is not the only thing that makes for a success story.

John George found this out first hand after consulting a life coach to aid his personal growth.

Having kicked some major personal goals through the help of a coach, John decided to adopt a coaching culture among staff at his workplace.

He approached senior management and team players at his national business, Mrs Crocket's Kitchen which supplies to about 200 outlets on the Gold Coast.

Two years later, Mr George said his decision to implement a coach approach had contributed to a successful strategy that saw a huge growth in the business' productivity.

He started the company with his brother Phillip in 1987 and it has become one of Australia's largest supplier of freshly prepared bulk and pre-packaged salads and vegetables to the food service and retail market.

"The staff were skeptical at first but since they knew I'd already been a guinea pig, they thought why not give it a go. I now believe that some form of coaching has a place in every business" says John.

Staff attended a number of coaching skills workshops through the international Coaching Federation (ICF) which gave them the processes and models that they could easily adopt into their working environment.

"Coaching not only empowers people it gives them ownership of solutions. I found it helped in situations where my managers had issues and needed to get clear solutions that were best for the whole team," said John.

"For me personally, it was of great benefit to have an impartial sounding board to prompt you to push down the correct path and find the right solutions".

He says prior to working with Christine McDougall he had heard about coaching through a Fortune 500 article that featured the place coaching would have today and in the future for US companies.

After reading the article and I wanted to find out more.

He found that coaching is a people-oriented approach and helps a business deal better with people issues.

Business coach and ICF board member Christine McDougall said that up until about four years ago corporate coaching was a non-existent in Australia. A recent TMP Worldwide survey of 8000 Australian employees from a range of industries indicated that demand for coaching services among respondents exceeded 74 per cent.

"Companies are implementing coaching programs because they realise staff are a valuable commodity and if they look after them they will benefit all aspects of their business," she Ms McDougall. "To meet the growing demand in the business world literally hundreds of coaching companies are exploding into the global marketplace."

Robina-based Life Coaching Academy coaching director Marian Durrands, said companies strived for the competitive edge.

"Managers need to understand that people only bring a certain percentage of themselves to work and the key to raising the bottom line is by being beyond it, seeing beyond it and living beyond it through the establishment of a coaching conversation," she said.

In an effort to provide business with an insight into coach methodology Christine McDougall and Marian Durrands have joined forces to present a corporate-based Essential Coaching Skills one-day workshop.

The workshop is aimed at CEOs, general managers, human resource specialists, consultants, business owners, project managers and sales executives.

The next workshop on the Gold Coast will be held on January 19 at Coolangatta.

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