Work Trends: Coaching at the Office for Mental Well-Being

Today there’s a lot of talk about mental health in the workplace. COVID has taken a measurable toll on people’s lives and their capacity to cope and remain resilient. Depression, fatigue, and loss productivity are only a few outcomes for those struggling to keep jobs, do more with less, parent, and work from home. How are people responding? Prescriptions for anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, and insomnia have increased by double digits.   

Medical intervention has its place, and companies should be applauded for offering Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and other counseling services through their benefits program. However, there’s less medically evasive solutions that can help workers not only to cope but find ways to thrive in the new normal. The best tool in the tool life kit may be coaching.

Many times, people don’t need a pill to calm their nerves, they need a coach to help them see a different picture: set a vision, strategize on options, develop a plan, learn new tools, adopt a different mindset, find support, and partner with them through the journey to the opposite side of the continuum of mental well-being. Many people already have the solution inside of themselves. They need a coach to help them untangle the thoughts into a well-conceived plan or share some tools that will make them the master of their lives.

I applaud those businesses that offer coaching to their employees as an alternative to medical intervention. If your company doesn’t offer free or nominal fee coaching, there’s nothing stopping you from hiring your own coach. Coaching isn’t therapy, it’s targeted support. Do you need a pill, or do you really need a coach?

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About the Author: Sandra Dillon is a professional life coach with an extensive background in leadership, sales, and business consulting. She has a passion to help people be the hero of their own life story. She administers assessments, designs, and facilitates workshops, and coaches individuals, teams, and businesses. You can learn more about Sandra or engage her as your coach by reaching out to her at coach.sandra.dillon@gmail.com or by visiting her website at www.shinecrossings.com

The Power of the Growth Mindset and Risk of Holding onto the Fixed

People talk about wanting more knowledge, additional talents, and greater personal strengths. They may also talk about working on their character, understanding their core values, and identifying their personality preferences. I bet rarely will you hear people express a desire to expand their “growth mindset”. You may wonder (1) what is a mindset and (2) why is it important to understand it. Because mindset can predict behavior and future results.

Have you ever been in a situation and asked yourself (1) how can he think that way or (2) why did she do that? No one intentionally chooses an illogical action or makes an illogical decision. Although there may be an untold number of factors, one contributing explanation could be a difference in mindset between you and the other person.

Your mindset is a reflection of your belief system. Think of mindset on a continuum, anchored on one end by “growth” and “fixed” on the other. Are there different areas of your life where you have a different mindset approach? Answer the questions below and self-assess where on the continuum you may fall today. 

The Growth Mindset

• I’m not discouraged by failure. In fact, identifying with failure isn’t difficult for me, because I think of it as learning.
• I have a passion for stretching myself and sticking with it even when things aren’t going well.
• I routinely take inventory of my strengths and weaknesses and aren’t afraid to acknowledge them to others.
• When I reflect on my setbacks, I turn them into future successes through perseverance and resilience.
• I get excited to see how I improve when I continue to press forward.
• I surround myself with people who are smarter than me, so I can learn from them.
• I love to be challenged and learn new things.
• I like hard problems.
• I readily admit when I’ve made a mistake.
• My failures don’t’ define me. I can always change if I choose to.
• I feel comfortable sharing my honest opinions, even when it’s not popular or part of the group think.
• I can easily forgive people.
• I prefer to be acknowledged for my commitment and effort rather than my results.
• I welcome coaching, because I want to improve.

The Fixed Mindset

• I look for opportunities to confirm my level of intelligence, character, and talents.
• I’m concerned whether people consider me successful.
• I strive to be accepted.
• I sometimes avoid situations where I believe I will fail and be judged.
• I believe talent is something people are born with. Practice can only improve talent so much.
• My intelligence is something that I can’t change much.
• I find it difficult to admit mistakes.
• I look for ways and people to validate me.
• I make safe choices where I have a reasonable opportunity to succeed.
• In situation I can influence, I’m usually the smartest one in the room.
• I like easy problems.
• I typically transform failure (I failed) into an identity (I’m a failure).
• It makes me feel better to hang out with people who are worse off than me.
• I blame my failures on other people or situations, rarely taking responsibility for my failures.
• I believe if you are talented or smart it should come naturally and take little effort.
• Effort is required for those people who don’t have talent.
• I don’t usually seek feedback.
• I feel uneasy or uncomfortable with people give me feedback.
• I do things for the sake of receiving praise.
• I find myself judging people.
• I don’t see the benefit of a coach.

“The worst fear of the fixed mindset person is to try and still fail without the ability to make excuses or blame others.”

Growth Mindset Benefits

What are the benefits of the growth mindset in companies? Studies show that employees have much higher trust in their company and leaders, and have a greater sense of empowerment, ownership, and commitment when led my leaders with a growth mindset.

In business, fixed mindset leaders can damage company performance. At the extreme, these leaders become so concerned with their reputation for personal greatness, they may set the company up for failure after they leave. What greater testament to their greatness than for the company to fall apart after they resign. They don’t want great teams; they want to be the smarter person in the room. The fixed mindset leaders have a strong need to prove their superiority and fail to develop and empower employees.

The fixed mindset leader causes a cascade effect. They become controlling and everyone starts worrying about being judged. Their direct reports stop learning, taking risks, and wait for the orders to come down from above. And then they wonder, “Where’s the talent?”

You Choose Your Mindset

The study of mindset provides thought-provoking insights into the impact on relationships, business, and life success. The good news is that you may now have a fixed mindset, but it doesn’t have to stay fixed. You can choose to move toward a growth mindset, and the mindset you choose will profoundly affect the way you lead your life.

If you’d like to learn more about mindset, check out Dr. Carol Dweck’s Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfill Your Potential. And if you’d like to do a deep dive, we can schedule a coaching session.

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About the Author: Sandra Dillon is a professional life coach with an extensive background in leadership, sales, and business consulting. She has a passion to help people be the hero of their own life story. She administers assessments, designs, and facilitates workshops, and coaches individuals, teams, and businesses. You can learn more about Sandra or engage her as your coach by reaching out to her at coach.sandra.dillon@gmail.com or by visiting her website at www.shinecrossings.com

Virtual Leadership: Remote Working Best Practices

The new virtual work world has created new work rules, which in turn should cause virtual leaders to pivot. The days of having a private, face-to-face, distraction-free conversation in the privacy of a manager’s office are minimized or even over for some. Now many leaders see their people through a computer screen, and only if the camera is on. You could say virtual leaders have lost their peripheral vision.

What does that mean for a leader? It means that a virtual leader can’t see what’s going on in the shadows. Virtual work calls for the leader to shine a spotlight in more dark spaces. Yes, there’s plenty going on in the shadows of the people you may be talking with on Zoom that’s affecting their mindset, attention, focus, and engagement.

Virtual leaders, whether of their staff or teams, need to adopt new leadership skills, because the demands and pulls on people look different than when they worked in the office. People are more stressed out, burned out, pulled away, and working in ad-hoc home offices. Before virtual work, employees were already complaining about death-by-meeting. Just when they thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. Many say they’d trade a virtual meeting for an office meeting any day.

Virtual leaders have a greater responsibility than ever before to run productive and meaningful meetings as well as lead people through the distractions. Below are some of the best practices of the best virtual leaders.

1. Check in on people through a call, email, text, or card, having nothing to do with work. This helps to compensate for the hallway and water cooler talk where people connected beyond the scope of work.
2. Call a virtual meeting, only when it’s the best choice of communication, feedback, dissemination of information, or problem solving. Our work culture has gotten lazy in thinking through how to best communicate, and they readily adopt a “let’s call a meeting and get everyone together”.
3. Clearly state up front the meeting objectives and the decisions that need to be made before adjourning.
4. Invite only those who contribute in some way to the meeting’s objective. Others who need to know the decision can be informed later by other means.
5. Distribute a meeting agenda beforehand, so all attendees can prepare and focus on the objectives when they sign on.
6. Ask attendees if there are any issues or distractions that may come up during the virtual meeting. If so, give them permission to leave the meeting at their discretion. This shines the spotlight in the dark places that distract attendees and shows empathy and support as a leader.
7. Give attendees permission to drop visually, if connectivity bandwidth becomes faulty.
8. Manage the meeting to the designated schedule.
9. Invite people to engage in the conversation. People are more apt to speak up in a face-to-face meeting and tend to be more reserved in virtual settings. Ask specific people what they think.
10. Ask how the meeting could have been improved before adjourning. The best question: “What could we have done more or less of to make it a more effective meeting?”

Many of these virtual leader best practices are powerful even outside of the remote work environment. However, the new normal requires leaders to show more empathy and respect for people’s distractions and time. The best remote leaders also ask their employees what they need more or less of to be successful in their jobs and working in their home environments.

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About the Author: Sandra Dillon is a professional life coach with an extensive background in leadership and business consulting. She has a passion to help people be the hero of their own life stories. She administers assessments, designs, and facilitates workshops, and coaches individuals, teams, and businesses. You can learn more about Sandra or engage her as your coach by reaching out to her at coach.sandra.dillon@gmail.com or by visiting her website at www.shinecrossings.com

How to Nail the Job Interview with Your Story

Landing a job is a two-part process: (1) creating the resume to get the interview and (2) interviewing well to get the job offer. Both require different skills sets. Some people are good at both, whereas, others have a competency for one or the other. Creating a best practice resume is usually the easier task, because there’s an abundance of technical support in the market. On the other hand, the interview can be more challenging, because you have to go it alone.

So, how does one ace the interview? There are many factors that contribute toward nailing the interview including “making a good first impression” with eye contact, wardrobe, and handshake. Next is how well you answer the interviewer’s questions. Most will ask a range of open-ended questions to learn more about you—how you think, work, and will fit into the company culture. How you structure your answer is just as powerful as the content.

A powerful way to answer questions is through storytelling. People naturally learn, relate, and retain more when information is shared through stories. So, if you’re asked, “Tell me about a time when you struggled with a work project or situation,” answer it with a story that has the following structure:

1. Briefly describe the experience. No need to provide too much detail, because the interviewer will ask if he or she wants to know more.
2. Explain what actions you took. And why.
3. Describe what happened. What was the main outcome of the action you took?
4. Summarize what you learned from the experience. Keep it simple, positive, and impactful.

If you’d like to learn more on how to create a powerful resume and/or be your best in the interview, reach out for a conversation.

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About the Author: Sandra Dillon is a professional coach with an extensive background in leadership and business consulting. She administers DISC® and Myers-Briggs/MBTI® testing, designs and facilitates workshops, and coaches both individuals and teams. She has a passion to help people be the best versions of themselves. You can learn more about Sandra or engage her as your coach by reaching out to her at coach.sandra.dillon@gmail.com or by visiting her website at www.shinecrossings.com

Career Building: What’s in Your Value Journal?

If you’re looking to build a resume or even a career, you might find it helpful to start a Value Journal. You may be puzzled and ask next, “What’s a Value Journal?” If you’re familiar with a Gratitude Journal for keeping daily reminders of what you appreciate most, you’ve got the concept down. The Value Journal serves a similar role to remind you of the value you bring to your job and employer.

When I work with clients, who are choosing a career path or looking for a new job, their resume is usually filled with a list of roles and responsibilities. Employers are less interested in what you’ve been assigned to do and more eager to know what you did, what impact you had, and what value you brought. They anticipate you will bring that same mindset and competencies, which will add value in the job they’re wanting to fill. Start a Value Journal and capture the rich examples of why a company should hire you.

Some may say this concept might work for professional jobs but not for hourly paid positions. I’ve seen it successfully applied to any job, because employers are looking for employee value at every level. Below are hypothetical, yet realistic, examples that you might find written in the Value Journal of a Denny’s Restaurant server:

• Greeted 100 customers with a smile and asked how their day was going. Five people commented how wonderful the service was and how their day was brightened by my smile and cheerful attitude.
• Stayed beyond my scheduled shift to cover for a sick coworker, which relieved stress on management and other servers—creating a more pleasant customer and employee experience.
• Learned the process of closing out/balancing the cash register which expanded my skills and made me more versatile.
• Showed up 15 minutes before my scheduled shift and punched in early at my supervisor’s request as the restaurant was short-handed. He said my ongoing dependability was recognized and appreciated by management.

Some clients have difficulty pulling out this type of information and concisely wording their competencies and value on a resume. Many find it difficult to think in the value dimension. How do you get your mind to think in terms of value? Start a My Value Journal. Spend 10 minutes every day listing the value you contributed to someone or a business through your decisions and actions.

Not only will you have data and concrete examples to create a stellar resume, you’ll have a more confident mindset for job interviewing. If you’re looking to create a powerful resume or LinkedIn profile, sign up for a Best Practices session or an individual Value Extraction session to pull out the powerful content for your resume or business social media platform.

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About the Author: Sandra Dillon is a professional coach with an extensive background in leadership and business coaching. She works with individuals and businesses as well as designs and facilitates workshops to empower people. She has a passion to help people be the best versions of themselves. You can learn more about Sandra or engage her as your coach by reaching out to her at coach.sandra.dillon@gmail.com or by visiting her website at www.shinecrossings.com

Salary Negotiation: How to Avoid Divulging Your Current Salary

Although I recognize that some employers and employees take advantage of each other, I’m passionate about fair pay for fair work. In the case of fair pay, the negotiating advantage usually goes to businesses, because they routinely have access to knowledge that employees don’t such as (1) what others in the organization are paid for similar work and (2) industry compensation data. Hence, it’s no surprise that many of my career coaching clients are anxious and frustrated by the thought of negotiating a salary with a new employer. They dread the thought of being asked what they currently make, believing their current salary shouldn’t have any bearing on what the new employer offers and unsure how to handle that question.

Although company culture, benefits, career advancement, commute, working from home options, and other attributes factor into a decision to join a new company, most employers try to offer prospects just enough pay increase to entice them to resign and work for them. Over the years, the workforce has come to expect offers that are 10-15% more than what a candidate currently makes regardless of whether he is underpaid for his given responsibilities and performance.

During the hiring process, prospective employers are keen to understand the current salary of job applicants in order to shape their offers. Although I understand businesses are driven to minimize labor costs, I believe it’s short-sighted to underpay candidates, who may take the job out of necessity and still feel taken advantage of.  For candidates who don’t want to divulge their salary, there are conversation strategies that can help.

Salary Expectation Conversation

Employer: “What salary are you expecting for this job?”

Candidate: “I’m only expecting to be competitively paid for the job responsibilities? What range have you earmarked for this position?”

Employer: “We have some flexibility for the right candidate. What do you make today?’

Candidate: “I’m seriously interested in the position and glad to hear you have flexibility. I don’t have access to the most recent competitive salaries like you do, so what range are you prepared to offer for the right candidate?”

Or how about ….

Salary Offer Conversation

Employer: “How much are you currently making?”

Candidate: “I’m curious. Why do you need this information?”

Employer: “We need the information, so we can make you a job offer?”

Candidate: “I’m confused how my current salary is relevant to the compensation for this job? I’d welcome an offer. What are you be willing to pay for the job responsibilities and performance criteria we discussed?”

You’ll notice in both scenarios that the candidate answered each question with a question. These two conversations can be difficult for candidates, who don’t believe they hold power in the negotiation. Don’t be fooled. Businesses are desperate for good talent. If you know you are a performer, you hold more power at the negotiating table than you might think.

If you’d like to strategize on a salary negotiation for a new position or more pay for additional responsibilities at your current company, let’s schedule a coaching session. You can reach out to me at 281.793.3741 or coach.sandra.dillon@gmail.com.

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About the Author: Sandra Dillon is a professional coach with an extensive background in leadership and business coaching. She works with individuals and businesses as well as designs and facilitates workshops to empower people. She has a passion to help people be the best versions of themselves. You can learn more about Sandra by visiting her website at www.shinecrossings.com

Six Key Job Search Strategies When You’re Unemployed

Finding yourself involuntarily unemployed can bring stress and sometimes a big bruise to your ego.  In a few cases, people exhale a temporary sigh of relief when they receive a small severance and feel they have a bit of time to re-energize. I certainly see the merit in why many choose to pause in their job search as opposed to dusting themselves off the next day and jumping right back up onto that horse named “Job.”  A few of the common reasons:

• I need some rest and a chance to get my bearings before going at it again.
• This is a good time to spend more time with my kids and family. I won’t get this opportunity again.
• It makes sense to spend some time exploring a career or job that I’m more passionate before I accept the same type of position.

Many job seekers are fortunate to make a successful job transition at the timing they choose. However, others are not as lucky. What you do in the few days after your work release will likely affect your mindset and motivation toward action. In these cases, job seekers may start to experience one or more of the following:

• lose confidence in their ability to find a job
• fall into a daily routine not productive to job hunting
• lose touch with their network of people
• become more isolated from the habits of the working world
• evolve into a daily pattern without intentional purpose

Any of these factors erode the chances of securing a job that excites you as part of your career journey. Job seekers should be aware and intentional in their job strategies and decision-making.  Below are a few habits that effective job seekers should consider to improve their chances of landing that next great gig.

1. Create a powerful resume and LinkedIn profile. Make sure both are engaging and tell a story about who you are, what you’re looking for, what you’ve accomplished, and what you have to offer. Consider hiring a career/job coach if you need help. You can’t afford not to invest in these calling cards. Don’t let either become outdated once you’ve put in the hard work and expense.
2. Treat your job search as a full-time position. If you don’t have a home office already, create a space in your home where you can work full-time. When you are in that space, it will be easier to focus your attention on activities that advance your search.
3. Get out and network. With the internet and abundance of social media platforms, it is easy to apply for jobs online that you’re qualified for and to expect hiring managers and recruiters to call. Eighty-five percent of jobs are filled through networking. Schedule meetings, calls, and lunches with networking groups, friends, and colleagues that may be able to help.  Alumni groups, professional and trade associations, and former coworkers are excellent sources of support, information, and referrals.
4. Create a one-minute elevator pitch. When someone asks you what you do, be able to confidentially and succinctly articulate it and the impact you can have.  Be specific, passionate, and memorable.  Consider having more than one elevator pitch depending on your audience.
5. Join a job search support group. Although job search groups provide opportunities for networking by design, they usually have free resources that can also be useful in your search.  Resume writing, LinkedIn strategies, and interviewing classes can provide support while learning of open jobs.
6. Continue to invest in your skills and knowledge. While working full-time in your job search, there will likely be gaps in your schedule. Consider offering your services for temporary work, volunteer for a non-profit using your skills, and take classes/webinars that would keep you current.

Certainly, take the time you need to care for yourself and family, but understand that falling out of a daily structure after a job loss can influence your ability and motivation to re-engage.  Although some people seem to have luck in landing a job when they want it, others need a more strategic approach. I recommend creating your own luck by adopting these job search strategies.

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About the Author: Sandra Dillon is a professional coach and consultant with an extensive background in leadership, business development, and sales.  She coaches individuals as well as designs and facilitates workshops.  She has a passion to help organizations engage all their colleagues.  You can learn more about Sandra by visiting her website at www.shinecrossings.com.

Why OVER-QUALIFIED Can Deliver UBER-VALUE

Average life expectancy continues to climb with Americans in good health easily reaching their 80’s.  Age and financial necessity are influencing how long people are working and in what capacity.  Many seasoned professionals are trying to redesign their work/life balance and are surprised in how challenging the process has been to secure that desired lower responsibility job.

As a coach, I see many clients in their late 40’s and 50’s who have had a long and expansive career and are eager to either transfer their skills to another industry or gain back more work/life balance by applying for jobs in which they are knowingly over-qualified. These career or job changers initially assumed it would be easy to step down into a position of less responsibility.  On the contrary, they were surprised at the inherent prejudice in the hiring process when they routinely encountered managers who were not interested in interviewing an over-qualified applicant.

I can only assume that these employers are fearful of over-qualified candidates that will leave as soon as a better job comes along or that the supervisor feels threatened by the candidate’s experience in a direct report role.  For these reasons, many over-qualified candidates appear to be intentionally passed over.  I propose 5 reasons why hiring an over-qualified person may be the best hiring decision a company could make this year.

1. Value, Value, Value: Over-qualified candidates understand a company pays for the roles and responsibilities of the position and not the qualifications of the person. If this candidate is willing to accept a competitive salary, a company is certainly getting more value for its money. What a great return on investment to report to the stockholders.
2. Faster Growth: Having already seen and done that, over-qualified candidates may be able to get the team where they want to go faster.  Prior experience and learning can be helpful in developing a more effective strategy and in executing plans well.  Experience is a great asset!
3. Mentorship: People who intentionally accept lower responsibility jobs usually enjoy mentoring less experienced colleagues. These over-qualified candidates are both knowledgeable and capable of becoming trainers and mentors to other employees without a great investment of other resources.
4. Performance: Not only do these candidates bring a wealth of information, they are typically happier with their work/life balance. They bring an energy to work that can be contagious.  They perform well in their jobs and set an example for others.
5. Leadership: Companies need leaders throughout the organization.  Leaders are the ones that companies rely on to rally the organization and get the job done.  Over-qualified employees inspire and support others to perform well and are usually the best cheerleaders on the team!

Not all over-qualified candidates will necessarily be a good fit.  I acknowledge some candidates apply for jobs they are over-qualified for based on financial necessity and continue to look for an upgrade.  There are, however, many overqualified candidates who are intentional in finding an environment where they can contribute despite a salary below their historical pay grade.  Identifying these over-qualified candidates, who bring uber-value, is best handled through a conversation versus making assumptions on why they applied for the position.

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About the Author: Sandra Dillon is a professional coach and consultant with an extensive background in leadership and business development.  She coaches individuals as well as designs and facilitates workshops.  She has a passion to help organizations engage all their employees.  You can learn more about Sandra by visiting her website at www.shinecrossings.com.

Leadership: Ten Strategies to Build a Winning Sales Career

On occasion we get asked, “What one piece of advice would you give a person who has just accepted his or her first sales position?”  That is truly an unfair question.   How do you boil down the essence of sales leadership into one slice of a whole pie?  However, that question is worth an answer.  Our best response would be, “Engage a coach.” Why? Because partnering with a sales coach can build a firm foundation to use as a springboard towards success.

We would expect a coach to help you leverage the following:

1. Define measurable goals: Select several meaningful one, three, and five-year goals that focus on financial targets and personal growth. Without measurable goals you won’t know the direction you’re headed or whether you’ve arrived at your destination.  People without defined goals typically meander and become disappointed in their lack of results.
2. Focus on a vertical market: Good sales people are not all things to all customers. What area are you most passionate?  Join an association in that market and become the “go to” expert.  Consider certification or accreditation to bolster your expertise.  Make sure to understand the emerging trends and have a plan to take advantage of the opportunities and to navigate through the threats.
3. Understand your customers: Ask powerful questions of your customers so you clearly understand their needs and what keeps them up at night. Be the solution seeker and problem-solver by offering answers that address their needs.  Customers partner with sales people who create and offer value.
4. Know your competition: Learn the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Strategize how you can navigate the competitive landscape to take advantage of their weaknesses by driving on your strengths.
5. Build trust among your customers and industry colleagues: People do not do business with others whom they don’t trust unless there are no other options. Make decisions and exhibit behaviors that garnish trust.
6. Leverage social media: Set up a LinkedIn profile that reflects who you are and what you offer. Share and publish articles that are relevant to your customers. Make sure your public Facebook represents what you want customers to know about you.  Be sure to clean up your social media of any “unwanted” posts.
7. Establish a personal brand: When your name is mentioned in industry circles, what one phrase would you want to come to mind: “gets it done,” “always looks for the win-win,” or “sales leadership expert.”  Develop a personal brand based on your best assets.
8. Grow your leadership: Learn from the best, get a mentor, and practice leadership.  One of the most powerful annual leadership conferences we attend is Global Leadership Summit (https://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership).  Strong leadership will not only build your sales it will build your life.
9. Become a servant leader: Give of your time, talents, and treasures without expecting anything in return. When you do, don’t be surprised how people will respond to you.  People will want to spend time with you, recommend you, and help you be successful.

And last, but not least, you can always benefit by going back to school to…

10. Relearn your ABC’s (Always Be Connecting): Selling is about connecting and one person saying “yes” to another. People rarely say “yes” to people whom they don’t like or trust. Spend time with your customers in casual settings getting to know them on both a professional and personal level.  Your calendar should be populated with customer lunch dates.

Every seasoned salesperson has one or two special secrets of the trade that may have contributed to their success; however, these fundamental strategies will build a solid sales career over a lifetime. Although every salesperson can try to implement these practices on their own, most would benefit from having a sales coach who can keep them accountable.

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About the Authors:

Sandra Dillon is a professional coach and leadership consultant with an extensive background in sales and new business development.  She coaches individuals as well as designs and facilitates workshops on current business needs.  She has a passion to help organizations fully engage all its employees.  Reach out to her at sandra.s.dillon@hotmail.com or 281.793.3741 to further the conversation and determine how she can help you grow your business.

Darin Dillon is a Certified Protection Professional (CPP), 30+ year business development veteran, and active leader in the electronic security and integrated systems industry.  As a business leader, he has a passion for developing long-term customer partnerships and providing solutions to Fortune 1000 companies across many vertical markets. He can be reached at ddillon14@hotmail.com or 713.204.7035.

Coaching: How to Calculate Your Return on Investment

Have you thought about the return on investment (ROI) of personal coaching? I would probably guess not as this investment decision is somewhat analogous to the early days of personal computers.  With every new product or service, there is a small portion of the population who are the early adopters.  In the case of computers, they were likely the technology gurus, who were excited to upgrade their TI or HP hand-held calculators for 256 kB of desktop memory.  I propose this analogy parallels personal coaching.  There is a small portion of the population who are driven towards self-improvement, so hiring a coach is a no-brain decision.  What about the others?

In the early 1980’s, when IBM computers were first launched, companies struggled with the financial decision of whether to buy their employees personal computers. They intuitively knew their employees would be more productive, but did not grasp how to calculate a ROI.  Is personal coaching following the same path? Most people believe they would benefit from coaching, but they struggle with how to justify it.

How much would you pay for coaching services if you thought you would get promoted within the year, add an extra 10% to your base salary that carries forward for 20 years, or have more job opportunities?  What value would you place on coaching services that solidified your performance in a position where you felt overwhelmed? Can you calculate that value and weigh it against the cost?  What about the intangible benefits such as greater fulfillment and your impact on others.  An increase in your leadership abilities helps others lead better.  Accurately measuring all the downstream benefits would prove difficult, so I suggest focusing on what can be measured and let the unquantifiable extras be the cherry on top of the sundae.

My 5-step process to calculate coaching ROI involves answering a series of basic questions to define the opportunity, determine the gap, measure the performance, and calculate the value.  These steps are:

1. Define the need/opportunity and determine the gap
   • What specifically do you want to accomplish?
   • What is your baseline?
   • How big is the gap?
2. Calculate the benefit
   • What are the parameters that need to be addressed that will deliver value?
   • What is the quantifiable value if the performance gap is closed?
   • Is the growth in value linear, exponential, or binary?
3. Develop a coaching approach
   • What is the coaching strategy and tactics to achieve the target?
   • How will progress be measured (the metrics)?
   • How frequently will progress be measured?
   • Who will be responsible for collecting and reporting the data?
4. Implement the coaching plan
   • What is working well?
   • What needs to be adjusted to meet target?
   • What is the interim analysis and value?
5. Calculate the ROI
   • What is the total cost?
   • What is the monetary value of the improvement?
   • What is the ROI (net benefits/coaching costs)?

Putting this model into practical use, a client may have a goal to develop and lead more effective project meetings.  After a review of the client’s work and process, the coaching plan may focus on strategies and tactics to improve preparation, organization, and execution that results in fewer, shorter, and less attendees needed at all meetings.  The costs savings is easily calculated by the reduced man-hours in meetings multiplied by salaries over the project life.  The true cost savings are immeasurable as the upgrade in the client’s skills will carry forward into future projects.

When was the last time you attended a meeting and wished the meeting leader was better at preparing himself and the team as well as more effective in leading the meeting and staying on task? Ask me how I can help? The ROI is off the charts.

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About the Author: Sandra Dillon is a professional coach and consultant with an extensive background in leadership and business development.  She coaches individuals as well as designs and facilitates workshops that address her clients’ business needs.  She has a passion to help organizations fully engage all its employees.  Reach out to her at sandra.s.dillon@hotmail.com or 281.793.3741 to further the conversation and determine how she can help you grow your business.