Michael Hyatt's Blog, page 21

How a Business Coach Can Help You Now

The global pandemic has upended a lot of business plans. You’ve probably thought about getting some coaching to lead more effectively, but is it the right time to make that decision? Frankly, it doesn’t seem right that you can’t get help in dealing with the crisis—because of the crisis!

5 Reasons You Need a Business Coach

In early 2002, I was the general manager of Nelson Books, one of Thomas Nelson Publishers’ fourteen divisions. In eighteen months, we had gone from number fourteen—dead last—to number one in terms of revenue growth and profit margin. I felt great. I was proud of myself and my team for the results we’d achieved.

That euphoria lasted for about a day. 

Then it began to dawn on me that I was out of tricks. I’d harvested all the low-hanging fruit in an effort to turn the business around. I knew that continued growth would be difficult. And, I wasn’t certain I could deliver it. Getting to No. 1 and staying at No. 1 are two different things.

That’s when I first considered hiring a business coach. I asked John Maxwell, a leadership expert and one of my authors, if he could recommend one. He introduced me to Daniel Harkavy, the founder of Building Champions, an executive coaching company. We hit it off from the start.

After my initial call with Daniel, I went to my boss, Sam Moore, to explain why I wanted the company to foot the bill for Daniel’s fees. He was surprised by my request. “Why do you need a coach?” he exclaimed. “You’ve just transformed our worst division into our best. You’re our most successful publisher!”

I replied, “Yes, but the world’s top performers all have coaches. That’s how they get there and stay there.” I then went on to point out that even Tiger Woods—the world’s best golfer at the time—had a coach. So did Tom Brady, who had just taken the New England Patriots to their first (but not last) Super Bowl win. 

I then said, “You want me to keep winning, right?”

“Of course,” he said.

“Then I need a coach.”

He laughed and then approved my request.

Daniel and I talked every two weeks. I shared my problems and opportunities. He advised me and held me accountable to my commitments. He helped me see what I couldn’t see. He challenged my thinking and expressed his belief in my leadership, even when I felt less than confident.

Coaching had a direct, positive impact on my results. 

I led Nelson Books for two more years before I was promoted. It remained the top-performing division in the company for more than a decade. When I left the company in 2011 to found Michael Hyatt & Company, it was still Thomas Nelson’s most profitable division.

I’ve had a formal business coach since 2002 when I met Daniel, with the exception of very brief transition periods. It’s the single best investment I’ve ever made in my professional success. It’s also why I’m so passionate about coaching and why our BusinessAccelerator coaching program is the single most important thing we do at Michael Hyatt & Company.

So I’d like to make the case for hiring a business coach. If you already have a coach, this will explain why you’ve made a smart decision. If you don’t have one, this will hopefully convince you why it’s important to get one—and, frankly, the sooner the better. 

There are at least five reasons why you should hire a business coach.

1. Because you recognize the need for a change.

If you’re happy with the status quo—business-as-usual—don’t hire a business coach. You don’t need one. But if you’re unhappy with the results you’ve been getting, you need to consider it. For example, perhaps—

You feel overwhelmed with what’s on your plate and don’t know where to focus.

You keep missing your goals—or don’t have any goals.

Your professional and personal life are unbalanced. You’re spending way too much time at work.

Your sales have stalled or your margins have eroded.

You’re not sure you have the right people. Your hiring process feels risky and unpredictable.

Your competitors are getting more aggressive and you’re fighting harder than ever to acquire and retain customers.

You know you need to grow professionally in order to lead your organization to the next level.

If this sounds like you—if you want something to change—you need a coach.

2. Because you want an edge against the odds.

Let me state it bluntly: the odds are stacked against you. According to the Department of Commerce, entrepreneurs start four million new businesses a year in the U.S. Eighty percent of those will fail within the first five years. Of those that survive, eighty percent of those will fail in the next five years.

This means you have a 96 percent chance of failure in the first ten years of starting a business. Or to flip it around, you only have a 4 percent chance of surviving your first ten years in business.

Those aren’t great odds, are they? 

Let’s switch contexts. Imagine you’re facing a daunting challenge in some area other than business. Let’s say you wanted to climb Mt. Everest. You know the journey will be difficult and dangerous. You read that in 2019 alone, eleven people died in the attempt. It’s a risky venture but you’re excited about the possibility of achieving your goal.

Do you think it would be smart to go-it-alone? I don’t think so. I’ll bet you’d hire a guide, right? That would be the smart thing to do. You want someone who has made it to the top and back, preferably multiple times under a variety of weather conditions. 

The truth is that there is only one way to learn: trial and error. But it doesn’t have to come from your trials or your errors. By hiring a coach, you outsource your mistakes and dramatically improve your odds for success.

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By hiring a coach, you outsource your mistakes and dramatically improve your odds for success.

—MICHAEL HYATT

3. Because you want to fill in gaps in your knowledge or skills.

In business, you will eventually reach the limits of your own knowledge and skills. If you don’t continue to grow professionally, you limit your company’s ability to grow. You become the governor on the engine of growth. As John Maxwell says, “everything rises and falls on leadership.”

Sadly, even if you have a business degree or even an MBA in business, you probably didn’t learn:

How to set and achieve clear business goals

How to translate your annual and quarterly goals into daily actions that drive growth

How to align your team around those same goals so everyone is “rowing in the same direction”

How to stay focused on your most important priorities so you aren’t distracted by the deluge of requests, demands, and even opportunities

How to find, hire, and develop world-class teammates

How to build a culture that drives operating results

How to delegate in such a way that the work product meets or exceeds your standards

How to find new customers or retain the ones you have

How to do real-world strategic planning that creates a filter for what opportunities you pursue and what opportunities you don’t

How to identify the key metrics you need to monitor to insure the health of your business

How to use financial reports, not only to tell you what happened, but what’s about to happen

How to transform setbacks and failure into the jet fuel you need for rapid iteration and improvement

Good coaching is based on sound theory, but it doesn’t stop there as it often does in a university setting. Instead, it includes practical frameworks and step-by-step processes for delivering real-world results.

4. Because you know you need to work on your business not just in it.

If there’s one thing I hear from business owners and senior executives the most, it’s that they are so busy working in the business, they don’t have time to work on the business. This is crucial. If you are going to scale your business and do it in a sustainable way, you need time to think.

Specifically, you need time to think about what you really want. For example:

How do you want your business to look in three to five years?

How can you engineer your role so you are doing more in your Desire Zone and less in each of the other three zones?

Are you happy with your company’s culture? What could you change to make it better?

Are your compensation and benefits sufficient to attract and retain top talent?

Do you have the right organizational structure for this stage of your business?

How could you sell more of your existing products or services to your existing customers? Are there new products you could create to better serve your existing customers? Are their new customers in markets you don’t currently serve who could benefit from your existing products?

What processes need to be re-imagined or re-engineered, so you can produce results faster, cheaper, or better?

Where in your business do you need a break-through?

These are just a handful of the questions that deserve serious reflection. But you’ll never find the time unless you are intentional. Coaching provides the opportunity—the context—where this can happen on a regular basis. It’s a chance to poke your head above the clouds, evaluate where you’ve been, embrace the reality of where you are, and chart a course to where you want to go.

By the way, I occasionally hear clients complain about the time required to participate in our coaching program. This is especially true for clients who live on the west coast or in another country. “I’m not sure I can afford two (or three) days out of the office each quarter.”

My response is, “What does it make possible?” What if you dedicated this time, including time on the plane, as “think time”? This is what Megan Hyatt Miller, my COO, and I enjoyed getting coaching together. 

We would determine in advance a problem we want to solve or an opportunity we want to exploit. That became the theme of our trip. We would talk about it on the plane, then interact about it over meals. We typically stayed an extra day to use the morning after our coaching sessions to reduce our discoveries to specific action items.

Coaching time has become so valuable to our business that we literally can’t afford to not take time for it once a quarter.

5. Because you want to go further, faster.

There are two ways to get ahead in business: the slow way and the fast way. The slow way is to rely on your own knowledge, experience, and skills. The fast way is to rely on someone else’s knowledge, experience, and skills.

For example, I am an avid fly fisherman. I have all my own gear. I know how to set up my fishing rig. I know how to tie the knots. If I decide to fish a particular stream, I can usually find an online “Fishing Report” that will tell me exactly what bugs the fish I’m hunting are eating. I know how to cast, how to untangle my line, and how to net a fish and correctly release it unharmed.

So why do I always hire a fishing guide when I go fishing? Isn’t that just a waste of money?

No. Here’s why. When I go fishing, I want to catch as many fish as possible. I also want to catch the biggest fish possible. I like fishing, but I love catching!

There’s no way my amateur skills can produce the same results as a professional guide. Even if I have fished that particular stream before, I probably haven’t fished it in this season or in exactly this weather. I can’t compete with a guide who fishes that same stream all day every day. Using a guide helps me get bigger, better results, faster.

The same is true of a business coach. If they have the right experience, they have dealt with the problem or opportunity you are facing dozens of times—maybe hundreds of times—in a variety of contexts. They can help you get the results you want sooner rather than later.

Coaching is what gives an edge to professional athletes, renowned musicians, and successful business leaders. There’s no question that you need it. Every leader does. The only real question is this: When will you start? 

4 Essential Documents for Leading Your Business

As a leader, you know vision is important. But what on earth is it? There are many conflicting voices on the subject. It’s enough to make you forget the whole thing and just focus on operations. Why is this so hard?

Selling Your Vision When You’re Not in Charge

I once worked for a boss who lacked vision. I should say he lacked a single vision because he changed direction frequently. The team never knew what flavor-of-the-month program was coming next. It was frustrating!

Ever the activator, I was determined to build momentum in my department even if my division was stuck in neutral. I would bring my boss requests, complete with the necessary supporting information. Invariably, he would ask me to rerun the numbers.

When I came back, he would want it rerun again, and again. By the time he approved it, the opportunity was lost, and he would blame me for missing it.

Infuriating as that was, it taught me important lessons about an invaluable leadership skill: selling your vision when you’re not in charge.

Whether your company has a strong vision or not, as a leader you should have a vision for your own area of responsibility. At some point, you’ll have to sell that vision up the line, to a director, C-level officer, or even the board of directors.

Here are five steps I’ve used over my 40-plus years in business to win approval for my vision.

1. Commit to Success.

When I had a boss, I had a basic rule: Don’t take a swing unless I’m confident I’ll hit the ball. The goal here wasn’t to avoid risk but to make sure I was fully committed before I stepped up to the plate. I encourage you to do the same. Don’t make the pitch unless you intend to make the sale. Your credibility is at stake—with your boss, your peers, and your direct reports.

2. Understand the customer.

The first and most important key for getting to “yes” is to focus on your boss or board’s needs, not yours. They listen to the same radio station as the rest of us, and the song they hear has just two verses:

Achieve their own vision and goals for the organization.

Do so while improving profitability and other success metrics.

If they can hum along with your vision, you’ve got their ear. If not, you’re likely dead before you start. So before you schedule a time to pitch your proposal, answer the question: How is my vision going to help my boss achieve his or her goals? If you can’t answer that question, you’re not ready to make the pitch.

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The key for getting to “yes” is to focus on your boss’s needs, not yours.

—MICHAEL HYATT

3. Think through your presentation.

In my experience, the No. 1 reason people don’t get to yes with their boss is because they haven’t done their homework. As a result, their approach is full of holes.

Make your pitch clear and concise, beginning with a simple statement of what you want to accomplish. Briefly state your rationale, why this matters. Show the financial impact, with documentation. And demonstrate the impact. Don’t ramble. If they want more information, they’ll ask for it.

4. Anticipate objections.

Play the devil’s advocate. List the likely questions and objections, and then answer for each. A few points should be sufficient for each objection. I used to type this up on a separate document that I took to the meeting with my boss. I kept it in my folder for reference.

5. Make the pitch.

Now you’re finally ready to sell. First and foremost, maintain eye contact. Any documents you place in front of the boss or board are intended to be a “talking points” list rather than a narrative. You should be familiar enough with your Vision Script that you can stay focused and read the room. That will let you know when you are done. If your boss approves your recommendation, say thank you and that’s all. Don’t reopen a successfully closed presentation.

All bosses have one thing in common: they dislike surprises. When selling up, timing is everything. Don’t surprise them by blurting out your idea in a hallway conversation or, worse, in a meeting with others present. Schedule a time when your boss is likely to be the most receptive. Commit to success, and make your pitch. More often than not, you’ll make the sale!

How One Business Owner is Successfully Using Vision Today

As a leader, you’re eager to develop a vision for your business. You’ve got a copy of The Vision Driven Leader, and you’re ready to dig in. But how do you put this all together? Is it difficult to create a Vision Script? What can you expect by way of results?

How to Make Your Vision a Reality

As a leader, you have a clear vision for the future. But the busyness of life always pulls your attention back to business as usual. You make occasional bursts of effort toward the vision, but there’s no real progress. It’s frustrating to watch your dream for the future collecting cobwebs.

The No. 1 Mistake Leaders Make in Crisis

During a crisis, leaders tend to hyperfocus on managing the threat and neglect long-range thinking. That’s a mistake because vision is critical both for evaluating short-term decisions and for creating a better future.

The coronavirus pandemic has been a major disruption to the world economy. Some believe it will dwarf the effects of the 2008 recession, with fallout rivaling even that of the Great Depression. 

With many businesses shuttered and others struggling to survive, some leaders are thinking only in tactical terms. They’re concerned with week-to-week survival, not long term vision. 

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Vision is critical both for evaluating short-term decisions and for creating a better future.

—MICHAEL HYATT

That’s understandable, but it’s a mistake. The ability to survive any crisis begins with a vision for what’s possible. That’s true no matter how great the crisis. As I wrote in The Vision-Driven Leader, “If the vision is compelling enough, people will apply their best thinking and efforts to figure  it out, regardless of the obstacles and opposition.” 

Lesson from the Lost Moon

You may remember the movie Apollo 13, based on the disastrous moon mission of the same name. The Apollo 13 spacecraft was damaged early in the flight, and the mission was aborted. But returning to earth safely was by no means certain. 

Running low on oxygen and battery power, the three-member flight crew huddled together awaiting instructions. Meanwhile, NASA’s ground crew, led by veteran flight director Gene Kranz, scrambled for solutions. Tension mounted as the hours ticked by. 

As the space ship neared the critical moment of re-entry, a senior leader remarked, “This could be the worst disaster NASA has ever seen.” At that moment, Gene Kranz, said, “With all due respect, Sir, I believe this will be our finest hour.”

That’s visionary leadership. It was that vision of a positive outcome that enabled Kranz and his team to achieve. First, they envisioned the destination, a safe landing. “Failure is not an option,” Kranz said. Then they improvised, adapted, and created their way to it. 

To survive this crisis, let alone thrive in the future, you need a clear, inspiring vision for what comes next. Here’s why. 

Vision Produces Positive Change

If ever there was a time we needed positive change, it’s now. The surging economy that we rode into this crisis has been badly damaged. Some industries are closed temporarily, and many businesses will not survive. That’s reality. 

But that’s not the future. The pandemic will eventually come under control. When that happens, we’ll need thriving businesses, jobs, goods, and services—just as people always do. The businesses that thrive in those days will be led by those who look ahead to envision a better reality. 

It would be foolish to ignore the current reality. It’s also unwise to fixate on it. Leaders look for what’s possible. They imagine what could come next. They picture a better tomorrow, then find a way to get there. That’s how we make progress. 

Negative Thinking Won’t Save Your Business

It’s often said that hope is not a strategy, and it’s true. To make any progress, you need a vision, followed by a concrete plan. Wishing won’t get you there.

Neither will pessimism. Doomsday thinking and scarcity mindset are paralyzing. You cannot lead into the future if you’re bound by negative thinking.  

Yes, take the threat seriously. Deal with it, mitigate it, be prepared. But a leader cannot afford to become reactionary. Fear won’t stop a pandemic. And fear won’t save your business. You need a vision for what comes next. 

People Crave Visionary Leadership

When there is uncertainty, people look for leaders. That’s true nations, communities, and families. And it’s true of your business. Everyone wants a way out of this mess, and they’ll follow the person who can identify it. 

Wherever you are leading right now, people are looking to you for direction. No matter what the current reality may be, they innately believe that something better is possible. Now is the time to lead with vision. 

And So It Will Be 

The Apollo 13 capsule did indeed return to earth safely. Decades later, Jim Lovell, the captain of the flight crew, was asked about Gene Kranz’s legendary remark. Lovell said simply, “And it was our finest hour.”

Will 2020 be the worst disaster your business has ever seen? Or will it be your finest hour? It can be the latter if you lead with vision. 

7 Must-Have Tools for Remote Work

You want to stay productive while working at home, but it’s not easy! There are challenges in team communication, collaboration, conferencing, and document sharing. And? You’ve got to set up an entirely new workspace. It’s challenging. And, especially at first, exhausting. 

Avoid this Temptation in Economic Downturns

Business leaders are asking one question right now: How can my business survive the economic upheaval generated by the COVID-19 crisis? The way to do that is to help the economy keep moving. And the way to do that is to keep providing value that customers are willing to pay for. 

To be frank, not all businesses can or will survive. That’s the hard truth of it. But many, many others will if they respond with the right strategy now.

One seemingly popular solution has emerged, especially among entrepreneurs. That is to give away all you can for free. After all, the world is in a panic, the economy is rollercoastering, and the future feels uncertain. Anything we can do to lighten the load of our friends and neighbors feels like a good idea. Plus, it may create the goodwill that will cause customers to remember you when things improve. 

But here’s the fault in that thinking. The economy depends on people creating value and other people recognizing that value and willingly paying for it. 

The Negative Spiral

During a time of economic crisis, many people will have a diminished ability or confidence to pay for goods and services. As a result, there’s less spending. That creates a negative feedback loop which further dings people’s ability and confidence to spend.

Let’s say Instacart or Shipt decides to wave their membership fee, eliminate their markup, and stop accepting tips for their shoppers. After all, they know it’s tough to get groceries right now (even dangerous!) and they want to help the public by making it easier. 

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The economy depends on people creating value others are willing to pay for.

But by not charging for the value they’re providing, it would only be a matter of time before they were unable to continue providing that value. The fee facilitates the service—no fee and they can’t fund the service. That’s especially bad since they are one of the most viable business models during this crisis, providing opportunity for thousands of workers to make ends meet. 

Or take Amazon. What if Amazon gave everyone a free Prime membership and sold their grocery and household goods at cost? That would be a big help, right? Actually, no. Amazon will be a major contributor to the recovery in America and abroad. If their profits suddenly tanked, so would their ability to contribute to the recovery. 

Donating products or services is a laudable act of charity. But it’s not a sustainable business model. And that’s what we need to make recovery happen. 

The Way Out

Real recovery will not come from mass discounting or making everything free. Nor does not depend on the federal government, though we’ll need their help in the short term. Real recovery depends on the surviving business leaders finding a way to create value that people desire enough to pay for—same as always.

That will reinvigorate our economy and create new opportunities for the people who are watching their businesses or jobs evaporate now, not to mention protect the jobs of the people already working for these businesses. After all, we’re depending on the people still making a paycheck to buy the goods and services that keep the economy moving. 

Altruistic Entrepreneurship

Here’s the point: It’s a moral imperative to create something of value that people want and need. Now is the time to pivot, innovate, and leverage every ounce of your creativity to survive and thrive as a company. That’s good for your business, your customers, your employees, your community, and the economy at large.

Of course, I’m not talking about being exploitive, unethical, or opportunistic. There are no long-term gains there in any type of economic climate. Instead, what we need now are legions of courageous entrepreneurs, business owners, and leaders with a fierce commitment to integrity, stepping into the unknown; creating real, relevant value; and asking others to pay what it’s worth. 

If customers agree and have the means, they will. And that exchange is what economies are built on. It’s how they function in good times. And it’s how they recover in bad times. That’s the best way to provide lasting hope, recovery, and opportunity for everyone.

Megan Hyatt Miller is the Chief Operating Officer of Michael Hyatt & Company, a leadership development company helping successful but overwhelmed leaders get the focus they need to win at work and succeed at life. Find her on Instagram at @meganhyattmiller. For more on this topic, visit michaelhyatt.com/confident.

How to Be Resilient in Tough Times

As a leader, you are your company’s single greatest asset. While you’re guarding your health against the coronavirus, you must also deal with the stress and responsibility of running a business. It’s tough! This crisis threatens the mental and emotional resiliency of you and your team. 

Given the stress we’re under, is it even possible to keep your emotional balance?