Written by Glover U Head Coach, Kate Simon.
I’d like to address a common question I get from coaching clients when they sign up for 1-on-1 coaching or one of our online real estate courses, and that question is this: “How do I get the absolute most out of coaching?” Another way that this question sometimes presents itself is, “How will I know if coaching actually WORKS?”. This is such an important question and one that has many layers to it, and so I wanted to share my thoughts with you.
Please keep in mind that we are here to help and support your growth, but can only do so to the degree in which you show up for yourself, and in turn, for us. Showing up for yourself starts right here with reading the entirety of this post, and taking action on every item listed below.
So, here are my thoughts on getting the most out of coaching, in no particular order.
1. Call/Attendance Adherence and Consistency
This seems like a no brainer, but show up to your calls and/or class every single week. Treat this like a million dollar listing appointment you can’t cancel, because the truth of it is if you are applying what you learn in coaching, that is the bare minimum of the ROI you should expect to see. So, ask yourself, what do you have to do to show up to your coaching commitments every week? How can you block out any distractions or competing priorities? And if you do have to miss, what is your plan to improve upon your growth goal that week? Missing a call/class should never be an option, unless it's a family emergency or something equally severe. How you treat your coaching commitments is a leading factor of how you treat the rest of the priorities in your schedule, so make sure that you show up to these with the same level of commitment you have to yourself.
2. Distraction-Free Environment
Just showing up is the bare minimum, and I’d argue you will learn and grow just from listening. Yet, are we trying to do the bare minimum or are we trying to succeed at a high level? Only you know the answer to that, but your investment in coaching would suggest the latter. And, if we are trying to show up for ourselves and achieve at a high level, getting the most out of the calls/classes would include being in a distraction free environment. This means no email or social media. This means you're not on the road or at showings or at an inspection. In fact, I’ve given every Glover U 1-on-1 coach permission to cancel the call if the client is driving or not present. Why? Because your COACH can't succeed at their job if they are dealing with a client only half plugged in. So, create a distraction free environment to take your calls, listen, and take notes. This leads me to my next point.
3. Thorough Note-Taking
While there will be a considerable amount of “mental heavy lifting” going on during our coaching calls and classes, we also want to see you taking thorough notes. If this doesn't happen the first time through, make sure you go back to the recording and take notes then, too. Information has a way of embedding itself into our mind and our actions when we really take time to write it out. So, don't skip this step. This takes comprehension to the next level.
4. Scheduled Implementation Time
We only get 30-45 minutes a week with you, depending on whether you are a 1-on-1 client or a group coaching client. You have 168 hours in a week. Based on that math, who truly has the biggest impact on whether or not coaching will be a success for you? I'm sure you know the answer. So, how do we use our time during the week to get the most out of coaching? We schedule implementation time. Implementation time is a chunk of time every week, maybe even directly after your call, where you get to take action on what your coach has asked you to do. I can’t even begin to tell you how disappointing it is to hear a whole week goes by between coaching calls, and a client takes zero action on the items we discussed. In a week with 168 hours, how does prioritizing your success and growth fall to the bottom of the list, or worse, not even get done at all? You should hold space every single week to go back through your notes and IMPLEMENT what we are asking you to implement. For some group programs, maybe it's daily implementation (prospecting, social media, etc.) and for other programs maybe its more weekly (such as creating checklists, etc.) but either way, there should never be a week where you aren't taking time to IMPLEMENT what you learned from your coach this week. I will tell you, while it doesn't happen often, if we ever get a client who requests a coach change or a cancellation because “coaching isn't working”, we audit implementation over the last 90 days before we make a decision on how we want to handle their request. If we see no implementation, no follow through on tasks given, or worse, inconsistently showing up, it becomes a tough conversation to have.
5. Connections
We feel fortunate to have a large community of clients who have trusted us with their growth and success. And, while it might feel like you are on an island sometimes, plug in and connect with the other clients in our programs outside of coaching calls, or connect with our 1-on-1 clients. We pride ourselves in creating a community rooted in giving and contribution and we believe the relationships you build with your peers in coaching are just as valuable as the information that your coach shares with you, so don't miss out on connecting with others! Who knows, you might even get a referral from it, which will make coaching pay for itself :)
6. Responsibility
This is a tough one. And it's one that might make the room a little funky. But someone asked me recently what sets successful clients apart from unsuccessful ones, and regardless of any/all other outside factors, valid or not, the coaching clients who succeed at the highest level take full and complete responsibility for not just their coaching, but everything that is occurring around them...SO THAT...they can stay in an empowered state, not a victim mentality. Now, that's not to say that some of you are dealing with some heavy things. I get that and hold space for that. Yet, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't tell you that moving THROUGH that space and into an empowered one will be the difference between your personal success or just living the same year in business over and over again. So, for everything that occurs in your world, take total and complete responsibility for it, so that you can be solely responsible for changing it.
7. Accountability
Last but not least, and arguably most important...accountability. We all need support to change. Who in your world can you recruit as your accountability partner? Your coach can certainly help with this, and yet, accountability on a daily basis from multiple people in your world will help ensure your success. Accountability should have both an item to take action on daily (a metric you can hit and control) and a pain point if you don't follow through. If it doesn't have either of these, it's not true accountability, it’s just support, and by the way, there is nothing wrong with support! But, for accountability to be truly effective there needs to be a measurable action step you can take daily (and control the outcome of, such as daily contacts) and a pain point (such a financial pain) if you don't hit your metric.
If you made it this far, I can see you’re one of the dedicated ones, and it makes me excited to see how committed you are to improving.
We look forward to watching you thrive through our coaching.
Your unreal life starts here.
Kate Simon
Head Coach of Glover U