Stop Managing andStart Coaching your

BranchBy Robert Gray

Coaching 401

Great Coaches haveVision

Your people must want to follow you on a path that you as “Head Coach” have communicated, lived and breathed.

People will follow you if they believe you have the Knowledge, Courage, Conviction and Answers needed to help them achieve their goals. Do you know what their goals are? Have you asked?

Great Coaches are masterful at aligning their peoples goals with their agencies Vision (Passion number) and making them a Common goal that all buy into. Keep them simple, measureable and in-focus at all times.

Your Vision must be consistent with your agency culture, if not, it will fail to Inspire the necessary enthusiasm.

Attributes of a Great Coach

Kindness - Kindness is NOT a weakness and if you don’t believe me, test me out!

Strength = Character! You demonstrate every second of every day in your branch.

Discipline - Ability to get your mind and others aligned for a duration of time.

Focus - Takes real effort to sustain. Vision - All great Coaches Paint a vivid Vision and coach their

people to Project it to everyone all the time!Leaders are NOT born, they are made. However, all great

leaders are born with a burning desire to success (Obsessive) You can’t Coach that! It’s called an Attribute! Have an eye for talent for those that have this and put them in position to WIN!

Symptoms and Systems

Battle-torn – You’re STUCK because your team can’t get along. Syndrome that leads to internal scuffle – Sometimes you never really get to compete against the real Objectives - Driving Production! - We’ll fix it!Overwhelmed – You’re stuck because your team doesn’t really know what to do next. Feel like like you don’t have enough time and there are too many moving parts! We’ll fix it!

Alone - Your team has lost its own religion. A sense of belonging has been replaced by the “haze of battle”. Your crew lacks the constant Culture to unite, so it’s far less than the sum of its parts. We’ll fix it!

What is Business Coaching

Most people will agree that Coaching is a Transfer of Skills

Relationship - Do your people come to you seeking help?

Development - Investing time in your Talent! Direction - What's expected, where we are today and

your role (how you contribute to OUR success) Accountability- 2nd Most Important skill you can have

and critical to your success as a Manager. Results - We get up in the morning to WIN!

Business Coach - GoalsCoaches Coach by asking challenging questions that

force their people to go through “Self- Discovery”. We challenge assumptions and points of view that don’t align with our core belief system.

Coaches bring out and Identify action items that improve both individual and team performance. Redefining what “peak performance” looks like.

Coaches who can outline plays on a white board are a dime a dozen! The ones that WIN, get inside their players heads and motivate daily while projecting the Vision to Inspire for life!

Winning in sales is a “all of the time activity”

Coaching 401 We Manage the Data to lead our People, but who’s

Inspiring them? Motivation vs. Inspiration You need to be smart to lead through Data driven

metrics. But the real talent is to Coach positive action behind the data that drives results! That takes great Coaching.

Two choices as a manager; Manage your team from data driven choices or Coach your people to excellence.

Re-active vs. Proactive (our trends are no secret) Great Coaches Inspire to Peak Performance.

DNA of a Great Coach Innate ability to Spot and Foster Talent Communicates with great Purpose and Passion Provides a Winning Culture (Structure to Achieve) Vision to Guide Beyond Expectations Ability to Inspire to Extraordinary Effort Knows their own Playbook and will lead by example Key: The Gravity to attract people and the ability to

Hold those very people 100% accountable for their own success!

Success in Sales take talent, skills, discipline, practice and honesty with a genuine interest in developing your people- You can’t achieve all this without becoming a Coach!

DNA of a Great Coach Has Personal Integrity Deals Honestly and Gains Trust Clear Long Vision; Executes 1st Things First; Inspires Others to

Action Positive Enthusiastic Committed; Has Focus-ability Solution-oriented Creative; Makes Top Management Efficient;

Empowers Others A Catalyst; Creates Pygmalion Effect; Fosters Self-Motivation Strives for Excellence Always; Is a Transparent Influence Is a Great Communicator - allows their team to understand the

vision and goals and adopt them as their own! A Great Negotiator; Nurtures Relationships Balances Confidence with Caution; Adapts Management Styles for

War & Peace Rejuvenates Self; Sharpens his axe; Transforms his Strengths into

Talents Being a builder - Some coaches inherit good programs and have good

careers. Others build them, or in some cases, rebuild them.

DNA of a Great Coach Create a Culture of constant Improvement - Everything ALIVE is either

growing or dying! Focus on a Individual’s strengths - you have some position players on

your team! While improving weaknesses. Have Willingness to Learn- All great leaders like to be lead! Blueprints are

everywhere. Knowledge is only power if acted upon. Success is a choice! Open to suggestions for improvement - if you bring forth a concern, you

better also bring a solution! Rule#1. Great Coaches take action NOW! Time is a linear line of successive

increments of now! Not afraid to make mistakes - As a Coach & Leader if you’re not making

mistakes, you’re not making enough decisions. Stop trying to be the “perfect manager” and start being an effective Coach!

High Confidence – in all matters! Confidence breeds Competence Swagger - if you don’t have one, get one!

Belief Systems Before you go transforming results, you need to have established

your team’s Core Values. Belief systems govern branch planning, direction, action and results - what's your Belief system look like?

Attitude - Professionals with an Obsessive Purpose! What attitude do you promote?

Metrics Driven - WAR, Recruiting Workbook. How do you measure your success daily? Is the data available to all? Why not? WE KEEP SCORE on everything. That’s our culture!

Goal Setting - MRO’s Daily expectations Accountability - Most critical skill you will ever learn, only

second to public speaking Achievement - We recognize top performers and celebrate their

success!

Prime Time One on One’s – All managers and agents Leadership meetings New hiring training Quality business reviews Manager meetings - WAR reviews Coaching someone in the lead - best time Coaching through a Slump- find out how good you

are! Groups – you’re already Coaching your future players

- be assumptive!

What’s Your Vision 2012

THE LAW OF VISUALIZATION: The world around you is a reflection of the world within you. The images you dwell upon affect your thoughts, feelings and behavior. Whatever you visualize clearly and emotionally will eventually materialize in your world.

We must visualize what we want to ATTRACT in our lives.The Vision of you team is what gives everything EERGY

Vision describes the aspirations for the future without specifying meansVision creates purpose for your people

Great Coaches make these Presentations to their branch until it’s part of the culture!

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION:

You attract into your world the people, ideas and opportunities that harmonize with your dominant thoughts.

When your goals are magnetized with the emotion of desire, you will experience what other people call luck.

Vision 2012 & Beyond

A true visionary is someone who recognizes a need or opportunity and regardless of conventional wisdom or skeptics, does something about it.

Vision is not forecasting the future, what it is, is creating the future by taking action in the present.

NOW IS THE TIME TO CRAFT YOUR VISION!

Time is a linear measurement of successive increments of NOW! Any where you go on that line is NOW and that’s how you have to live it.

We encourage all of you to paint your personal vision of where you want to be and exactly what that will look like by the end of 2014 – You all have your 3 year plan! Hitting your benchmarks –Q1 2012.

Vision 2012 & BeyondKEYS TO CRAFTING A VISION:

Three Conditions You Must Have1.Your vision must be a true reflection of your inner personal needs, values and motivations.2.You must have an authentic personal commitment to achieve your vision.3.You must be able to communicate (PROJECT) a vivid conception of your vision on a daily basis until it becomes part of you and your culture. You must create REAL ownership from all!

*Your Vision needs “buy-in” to succeed and if your people don’t understand your Vision, they likely won’t buy into it.

Your Vision ChecklistAn image of your desired future.Vivid description of what things WILL look like in the future.Compelling, tangible and immediate.Described in the present tense.Forward thinking at all times.$ Richly detailed.

Vision 2012 & Beyond

DREAM BIG

Visions Need to Challenge People! They need to evoke a feeling of being apart of something special! We’re making Dreams come true!

If there was ever a time to dare, to make a difference, to embark on something worth doing, it is NOW. It’s got to tug at your heart and it’s got to be your obsession – Your DREAM!

You and your people have got to Project the Vision Visions that are truly shared can take time to emerge, they grow as a

by-product of interactions. – FAST TRACK your Vision! It’s your passion number and everyone better know it!

4 Keys to effectively establishing your Vision1. Project how your Vision will benefit the Branch as a whole2. How the achievement of the Vision will benefit each team member –

your people need to internalize the Visions direct benefits to them.3. Make Crystal Clear what each member of your Team can expect from

you.4. And, Exactly what you expect from them! – Management team.

Great Coaches Practice

Great Coaches Develop leadership programs for their people

Workshops, Coaching sessions, Team Building, How to Empower, Conflict resolution, Effective planning, How to build and maintain a Winning Culture.

Sports teams spend 95% of their collective time practicing for an event that takes up 5% of their time. We play everyday! Are your people as prepared as they can be before the game starts?

Set crystal clear Expectations

And even clearer rewards and repercussions – your people have to know you’re serious!

Burnout - Does not exist when clear expectations are set from the start. Burnout only exists when the amount of effort and energy is not defined.

Your new hires need to let you know they understand exactly what's expected of them and that they are committed to those expectations.

The more people you have committed to an objective the more successful you’ll be, i.e., weekly recruiting goals!

As a Sales Leader you may not always be in position to guarantee a specific result, but you darn sure can guarantee the activity needed to get that specific result! – I hope you all agree

Holding Your people Accountable

Great Coaches Know how to hold their people accountable because they have built a Culture of Accountability!

Accountability is the acknowledgement of responsibility for actions and a exact result. Its also the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for the resulting consequences. Aka No excuses!

Great coaches take the blame when they lose and give all the praise to their players when they win! That’s the DEAL!

Holding your people Accountable is a Skill!

Why many sales leaders fail: Because they themselves don’t want to be held

Accountable - calling people out is easy when you have nothing to hide.

Avoidance of conflict - simply afraid. Great Coaches never make decisions based on the fear of others reactions!

Accountability should be driven by a deep sense of pride, not driven out of fear of repercussions.

You as a Sales Leader must fully commit to seek out, listen and verify in order to successfully hold your team and the individuals accountable.

Get out of Comfort Zone As a Leader you need to be able to make uncomfortable

conversations, comfortable - through live practice! Most leaders are Non-Confrontational and have trouble

with truly holding people accountable! Don’t be that person, especially to those that you hold critical to your success!

Be “Frontal”- address people that are not meeting your expectations early and often! Think Correction, direction, affection.

Be engaging, direct and don’t offer the answers you expect to hear. Let people respond.

Great Coaches are disciplined

Think Cure, not punishment. Pain is Inevitable, Suffering is optional! Having bad agents is worse than having no agents at all! –

move underperformers on to more “suitable” careers. Effective leadership is putting first things first, Effective

Coaching is the discipline to carry it out! Coach your people to better performance while disciplining

them to the Goal. Respect hinges on your ability to be consistent in your

decisions

Weekly Game Plans

All Agency Meeting must have a “gameplan” for the week - detailed “Handout”- developed and crafted each week by YOU!

Focus items, weekly goals and agenda, special instructions, Contest updates (spotlight), Tips, Quotes, motivational messages, Rankings, WAR stats and objectives!

What did my people learn at MY branch meeting today? Takeaways! Inspirational messages

Confidence is all about be prepared - make your meetings an EVENT!

When highly successful are asked: who in your life has had the great impact on your success, most respond by naming a Coach that mentored, molded and drove them to realizing their true success.

Your People need to know you push them hard because it’s the Culture of your branch and it’s the same standards you hold for yourself. You believe in their abilities and you invest in their personal success 100%.

All Successful Agencies have Rock Star Head Coaches - Become what you visualize and Inspire your Agency to Greatness!