The power of momentum. How a coach can help you sustain it.

Are you needing to make a change in your business but don’t know how to get started? Rather than being excited about the opportunities you can see, are you finding yourself unsure of what initial steps to take, leading you to not take any action at all? Maybe you are quietly confident about what is in front of you, but would value having a trusted coach who can act as a sounding-board for you and ask questions that you might overlook. If so, this is probably the time to weigh up the value of choosing a coach who can support you in creating and sustaining momentum in both your personal and business goals. Working with a coach can help you get clarity around your goals, create a plan of action, manage the inevitable conflicts and challenges that occur, and keep you accountable along the way.

The use of technology can improve the quality of the coaching engagement

When coaches and clients can leverage the benefits of technology to improve communication between them, significant change and growth can occur. In a world where time is a precious commodity and speed-to-market is hotly pursued, using technology to access and integrate relevant information is extremely important. Being able to quickly tap into insights from different sources of information (including previous assessments or diagnostics clients have previously completed) can be very efficient. Further, viewing the breadth of this information through a new lens and reflecting on how it can be applied in your current context can be significant. Some leaders have a bias for action and make the mistake of seeing reflection as something that unnecessarily slows down the decision-making process, rather than one that informs it and helps it to be better. Reflecting on the larger context in which a decision needs to be made and creating a model for problem solving does not have to be the same as overthinking something to the point of inaction.

Being willing to adopt reflection as a key practice within the coaching engagement, allows you to step back from something and evaluate why it is or isn’t working, what your role is in that process, and then once you have some traction consider how to sustain momentum. Of course, being clear on what outcomes you are looking for must be at the center of every coaching conversation. The one thing about coaching that has often come under question is the measurability of success and how it can help support lasting change. What’s important to remember is that coaching is more than just securing results in the short term; it’s about supporting you in making sustainable changes that will have a positive impact on all facets of your life that have the potential to affect the outcome.

Get immediate traction with clear goals and timeframes

The role of the coach is to help bring clarity to your goals so you can consider what strategies and resources you need for achieving them. This clarity allows you to refine those goals and bring a sharper focus to the next steps. It’s also crucial to set timeframes for your goals so that you can stay on track. While this can be challenging, ensuring goals and timelines are realistic and attainable will help you to remain motivated and be able to motivate others as you see your goals materialize. It is also the role of the coach to ask questions that will help you to mitigate potential risks and make allowances for the inevitable (and sometimes unforeseen) circumstances that are the reality of life and felt more heavily by those who carry significant responsibilities.

The COVID pandemic revealed many things, not the least that our goals can quickly become redundant for many different and unexpected reasons. Because they can frequently change, the focus and support of a coach can help you to reframe your goals, adapt to new goals that need to be set, or maintain focus around a primary goal that is still important but under threat. The approach used by LCP Global centers around the importance of leveraging “90-day Sprints” which can be an effective way to refocus and realign your efforts around a series of smaller actions, where progress is measurable and the celebration of quick wins can inject energy for maintaining motivation.

Ultimately, an effective means of tracking your progress towards goals needs to be in place to ensure coaching is having the desired effect and that momentum is being maintained. This is why technology is becoming increasingly popular, as there are tools and apps that allow for coaching dashboards, automated reminders and check-ins, and editable forms and documents that allow insights to be applied to new goals or existing goals as they change.

How coaching can help you to achieve momentum that is sustainable

Let’s finish with the question you were asked at the beginning, “Are you needing to make a change in your business but don’t know how to get started?” The coaching process can give you the tools and support to make those changes so that you can achieve sustainable success. While coaching can radically transform the outcomes you are looking for, it’s important to remember that the relationship between the coach and client is of huge importance, as is the approach or methodology the coach uses to help you launch your goals. Yes, it’s a journey that requires dedication and commitment from both coach and client, but if you’re tracking the progress of your goals along with your personal and professional development as part of that process, momentum becomes easier to sustain.

LCP Global is committed to helping leaders and organizations understand the value coaches can deliver, and how the LCP Leadership Accelerator™ with its 90-Day Goal-Tracking System can deliver tremendous momentum to your goals and your personal and professional growth.