Coaching Conduct Needs to be Honest
Here at the-Coaching Blog-run by Gerard O’Donovan, our aim is to constantly bring value to those seeking to improve their lives. Therefore we have a policy of publishing articles and materials by guest authors whom we value and appreciate. Today’s guest author is Michael Ringrose (Ireland).
Coaching is a growth industry. There is an enormous supply of Consultants, Advisors, Mentors, and even, “Coaches” who are now readily available, it would appear, to take you and your business, soaring to unimaginable heights, on the road to success.
Secret Pathways to Wealth
There is a wide variety of personas engaged in this business. Most of them, especially those engaged in promoting instant wealth through online home business activities, seem to share a fairly turbulent background fraught with experiences of having to work as a waiter, or car-attendant or such-like in order to sustain their existence. Then along comes, “Mr Right” and after sharing a coffee or beer, Mr. Rights reveals the secrets of gaining enormous and instant wealth and offers an opportunity to join the party.
Promulgating material about “The Secrets” of Online Business Markets, or “Secrets” about how multi-millionaires accrued their wealth is also a growth industry. It makes one wonder how there can be any secrets left to reveal. Truth is, of course, there are no secrets to be revealed in this area. Business practices, the good and the bad, the successful and the failures are well documented. The success factors are relatively easily recognised and identified. Similarly, the causes of failure are well chronicled. Yet, by the hundreds and thousands, individuals rush to get the last offer, before, as the seller warns, the offer is taken off the market, never to be repeated.
Fast-Track
They offer a range of instruments that will enable you to fulfil your dream of being extraordinarily successful and wealthy. They promise to fast-track your progression into the world of leisurely opulence while you just keep a casual eye on your laptop or iPod and watch the dollars pile up. In the meantime, you relax in your mansion by the sea. The picture will show the Porsche in the foreground and an azure blue seascape in the back-ground and you, instead of sweating at your desk, happily absorbing this newly found Nirvana. They promise to unlock, especially for you, the key to wealth creation that will ensure that you can, “Fire your Boss”, and no longer need to work nine to five and be answerable to anyone but yourself.
No Experience Required
They will suggest, (in the large-print) no experience required as they propose to take you by the hand and, step-by-step walk you through the intricacies of starting, setting-up, and marketing, financing and promoting your business, without the need to concern yourself or worry about the complexities of it all. No need for “Cold-Calling”; “Nothing to sell”; “No need to pester your family, friends and neighbours”: “No inventory”, in some instances they will have all that sorted for you. Everything will be set up.
You listen to guarantees of 24/7 support; unending mentoring and even training that will guarantee your success. It is all so encouraging and supportive. You get called or have your emails addressed to you in your first name. You are gradually and successfully being enticed into the web. By whom? By Mr. Nice Guy, in reality, it is Mr. Cyberspace. Does he or she exist in the persona presented? The problem is you are listening to someone whom you probably have never met and never will meet.
Once you buy in, you will find that your queries are addressed by an Auto-Responder. That might be available 24/7 but that is not what you bought into. Push that line and you will be informed that the vast list of clients renders it impossible to respond to individual queries or complaints. You are on your own. Mr. Wealth Creator, Mr. Always Available and the legions of minions have successfully collected your hard-earned cash and you have contributed to their pathway to wealth-creation but may have diminished your own prospects by wasting your time following empty promises.
Buyer Beware
“Buyer beware” is an old but still very relevant piece of advice. The fact is that there are thousands of individuals out there, especially in harsh economic times, striving to start and make a success of a business venture and are in need of genuine advice and support. It is criminally irresponsible to take advantage of the vulnerabilities within that group and to play on the hopes and expectations of those endeavouring and striving towards the success of a new business venture.
Apprehension and Suspicion
Those who engage in the substantive areas of, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting are much more than that and capable of delivering much more. The difficulty presented by the picture painted above is that the honourable, genuine, important and necessary activities and functions provided by the professionals in the field are very often tarnished by the actions of fraudsters. People genuinely seeking a new opportunity, advice on starting a business or managing an existing business, are sceptical and reluctant to invest their money and their trust lest they be burned.
These are genuine fears and suspicions and the Business Consultant and Coach needs to be aware of the concerns of their potential clients in this regard. This is true of all levels of the chain and not necessarily only applicable to those at the lower end. There is an enormous amount of information available to us today, as a result of the economic collapse, of the conduct of so many businesses and enterprises. Many had elite standing in the world of commerce. Some were house-hold names. The revelations of the conduct of big name Consultants, Advisors, Auditors, and Bankers across the globe, demonstrates that fundamentally, avarice and greed dictated the norms of business conduct and revealed a seriously damaging chasm at the heart of the world of business.
These revered institutions set and promoted the appropriate standards of ethical behaviour, conduct and even dress and they were adhered to in the corridors of high-finance, commerce and trade. Their public profiles portrayed the essence of trust, confidence and respectability and were deemed to be appropriate models for other organisations and institutions to emulate. In fact, the particular style adopted by many individuals heading-up such venerable institutions, reflected a measure of pomposity that, they at least, felt was perfectly in keeping with the status and importance of their position and function in life. Lesser mortals would be expected to recognize their ordained status and standing and defer accordingly.
Standards of Performance
However, in spite of all the manifestations of grandeur and aggrandisement, there was a general acceptance that the institutions and individuals acted in accordance with a sense of corporate ethics that was, in general at least, fundamentally earthed in a common understanding and acceptance of principles of honesty and integrity. Perhaps, these are the ingredients that are absent today and are no longer available as tenets that guide and govern principles of good conduct. They have been replaced, in many instances, by policies, principles and practices that are influenced and framed by the perceived needs of the market. They are configured so that they are fluid and adaptable and not constrained nor encumbered by any consideration of equity, honesty or fairness.
Old Fashioned Ethics
There is still a very important place for these traditional values and a central place for them in the work of those who would propose to guide, counsel and assist others in setting up a business, starting a new franchise, developing and growing an existing business. In addition to the plethora of tools and strategies offered to a client as fundamental instruments in establishing a successful business operation, there is an invaluable asset available to a client who is supported by a Coach or Consultant, who is, himself or herself, guided by principles of honesty, integrity, truthfulness and fairness.
Does it not seem somewhat out-of-place, strange and unusual to mix in such concepts in a presentation dealing with enabling individuals and groups to “Make More Money”, “Make More Profit”, “Attract More Customers to Your Business”? It appears to be somewhat out-dated and old-fashioned. Not so. Deep down what makes most people more content and happy with their life’s endeavour is the knowledge and satisfaction of knowing that they reached beyond themselves, transcended themselves in the service of others. Studies have shown that the old understanding of the “Hierarchy of Need” which reached its zenith at the point of “Self-Actualization”, still did not explain why the altruistic needs and drives of the individual were not satisfied.
The Consultant and Coach who is guided by these fundamental values and attributes is intrinsically fortified with insight and comprehension of the client’s needs. This facilitates expression of empathy with the client; enables the development of an easy rapport with the client; creates a genuine interest in helping realize the client’s ambition and earns and engages the client’s trust. This cost-free added value will drive the genuine commitment and go a long way towards ensuring a successful outcome.
Credit Source:
Michael Ringrose (Ireland)
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