It's what's behind the problem that's the real problem

There's an old Chinese saying "there's plenty of room at the top but it's very crowded at the bottom".

On a sales and marketing course I was delivering, just at a point where we were discussing our top customers someone asked me to describe my target market. I told her that I choose to coach only people that are truly committed to changing something in their lives. She said, oh are you a bit like a councellor? Do you fix people? I said no, I definitely don't fix people. She said, ok so do you advise people? I said no, I don't advise people. She said do you train people? I said yes I do deliver training courses and give people access to information for them to improve their knowledge, but when I'm coaching people it's really a matter of helping them to access answers that are already within them.

Having said that, at the appropriate times, I do spend approx 20% of my coaching consultations explaining some models that they might find very useful such as how 'changing someone's environment won't always solve the problem, but helping them discover their top values might.

Take for example, someone who is finding it difficult to manage their team. They could try moving to another company, but sooner or later the old problems are likely to crop up again. By understanding what's important to the manager about managing their team such as respect, recognition, rewards you have the motivation behind finding solutions.

Running away from problems doesn't help. But finding the motivation behind solving the problems is key to success.

So what problems are you trying to ignore at the moment? Not enough customers? Not enough income? Working too hard for too little? Well that isn't the problem. There are plenty of customers out there and plenty of money.

What is the cause behind you not finding the right ones?

Speak again tomorrow.

Ann