FOR THE PRINTING INDUSTRY

I think every business should work with a coach regardless of their size. I have coached sole traders right through to businesses with 100+ staff turning over more than £10m. The main motive for me entering the world of coaching was recognising that I could help others through my own positive and negative experiences as a print business owner.

To date, I’ve worked with around 150 businesses over the past few years. Some work with me as regularly as 2 or 3 times each month for ongoing strategy and accountability, others just bring me in to support them with ad hoc projects such as conflict resolution or change management. From the
feedback I receive, people like working with me because I’ve owned a print business. I’ve experienced success and failure as a business owner and having someone that can relate to their day-to-day challenges goes a long way.

From my experience, management teams of all levels can benefit from a coach. For example, let’s look at a team that might be struggling with progress. I can come in and help turn things around. Because I work with a vast number of businesses in the industry, I can offer quick insight into what is working and what is not for others. I can make suggestions for new tools to use, and different strategies that deliver better results.

On the flip side, even successful management teams can benefit from working with a coach if they are willing to push their boundaries even further and be open to trying other innovative ways to enter new markets and scale their business. My role as a coach is to challenge my clients to think more creatively outside of the box and explore avenues they might not have otherwise considered.

I often joke that the best time for a business to start with a coach was yesterday. The 2nd best time is now. As I’ve already mentioned, I feel all businesses can benefit from having a coach.

The issue is, there’s a misconception that I’m going to come in and do all the work for them. I can often be seen as a last resort for some people and in many cases I can quickly identify some immediate scenarios to help them turn a corner. The earlier a coach can get involved though the better.

Coaching only works when the people being coached are open to fresh thinking, are willing to adapt to change, and are prepared to put the work in themselves. Where I fit in is by challenging them, helping provide strategy and structure, and guiding them to their desired end goal through
accountability.

There are times when the role can switch between coaching and mentoring depending on the objectives of the client. The mentoring hat typically gets put on when I can utilize my own experiences of being a print business owner to help the client. I’ll give a couple of scenarios.

I am working with a business in the start-up phase at the moment. The business owner is still in part-time employment elsewhere whilst trying to get the company to a point where they can leave employment and go all in. They have a very niche market and have displayed fairly rapid growth so far. 

My role here is to help the owner build the foundations of a strong business and implement the right systems and processes to continue that growth and give them the confidence to make that next leap.

In another scenario, I’m working with a business owner with multiple manufacturing sites who wants to build a network of franchises, something I have experience in myself also. The business is well established but needs some improvements operationally before we can consider rolling out any further locations. My role in this situation is to coach the owner to make the appropriate and necessary changes and strengthen the company’s proposition.

The biggest issue I come across is people not keeping their finger on the pulse of the business and staying on top of their numbers. It concerns me because they are making important decisions daily without having the data to back them up. More often than not, it’s not due to negligence or laziness, they are simply just so caught up in the business that they don’t have the time to work on it.

In most cases, I can typically help them find that extra time through better delegation, automation, and improving processes allowing them the time they should be spending to stay on top of things such as their numbers. If you’re not measuring your business’ data, how can you possibly manage it effectively? If the last few years have taught us anything, it is that our landscape is constantly evolving and we need to have the ability to pivot and adapt when required.

I’m very fortunate to have such a diverse range of clients and each day I get unique insights into the daily challenges facing our industry and get to play a part in overcoming them. One of the key learnings I’ve picked up is the power of effective communication. Leaders who are open, clear, and concise in how they communicate can transform the company’s dynamics and improve the overall health of the business.

Recently, I became a licensed practitioner of a new profiling tool called ‘Leading Energy Profile ‘(LEP) which has allowed me to gain a deeper appreciation for the role of emotional intelligence in the workplace, not just at leadership level but across the whole company. 

When used across your team, LEP helps build a powerful understanding of each person's energy blend, promoting better collaboration and synergy. Recognising and respecting each other's energies leads to a more harmonious, effective, and productive work environment.

I think the concept of coaching here in the UK is still relatively new and I’ve been in some situations where owners and directors have been somewhat offended at the very thought of having a coach.

In the majority of cases, I’m helping the coachee reach goals they already
know what to do to get there but for whatever reason are not. I am there to challenge them, to offer differing ideas, be a sounding board, and in some cases, it often feels like a therapist.

What my clients always get from me is honesty and openness and at times, that means telling you the things you don’t want to hear. You just have to remember, it’s coming from a good place and ultimately, that’s what I get paid for.

Not as such. It depends on the objectives set by the client and in some cases, these are not always quantifiable financially. I particularly spend time at the beginning of each session ensuring there is a clear understanding of what the client would like to achieve from that session and at the end, I readdress this to ensure we have achieved this.

For those clients with longer-term objectives that can be measured by financial return, we set clear baseline start points so we can indeed measure the impact of our coaching sessions.

From the feedback I have received to date, the majority see an adequate ROI after just one session but I always suggest you allow 3 sessions as a general rule of thumb. Ultimately, I get judged by the results I help people achieve so it’s important to me that they see value in my offering as quickly in the relationship as possible.