Finding the Right Environment to Thrive

I’m very fortunate to work with company leadership teams with completely different styles. One company I work with is incredibly aggressive. The team dynamics are intense, and to an outsider they might seem manic. But I must say I absolutely love working with them. I have a style that meshed with them, and they’ve got a great work environment. The intensity of the meeting doesn’t bother me at all. (That being said, I come from a family where our arguments only lasted minutes, and afterward we were all laughing again.)

Recently this company had a trainer come in to work with them. On the first day they almost made the trainer cry on several occasions. The trainer let the CEO know how difficult the team was. By the end of the day the team was comparing, calling me “Coach Heaven.”

While I got a kick out of hearing that, the point is not that I’m good and the other trainer is bad. It’s just that my natural strengths are suited to work with this driven, non-traditional team. There are companies who might think the other trainer is from heaven, compared to me, because they would be a better fit.

Coach Kevin’s Challenge

Take a look at which environments you’re absolutely at your best in. What environments are you not right for, even through you’re performing at a high level?

How To Get A Higher Return On Your Learning Or Training Investment

I find that most companies need to work on getting a return on their training investment. Earlier this year I did a two-day training session for about 30 companies to learn the Rockefeller Habits. I use these Habits with all my clients to help them improve their focus and results. One table was a forum group from the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). These nine people got lots of value from the session. But afterwards they realized they should’ve brought their executive teams with them, so the execs could learn and understand the training approach.

So the group asked me if I could train their executives. Now, a typical solution would be to give another a seminar for all those companies. But even though they could split that cost, it wouldn’t give a very good return on their investment.

I find people learn during a workshop, but typically there are specific questions for each company. A generic seminar would’ve been okay, but it wouldn’t provide those answers. I didn’t feel right about that extra workshop, because I knew they were serious about using the Rockefeller Habits. They mastered the learning, but didn’t have a process for follow-though.

They came up with a brilliant solution: A half-day with all the executives, then about 1.75 hours for each executive team over the next day or so. During that short time we solved 5-10 specific issues for each of the companies. We moved them from being 20 percent to 50 percent effective with the Habits in just that time. These companies had my direct experience of going through the process hundreds of times.

Problems that could take a day to solve got solved in 30 minutes. We took so many roadblocks out their way because we could troubleshoot them one by one. You could do this over an hour or so of a Webcast or conference call.

Coach Kevin’s Challenge:

Can you use this kind of model to achieve better returns from your training? Is there an expert you could bring in to work with you?

See Our Charity Event on the News

As many of you know, my longtime friend Richard Deacon and I coordinate “A Night of Giving Back,” an annual charity event to benefit less fortunate people on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.  

This year the local news caught us in action. To see a fantastic video clip, click here.  

There is a massive need for support like this – compassionate, unconditional, need-based giving to people in very difficult situations. A number of us walked away saying, “Wow – we see how much this helps, and we need to do a lot more next year.” Instead of the 500 packages we distributed this year, we’re planning to do thousands next year. If you’d like to help, please contact me.