What impacts progress?

As I embark upon a new coaching relationship I look out for signs as to the working style of the invidual or team and establish a way of working that both plays to their strengths whilst challenging their development. Here are a few of the things I look out for:

• Pro-active vs. co-erced
• Meeting the commitments made (vs. rescheduling tasks ad infinitum) – and if that means setting conservative deadlines rather than aggressive ones it is still more productive
• New vs. familiar concepts – if a concept is new it takes time to understand and internalise it, if it is familiar (however vaguely) then you’ve already worked out a place for it in your understanding of the world
• Constraints from other places (time or resources) and/or alternate foci in your life…and the stability of these elements
• Working styles – sequential vs. circular vs. holistic, whether these are conscious and recognised
• Clarity of vision of the future – being able to make decisions against an outline of where you want the decision to take you
• Prioritisation of ‘business’ elements, particularly in relation to creative activities – if you have identified it as a key route to progressing you’ll treat it differently than if it is ‘must I?’
• Whether or not your internal processes are capable of meeting your expansion/growth plans – e.g. accounting systems and whether you’ve moved on from excel sheets to some form of accounting software (with or without the assistance of a part-time book-keeper)
• Ability to free up some elements via delegation or sub-contraction and having a ready pool of contacts to use for this