March is finally here and Spring is right around the corner. Even so, mother nature hasn’t seemed to get the message in many parts of the country. But I’ll let you in on a little secret—I work remotely for SPEARity. I’m not in Milwaukee. I’m actually in Louisville, Kentucky and I have daffodils in a vase in my house that I cut from my front yard last week.
But, that doesn’t mean I can’t relate with all of you that have grown tired of the snow and cold. My family actually moved to Kentucky about 18 months ago from Michigan, so I know what you’re going through.
Are you wondering what all this has to do with business coaching? Stick with me here.
It’s easy to get stuck
Several years ago when we were living in Michigan we got hit with a horrible winter. My family lived in a small farm community so our house was in the country and surrounded by open farm fields. That meant when it snowed and the wind was blowing, we would end up with huge snowdrifts in the road. I had a habit of getting stuck in them. And, I don’t mean going off the road and getting stuck, I mean driving right down the middle of the road and getting stuck in a huge snow drift.
It was easy to get stuck. Everything on the road was white. As the wind was blowing loose snow around it was hard to tell when one of these drifts was magically going to pop up in the road. I also seemed to think I could drive through much deeper snow than what I was able to (something that drove my poor husband crazy!). So over the course of that winter, I got stuck in the middle of the road several times.
But, we don’t just get stuck when driving. It’s easy to get stuck in areas of life and business as well. We think things are going along fine, but all of a sudden no matter how hard we try, we just can’t seem to move forward anymore. It’s not that we don’t want to move forward or that we aren’t motivated to move forward, we just can’t seem to get going again.
What it takes to get unstuck
Through my multiple experiences of being stuck in the snow, I learned that doing the same thing repeatedly is not going to get you unstuck. It didn’t matter how many times I tried to drive forward, it wasn’t going to happen.
Here are the ways that I could get unstuck:
- Putting the floormats under my tires to help gain traction.
- Enlisting someone else to help push or dig me out.
- Grabbing a shovel and digging my own way out, which usually had to be combined with one of the other strategies listed here.
- Getting the car rocking back and forth to help gain momentum to move forward (usually combined with someone helping to push as well).
So, how does that apply to helping your business get unstuck?
1. You need the right tools.
Without the right tools, my car wasn’t going anywhere. For me, at times the right tools were a shovel and my floor mats, and on occasion a tow truck. If I had
For your business, finding the right tools might mean enlisting the help of a business coach. It could be getting the right assessment done and going through the proper training to educate yourself and your team on how to do things differently. Or, it could be finding the right software or app, such as the SPEARity app, to help you set goals and measure your progress.
2. You need other people
I’ll be honest, I never got myself unstuck on my own. Every time someone else came along that was able to help me get unstuck. One time it was the high school boy that was dating our neighbor’s daughter. Twice it was a tow truck driver that happened to notice that I was stuck, pulled up, hooked up to my car, and yanked me out without hardly saying anything. But, more often than not, it was my sweet and frustrated husband. Without these people, I probably would have been sitting there until the snow melted.
It’s no different for your business and professional career. Just like I was able to get myself a little unstuck but not all the way out, the same might be happening with your business. You need someone that can pull you out of the place where you’re stuck.
A business coach can help show you the way to get unstuck. They can pinpoint what the problem is, help create a plan to make a change, and then keep you accountable for following through on the plan. They can be your teacher, your sounding board, and your cheerleader.
3. Doing the same thing over and over won’t help
I could have continued to hit the gas in hopes of getting through the snowdrift, but when you’re stuck, you’re stuck. There’s no other way around it. If I kept doing the same thing I was just going to get myself buried even further.
If you are stuck in your business, it’s time to make a change. Continuing to do the same thing you’ve been doing, that hasn’t been working, is not going to help you grow your business or move forward. Don’t get me wrong, consistency is a crucial part of success, but if you aren’t doing the right things consistency isn’t going to help.
Business coaching can help you identify the wrong things that you’ve been doing and the things that you need to spend your time on instead.
You don’t want to delay
When I was stuck in the snow it was my goal to get unstuck as quickly as possible. I didn’t just sit there in my car feeling sorry for myself (well, maybe for a few minutes after I tried and failed to get unstuck on my own). I knew I wasn’t going to magically get unstuck. And, I needed to take action. That usually meant calling my husband and explaining that for the umpteenth time that winter I was stuck and needed help.
Was it a call I wanted to make? No. Did getting unstuck cost me anything? No, because I was blessed by great helpers, but I was also more than willing to pay anyone that was willing to help me (they just wouldn’t take my money) like the tow truck driver and the neighbor’s boyfriend. Was it a one time and done type of thing? Nope, I needed help multiple times throughout the winter season.
Do you want to admit that your business needs help? Probably not, most people struggle with asking for help. Will business coaching come with a cost? Yes, but so will allowing your business to stay stuck because you are unwilling to invest in it the proper way it needs.
If you’re ready to get unstuck and explore the options of how business coaching can help you, give us a call. We are SPEARity, a local Milwaukee leadership coaching firm that specializes in business coaching, executive coaching, and leadership development training.
