Tag: #GoalSetting

Coaches Help Individuals Master Time Management

Posted on by Tina-Schuricht

Coaches help individuals master time management and improve productivity. Do you have enough time in your day to get everything done that you planned?  Do you get interrupted by a text, email, instant message, phone call, people swinging by your desk or office – sometimes all at once?  How do you stay focused?  What do you decide to delegate, defer, or do in the moment?  With numerous tasks competing for attention, finding effective ways to prioritize, manage time, and avoid common pitfalls to productivity can significantly boost personal and professional success and help you with your work-life balance. Coaches play a transformative role in helping individuals master time management and productivity. They provide personalized guidance, accountability, and tools tailored to each client’s unique challenges and goals.

Identifying Individual Challenges

Coaches excel at uncovering the root causes of time management struggles. Through targeted conversations and assessments, they help clients recognize patterns such as procrastination, overcommitment, or ineffective prioritization. This self-awareness is the first step toward meaningful improvement and sidestep these obstacles:

  • Combat Procrastination: Break large tasks into smaller, manageable steps. Tackling one piece at a time reduces the intimidation factor and keeps momentum.
  • Limit Multitasking: Juggling multiple tasks can decrease efficiency and increase errors. Focus on one task at a time to maintain quality and speed.
  • Manage Digital Distractions: Technology can be both a blessing and a curse. Turn off non-essential notifications, set boundaries for social media, and use focus modes on devices to minimize interruptions.
  • Take Breaks: Overworking can lead to burnout. Incorporate short breaks to recharge your mind and maintain productivity throughout the day.
Creating Customized Strategies

Prioritization is the foundation of effective time management. Without it, you may find yourself overwhelmed or spinning your wheels on unimportant tasks. And, not all time management techniques work for everyone. Coaches work closely with clients to develop strategies that fit their lifestyles, work environments, and personal preferences. Whether it’s incorporating the Eisenhower Matrix, refining SMART goals, or scheduling around peak productivity hours, coaches ensure the approach is practical and achievable.

  • Eisenhower Matrix: Categorize tasks into four quadrants based on urgency and importance. This helps you focus on critical tasks while delegating or eliminating less significant ones.
  • Set SMART Goals: Ensure your objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This clarity helps you prioritize actions that align with your goals.
  • Identify Peak Productivity Hours: Everyone has periods of high energy during the day. Schedule high-priority tasks during these hours to optimize focus and efficiency.
Teaching Effective Tools and Techniques

Coaches are well-versed in a variety of time management tools and methods. They introduce clients to options such as time-blocking apps, digital planners, or prioritization frameworks. They also demonstrate how to use these tools effectively, ensuring clients can integrate them seamlessly into their routines. Time management goes beyond setting priorities—it’s about organizing your day and creating habits that support productivity. Here are some strategies:

  • Plan Your Day: Start each morning with a clear plan. Use tools like to-do lists, digital planners, or apps to outline your tasks and allocate time for each.
  • Embrace Time Blocking: Dedicate specific time slots to particular activities. This method minimizes distractions and keeps your day structured.
  • Follow the Two-Minute Rule: If a task takes less than two minutes, complete it immediately. This prevents small tasks from accumulating and cluttering your to-do list.
  • Learn to Say No: Avoid overcommitting by respectfully declining requests that don’t align with your priorities. Protecting your time is key to staying on track.
Encouraging a Growth Mindset

A good coach fosters a growth mindset, encouraging clients to view setbacks as opportunities for learning. By focusing on continuous improvement rather than perfection, individuals become more resilient and adaptable in their time management efforts.  Improving time management and productivity is a continuous process. Evaluate your strategies regularly and make adjustments as needed. Celebrate progress and view setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow.

Providing Accountability and Building Confidence

One of the greatest challenges in self-improvement is staying committed to new habits. Coaches serve as accountability partners, regularly checking in with clients to track progress and celebrate successes. This support system motivates individuals to stay on course and adapt strategies as needed. Through their guidance, coaches empower clients to make decisions that align with their values and priorities. This not only improves productivity but also promotes a sense of balance and fulfillment in both personal and professional environments.

Unlock Your Full Potential

Mastering these techniques is not about squeezing every second out of your day but about working smarter, not harder. By prioritizing tasks, managing time effectively, and avoiding productivity pitfalls, you can create a fulfilling and balanced life that aligns with your goals and aspirations. Coaches provide more than just tips—they offer a structured, supportive process that helps individuals take ownership of their time and productivity. Their personalized approach ensures that clients not only learn valuable techniques but also sustain their improvements over the long term. If you’re striving to unlock your full potential, partnering with a coach could be the game-changer you need.  Reach out if you want to discuss the ways that coaches help individuals master time management and improve productivity.

Coaches Help Leaders Navigate Career Change

Posted on by Tina-Schuricht

Coaches help leaders navigate career change.  For leaders, navigating a career change can be as exhilarating as it is daunting. Sometimes the change is their choice and sometimes it isn’t.  Regardless of how the career change came about, it is more daunting for a leader to pursue a new path than those earlier in their career. Why is that? It is because the challenges leaders face during a career change go beyond personal adaptation—they also involve external expectations, the weight of their leadership legacy, supporting their team and maintaining their current duties while transitioning, and the need to align their identity with a new path. Plus, some leaders are not great at letting others help, especially when it comes to taking on a potentially long and emotional journey that not only encourages but requires them to be vulnerable.

Coaches are Trusted Advisors

Whether it’s stepping into a new industry (by force or by choice), pursuing a long-held passion, or transitioning to a different role within their organization, the journey often involves uncertainty, self-reflection, and strategic planning. This is where coaches come in as invaluable allies. Coaches, as trusted advisors, can play a crucial role in guiding leaders through this process, helping them manage both the practical and emotional aspects of transition.

Clarifying Values, Goals and Vision

One of the first steps coaches take is to help leaders clarify their values, goals and long-term vision. Many leaders may know they want a change but feel unsure about what direction to pursue. Through targeted questions and exercises, coaches assist leaders in identifying their aspirations, values, and priorities. This clarity lays the foundation for a career move that aligns with their values, goals and objectives (both personal and professional).

Identifying Strengths and Skills

A career change often requires leaders to evaluate their existing strengths and skills while identifying areas for development. Coaches guide leaders in conducting a comprehensive self-assessment, highlighting transferable skills that can be applied to new roles or industries. They also encourage leaders to address skill gaps proactively by seeking further training or certifications. This strategic preparation boosts confidence and ensures leaders are equipped to excel in their new pursuits.

Managing Emotional Challenges

Career transitions can bring up a range of emotions—excitement, anxiety, self-doubt, and even fear of failure. Coaches provide a psychologically safe and nonjudgmental space for leaders to explore these emotions and develop strategies to overcome mental barriers and obstacles. They help leaders reframe negative self-talk, build resilience, and cultivate a positive mindset. With a coach’s support, leaders can approach their career change with a sense of optimism and determination, regardless of how it came about.

Crafting a Strategic Plan

A well-executed career change requires a thoughtful and actionable plan. Coaches assist leaders in mapping out the steps necessary to achieve their goals, from updating résumés and LinkedIn profiles to networking with industry professionals. Coaches also emphasize the importance of setting short- and long-term milestones, enabling leaders to measure progress and stay motivated throughout the transition.

Navigating Uncertainty and Risk

Career changes often come with a degree of uncertainty and risk, particularly when moving into uncharted territory. Coaches help leaders assess potential challenges, weigh risks, and develop contingency plans. By fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills, coaches empower leaders to make informed decisions and adapt to unexpected obstacles with agility.

Enhancing Networking and Personal Branding

A successful career change often hinges on effective networking and personal branding. Coaches work with leaders to refine their elevator pitches, build meaningful connections, and communicate their unique value to prospective employers or collaborators. They also provide feedback on personal branding strategies, ensuring that leaders position themselves authentically and compellingly in their new fields.

Encouraging Continuous Growth

Even after transitioning to a new role, coaches encourage leaders to embrace lifelong learning and self-improvement. Whether it’s seeking mentorship, staying updated on industry trends, or cultivating new skills, coaches help leaders stay agile and adaptable in their evolving careers.

Turning Aspirations into Achievements

Coaches help leaders navigate career change. By offering personalized support, actionable strategies, and a steady source of encouragement, coaches help leaders transform uncertainty into opportunity and turn aspirations into achievements. With a coach by their side, leaders can confidently navigate their career transitions and set the stage for continued success. Reach out if you want to learn more about how coaches help leaders navigate career change.

Angela Dodd on Leadership, Grit, and Growth

Posted on by Tina-Schuricht

In this episode of SuccessYourOnWay , Yifat Rogers and I sit down with Angela Dodd, founder of Females in Food. Angela shares her journey from corporate leadership to entrepreneurship, including the personal challenges that led her to build a platform dedicated to empowering women in the food and beverage industry. We discuss:

  • How toxic work environments can spark major life changes
  • The evolving definition of success over different career stages
  • Lessons learned from founding Females in Food, including the importance of building a support system and accepting vulnerability
  • Key strategies for career and personal growth, such as setting boundaries, building confidence, and taking action before feeling “ready”
  • The power of writing down goals and speaking them out loud for accountability.

Angela also offers practical advice for anyone looking to redefine success on their own terms. She reminds listeners that success looks different for everyone.

Success Your Own Way: “Building Your Own Stage: Angela Dodd on Leadership, Grit, and Growth”

 

About Angela Dodd

Angela a seasoned leader in the B2B ingredient sector, with 15 years of experience bridging the gap between technical expertise and business strategy. Holding a Master’s in Food Science and an MBA, she has spent the past decade helping clients successfully commercialize food products, leveraging deep industry knowledge to drive innovation and market success.  Angela is the founder of Females in Food (FIF), dedicated to empowering women and organizations in the food and beverage industry through leadership development, career advancement, and industry transformation. FIF has become the go-to platform for companies seeking to attract, retain, and elevate top female talent. Based in Minneapolis, Angela enjoys giving back to the industry, championing meaningful change, and spending time with family, friends, and her two boys.

Let me know what you are interested in hearing about in future episodes of Success Your Own Way!

Achieve Your Career Aspirations with Coaching

Posted on by Tina-Schuricht

If you’ve been around a little while you know that merely having talent and ambition isn’t always enough to achieve your goals.  The good news is that you can achieve your career aspirations with coaching.  Coaching is a personalized approach to professional development that can help you unlock your potential and help you make significant strides in your career. Whether you’re aiming for a leadership role, seeking a career change, or simply wanting to excel in your current position, targeted coaching can provide the guidance and support you need to make your next bold move.

Understanding Targeted Coaching

Targeted coaching is a tailored approach to career development that focuses on your specific goals, strengths, and areas for improvement. Unlike general career advice, targeted coaching is highly personalized, taking into account your values, unique experiences, aspirations, and growth areas. It involves working with a professional coach who provides one-on-one guidance, feedback, and actionable strategies to help you reach your goals.  What benefits does a coach provide?

Clarity and Focus

One of the primary benefits of targeted coaching is gaining clarity about your career aspirations. A coach helps you identify your long-term goals, assess your current situation, and develop a clear action plan. This clarity and focus enable you to make informed decisions and take purposeful steps toward achieving your aspirations.

Enhanced Skills and Competencies

Targeted coaching helps you identify the skills and competencies needed to achieve your career goals. Whether it is improving your communication skills, developing leadership qualities, or mastering new capabilities, a coach provides support to help you enhance these skills. This targeted approach ensures that you are well-equipped to meet the demands of your desired role.

Overcoming Challenges and Obstacles

Every career journey has its challenges and obstacles. Targeted coaching helps you navigate these hurdles by providing practical strategies and solutions. A coach can help you develop resilience, manage stress, and build confidence, enabling you to overcome setbacks and stay on track.

Networking and Opportunities

Coaches often have extensive networks and industry connections that can be valuable for your career advancement. They can introduce you to potential mentors, collaborators, and employers, opening up new opportunities for growth and development. Networking is a crucial aspect of career success, and targeted coaching can help you build and leverage your professional network effectively.

Accountability and Motivation

One of the most significant advantages of targeted coaching is the accountability it provides. A coach keeps you accountable for your actions and progress, ensuring that you stay committed to your goals. Regular check-ins and feedback sessions help maintain motivation and momentum, preventing you from losing sight of your aspirations.

How to Get Started

So, what’s the next bold move in your career? Here are some steps to get started with targeted coaching:

Identify Your Goals and Values

Start by clearly defining your goals and career aspirations. What do you want to achieve in the short-term and long-term?  What do you value most?  Be specific about both your values and goals and consider what success looks like to you.  And if you’re not sure, don’t worry!  Coaches can help you process your thoughts and help define these crucial elements with you.

Find the Right Coach

Look for a coach who has experience and expertise in your industry or field of interest. A good coach should be someone who understands your goals, provides constructive feedback, and offers practical guidance.  They should be an empathetic listener, create an environment of motivation, encouragement and accountability, and put your needs first.  In short, there needs to be trust and vulnerability in coaching or it won’t work.

Create a Plan

Work with your coach to develop a personalized action plan. This plan should outline the steps you need to take to achieve your goals, including skill development, networking opportunities, and potential challenges.

Take Action

Implement the strategies and actions outlined in your plan. Stay committed and consistent, and don’t be afraid to seek support and feedback from your coach or other trusted individuals along the way.

Reflect and Adjust

Regularly reflect on your progress and make adjustments as needed. Celebrate your achievements and learn from any setbacks. Remember, the journey to achieving your career aspirations is ongoing, and flexibility is key.

Coaching can be a powerful tool for achieving your career aspirations. By providing clarity, enhancing skills, overcoming challenges, and maintaining accountability, coaching empowers you to make bold moves and reach new heights in your career. So, what’s the next bold move in your career? The future is yours to shape. Reach out if you want to learn more about how to achieve your career aspirations with coaching.

Use Performance Reviews to Develop as a Leadership Coach

Posted on by Tina-Schuricht

Use performance reviews to develop as a leadership coach by creating an intentional dialogue that encourages change and growth.

The Value of Performance Reviews

Performance reviews provide a structured approach to understanding an individual’s strengths, areas for improvement, and growth potential. In the context of leadership coaching, performance reviews serve as a mirror, reflecting the leader’s current abilities and areas that require attention.

In my opinion, performance reviews are one of the most overlooked and underrated opportunities to act as a leadership coach.  By definition, performance reviews create an intentional dialogue that assesses the current state and encourages change and growth.  It has continued to surprise me that some leaders never conduct performance reviews and even more don’t put the time and effort in to make them effective coaching engagements.

What holds us back from acting as a Leadership Coach?

So why don’t some leaders take the time to act as a leadership coach and execute performance reviews? Because it’s hard.  It takes time and thought.  It takes the discipline of being clear about the goals and the flexibility to adjust with changes in scope and context.  And it takes the courage to be honest about how team members are doing both in writing and verbally.  In short, it takes emotional intelligence, a growth mindset, and energy…all of which seem to be in short supply these days.

Improve your skills as a Leadership Coach

As a leadership coach, how can you make the performance review process easier and more fulfilling for both you and the team member?  Here are a few ideas:

Ensure team members have clear goals

Heck, ask your team members to take the lead on setting their goals!  What an amazing sense of accountability and ownership they could have for their performance.

Don’t wait to document or talk about performance until the annual performance review

Use goals in your 1:1s, or at a minimum conduct a mid-year check-in.  It is hard to remember all of the amazing things that have happened for a whole year. Stay on top of achievements and course corrections and you’re bound to have a more accurate assessment of performance at the end of the year.

Gather input from your team members in the form of a self-review

Have your team members assess themselves against their goals.  Which goals went well and what could have gone better?  What did you learn?  How are you using that learning? I think you’ll find this to be a time saver as most of what team members document should be usable in their review (if they are relatively self-aware).  It can also give you an indication of how far apart you are on performance assessments to help you prepare for the conversation.

Collect feedback from peers, other leaders, and team members and take it seriously

If you take the time to collect feedback, use it to share real examples of where the team members crushed it and where they didn’t.  And share the feedback (anonymously, if promised) with your team members.

Set aside time to document performance

Document each goal, how the team member assessed themselves against the goal, and how you as their leadership coach assessed them so that you can see where you have alignment and where you don’t.  Document where both the achievements and gaps are based on all of the inputs.  Send the document to the team member in advance of the meeting (at least 24 hours).

Get in the mindset of a Leadership Coach during the conversation

Use the document as a backdrop for the conversation.  Ask the team member to take the lead.  What are you most proud of this period?  What surprised you?  Where would you like to focus? Where would you like to go next? Ask lots of questions.  Give the team member a sense of ownership for their performance and their future.  This approach can build trust, increase transparency, and promote a culture of continuous learning.

Conclusion

Performance reviews are a critical component of leadership coaching. They provide a structured approach to assessing performance, fostering open communication, and informing the future direction. Ensure you have clear goals, make it a habit to assess performance all year (not just once a year), gather input from the team member and their stakeholders and use it in your assessment, take the time to prepare, and be in the mindset of a leadership coach during the conversation. By integrating performance reviews into leadership coaching, organizations can develop effective leaders who are equipped to meet their objectives and lead their teams to success.

Do you want to learn more about leadership coaching and how to use the performance review process to improve as a leadership coach?  Reach out!  I’d love to connect.

Professional vs Basketball Coaching: Common Ground

Posted on by Tina-Schuricht

Professional coaching and basketball coaching…what do they have in common?  At first glance, being a professional coach and coaching a 4th-grade basketball team might seem worlds apart. However, when you dive deeper, you may find that these two coaching roles share more in common than you might think. I have recently concluded my first experience coaching my son’s 4th-grade basketball team. That experience has caused me to reflect on how these two types of coaching are similar and share some strategies I used with the team.

Building Trust

Whether you’re a professional coach guiding an executive or a basketball coach training young athletes, building trust is paramount. Coaches must create a safe environment where individuals feel comfortable sharing their challenges, fears, and aspirations. Trust is built over time and that was challenging with the basketball team because of the relatively short season.  The kids not only had to trust their coaches, but they also had to trust each other.  When there was a lack of trust, things simply didn’t work well.  For example, we didn’t have as many assists, we had frustration from kids who weren’t getting the ball, and we had kids not passing the ball because they were worried it would result in a turnover.  How did we build trust?  By encouraging the pass, by building ball-handling skills, and by setting clear expectations about teamwork.  By the end of the season we were playing like a well-oiled machine and the foundation of our success was trust.

Setting Goals

Both types of coaches work with their coachees to set clear, achievable goals. As a professional coach, this might involve career advancement or personal development goals. As a 4th-grade basketball coach, it was about helping the kids set goals to master a skill or improve teamwork. We took time at the beginning of most practices to have each team member share a goal for the practice or the upcoming tournament.  Some of the kids were more willing to share than others, but each had the opportunity to both share and listen.  I saw growth in the kids’ confidence throughout the season by building this expectation and holding them accountable for their goals.

Developing Skills

As a professional coach, I help my clients develop skills that are crucial for their professional growth, such as leadership, communication, or strategic thinking. Similarly, as a basketball coach, I focused on teaching my players fundamental skills like ball handling, passing, movement without the ball, defense, and rebounding. For young athletes, learning the fundamentals is critical for success in both the short and long term. Motivating the kids to focus on the “boring stuff” was difficult at times, but creating friendly team-based competition helped.  By the end of the season, the kids shared their gratitude with me for not only a successful season but also for the improvements they had made in their fundamental skills.  It made me proud!

Providing Feedback

Feedback is a critical component of coaching. As a professional coach, it is my job to provide constructive feedback to help my clients improve. Similarly, as a basketball coach, I provided feedback to the players. For 4th graders, I found that providing this feedback immediately at practice or in the game was the most successful approach.  It allowed them to put the past behind them and immediately try again.  Kids are generally incredibly willing to try and fail and try again.  They haven’t fallen into the bad habits (and deep ruts) that adults have.  I found the kids’ passion to improve inspiring.

Encouraging Growth

Both professional coaches and 4th-grade basketball coaches foster a growth mindset. I encourage my coachees to view challenges as opportunities for learning and growth, rather than as insurmountable obstacles. With the basketball team, I made a significant effort to balance constructive criticism with positive reinforcement at each opportunity. The times when I saw the most growth came when we were behind during our games.  In those moments, the mental game was what needed attention, not the physical one.  Fostering the mental growth with 4th graders who are still maturing emotionally was challenging, but so rewarding to see.

Celebrating Success

Finally, both types of coaches celebrate the successes of their coachees. Whether it’s a promotion at work or a win on the basketball court, coaches recognize and celebrate these achievements, reinforcing the positive behaviors that led to success. In basketball, we were very diligent about celebrating success and luckily we had a very successful season.  At the end of each game, we gave one kid “the chain” which he could wear around his neck until the next game.  It was given by the coaches and was a point of pride for the kids.  We collected the stats from the games and shared those with the kids at the beginning of the practice following the tournaments.  I would share the “highlight reel” calling out the kids that led us in rebounding, assists, steals, shooting percentage, etc.  It gave the kids a chance to be recognized and also motivated them to get on that leaderboard in the next tournament.  We finished our season with a team party and gave awards recognizing what each player uniquely brought to the team.  It’s a day I’ll never forget.

Conclusion

While the contexts and how the coaching is delivered may differ, the core principles of professional coaching and basketball coaching remain similar. Whether you’re a professional coach, a 4th-grade basketball coach or both, your role involves building trust, setting goals, developing skills, providing feedback, encouraging growth, and celebrating success. These shared elements highlight the universal nature of coaching and its power to drive personal and professional growth.  If you want to learn more about coaching (in any context), please contact me.  I’d love to connect!

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