Growing Founders: How I coach

Most founders I work with have never been coached before. Here’s a breakdown of what coaching means and the model I use.

Sharing founder war stories at a Facebook conference.

What is coaching?

Coaching is about building a unique, confidential relationship which serves the client in:

• Clarity of thinking
• Setting clear intentions for yourself and the business
• Defining the steps needed to move you forward

I focus on three areas

My work with founders has led me to focus on three areas:

🏆 Intention

Intention is discovering and defining what you want and your business needs.

🧘‍♀️ Balance

Balance is creating the systems and support that enable you to grow and thrive.

🙌 Connection

Connection is the key relationships that define your life and your startup.

In our discovery session, we map out the topics in these three domains and together build a roadmap for our work together. Each session will focus on a topic.

I went on my own coaching journey as part of moving from CEO to coach. Unsplash.

My coaching principles

To make my coaching as successful as possible, I follow these principles

1. Being a founder creates a unique set of challenges & opportunities
2. Focus on the individual and the business will follow
3. Reflection is the best tool for growth
4. Accountability accelerates progress
5. Coaching should be fun!

We spend a tremendous amount of time and energy figuring out how to grow our startups. Why shouldn’t we do the same with ourselves? Unsplash.

Mentoring vs. Coaching

I work through both mentoring and coaching.

Mentoring is coming from a place of expertise e.g. update your pitch deck in this way

Coaching empowers the founder to find their own answers.

Mentoring is useful when you need a quick answer and where I’m confident I have the answer. Think of it like a shortcut. While I have over 10 years of experience growing businesses, the truth is the only expert in your business is you! Mentoring is a powerful tool and should be used sparingly.

Coaching is a holistic process that helps the founder organise their thoughts through powerful inquiry, figure out what’s important and define the steps to get there. If there’s one topic that you’re more of an expert in than your startup, it’s yourself! Coaching is a way to deepen that expertise.

Individual vs. Team

I work with both individuals and teams. The individual work is described above. Group work has a focus on building a cohesive leadership team and navigating the major strategic topics.

I work with teams by facilitating a quarterly leadership and strategy offsite.

My qualifications & experience

I’m trained in the Coactive coaching model. I’ve worked with dozens of founders in a mentoring and spent countless hours coaching, mentoring and facilitating in my own companies.

The biggest influence on my coaching is my work at Nuri.

Is coaching right for you?

I work with passionate, excited entrepreneurs who what to change the world and grow themselves in the process.

Coaching works for people who are willing to grow, have the capacity to be honest with themselves and are ready to put the work in.

Think coaching might be right for you? Be brave and reach out!