In 2009, during the Global Financial crisis, a handful of coaches made $1million/ pa, 9% made 6 figures internationally, while most struggled to pay the bills. What makes one Coach a financial success while another struggles?

Were the successful ones better coaches? There are many excellent coaches who struggle despite their passion for coaching, their qualifications and experience. So the answer is not found in the quality of coaching. We all have to deliver a high quality product to even qualify for this coaching game. That’s a given.

Recently I saw a very angry executive going head to head with a young direct report in one of those gold fish offices that leave little to the imagination.

In all my years training managers how to coach staff, common misconceptions always arise regarding what we actually mean by coaching in a business setting.

I recently had coffee with a client who was looking for advice to improve the efficiency of her department. There had been some upheavals, maternity leave, skills shortages and things had begun to fall off the rails. She felt she needed someone to step in and “just get the work done.” Her focus was on finding experienced operational hands on manager who would dive in and run with the work and manage the team.

If you are managing staff aged 20 – 30, typically Generation Y, what I’m about to say is very important and you can read a lot more about this in the research done by Peter Sheahan, arguably the leader on Gen Y in Australia.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with several exceptional leaders. They all have a number of things in common. Their word is their bond. People are important to them. They espouse certain values and live up to them.