Leadership Coaching with Marie Smith of Successmith
Leadership coaching is Marie Smith’s stock in trade. A career in HR and senior executive posts has seen her develop Successmith into a leadership coaching business. Marie joins us for our 151st episode of The Next 100 Days Podcast.
Marie is a leadership coach. For 30 plus years Marie has been in Human Resources and learning development area. She worked in not for profit, public and private sectors. Her roles included HR and leadership and development roles.
In 2012, Marie had an opportunity to branch out on her own. During that transition she paid for the services of a coach for 3 months to help Marie decide what she really wanted to do.
She decided self employment was for her.
Successmith was born
Marie said her coach helped her develop her core values. The coach held a mirror to marie. How important it is to stay TRUE to those core values on a day to day basis.
The coach helped Marie realise that she should HONOUR HER VALUES. Because that is what drives you. It also drives your happiness.
How did you know what your values were?
It is a coaching process. Using various tools and techniques to do so. You start having insights. Patterns emerge. And then you start to say, “yes, that is really important to me”.
Marie loves the outdoors. Kevin and Graham agree. Don’t get pinned to your desk.
As a coach, you can do walking and coaching sessions.
When Kevin’s creativity is dwindling, he’ll take Cooper for a dog-walk.
Movement creates oxygen, more fresh blood to the brain, different stimuli.
Leadership Coaching and Values
It is an absolute must for leaders. There is an organisational set of values and a personal set of values. As small businesses these might be the same. That’s not always the case in corporate.
If you don’t like an organisation’s values, don’t work with them. Or get good at holding your nose.
Honouring your own values makes you happy.
Look back on yourself and ask yourself what makes you feel happy, when did you feel most happy? Wedding, holiday, what was the time when you felt absolutely on top of your game.
Training Courses versus One-to-one
The fact that Graham said he’d forgot most of what he learnt on corporate leadership courses, was golden for Marie. Her view, quite properly, is that a one-to-one training would have stuck!
If you had to enhance leadership skills.
- Come willing
- be self aware
- understand yourself under certain circumstances
- How do you tick?
- you need to be credible, authentic, trustworthy
- so raise self awareness
- Understand other people
- connect with people based on they are
- get the best from them
Aren’t leaders already confident?
Sometimes technical skills get rewarded by promotion. No-one teaches you the people management skills.
Confidence comes from doing things. And self belief. You don’t buy it off the shelf. It comes from within.
Imposter Syndrome – when you feel you dont belong. When a strength is OVERDONE it becomes a weakness.
How has Marie helped?
Example: a business owner that Marie was coaching. You have to want to do it. You cannot DO COACHING to someone. When he was ready he sought Marie out. He’d lost his MOJO. Couldn’t find his motivation. He was in his own shadow. He turned things around. Grew the business, the team and re-found the motivation.
Things that happen at home and work all comes out. You have to get to know people very well. Thats why you have to be completely trustworthy.
More often than not there are tears. People don’t give you quality time. It is moving. And it brings about tears.
You need a chemistry between coach and client.
Create and Sustain the Best Version of You at Work and at Home
People don’t choose to be angry. Self leadership is about doing for yourself.
You are in charge of driving your own bus.
- get to know your values
- get in the driving seat of the bus
When you have clarity about what you want – i.e. make a difference. Marie’s clients often come from charities. It drives her business. She has an affinity with those types of clients.
Don’t wait for the job to come along. You need a mindset. Stop waiting and go out and make the things you want happen.
Best Version of Yourself
An example, is somebody says something to you, you feel your heckles rising. You have a choice. Hit back. Or say, you’ve got a choice. Take a breath and think about how to respond rather than react. More often than not you are allowing the best version of yourself come out. You may have misheard them. It brings out the best in the other person too!
Individual Coaching versus Development Workshops versus Team Facilitation
Which one? Individual Leadership Coaching.
Marie helps people tap into themselves. This brings her great joy.
Marie gets involved in change management in workshops. She helps people to articulate how will we know that we’ve got there. Start with the end in mind.
Team facilitation – Marie uses this success looks like question to help her design a tailored training.
Managing Self Doubt in the Next 100 days
- Smart objectives – within 100 days what can I reasonably achieve?
- It is about how you are BEING? You need to feel real clarity of thought.
- Download other things on your mind. Dump them, at least temporarily.
- Ask people what they value about you?
- What are you good at?
ACTION: write a simple email to a few people who know you. Get feedback. External feedback.
Mini Booklist Recommendations
- Get in touch with your inner leader. The opposite is the inner critic. You need to work on both. An easy to read book is:
Taming Your Gremlin – Rick Carson - Time to Think by Nancy Kline
- Why Should Anyone Be Lead By You – Rob Goffee – not just what you do as a leader, but how you come across as a leader.
Marie suggests the first book is her choice – sorts out your inner critic.
