In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, Andrew Romeo sits with his coach, Alexandra Andrews, Managing Director and Executive Coach Director of My Personal Coach and over the duration of a little more than half an hour, they discuss the difference that getting a right coach can make to not just one’s business but also to one’s other projects and relationships.
“The deeper and more connected you are with that ‘why’: is going to be the fuel that keeps you going. – Alexandra Andrews
Over the course of her career, Alexandra has donned many hats, and being a Coach Extraordinaire has been her forte for the last fourteen years. Having worked for years and years in different businesses, whether her own or one where she worked with people, Alex, surely brings to the coaching arena, a whole world of experience. As she puts it, in all the hours coaching, there is probably not a situation that she hasn’t overcome for her clients and she credits her intuition and gut feeling for that. As per her, everyone has filters, and her job as a coach, is to decipher what lies beyond that filter and to get to the root of the problem, on both personal and professional fronts. Alex has mastered the art of trusting her gut and then questioning and pulling things apart when she senses that the client has a filter and that there’s no authenticity and connection in what she is being told. Her intuition is, indeed, her secret weapon.
Many in the business are either driven by ego or are victims to paralysis by analysis, and Alex’s advice to those is, first and foremost, work out the ‘Whys’: why are you making a certain business decision, why are you thinking a certain thing. She furthers, the key then is to never settle for the first answer because that is the ‘safe answer’, the filter that we all use, either knowingly or unknowingly. She emphasizes that there is a need to dig deeper and to keep on asking until one gets to that fundamental, heartfelt ‘Why’.
As a coach, she believes that a great idea is not an end in itself and as a business owner, the person needs to:
- Find out the outcome and work backwards
- Know the value system
- Find out those who are going to be in alignment with what they are trying to do
- Work out what role they have to play in the process
In terms of a product/ service the questions could be paraphrased as: what do I want to do with the product/service; why is it important; who do I need in order to achieve the outcome; and what is my role in the process. Along the same lines, she cautions that we often seek people who are like us and that doesn’t necessarily serve the outcome that we want. Instead, a happy team is made up of different kinds of people, each good at what they do and not under pressure to be someone else. Adding further, she shares that a leader needs to understand this team dynamics and manage the team accordingly. In terms of scaling up and seeking growth, she is a strong advocate of reassessing one’s business because that which cannot be measured, cannot be managed. Her process of success involves the following:
- Have regular check-ins against the milestones
- Be adaptive and Agile
- Get a coach and reflect on the business
- Have the right mindset
- Do not give up too soon
Topics Covered:
- Working as a Coach
- Learning to Trust the Gut
- Overcoming ‘Paralysis by Analysis’
- The Process of Building a Team
- Understanding Team Dynamics
- Right People for the Right Roles
- Scaling Up the Business
- Assessing and Reflecting
- Having the Right Mindset
Key Quotes (Time Stamps)
- “I bring to the coaching, a whole world of experience. So, I am able to help clients navigate through whatever’s going on in their lives.” (1:06 – 1:17)
- “Besides all the other things I have in my toolkit, what honestly serves me the best in what I do is my own intuition and gut feel.” (2:40 – 2:49)
- “Keep on asking yourself the question till you get down to that fundamental, heartfelt ‘why’. Then, that’s true feel.” (7:27 – 7:34)
- “I would honestly say, topline is to really work out what your outcome is. So, once you are really attached to the outcome of what it is that you are trying to do, look at what that is and work backwards.” (9:45 – 10:07)
- “Fundamentally, the type of people that you would want to employ, as you are starting to build the team around that, is going to be, first and foremost, the things that you’re not good at.” (12:50 – 12:57)
- “To have a tight team is fundamental in any success.” (18:19 – 18:23)
- “Fundamentally, you don’t want to squeeze somebody into a role that really is not their personality.” (21:00 – 21:06)
- “At the end of the day, we want a happy team.” (22:26 – 22:28)
- “Do what you’ve always done, get what you’ve always got.” (23:53 – 23:56)
- “Motivation and mindset, in any business—starting up or trying to reassess what they are doing, is fundamentally what causes failure.” (29:27 -29:35)
- “The deeper and more connected you are with that ‘why’: is going to be the fuel that keeps you going.” (31:16 – 31:20)
Social Media Clips (Time Stamps)
- Experience of Working as a Coach (0:50 – 3:41)
- Going with the Gut Feel (3:49 – 4:29)
- Coaching to Overcome Paralysis by Analysis (5:50 – 6:27)
- Building the Right Team (9:49 – 12:57)
- Roles to Fit the Personalities (20:01 – 21:42)
- Scaling Up the Business (23:53 – 25:46)
- Why do People Need Coaches? (26:14 – 28:18)
- Having the Right Mindset (31:53 – 33:12)
