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New Balance
New Balance is a privately owned company that equips the serious athlete with footwear and apparel that provides the best performance, fit, quality and comfort. Their relationship with The Coaches Consortium began six years ago and continues to flourish.
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Why Coaching?
With little formal business training, Ricky Knight used his on-the-job business experience to grow with New Balance, Australia to become a senior executive. Despite this success, Ricky was sometimes frustrated with staff. He wanted different approaches to managing the different personalities in the business and becoming more self-organised. He wanted to objectively assess himself as a manager and the business and prioritise any action items. A senior colleague recommended that Ricky approach The Coaches Consortium (TCC) for some Leadership coaching.
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Leadership Coaching
Like all coachees, Ricky began a confidential conversation with his coach. They benchmarked Ricky's business approach against 36 key areas that impact business success and underpin leadership qualities. He was surprised by the straightforward, highly accurate and confronting results.
The biggest thing for me was owning what I was really like. I felt I handled things a certain way and the coaching made me realize that I didn't always see the way I did things. I had to sit down and be honest. I have flaws. The reality of that hitting you is fairly intense.
The Intercept® Method identified Ricky's strengths and weaknesses and pinpointed exactly the approaches that were stifling his career progress and satisfaction. This coach-guided self-analysis led him to understand that the business, as a whole, needed to have more structure.
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Team Coaching
TCC helped Ricky rally his departments for team coaching. They implemented sessions across three departments: Sales, Operations and Apparel. Together, the senior people and their staff, identified the main focus of the business and drilled into their own departments to develop communication within and between business areas. TCC lead the team sessions, including 'mini-assessments' of individuals in the team setting.
When we first decided on group coaching, I thought people wouldn't participate; after all, coaching is a very confronting and personal experience. But TCC made everyone feel comfortable and not threatened at all. They explained that the coaching wasn't about telling tales, but was to help them develop. The sessions were very interactive and staff loved it.
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Performance Coaching
Ricky's Leadership Coaching showed him the importance of matching people with the most appropriate approaches to management roles. The Team Coaching identified individuals whose approaches needed attention.
Our policy is to promote from within. Sometimes we found a job for someone; not necessarily the right person for a job. That meant that some of our staff were mis-matched with their roles.
New Balance arranged confidential Performance Coaching for staff that seemed overwhelmed or underskilled in their role. These staff completed the Intercept® Report and through the process of pinpointing crucial priority areas, their performances improved dramatically. The coaching isn't a cure-all; one of the individuals determined that they were unsuited to their role and subsequently left New Balance in a positive and supported way.
The Coaches Consortium method makes you stop, think and assess. And it's an honest assessment. No fairy floss here. They were really able to get to the point - and they picked up any bluffs.
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Sustainable Results
Leadership Coaching transitioned Ricky from 'a bull at a gate' to a calmer, more reasoned and controlled approach aimed at achieving a positive outcome. It brought him the possibility of new ways of being. Ricky now understands how to tailor responses to suit the individuals involved. He no longer smothers his people, yet remains connected by empowering his staff to think more themselves.
Coaching isn't a quick fix; it's a long-term commitment to yourself. It will bring new ways of being to your table. It will show you how to be your word; know who you are and really own things.
While New Balance still promotes 50-60% from within, the coaching has made them more diligent and thorough in their recruitment.
We've recently appointed a new National Sales Manager and we're putting him through the coaching. For us, it's all about development. If a person is developing, we'll put them through coaching. For us, the change was noticeable. We're a very close knit business. Our people really are part of the family.
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