Should Business Coaching Focus on the Bottom Line or the Top-Line?
Posted on May 27, 2011 by Teri-E Belf, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
To sustain the results achieved from coaching, the focus must be on the top-line, i.e., life purpose, values, and qualities of being. Example given
A few years ago a gentleman e-mailed me inquiring about the accredited coach training program I offer. However, he was unsure why I stated that I prefer to train people who have a spiritual foundation. His e-mail bluntly said, “What does spirituality have to do with executive coaching? People hire us to improve the bottom-line.”
Business people hire coaches to improve the bottom-line, or is it really the top-line?
In over two decades of coaching experience I have found most business and executive coaches pay attention to the product or tangible result that clients want such as greater achievement, increased productivity and improved performance. Those are referred to as the bottom-line and measurable. These positive outcomes are the attention-getters reported by research and the media as reasons to engage in coaching.
Numerous interviewers over the years have point-blank refused to write about the importance of human spirituality in coaching, even though I replied to their questions extolling the value of this unorthodox focus. I do believe, and my experience backs me up, that business results such as prosperity and longevity, actually stem from attention to factors other than increases in productivity. I am not alone in my thinking. Patricia Aburdene, author of Megatrends 2010, lists two major social trends dealing with spirituality: The Power of Spirituality and Spirituality in Business.
A bottom-line perspective deals with actions and responses, both external variables. From the field of psychology we know that stimulus yields response. We would not have responses at all unless they were catalyzed by stimuli. In coaching what do we know about the stimuli that elicits clients’ responses? We don’t know much so we partner in an exploration of those things we cannot see directly- values, beliefs, attitudes, emotions, thoughts, meaning and spiritual perspectives. These are the context for client responses.
Ever since I have been coaching, I have always found that personal qualities, qualities of being such as meaningfulness, satisfaction, fulfillment, peace, and balance, just to name a few, are the reasons clients strive to achieve in the external world.
One of my executive clients, a competitive medical entrepreneur, wanted to double the size and income in his medical practice and sought the help of a coach to do so. When he raised skeptical eyebrows hearing that I always began coaching by guiding clients to learn their life purpose, I thought I lost him; yet he continued to listen. So I explained the parallel between his business mission statement and his life purpose, also known as a personal mission statement. He began to understand that he would be able to use his life purpose as a context for his choices and personal resource allocations, time, energy and money, just as he used his business mission statement to allocate resources and make strategic decisions in his medical practice.
By the end of the first meeting he reconnected with his life purpose and was pleased to recognize the alignment between his business mission and personal mission statements, as well as his personal and business values.
Next we spent time looking at the results he wanted from coaching. All were external results such as increased productivity, expanded marketing and office efficiency. All bottom line. I asked him, “What would it bring you when you succeed?” “More money,” he blurted out without skipping a heartbeat. “And what would that bring you?” I persisted. His answer was more thoughtful this time. “A larger presence in the community, greater prominence and visibility.” Once again I asked, “And what would that bring you if you had a larger presence and greater prominence?” This time his words left a surprised look imprinted on his face. “I can be of service to more people, help more folks in the community be healthier.” I could tell he knew I was going for one more time. “And what will that bring you?” His entire presence softened and he smiled a smile from deep inside, “Great satisfaction and humility.” Now came the magic, “You were focused on making more money (bottom-line), and now you are speaking about gaining satisfaction and more humility (top-line).”
The external world sees increased marketing, office efficiency and money (the bottom-line). What we don’t see, the top-line, are the forces that bring meaning and purposefulness, satisfaction and humility. The top-line includes life purpose, values, and qualities of being.
I challenge you to try this out with anything external you desire. Repeat the phrase, “what will that bring me?” until you get to your top-line. Experiment with your clients and with everyone.
What remains after we leave our clients? Do we want clients to remember extra money earned, larger marketing plans, increased efficiencies? Or do we want them to recall the top-line of our efforts such as greater meaningfulness, purposefulness, fulfillment and satisfaction?
I choose the top-line when I coach in business. How about you?
