Kenn: I’m Kenn Stearns and this is The BusinessMakers Show. Our topic today: leadership. My guest, Glenn Taylor, Founder of Skybound Coaching & Training. Glenn, welcome to The BusinessMakers Show.

Glenn: Thank you. Glad to be here.

Kenn: Tell us about Skybound.

Glenn: Skybound Coaching & Training is a firm that helps individuals and organizations reach higher levels of performance; either in leadership, in team effectiveness, or in their own career.

Kenn: What does it take to be a coach and to provide these kinds of services in terms of what you’re competing against?

Glenn: Great question. Coaching is really a growing industry right now. Many people are becoming coaches, and so the standards to be certified as a coach have been tightening over the last decade or so. To be a certified coach you have to go through a training program and meet certain milestones, pass certain assessments, and master competencies of coaching. The leading standardization body is called the International Coach Federation, which offers a credentialing process.

Kenn: Tell us a little bit about the range of clients that you perform these services for.

Glenn: We work with individuals who are career professionals wanting to grow, wanting to become better leaders, are maybe going through a transition of some sort, so there’s that individual side as well as organization and teams of all sizes who want to work at higher levels to improve their effectiveness to cultivate leaders from within their organization.

Kenn: You mention coaching. Is part of the coaching helping them understand why they need coaching, or do they come to you predisposed to get started?

Glenn: To engage in coaching you have to want something. Typically, growth, change, to get unstuck, to move your team forward, and so it’s definitely a future focused and growth focused endeavor. Many people, they kind of have this sense that there’s something more for them or that they’re stuck or that they want to improve but they’re not necessarily sure what coaching is, and that’s ok. I think it’s important that they are open to learning more about themselves and to engage in a process of growth and learning and change. So, that’s really the most important piece, even if they’re not exactly sure what a coaching engagement might look like.

Kenn: I’m thinking there are a variety of leadership styles, there are a variety of clients and their receptiveness to coaching. Taking all of that into consideration, how do you know that what you’re doing is effective?

Glenn: There’s so many pieces that go into that. I think it has to do with the rapport that a coach creates with a client, and that’s a two-way street, just like any relationship, is their openness on both sides. Also, commitment, because many people when they first think about hiring a coach they are expecting to get a lot of advice and be told what to do, but coaching is really about having the client take some ownership and take some new steps, get into action. So, I think there’s rapport, there’s level of commitment from a client to take action, and then some people I think are more inclined with natural leadership skills that maybe help them succeed faster. However, I believe that leadership is really a learned set of competencies and anyone can make progress as long as they are aware of themselves and also commit to growing.

Kenn: You started your own business. You’re a small business sole proprietor. What was going through your mind at the time you decided to take the leap?

Glenn: A couple of years before I had taken that leap I was building the business on the side and gaining some training for myself. I had gotten a master’s degree in Organizational Development and Leadership, so that was kind of happening in the background, so I was planting some seeds. As everyone I think says who is an entrepreneur, you’re never quite perfectly ready when it happens. You just have to have faith and step off of that cliff, and trust in your passion, and trust in everything you’ve done to lead up to that point. I had the opportunity maybe to jump back into the organizational side of things, get another position within a large non-profit, or some other sort of organization, but I knew that I had to do this deep purpose work for myself that was really aligned with my values and with who I wanted to be in the world.

Kenn: Before I let you go, we have an audience that’s full of startups and entrepreneurs and they’re probably wondering about some advice. They’re considering making the same decisions. What would you tell them?

Glenn: I think self-awareness is key; really getting clear on your purpose and your motivation behind starting a company, and really ensuring that you have some good resonance around that, that you’re passionate for it, because you need that energy and passion when things get tough. The other thing is just to understand failure and challenge is part of a process of growth. To be able to see that bigger picture, to push through that challenge to keep your eye on that prize, the bigger picture. And lastly, I’d say to cultivate self-awareness, to understand your strength and weaknesses so that you know the strengths you can leverage and things that you need to improve, or the areas where you need to surround yourself with people who can be complementary to your skills.

Kenn: Glenn, thank you so much for your time.

Glenn: My Pleasure. Thank you.

Kenn: My guest today has been Glenn Taylor with Skybound Coaching & Training. And this is The BusinessMakers Show.