What led me to become a coach

In 2008 I was part of a leadership team running a good sized operation in Northern Canada. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of 900 people. On one of our morning calls with the office in town they tell me; “we are going to send you a coach.”

My thought was; seriously? What the f**k am I supposed to do with a coach? I need workers, I need equipment, I need… I answered differently, “Great, sounds good.”

My initial attitude was one of indifference towards my coach, Sam. I didn’t really know what he was doing there, I didn’t know how to put him in play. My indifference didn’t change him or his approach at all. 

It was when he started speaking I realized how this is going to impact our operation. He spoke about the things that really mattered, specifically to us, to our performance and objectives, he supported me being more effective, not because he told me what to do, but by digging out of me a better me. He wasn’t pushing the company line, he wasn’t a supervisor, I could discuss anything and it didn’t go up the chain. So I could work my shit out with support. This gave me a massive competitive edge. My indifference changed to leveraging having a coach.

Sam didn’t know anything about the type of project we were running, he was from Arkansas and we were in Northern Canada. Yet he knew how to get us thinking and aligned, he provided perspective us that challenged us to think deeper. For our leadership team he helped us make better proactive and aligned decisions. 

He never told me what to do or how to do anything, he never gave advice, although he sometimes provided an objective perspective of me to consider. He also shared stories of others he had worked with and how they overcame their struggles for us to consider. Every decision and choice I made was mine. He supported me individually and the leadership team as a whole. That team and project was one of the greatest experiences of my life. For the first time I saw how an organization could be truly high functioning, ethical and profitable.

I could go on for a long time on the nuances. But let me talk results.

• We came in under budget and ahead of schedule.

• We had zero safety or environmental incidents. Zero.

We were the only operation of its kind to get those kind of results. I won’t say it is all because of coaching. We had a solid leadership team in the field and in the office. He enhanced it though, he kept us doing what we knew how to do. He brought out the best versions of ourselves everyday. He also stood by to support all of us through the tough days.

At the end of that project Sam said to me, “you have to come work with us. You are a born coach and when you are ready, let’s talk!”

I knew he was right, working as an adventure travel guide for 15 years, spending time with people working through the crap that came up in them when challenged and connected to wild places. I loved providing experiences and facilitating people grow and become the people they wanted to be. I had never realized this is what a coach was.

I told him I would like some soak time and ask my wife her thoughts. 

When I returned home though, I had no wife. 120 days work with only 8 days time off had taken its toll. Divorce was a horrible painful time for me. When I came out of that, I said to myself,  it is not enough to keep people safe, it is not enough to be efficient or productive . It is really important for every company to be successful and sustainable, but work has to be more. The time we spend at work has to not only fill the bank account but enhance us. It has to improve our families and relationships. 

With that mission in my heart I called Sam and said; “I am ready, lets make this happen” It took me a year to get on my first project, sadly by the time I started, Sam had passed away.
 
Now I work with people with diverse backgrounds in every industry, in every role all over the world. On the phone, zoom and occasionally hopping on a plane to spend time with them in person.

People love to label coaches: Executive coach, performance coach, life coach, safety coach … you have heard these and many more. I have worked all of these types of coaching and many more. People typically ask “what kind of coaching do you do? The reality of what I do is step into any situation, with anyone and co-create th , I enhance people to be better.

Every day I aspire to bring the value to the people I work with that Sam brought to me and my team.
 
Over the years of coaching, I have collected a team of amazing people to collaborate with. I can attest to the competence, commitment and passion of every person that Fluid Experiences collaborates, partners and employs. As a small operator, that is one of our super powers. We have great people that are nimble and fit into every culture, industry and environment.