“Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Are you a consultant, district manager, or multi-unit franchise owner who is confident advising your managers and district reports around marketing, operations or human resources, but struggle with conversations about financial issues? Or are you knowledgeable about numbers but can’t get your people engaged in this important topic?
In this article, I’ll share my top tips for creating financial insights and, most importantly, driving action. Learn how to confidently conduct goal-focused, solutions-oriented, and measurable coaching conversations to jump-start your managers/franchisees’ profitable growth.
To help get you in the right mind-set, I’ll refer to your coaching conversation partners (be they managers or franchise owners) as clients.
Tip #1: Switch from consultant mode to coach mode.
This is easier said than done, especially when you have worked so hard to acquire wisdom and are just itching to pass it on! Unlike consultants who are subject matter experts who excel in telling clients what to do, effective coaches lead clients to discover their own solutions by asking insightful and probing questions.
The goal is to get people to act. This is more likely to happen when clients come away from conversations with better understanding of their current situation and “own” the action plan to address it. And while it may seem easier to just tell them what to do (you are, in fact, the expert), when you lead the client to discovery through inquiry, they see the solution as their idea. And people don’t argue with their own data!
Adopt a mind-set of curiosity, open-mindedness, and collaborative partnership, versus one of subject matter expert, and you’ll be on your way to impactful financial coaching interactions.
Tip #2: Get good at asking powerful questions.
Good coaches excel at asking questions that give clients opportunities to:
- Clarify their understanding of the issues
- Tell you what they believe is important
- Share more than just the facts
Powerful questions give you, the coach, the opportunity to:
- Gather information about your client’s agenda
- Clarify your understanding of the issues
- Connect with/understand the client better
Tip #3: Ask open-ended questions.
Questions that begin with “how, what, when, and where” cannot be answered with a simple yes or no, so they yield more useful information that goes beyond surface level.
Avoid asking questions that begin with “why”.
Why not ask why?
Asking someone to justify a position can be interpreted as accusatory and may lead to defensive posturing instead of collaborative problem solving. For example:
NOT “Why are your sales so disappointing?
INSTEAD “What would it take for you to have a high functioning selling team?”
Tip #4: Be prepared!
Before the meeting, make sure everyone is on the same page.
- How will you know the visit was a success? Clearly define the outcomes you’re after.
- What are the best strategies for achieving those outcomes in the meeting? Develop an appropriate agenda.
- What information will you need to support the agenda? When will you need it and who will provide it? For example: Do you have the pertinent financial statements? Not just any statement, but the most recent income statement, including a percent of sales column and a year-over-year comparison so you can discuss trends. Do you have an accurate balance sheet that shows how debt and cash are trending? Have you identified the essential Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and gathered the current figures? Do you have the relevant system-wide benchmarks for comparison?
- What advance preparation would make the visit more efficient, productive, and impactful? Confirm the responsibilities of all meeting attendees.
- Confirm everyone is clear on logistics like date, time and location. Plan ahead for a meeting that will be free from interruptions.
Tip #5: Keep the conversation focused on the desired outcomes:
- Clarify the purpose of the meeting – restate the desired outcomes.
- Confirm the agenda.
- Execute the agenda. Here is a structure that works well for discussing financial results and establishing a profitable pathway forward:
- Assess – Where have you been; what is going well or not so well?
- Prioritize – What are the most important things to work on now?
- Brainstorm – What drives superior performance in your priority areas? What’s getting in the way?
- Measure – How will you measure success? What are the targets?
- Engage – What are the most essential elements of the plan?
Tip #6: Always, always end the meeting with a clear call to action.
Before the end of the meeting, summarize:
- Who will do what by when?
- What are the major milestones (rocks) and timelines that reflect progress?
- Next Steps – Set a date for when you’ll evaluate progress.
Tip #7: Reflect and focus after the meeting
Within a day or two of the meeting, follow up with a quick chat or an email chain for the coach and client to reflect and share:
- Things that went well based on the purpose of the visit
- Goals and commitments agreed upon during the visit
- Define the evidence of improvement – what will confirm we are on the right track?
- Related ideas that came up since the visit
- Things the client wants to continue working on
- Things the coach will concentrate on during the next visit
- Next steps – restate your call(s) to action and Confirm the date for next visit
Tip #8: Practice!
As with any new skill, practice, reflection and observation helps you improve. Take the time to assess your effectiveness and seek opportunities to lift your skill sets. Here are some steps approaches that work well:
- Think about a time in your life when someone asked you a question that made you dig deep, gain insight, and take action. What was the question? What made it so powerful?
- Set a goal for yourself to avoid giving advice in any conversation for at least one day. (Bonus points to parents of teenagers who can achieve this!) You might be surprised at how often you find yourself slipping into expert mode. Pro-Tip: Use the time you would have spent giving advice to ask open-ended questions that lead the client to propose their own solutions.
- Listen to expert interviewers and observe how they use open-ended questions to get their interviewees to relax, reflect, and open up.
Don’t get me wrong – consultants don’t need to give up sharing their expertise. But bolstering their coaching skills with the tips I’ve outlined can take your financial conversations to a new level. One that makes and impact, drives action and gains traction.
About the Author
Lauren Owen is a business coach and facilitator who helps closely held businesses, particularly family businesses, build effective teams and execute successful ownership transitions. Profit Soup will be sharing more insights and tools at their CFE Special Sessions, “Level Up Your Financial Coaching: Guiding Profitable Growth from Day 1” and “Profitable Growth Through Multi-Unit Expansion” at IFA 2023.
Email Lauren at Lauren.Owen@ProfitSoup.com for more information.