VIM Executive Coaching rarely comments on farming, produce or supermarkets, for that matter, save for the privilege of coaching those in executive leadership positions. However, this past weekend we put together a somewhat odd connection while buying cantaloupes. The supermarket produce section featured a large display of melons with a huge sign that read: “Summer Extra-Large, Everyone Loves Cantaloupe Special, 2/$7 (Regular Price $3.59 each)”
Oh, it was tempting. The large, fully ripe fruits gave off a wonderful aroma and the promise of a delicious summer salad.
Excuse me, but…
Nevertheless, we took but one. The reality was that we might give up the big joy of saving nine cents per melon, but we lacked the room, the stress of having to consume two large, ripe cantaloupes within a few days and frankly, because we love cantaloupe does not automatically extend to everyone in the family group and office.
Obviously, the pricing strategy above has not been limited to produce or household goods. What used to be “Buy-One, Get-One,” rather a tough concept at check-out is now 2 for – whatever. However, it does make a point about executive leadership training and its many nuances.
There is a seemingly unlimited supply of executive leadership courses, virtual and otherwise, and training modules created to attract not only one participant, but teams, groups and classes. In theory, much like the 2/$7 special, it sounds great, a can’t miss opportunity. However, it isn’t necessarily great.
For we have worked with many fine clients who went through those executive leadership courses, who did not emerge from the training wide-eyed and enlightened! In many respects, they felt worse of than before the training, sort of like being forced to be polite and eat cantaloupe when you know it will create “distress.”
Business coaching is a journey
Business coaching or executive leadership coaching, if you will is a process of self-discovery and not an exercise in gluttony or trying to fit into a mold that does not suit you. In fact, we maintain that courses designed with one approach, one theory or one flavor in mind frequently do much more damage than good. More often than we might realize, a “student” who has gone through a class with a group approach can be admonished rather than celebrated.
“Weren’t you paying attention?” they hear, “Did you get nothing from that world-renown trainer?”
The best approach to executive leadership training is to celebrate the person being trained and to allow that person to use their own unique personality and experience to arrive at a point of greater mindfulness and authenticity.
A quiet, thoughtful person should not be forced into an over-the-top leadership training approach; a person truly fearful or unable to physically perform, will not benefit from a one-size-fits-all “boot-camp” approach. Sorry, we can argue that point until the cantaloupes come home.
Mindfulness comes through a guided, inner discovery toward greater understanding, awareness and the confidence of seeing that the journey of self-discovery is beautiful. To truly hear, we must actively listen. To truly see, we must learn to separate the real from the imagined. Executive leadership training must rejoice in the process and not the imaginary deliverables; everyone arrives at their own truth in their own way.
And all of it, is to understand that sometimes “2/$7” or its equivalent is not always the deal it is made out to be. Sometimes it is better to leave the big deal and to reach the place that is truthful for us.