Harnessing Motivation: Transform Your Career with Goal-Based Coaching

Can understanding your true motivators change the trajectory of your career? We explore this powerful concept through the coaching framework known as QALMS, focusing on the "M" for motivator in our latest episode. We're diving deep into goal-based coaching with the GOAL acronym (Great opportunity, Actions, and Love), revealing how to harness both emotional and practical elements to set and achieve your career aspirations. Learn how asking the right questions can unlock a clearer path to what you need to excel at, the opportunities that await, the actions required, and the joy of reaching your goals.

Listen to the remarkable story of an employee at a financial services firm who transformed his outlook and performance through inspired goal-setting and creative motivation techniques. From changing a screensaver to leaving heartfelt messages, discover how this individual moved from feeling stuck with a seemingly unreachable goal to realizing a life-long dream. Whether you're a leader aiming to inspire your team or seeking clarity in your own career path, this episode is packed with practical advice and inspiring anecdotes to help you harness the power of motivation and goal-setting.

Welcome to Coaching Conversations

We have created a NEW and Innovative line of books called Workplace Coaching Books. These books use QR codes with embedded audio and video lessons speaking directly to the reader. Each book comes with assessments and journal based coaching pages where they document what they've learned and what they've applied. In addition each book comes with the self analysis link that prompts them to share what they've learned and what they've put into action leading to greater learner application a

Check out our Approachability & Coachability series, a webinar-based coaching approach that encourages all leaders and their employees to become approachable and coachable through specific, actionable techniques and strategies. This leads to better teamwork for leadership and creates a positive coaching culture within an organization.

Get more info here: https://form.jotform.com/233023396805051

Are you interested in the latest coaching strategy from Tim Hagen? Check out the new Journal-Based Coaching Guide series, where you can improve critical workplace skills by listening to audio lessons via weekly QR codes from Tim Hagen, and journal what you've learned from the lessons. Current topics include emotional intelligence, motivation, accelerating teamwork, mastering self-regulation, and more crucial workplace topics.

Check out how the new Journal-Based Coaching Guide series works and start your leadership development journaling journey today at https://www.WorkplaceCoachingBooks.com.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:37

When coaching career development, one of the greatest things that you can do is to understand where you want to go and, certainly as a leader, where your people want to go. At Progress Coaching we call it the motivator. Now we teach a coaching framework called QALMS, q-a-l-m-s the M is motivator, motivator. When you have a motivator understanding, such as someone wants to become a branch manager or they want to go into marketing, it's not always a promotion. The key to this is to always understand specifically where you want to go. Sometimes, actually most of the time, when asked people don't know. They kind of go where things take them. People lose touch of their own motivation. Here is a great technique that you can use, called goal-based coaching. Goal stands for great opportunity, actions and love. So at the top of the page put down the word goal. Ask somebody what's a goal that you have for your career? Even if it's not possible, what's that goal? And then you ask what do you want to achieve? Answer, maybe a couple times as it relates to their goal. You ask them the acronym as if they were coaching questions like what do you need to be great at? What opportunities will become your reality if you become great? What actions do you need to take to reach your goal? The L what will you love about achieving your goal? That's the emotional attachment. So what you do is you find out, you ask somebody what's a goal you have, what are some goals that you have? And what this does is it starts the exploration process, and goal again is an acronym that you can use as coaching questions Great opportunity, action and love. What do you need to be great at? What opportunities will be afforded to you if you become great? What actions do you need to take? The L what will you love about achieving this goal? Now I want to share this.

Speaker 1: 2:49

Everybody's at a different point in their career and this is from a person years and years ago at a financial services firm in the call center, and I remember when we sat down with him. His manager sat down with him and he said look, I can't do more than 75 calls a day. I can't do more than 75 calls a day, so don't try to make me do more than 75 calls a day. That was the opening few minutes of his goal-based coaching interaction with us. And what we did is we sat down and we said what's a goal that you have? And he just couldn't think of anything. So we said you know, give us a personal goal. And he said it is my lifelong dream to take my family to Ireland.

Speaker 1: 3:31

Now I've told this story many, many times. I love this story because it goes to the emotion of who people are. He did not have a career goal, he had a short-term goal and his short-term goal was, if he could reach his bonus level, he would get a bonus and he would be able to go to Ireland and take his family. Now remember his words lifelong dream. So we asked him what he needed to be great at and what opportunities will be afforded to him and what actions did he need to take? And to be really candid and transparent, his answers were kind of fluff. He was kind of going through the motions. And then he got to love when he said it is my lifelong dream to take my family to Ireland.

Speaker 1: 4:13

So the manager and I sat down, charles great guy, and he said what can we do with this? It's like he really doesn't know. Some people don't know. See, sometimes it's not always a destination. It might be in the present moment. So in this case, goal-based coaching served us really well. So what we did is we changed his screensaver to the hills of Ireland. We started anonymously putting bed and breakfast books for Ireland on his desk. We started to drop off Aer Lingus, the Irish Airlines, pamphlets on his desk, and it was driving him nuts. He's like who is this? Here's the best part.

Speaker 1: 4:52

Every Sunday night, for about I think it was about eight to 10 weeks, I left him a voicemail, knowing the first voice message he would get in the morning would be my voice, and I said Bob, this is the old country calling. We can't wait till you get here. The Irish people love to have you in the pubs. Oh, I hear you're a golfer too. I've got to get the sticks out and go hit the course together.

Speaker 1: 5:14

Till this day, we never told him it was us, specifically me and he would ask people who is this? You know, why is everyone doing this? Here was the amazing thing. Not only did he hit his goal remember the comment about 75 calls, he went to an average of 103 calls a day. We never asked him to raise his numbers. See, motivation is a very brittle thing, and so when we dive in to career coaching, sometimes it could be a short-term destination. And then I remember the manager said now, what do I do? And I said now you got to ask him what have you learned about yourself you're positively committed to? And he said you know what I can go beyond what I restrict myself. I can go beyond my own self-induced barriers. Goal-based coaching, great opportunity, action and love.