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It’s Not Enough To Think Big

November 24, 2015 / Clint Best / Personal Development
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clint best break throughI’m a very innovative person by nature, and thinking big has rarely been an issue for me. Believing in my own bigness has posed a few challenges though.

When I was training to be a business coach, we used to play games to help us leverage our thinking. The particular game I’m thinking of was called “add a zero”. We were to take our annual sales goal and add a zero to it – then brainstorm on what strategies would get us there. The exercise forced us to think bigger than we were thinking, which was really helpful because after a couple of hours of thinking at that level, my original number seemed small in comparison.

After years of struggling to hit my annual targets, I learned the other half of the equation – to believe deeply in my own worthiness to succeed. I know what you’re thinking…that seems so obvious, and it is – but I was so close to it, I couldn’t see it for myself, and it wasn’t until I worked on my own personal development that I finally made the breakthrough’s I needed to break from my old beliefs that were holding me back.

What might be getting in your way of becoming who you need to be, in order to do what you need to do, to have what you want to have in your life?

 

Clint Best is a business coach and the founder of Kaizen Business Coaching in Kelowna, BC. Clint has been guiding forward thinking business owners through change and growth since 2002.

Pushing Back on the Push Back

November 17, 2015 / Clint Best / Success Strategies
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pushing back on pushback

If you are experiencing a little push back on the changes you want to make in your business, I want to encourage you not to let that or other incidents dampen your enthusiasm or slow your momentum. There will be plenty of obstacles along the way to success – so the bigger your why is the smaller they will appear. Just lean in and lead through them.

At the same time as we want to be open to receive good feedback, if you are making a change that you believe is positive and necessary to reach your goals – you owe it to yourself and your team to follow through. Here are some tips on how to make it work:

  1. Always lead with a strong why that is aligned with your values, goals, and current strategy.
  2. Listen to understand and acknowledge feedback and concerns.
  3. Consider where the feedback is coming from – if its fear based, it’s probably not very credible (refer to your core operating values)
  4. Treat changes as a test and measure – agree to try it out (get their assurance that they will give it a fair chance).
  5. Invite those who push back to come up with a better idea to get to the same outcome. In short – lead, follow, or get out of the way
  6. If necessary speak with team members privately one on one, to ensure they are feeling heard.

A large percentage of employees – prefer “the devil they know to the devil they don’t” and are naturally resistant to change. They are also pre disposed to quietly “digging in their heels and staying the way they are”, so be mindful of that behavior if it shows up. Keep leading with good values and by example and trust that they will follow.

 

Clint Best is a business coach and the founder of Kaizen Business Coaching in Kelowna, BC. Clint has been guiding forward thinking business owners through change and growth since 2002.

Why Some People Almost Always Hire the Right Person

September 17, 2015 / Clint Best / Team
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clint best kaizen business coach michelangelo david analogyThere is a humorous tale about the brilliant Renaissance artist Michelangelo. He was asked about the difficulties that he must have encountered in sculpting his masterpiece David. But he replied with an unassuming and comical description of his creative process:

“It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn’t look like David.”

I’ve hired a fair number of people over the years, some worked out and a lot of them didn’t until I learned what to uncover in my hiring process. Now I teach this simple framework to my high end coaching clients.

Integrity – Who is this person and are they a good fit with my organization? Do we share the same values? Will they do what they say they can do?

Intent – What is their motive? Why do they want to be a part of my team?

Capability – Do they have the right stuff? Do they come with it already and if not, do they have the attitude and ability to pick it up quickly?

Results – Can they put it into action? What does their track record tell me?

Obviously we go a lot deeper with it, designing questions and techniques to chip away at what isn’t our ideal hire, revealing the real person we are interviewing, to determine if they can help us on our mission.

Is your process getting you the right people?

 

Clint Best is a business coach and the founder of Kaizen Business Coaching in Kelowna, BC. Clint has been guiding forward thinking business owners through change and growth since 2002.

Ramping Up For September

September 5, 2015 / Clint Best / Personal Development
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clint best summer windowWhat do you want your fall season to look like and what are you willing to do differently to get it?

This summer I cut my energy bills down by a good 60% by turning off my air conditioning and opening the windows. Frankly, it was a huge “eye opener”. When it came to air conditioning, I was running on “auto pilot” with my blinders on. What I learned was that my house doesn’t get uncomfortably hot nearly as often as I thought it did, and by opening the windows, I could actually hear the sounds of nature and enjoy the cool summer breeze drifting through the house in the evenings.

Can you relate? It’s added such a new dimension to my summer. Because our home backs onto a mountain it’s reminded me of living in our summer cottage when I was a child. This is a feeling I’ve longed for, for a number of years and there it was, well within my grasp. Summers will never be the same I’ll tell you!

Awakenings are like that, and they can happen in all kinds of areas in your life and business. So what does “auto pilot” look like for you? What could you change this fall season that will bring you closer to the business and life you really want?

 

Clint Best is a business coach and the founder of Kaizen Business Coaching in Kelowna, BC. Clint has been guiding forward thinking business owners through change and growth since 2002.

How To Leave Work Behind For The Holidays

August 25, 2015 / Clint Best / Best Practises
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clint best vacation workingEver wondered what makes you stay connected to work while you’re on holidays?

In my experience there are two big reasons for this. One is called my belief system, and the other is tied to the conditions of my business.

When I stay connected to my business while my intention is to disconnect and rest, I find myself in values conflict, which can be very draining. I want to rest, relax, connect with my family and have fun, but, I also want to be responsible, and support my clients. I have an internal belief that supports this behavior. It could be something like, “in order to be responsible I have to always be available”, or “people will flounder without my support”. Both are obviously flawed and neither serves me well. If you want to leave your work behind for the holidays begin to notice these internal beliefs at play and consciously make a choice that serves your purpose. After all, you will always be more impactful after a good rest.

There was also a time when I did not have the conditions set up in my business to allow me to leave without worrying. I was missing good systems, I wasn’t surrounded by the right people and I hadn’t committed to ongoing training and to setting expectations and boundaries.

Has this happened to you this summer? Don’t be afraid to reach out for some help.

 

Clint Best is a business coach and the founder of Kaizen Business Coaching in Kelowna, BC. Clint has been guiding forward thinking business owners through change and growth since 2002.

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Client’s Results


“After years in business I was still unsatisfied with our companies overall profitability. I needed to make some changes and find a way to maximize sales and have the business run smoothly.It is virtually impossible to describe how satisfied I am in the service Kaizen has provided. All of our business procedures continue to improve daily and profitability has increased such that the business coaching services have paid for themselves many times over. There seems to be no end to the knowledge we are gaining and I am looking forward to continuing with Kaizen for the foreseeable future.”

Mike Ohman – Beyond Audio,
beyondaudio.com/

“When I first started looking for a business coach I was being run ragged by the new company I was building. Every day there seemed to be a hundred things to do, all of them urgent and most of them keeping me away from the work that really needed to be done. There seemed to be so little information available to make the really important decisions that at times I felt paralyzed. I was at my wits end. After openly discussing my situation with Clint, he seemed to instinctively know how to breakdown the problems into bite-sized pieces. He offered a fresh perspective and constantly challenged my thinking. Today, I am well on my way to the goals I wanted to achieve, my business has grown by 300% and is on a trajectory to double again by the end of this year. I am also far more relaxed today. Make no mistake, Clint did not do the work to make this happen. I did. What he did, as any great coach does, was to help me develop into the person that could accomplish these things.”

Ron van Steenoven, P. Eng. – Ron van Steenoven & Associates Ltd.,
www.rvsa.ca/

“Over the past 12 months of coaching – our sales have increased 25%, and our profits are up a staggering 40%. This takes into account increasing the size of our team, which has allowed me to regain my life at home. I see my family more than I have in years. I’m enjoying life again. We’ve also moved into new offices, which makes it a lot more enjoyable to come to work. Your coaching really works.”

Greg Bauer – Navigator Multimedia,
www.navigatormm.com/

“Since working with Clint Best I have seen growth I have never seen before. After only 5 months we have a 20%+ increase in sales with a higher gross and net profit.”

Richard Pierson – JC Bradley Jewelers,
jcbradleyjewellers.com/

"I began working with Clint and his company; Kaizen Business Development about a year ago. At the time, I had some ambitious growth goals, but lacked clarity on how to get there. As I was finishing a book by Zig Ziglar, he recommended hiring a coach – so I asked around and was referred to Clint. I now have a clear path as to where I am taking my company. I am developing my own leadership, and coaching skills. We have brainstormed on important innovations to our business plan and navigated through some big unforeseen obstacles. Clint has helped me create the right environment to attract the right people onto my team. I believe Kaizen has been a very sound investment for us."

Dennis MacLeod – Agent Principle – The Co-operators, Solve Insurance Services Inc,
https://www.cooperators.ca/en/solve-insurance

“I cannot say enough good things about working with Clint. Whether working with him individually, as part of our management team or during our company alignment days, Clint is can always be relied on for insightful and helpful observations and suggestions. I freely admit that I was skeptical of the whole ‘business coaching’ idea at first and figured there were more than enough books and CD’s available for me to develop any plans or strategies I might need. I could not have been more wrong. Clint’s highly effective programs are delivered with structure and impact, and equip individuals and companies with solid techniques and skills that can be applied immediately to increase personal and organizational effectiveness. Our turnover has improved, our profit increased and our company expanded; thanks in no small part to the knowledge gained through working with Clint. I have been personally and professionally inspired by working with Clint. Every session reveals more essential skills and techniques that have an immediate impact on short term strategies, long term goals and the company bottom line. I look forward to continuing our working relationship.”

Barrie Morse – Power Concepts,
https://www.powerconcepts.ca/

“I had thought about coaching for about a year previous to when we started working with Kaizen; however, I wasn’t really sure what I could gain from it until I got to the point where I felt like I had run into a wall and didn’t know what to do next.Immediately with the help of Clint I was able to document where I was at and where I wanted to be and put together a plan of how I was going to get there. Finally we started moving forward. With the help of Kaizen, I came to the realization that I was not alone, but in fact every business that has ever existed has probably dealt with the same problems I had. I would recommend coaching to any small business that wants to succeed long term.”

Rob Ducharme – Ducharme Landscapes,
www.ducharmelandscapes.com/

“We’ve been working with Clint for 3 months and we’ve already achieved our initial goal of expanding our capacity by 30%. We’ve filled it with more profitable work as well. I have to admit, when Clint asked me to trust in the process I was willing but a little skeptical. Not anymore. Clint has helped me free up a good chunk of my time and we’ve begun looking for a replacement for all my technical work so I can concentrate on higher level activities. The team is communicating, and sharing ideas like we never have before. We’re very excited about the coming year.”

Tom Gilbert – TGC Consulting,
www.tgcconsulting.com/

“Before we took the ‘leap of faith,’ we thought we might not be able to afford coaching. Kaizen paid for themselves in the first couple of months and have helped us nearly triple our sales and profits.”

Brenda and Crystal Woods – Bliss Bridal,
blissbridal.ca/

“Thank you again for all your work with Wade and I. I think you have an excellent grasp on how to run a business and how to push our company and our management to a new level.”

Wade Webb and Francis Braam – Royal LePage Kelowna,
royallepagekelowna.com/

“We are very happy with the results of our business coaching experience.We were introduced to many valuable tools to take our business to the next level. Immediate results were seen by working on a few subjects such as goal setting, systematization and communication skills. We continue to work with these tools to achieve our personal and business goals. We would recommend this program to anyone who wants to own or be part of a healthy and successful business.”

Valerie Thompson – Kimco Controls,
www.kimcocontrols.ca/

“I have had the privilege of working with Clint for approximately 15 months. I approached Clint for assistance in ‘fixing’ my business as he was highly recommended by a colleague. I knew immediately that I would be able to work well with Clint as he was very approachable and, I sensed, trustworthy.
Prior to working with Clint, our business was in need of a complete make-over. We were able to accomplish many things, such as:
• Implementing policies and procedures
• Organizational charts for staff
• Job descriptions for key positions
• Systematizing sales procedures
• Goal setting
• Price setting
• Budgets and Forecasts
and much, much more. Clint also worked with staff members and created a strong team environment. We all looked forward to our sessions with Clint and after each session we felt renewed energy and optimism.
I would highly recommend Clint to any business owner/manager in need of some professional guidance.”

Cassandra Tompkins – The Women’s Place Fitness Group,
www.twpfitness.com/

"I am thankful for the opportunity to have worked with Clint and KBD Kelowna. Reviewing my notes from this past year, it is very satisfying to look back at the progress that has clearly taken place in so many areas of our business. Throughout the coaching process there were continual discoveries of areas that needed refinement and improvement. The systems, methods, thought processes, disciplines and reshaped priorities that I’ve been able to discover through the coaching are unmistakably woven into our companies, and I am confident our improved foundation will lead to increasing successes in the years ahead."

Michael Saufferer – Kelowna Inn & Suites,
www.kelownainnandsuites.com/

Connect with Clint:

  • 250-860-0466
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Office Address:
212-1889 Springfield Road
Kelowna, BC V1Y 5V5