Recently, Petra Coach hosted our first International Coaches’ Corner – a 1-hour LIVE Q&A with Certified Petra Coaches from both the North American and European branches – featuring Andy Bailey and Andy Clayton.

The content is invaluable to leaders during this unprecedented time.

You can find the full recording here.

To augment the recording, below is a brief recap of questions and answers from the session. 

Q: Give us some insight into the current situation in the UK and China.

The UK has been in lockdown for 100 days. Tomorrow, restaurant hotels and bars will open again.

China’s day-to-day life has gone back to normal now. There are still outbreaks, but when they pop up, they will go back to having a lockdown in that city. This is the same in the UK.

China also has surveillance and can pinpoint someone who is sick, and then are able to see if you have been exposed to let you know if you could potentially be infected.

Q: What have UK businesses been doing during the pandemic?

Virtual has been working fine, but like everyone else, business has been lost to an extent. Teams are taking big salary cuts.

There are businesses that are now starting to come out on the other side with the initial crisis response behind them.

They have had some government furloughing. The government will pay up to 80%, and then employer can pay up to the other 20%. By October this should be phased out.

Q: What other government assistance has been provided for the UK businesses?

  • Furloughing has been the biggest one and been critical to keeping the economy up.
  • Grants for anyone that’s paying property tax (i.e. hospitality or restaurants)
  • Low interest loans over a six-year period. The first year is interest free.

Q: I have a new client whose boss has hired me to help him see that building strong relationships at work will make him a better leader. Currently, he is not bought into the process or the concept. There are no consequences for him when he treats others poorly, because he gets good business results. Any suggestions?

The Talent Assessment Chart is a clear model for explaining that person. You rank their Performance and then rank their Core Values – how they fit it with the team and their values. Most of the time it sets off a lightbulb when this is done. You have to ask the person if they want to change, and if not, then they may not be a good fit for the team.

Another exercise is to put the person in a room with their peers and a manager – whoever interacts with them at work. Have everyone go through the exercise, “Start, Stop & Keep”– state one thing they need to start doing, something that they need to stop and then something they should continue to do.

Q: On the topic of working remotely or working from home, what are you seeing with your members/in the UK?

Businesses have found it depends on the type of person you have and their age. Younger people’s home environments aren’t set up for working from home. They have roommates, etc.

Then there are people that have long commutes and have children at home, and they are enjoying working at home – spending more time with their family and not having to take so much time to commute.

Then there are regional companies – ones where people travel a lot – and they are almost eliminating their offices totally.

In some instances, businesses are having different groups of people come in at different times and making sure that the space is safe and distanced.

Q: Any questions I should consider in thinking about switching my role to coaching facilitation?

Do a “Sweet Spot’ facilitation from Andy Clayton’s book. The journey of entrepreneurship is a journey of self-discovery. That should show you what you really want. Ask yourself if you’ve been drawn to that role – Do you like asking people questions, etc. Facilitation is moving a process from A to Z in a room, and coaching is assisting in that becoming a behavior along the path. They are exclusive and you need to be good at both.

Patience + Self Awareness = The Right Business For You

Q: What’s the biggest challenge in the UK overall right now?

Getting things going again, like schools, is difficult. In retail, the shops are opening, but people aren’t going.

Borders are reappearing in Europe where they used to be always open, which has been interesting.

 

Like what you see? Register for our next Coaches’ Corner coming up July 15!