|
Coaching agents to achieve better results Tom Hanson's clients have ranged from millionaire athletes to agency owners By Bob Bloss
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Jake McKay … a recently appointed (insurance company) district sales manager. A former college athlete, Jake was introduced to the insurance business when his baseball career was ended by a knee injury. He excelled in sales for a decade before being promoted to his management post four months ago. Since then, his office’s sales results have floundered significantly. (His company’s) headquarters issued a strong warning that performance must improve quickly. Jake responded by berating his sales team at a particularly acrimonious staff meeting. At its conclusion the sales force was angry and disillusioned with their manager. Privately, Jake McKay was embarrassed about his handling of the meeting. Discouraged, he recognized he needed some pointers about leadership. Without hesitating Jake headed directly toward his former baseball skipper, Coach Peters. By now, you rightly suspect that Jake’s insurance company is fictitious. So are the characters and the story itself. (We won’t give away the ending; you’ll have to read that for yourself!) However, we can tell you that Coach Peters instructed Jake on the fundamentals of management, leadership, and organization. The key points of the story are clearly serious matters that can be addressed and satisfactorily resolved, often with the assistance of a professional coach. A “real life” coach, Ph.D. Thomas Hanson, wrote the book from which the imaginary sales management excerpts are drawn. The book, Who Will Do What By When?, is sub-titled “How to Improve Performance, Accountability and Trust with Integrity.” Coach Peters … er, Hanson … and other certified professional coaches can help organizations become more effective, accountable, and trusting, while creating a sense of personal satisfaction. Whatever the business—be it a major league baseball team (which Hanson has “coached”), perhaps a bank, or even an actual insurance agency—professional coaching can enhance most any kind of enterprise. Hanson and his wife, Birgit Zacher Hanson, M.S., are principals of Heads-Up Performance, Inc., a national consulting company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Heads-Up works with companies committed to enhancing life and leadership skills. Birgit earned her master’s in Applied Behavioral Science from Johns Hopkins University. “One of my core beliefs,” she says, “is that even the smallest behavioral change will have a huge impact over time. Why not start today?”
By using baseball metaphors frequently, Tom Hanson calls upon his own background and experiences. At Iowa’s Luther College in the early 1980s, he majored in psychology and played rugby and baseball there. “That’s where I learned of a field called sports psychology,” he recalls. “It fascinated me.” He got a master’s in Sports Psychology at the University of Illinois, then earned a doctorate at the University of Virginia. Hanson began his career-long study of “extraordinary performance” while at Virginia. Later, as a tenured professor in sports psychology, he was head baseball coach at Skidmore College. In 2001 Tom took on a one-year assignment as Director of Performance Enhancement of the New York Yankees. He neither asks for, nor accepts, any credit for the team’s first-place finishes during and following his time there; but Mark Newman, vice president of the Yankees’ player development department, offers this testimonial. “Birgit and Tom’s involvement in different areas of our organization greatly enhanced our levels of awareness and communication.” We asked Tom about his interactions with major league millionaires. “Basically,” he says, “we assisted players and coaches in enhancing communications with the other players and coaches. We helped them become more consistent and focused on the mental aspects of their life and their work. That can’t help but lead to better team morale. Better team chemistry. With the Yankees, it helped that a key leader, general manager Brian Cashman, is a solid, stand-up, high-integrity guy.” (Cashman, for his part, praises the Who Will Do What By When? book as “ … a great personal reminder of the importance of following through and doing what you say you are going to do.”) Due to coach-client confidentiality, Hanson does not reveal details of his private meetings with players. Initially his basic ideas and overview are introduced to the entire group prior to individual personalized sessions. He does say this, though, about a popular perennial Yankee All-Star whom many consider a future Hall of Famer. “Derek Jeter is my poster child for mental toughness. He’s admired and respected by teammates and opponents alike.” While the Hansons have been associated with baseball’s Texas Rangers, in addition to the Yankees, their extensive client list covers numerous business and industry categories. “I don’t care what kind of work they do or what industry they’re in,” Tom emphasizes. “I’m trained to work with people who want to improve performance.” Bill Hoge, owner of William Hoge Nationwide Insurance Agency in Brandon, Florida, is a good example. His agency, which focuses 90% of its business on personal lines, has five employees. “I wasn’t looking for outside coaching or assistance,” says Bill. “I didn’t think I had any real issues. But my focus had been only on business—for 13 years I took only a couple of long weekend vacations a year. The agency was growing; I felt successful. Then a golfing buddy referred me to Tom. So I went, but only as a favor to my friend. Tom asks questions about yourself, has you rank yourself from 1 to 10. I listed myself mostly around 3 or 4. Tom said I could work up to 9s or even some 10s. I said, ‘If you can do that for me I’ll talk more with you.’ Ten months later we were still meeting every week. My personal life and my business improved significantly. I had done a complete overhaul of myself after Tom made me look carefully into myself. “We typically blame others, or outside influences, when things seem to go wrong. This employee’s grousing all the time. That insurance company’s a pain in the neck to deal with. And so forth. Tom helps you realize your problems often start with you.” As Hanson explains it, the approach he took with Bill Hoge is his standard operating procedure. “You are successful, or you wouldn’t be in your leadership position. Perhaps, though, you’re not fully satisfied. We can help you enjoy your success … and be more successful with what you do. Let’s get to work and see just how good you can get.” Hanson and his clients usually meet once weekly. Tom has found that building performance within companies generally starts at the top. “Whether it’s insurance or something else,” he says, “the leader sets the tone, mood, and energy level. Leaders have a profound effect on their employees’ motivation. They seriously need to learn and understand that organizations cannot outperform the leadership’s constraints. For instance, if the leader’s level of optimism comes up short—too controlling, negative energy, can’t delegate effectively, or if he or she never wonders ‘How can this place ever operate without me?’—then problems are quite likely to exist. People in leadership positions need to be coaches instead of solely managers. “Coach is truly the most appropriate title for the practitioner of what we do. Coach. It doesn’t imply that something’s wrong with a client. We’re not medical doctors trying to restore someone’s health. We urge clients to focus on what they do well. Then make it even better. Don’t get me wrong. Physical health is, indeed, important. We treat our sessions not as on a couch, but as if we’re on a weight machine. The better condition one is in, the better one performs. Physically and mentally. As an athlete does.” Independent insurance agent Mark Sierra, of Florida Contractors Insurance in Brandon, Florida, has six employees. “Tom Hanson talks a lot about team building in all of our sessions,” says Mark. “He helps break down business and personal issues. People in the insurance business more or less understand what works best for our clients and employees. But sometimes getting everything done in a busy business day is overwhelming. Tom helps you to cut through the confusion, to deal with the task at hand, to set priorities, to focus on what must be done today … and be certain to do it. “He says, ‘Do what you like to do best. Then do your best at doing it.’” Clients of Heads-Up and its counterparts invariably recognize a need to face issues that encumber performance. That’s why these already-successful professionals contact professional coaches in the first place.
If anyone takes the time to count every word in Tom Hanson’s book, the two words most likely to appear with greatest frequency are: “trust” and “integrity.” He postulates that enhanced performance and self-esteem (personal power) cannot result unless trust and integrity prevail. “When you operate with integrity,” explains Hanson, “people intuitively recognize that. You build trust. Conducting one’s self with integrity automatically makes you feel better about yourself, and that’s immediately picked up. It affects business profoundly.” That’s the basis of Tom’s book title, Who Will Do What By When? He defines integrity as ‘honoring your word … doing what you say you are going to do when you say you’ll do it.” If the owner of, say, an insurance agency announces that he (he’s the Who in the title) will have new bonus details (the What) on his sales staff’s desks by 9 a.m. next Thursday (When) … and he follows through precisely as promised … his actions represent his integrity. “Doing business with integrity,” the Heads-Up Performance, Inc., principals emphasize, “is not only the right thing to do. It also produces the best results.” Whether their clients aim primarily for better business results or for personal life growth and satisfaction, professional coaching organizations offer certified assistance and direction. Tom and Birgit Zacher Hanson stand ready to help your favorite baseball team, your favorite uncle, or even your … or Jake McKay’s … insurance business. * Editor’s note: Tom Hanson was a keynote speaker and session facilitator at the Advanced Automation Conference earlier this year. His topics included communication, performance, accountability, and trust with integrity. For more information: |
||||||
|
