Chris Allen is a FocalPoint Business Coach in Cincinnati, Ohio.

This week’s FocalPoint Business Coaching Challenge is “How can I drive results as a business coach for a manufacturing company?” Leading the challenge is Greg De Simone, a Brian Tracy Certified Coach and owner of FocalPoint  Business Coaching in Mansfield, MA.

Greg worked his way through high school and college in the family business, a millwork and molding distributor.   From there he worked 20 years in financial management, starting as a CPA in a Big 4 (big 6 at the time) accounting firm, he then transitioned into corporate finance and accounting, in the following industries:  retail furniture, office supplies, software and professional services, and educational services.   He tended to take over dysfunctional finance organizations and transformed them into high performing teams that supported the overall mission and goals of the company. He also worked on IPO’s, acquisitions, divestitures, process improvement, system installations and upgrades, and compensation planning.

Here’s what Greg has to say about this week’s challenge:

How can I drive results as a business coach for a manufacturing company?

“I’m not really an expert in manufacturing, but I have a track record of delivering results in my corporate past and for my coaching clients.   Generally, I’ve used the same three methods without regard to industry, with some small exceptions depending on the culture of the organization.   The methods employed were:

1. KWINK
2. KISS
3. Mastermind

“KWINK.   Knowing What I Now Know, what would I do differently?  This is a simple but powerful process and mentioned in many of Brian Tracy’s materials.  I start with the business’ past decisions and examine whether the results met their expectations.  If not, we determine what the gap between actual results and expectations were and then we follow-up and determine what issues caused that divergence.   Armed with this information, we then determine what changes we would make now that we have the gift of hindsight.

“KISS.  Keep It Simple, Stupid.   I like to combine this principle (I called it a method earlier but it’s really a principle), with KWINK to eliminate redundant or extraneous activities.   We dig deep to see if a 5 step process can be turned into a 4 step process.  We evaluate how many different “touches” are created during a process and we try to have each person in a process “touching it” just once.  That last point is important, and pairs well with the foundational time management and productivity concepts we work on with our clients – work on the your most valuable activity first and work on it with single-minded focus until it is complete.   I always tie back new activities to our core foundational principles.

“Mastermind.  I help create and facilitate an internal mastermind group to solve specific issues that the business owner and company are facing.  If the situation warrants, we can invite investors, partners, vendors and customers to participate.   Using this process, when done right, gets all of the interested parties committed and “bought in” to the solutions.   When I say done right, it means that once you’re invited to the mastermind group, your opinions and ideas matter and count.  That doesn’t mean creating an amalgamation of ideas to keep everyone happy, it means that we listen to every idea and give it consideration.   We also assign a champion to the group, and let everyone on the team know that ultimately the champion is responsible for the solution.  This helps ensure the group doesn’t get bogged down with endless discuss that never leads to a decisions.

“So for me, driving results is nothing fancy or elaborate.    We just use hindsight, simplicity and team work to solve the challenges we’re facing.”

Excellent approach Greg. I like that it is so systematic and practical – very clarity focused.

So now let’s hear from some other coaches – What would you add to Greg’s methods? Do you have any examples to share?