I was watching the US Masters golf on TV at the weekend and Tiger Woods had hit another wayward shot into the pines at Augusta. Peter Alliss, whose commentary was faultless (bar one bizarre reference to haircuts and Jonathan Ross.. Go figure) and entertaining as usual made the comment that we couldn’t see Woods for the trees. Not a titter from his commentary partner Sam Torrence. But I thought it was witty anyway, so thank you Peter!
The reason it resonated with me is that when Acquire is asked by a customer to provide coaching services, more often than not, it’s this analogy that applies. The customer, who’s usually a senior director, explains that he or she needs help with developing a strategy, executing against a previously well regarded business plan, or indeed writing a business plan to start with.
In the vast majority of instances it’s a case of being too close to the detail to see the big picture, or in other words not being able to see the woods (or forest for our US friends) for the trees. Let’s be honest, we’ve all been there and probably more times than we’d like to admit. Dealing with staff, customers, suppliers, shareholders, lawyers and the like make it pretty easy to take your eyes off the prize, right? And that’s exactly where Acquire comes in. We are NOT wrapped up in the day to day fire-fighting that devours time and purpose. We are not emotionally involved and suffering from the extreme stress that so often, that one thing alone can detonate.
Your Acquire coach is the voice of reason and experience, of calm perspective and vision. Acquire is able to help peel back the layers of distraction to enable a focus on what’s crucial in the bigger picture. We help plot the course and can help oversee the execution of the plan. Acquire can work with you long or short term but what we really want is for you to fly solo, to soar the heights and view the woods as a whole new experience. And you will.
Thanks as always for stopping by, comments are always greatly appreciated.
Tags: Analogy, Big Picture, business coaching, Coaching Services, Developing A Strategy, Distraction, Execution, Extreme Stress, Haircuts, Instances, Jonathan, Jonathan Ross, Lawyers, New Experience, Peter Alliss, Sam Torrence, Shareholders, strategy, Tiger Woods, training, Us Masters Golf, vision, Voice Of Reason, Writing A Business Plan