Have you ever thought about business or leadership coaching for your leadership team

and said that, you know, that sounds good, but we're

not there yet? This episode is for you. Most leaders

hesitate for understandable reasons. No

cost, the time involved, uncertainty,

or the belief that they got to figure it out all on their own. So

others worry that their teams won't fully engage, that coaching will

create more talk and less traction,

less action. So today I'm going to address the

common objections that we hear when someone is considering coaching

leadership team coaching, one on one, one on two coaching, the services

we provide. We call the coaching process the legacy journey here at Decided Legacy. So

we're going to talk about each what actually creates

lasting change, why waiting can cost you more than you

think, and why starting can give you the clarity, accountability,

both you and your team that you need.

So let's go ahead and jump right in. And before we jump in, I do

want to share something that I did that was scary and

brave. Not that I'm always brave. I'm definitely not. In

fact, just knowing that I got to share something on the podcast does

challenge me. So the reason I share something is because nothing's more

valuable and important to your mental health than reaching out, taking

risks, doing scary things. Nothing's more damaging than playing it safe. So here's the

deal. I made a list in the morning of something I wanted to get done

and it was writing some letters to

people that are encouraging and so got the first one

done. It's scary because it just feels awkward, but just like a real

letter, like something they're going to get in the mail and say, wow, dude. And

they're, they're going to keep and refer to kind of a cool thing. So

welcome to the Decide youe Legacy podcast. I'm your host, Adam Gragg. I am a

coach and family therapist, founder of Decide youe Legacy in 2000,

founded in 2012. And we help leaders and their teams face the

issues that they're avoiding, face the stuff that they don't want to talk

about and talk about it, get below the surface to the real problems

so they can take productive action, make progress that

sticks, a long term transformation. And

from my point of view, and from a guest I

had on the podcast for Thanksgiving, Ben's point of view. Everybody's

a leader. Everybody's a leader because you have influence. There's people looking

to you and watching your behavior and they're taking direction from

you. Whether you realize it or not, this is an exciting part of life that

you can influence. Other people and change

is a process. So first I'm going to

go through these objections. There's actually nine of them and common ones that I

hear and I'm going to give you my thoughts on those specific objections. So

one of the common ones is, you know, Adam, you and your team, you're not

experts in our industry, you know, in manufacturing and engineering and

architecture and construction, whatever, you know, and

there's so many different industries out there, you know, so that is

true. And they're basically saying

that your advice and your feedback and information won't apply.

And so the reason I get this objection is a lot of times people don't

realize the difference between a coach and a consultant. A consultant is

going to be an industry expert that's giving you feedback on that specific industry

topic. So, and a coach is

by design, from my point of view, industry agnostic. They're

not in your industry and that's a really positive thing because they're a

neutral outside perspective who's not to get in the weeds and want to give you

advice. They're dealing with, and we're dealing with clarity

and communication and mindset and emotional

intelligence and purpose and vision and

direction. And you know, how do we create this cohesive team? It's

an unbiased industry

agnostic perspective which is super powerful. So we ask

the questions no one else is going to ask you. And the fact that we're

not in the industry creates this. We can shoot straight with you.

And it's not that we don't give advice and feedback. I'd give

shortcuts if I really feel strongly about it. But more than anything we're

asking you to clarify and to look inside

and within your team so you know you can solve these problems and

commit and take action. Common objection. So another one is

this can take too much of my time and reality is, yeah, I,

I decided long time ago actually that I want

long term relationships that have a long term lifespan

because, and I want to work with clients and teams for at least a

year because I want the changes to stick. So we don't gauge in situations. It's

not that we, we don't do one off situations. I mean we do speaking

and, and we do workshops and you know, you'll see me in the community, see

my team in the community. But those aren't the corporate contracts that we have. Those

aren't the one on one coaching contracts. Those are, those are separate and those

often lead to and can be just initial exposure to what we do in our

services. But we want changes that stick. And so people want to run

once they get engaged. And so when they're signing up, they're

struggling with something. Some reason they're not talking about stuff on their team, some

reason they're not addressing these core things in their life that are keeping them stuck.

And there's some pain often that drives them to reaching out or they've

identified some pain in our discussions. So, and generally with a one on one

client, we're meeting twice monthly and there's check ins and there's action items,

you know, and people will say that seems so overwhelming. You want to do that?

Well, as with any objection, I would encourage you with people to

go deeper and ask, ask them what's at stake. That's my question

for them is what's at stake here and what do you stand to lose by

not solving this problem that's led to you reaching out? So really if someone

has that objection is too much time. Well, I tell them that it took

a while to create this behavioral issue and it's going to take some

time to change it, to make it stick. In that accountability

and follow up and cadence to the communication with your team, together with

your coach is what makes the change stick. You're revisiting it, there's

accountability to come back and to discuss.

And really the what I have found is that it's going to save you a

ton of time because one of the first activities I work with with leaders and

teams is how are you organizing your time? How are you structuring it to face

the most important tasks every day and to deal with the issues that move the

needle, meaning profit, meaning efficiency, systems,

how do we deal with that? So when people come to

explore a coach, they're often disorganized with their time. I mean, they want to get

some systems in place or part of their team is inefficient and

they're not facing the stuff. So it's a process of clarity. The drama

happens, we walk you through it and it takes time. You want to run, but

you've committed. It takes time. You've committed because you believe in the outcome.

Our job is to get you to the goal, the outcome that you desire, that

you started coaching with or have identified in the process. And maybe you get there

quicker than you thought and we have another outcome. But it's a process of

change that actually sticks. So a number of clients, when they

reach out initially, well, they become clients. But they may say things like,

well, we don't want, we want a business expert like someone with an

mba, you know, who's run multiple business. Been a business coach for a long time.

Well, I have been a business coach for a long time, but we have been.

But they don't want a therapy background person, you know, none of that

stuff. Like you're a fan, what, you're a family therapist. You've been a

clinician, dude. Okay, so it's skepticism around our qualifications.

And of course, again, I would ask them questions like, well, what's the concern?

And tell me more about that. And they're going to identify that, you know, that

just doesn't make sense. You know, I've had people come in and like the CEO

or people that they have some exposure to me and you know, they'll say, well,

how can you be qualified to help us? You know, look at this. You know,

we're not. We don't need a therapist. You know, we need an attorney. We need

a consultant. And so I like to. Here's where I

like to start with people is

clarify the fact that, you know, well, I mean,

there's a lot of experience here, but we're not. We're a coach, not a

consultant. I'm a coach, not a consultant.

And there's some real benefits to having a clinical background

because we go deeper in understanding a human behavior and team dynamics

and personal transformation. Precisely. You know, what

might be missing if you have a consultant?

I don't know. I think there's great consultants out there, you know, and you know,

I will just say too that we have people on our team that do have

run businesses. I mean, I've run a business since 2012

and in this specific industry. So

just a side note, I may, may share with them possibly that I have a

finance degree and I went to University of Oregon. Go Ducks. We got our butts

kicked the other night. I can't hate, hate that. But. But it is,

it is something powerful when you realize that it's just somebody that is going

to ask you the questions, the hard stuff to get you thinking about stuff you

weren't thinking. And it kind of connects to being industry agnostic as well. So

that background I found and when I started doing corporate work back in

2000, and I mean heavily back more so in

2009, even before I started decide your legacy through another agency,

I was shocked that there were so many similarities between, between

family therapy and then leadership team dynamics and the communication that's there.

So just. And that's what led me into actually starting the business because I saw

so much crossover. So another Objection. Is. And this

sometimes is connected to the fact that there's a clinical family therapy

background. It's like, I don't want to deal with my past. I don't want to

engage in something that's going to make me deal with my past. So, again, there's.

They're identifying a fear right away, and they're saying that

they're resistant to dealing with the emotional side of things,

and that fear is what keeps people stuck. And

it repeats itself when you don't face it. So we only deal with the past

related to how it's impacting your current functioning and your future

functioning. So you face the here and now today, and you want

to normalize the fact. And I know it's normal to feel

discomfort when you're growing. If you were going to start lifting weights

and hadn't done so, it would create some soreness. I lifted with a buddy that

I used to lift with yesterday morning for the first time. I'd actually lifted with

Donovan in probably, you know, 15 years, I bet. And he's like, we want

to go slow. And he met me at the Y, and we worked out and

everything. And he. We kind of just doing lightweights. And I lift fairly frequently. But,

you know, it was fun just to connect with him. And I was thinking, yeah,

he's really smart because he's taking it easy at first because he doesn't want to

be so sore that he doesn't want to come back to the gym. Kind of

good stuff. But facing your past builds resilience. It builds clarity. And the

goal isn't therapy. It's equipping leaders to avoid repeating

the same mistakes and to identify and have clarity that I'm doing the

same thing triggered by past interactions with coworkers or

past interactions professionally. It's triggered that I think the same thing's gonna happen

again. Let's face the fear and deal with it so we can move forward.

And coaching's future oriented, but we gotta face our triggers now.

So another objection, and this one's kind of silly to me, but I can see

why people actually have it, is they will say things like, you work with our

competitors, or they perceive you work with their competitors. And now.

So when I do speaking and when we're out in the community, people might interact

with me, and they may think, well, that's somebody. That's a client to decide your

legacy. Fine, it may be, it may not be. But I don't share who our

clients are. I mean, in fact, with the majority of our clients, we have an

NDA if they want it. I'm happy to sign an NDA, a non

disclosure agreement, because we don't want to share and we're not in the business

of sharing trade secrets or even understanding them or even wanting

to understand them. We're not in the business of sharing

stories about other businesses. I mean that's. If they consent to

sharing that and they do a testimonial, which there are some on our website,

of their experience with Decide youe Legacy, that's fine. But they're giving their full consent

to do that. And a lot of people don't care that they're associated

with Decide your Legacy as their other businesses. I mean they're excited about it,

they go to events and they communicate about it. So that's fine. But, but if

you have that concern, you know, fear not, because everything is

strictly confidential. And so it's totally

confidential. And we're not going to share anything that's kept private.

And our, our focus is on your transformation, reaching your goal,

not industry secrets. Another objection is my team

won't buy in. Like, they're not going to want this. They're not going to want

to have a group coaching session and talk about stuff. You know, they're not

going to want to take up their time where they could be doing this and

that and everything. You know, I get that from people and I even get it

sometimes from people who have engaged in, in

similar types of situations where they're, they don't want to experience

that. And I have to. It is probably potentially nothing wrong with consulting.

I'm a fan of consulting. I work with consultants. I have a consultant. I mean,

it's a great thing. But they don't understand coaching versus consulting at that

point. And the buy in that your team is lacking is going to be related

to your enthusiasm and, and excitement as a leader. They take their cues

from you. Everybody's watching you. So that's a deeper question.

You know, what's creating this lack of buy in? Because maybe you're sold on coaching,

but you're afraid that they're not going to be sold on coaching. And I'm going

to call it development, I'm going to call it leadership, team development,

not therapy. And you're talking here,

we're saying, and they're identifying the need for coaching in that situation.

Courageous conversations, accountability, that moves the needle,

getting results. So I've challenged them to set the tone. If you're passionate about

it, your team's gonna buy in and they're gonna come on Board. They're gonna watch

your behavior. They're gonna. And they're gonna love the clarity that they get

and the direction that they get after. And at the end of each coaching meeting,

which, by the way, with leadership teams, typically, it's a monthly

meeting with one of our coaches. And at the end of those

meetings, I asked them to assess on a scale, 1 to 10,

how helpful that meeting was. And I'm

consistently amazed at the eights and nines and sometimes tens, although

that we get. Because here's one reason why. Because they're getting action

items. They're talking about the core problems they're seeing that

things can change. They're getting hope. You leave a meeting

energized when you have hope that it's going to change things. Another

objection is we got too many problems, you know, too many

crises sees going on. We can't take the time

to slow down and talk about this stuff. We just got to react. You know,

it's like, that's a silly objection because it's. This is exactly what you need

to deal with. You know, this is exactly what would make a huge difference in

your life if you started to get out of crisis mode and into

productive action mode. Facing the most important

things, not being subject to urgency addiction all the

time. And I'm going to explore what is really

going on there. And then I want to point out that, you know, these problems

are symptoms of. They're a leadership problem.

And you're not dealing with the root cause that's creating these

symptoms that you're spending all your time on, that's creating your objection to engaging in

this. And we're going to get below that, to the surface level challenges so you

can face those things. So you're not going to be in urgency mode all the

time. And if leaders get serious about what matters most, they realize that a

process provides the clarity. This coaching process. It provides the clarity

in the systems to make these changes. And, you know, if they're unwilling

to address that, that urgency addiction, then they may not be ready for

coaching. And that's okay. That's okay. There's

another objection that you get the price. Okay. The price is too high.

All right, good. So price and value is the issue

here. If they see the value, then they recognize that they're going to get a

return on investment that's significantly greater based on the problems that they're sharing.

And I want to spend a little more time on this because one on one,

coaching with Decide youe Legacy. Well, with me is $15,000

a year. And they may say, well, that's just out of line. You know, I

can't do that, whatever. And people pay monthly, primarily. I mean, I used to

charge upfront, and that was a great thing because it shows commitment. And

I have some clients that pay up front. They just want, you know, I'm going

to commit for a year and we're gonna pay up front. And they know, I

mean, the same client I can think of, he pays for, I believe,

personal training on an annual basis as well, which is super cool. There's

so many correlations between personal, like a physical training kind of thing, because.

And that's what my challenge people with is your health. I mean, health is huge.

You get your health in order, it's going to impact every single stinking part of

your life. Just like if you get your spiritual life in order, it's going to

act every single piece of your life. You get your finances in order, every

single piece. So we create systems to do that. Or they say, like, it's

too expensive to engage with my team in group coaching. I mean, I can't afford

and, you know, the average price, it's a lot of money. I get it. But

it's the commitment and the return that you get from investing in

the process. So I'll ask them, you know, when they have that objection, you know,

what's it not? What's it? What will not solving this problem cost?

You identify a number because there's some pain there.

How will solving it increase your revenue, increase your efficiency? That's

going to impact the bottom line? Well, if we can communicate as a team and

work together, man, it's going to have a 20% increase in revenue

over three years or over a year even. So what will solving

this problem save you? Not just financially, but what will it save you

relationally, emotionally? Life expectancy.

So what impact would it have on your life if you're still stuck here in

one year or three years or five years? I mean, count the cost.

So when people get over the hump in coaching, you know,

and I have a prospect and I know they're a good client, so I want

to work with them. And they seem to really want to work with us, but

they can't make the decision. One of the big drivers of that is if

they identify the. The cost of not changing, and they can see that

I can't stay stuck here. If I'm here in a year, it's going to be

really bad and I don't want to change. And what I've done is not working.

And I can tell you why. I mean it's not working because they're not taking

action and they don't have the accountability to follow through. When people invest money,

there's accountability in that. It's brave. I'm getting ready to spend

some money today in coaching. So 15 grand, same amount of

money I spend on my own coach. I'm getting ready to cut the check for

that. So the first quarter and it's something called strategic coach,

which is a coaching group thing that meets and it's just four meetings a

year, but it's a community and I'm really passionate about it,

love it. Books I've read from Dan Sullivan have been extremely helpful. So

I'm excited about it. I mean like good stuff and then I'm going to be

committed to it. I got to travel to do that and meet some great people,

but I'm going to have skin in the game. That's a great thing. So how

do I answer that question? The cost, first of all, it's an investment that

produces long term dividends, not only monetarily, but long term

behavioral change. When commit and invest and you take the actions

and you're gaining things that are invaluable, like clarity and confidence

that's going to impact every part of your life. A healthier team, stronger relationships,

you're reducing turnover. Oh my gosh. Improve culture,

powerful stuff. Improved profitability. Because when you do things more

efficiently, you add more value through the changes you're making, then the

marketplace rewards you with increased profitability. It's a result

of running a really successful business. It's a reward and it's really the

last reward you get actually. So when I think of making money and everything, I

mean, you get competency, you get confidence, you get connections, you get a lot

of other things before you make the money. You get community, all

that. So you got to count the cost, you got to see the

value. The value is long term. And we're in the business that decided legacy of

long term change, not quick fixes. Facing your issues

is powerful. Getting to the other side so you can really change. And

then sometimes from, from potential clients, I have this thing where they come back

to me after they've really thought through their objections. They say, you know what? The

problem's not that big of a deal. That's it, that's it. You know, I get

that it's really not that big of a deal and I can keep going and

doing what I'm doing. And so then I ask them, you know, what led you

to reach out anyway. Okay, so what's changed about that?

And what I get with that question

90% of the time is they get to revisit how much pain they

had experienced and didn't want to experience it again. And maybe it has

resolved itself. But we're not really in this discussion and I'm not in

a discussion with somebody or my team's not in a discussion with somebody. If we

don't think to get to this point that there's some pain there

that we could be a solution for, and we're not the only game in

the world. Get it. That's it. So. But we want to be a solution.

So my answer to that is, well, something got you here

and it goes back, you know, do you want to stay here? Or what would

it impact, how would it impact things if this problem went away that you say

is no big of a big of a deal, and then they have to do

some soul searching and really answer the question. So common

objections. And I just want to say, like,

if you found this content helpful and you just kind of interested in decide your

legacy in our coaching services, I want to give you a chance to get more

exposure. And it's by going through a course that I put together. It's called Shadow

Proof Yourself Light. And you can get it on the app or go to the

course and watch it on it's through. You can watch the video. There's a

worksheet and a video to watch. And I just go over seven

steps briefly to a giant leap in your confidence. And it's going to give you

a little bit of an idea of our style and some of the things we

address. This is supplemental to what happens in coaching. I mean, coaching is about you.

We're talking about your issues, your team's issues, giving you tools and everything. But it

gives you some exposure. So check that out. Hit the link to Shadow Proof Yourself

Light. And I want to

share briefly just a couple stories of clients who

were hesitant to start and then the changes that they actually made. So one,

I'm going to disguise their names and their businesses and everything, but I just think

of some powerful situations. So it can be a long process before they

decide. Sometimes it's a lot shorter now than it used to be, but I can

think back, you know, five years, a discussion I have with a business owner, small

team, about 25 employees, and this guy had been

coping with the stress of managing his team through

alcohol. He was drinking and he was isolating from his family

he had some difficult situations going on. I mean marriage

challenges, some health challenges, getting a little bit older, although I

still see his age as young and

hesitant to start. But it got to the point where he was counting the cost

and he committed, you know, he committed to coaching and that was back in the

day when I did six months contracts. You know, it ended up being being over.

I mean it ended up being about a two year contract but ended up starting

and he committed to that. And through the process very

hesitant to bring his team, get him involved, but he was sold that I

got to do something else. And really just checking in because I stay in

touch with people. I mean the results have been incredible.

I mean a team that's cohesive and talks and deals with problems, a

culture that is keeping and retaining employees, even hiring a new key

leader that wouldn't have been attracted to this company if it was back when he

started coaching, I can just tell you that. But a really positive,

excellent leader that wanted to come and work for him because saw the changes

in the organization externally, I mean from a distance had been watching and it was

real, made it very attractive to go work there. People that

want to not complain and actually take more action.

So. And then a happier person who has peace in his life, I mean very

exciting stuff. So in another situation a,

a leader who had gone through a business transition, so

it came, it transitioned to a second generation. We work with a lot of second

generation and third generation businesses and, and having

a big hesitancy. I mean the objections were really that

it's expensive, that was one. But that my

team's not going to buy in, they're not going to buy in, it's not going

to work for them. And through one on one coaching with the leader and actually

starting to work with the team, we realized, and this leader

realized, he realized that his excitement level as he got

better was spreading to his team. And as he got excited about the

potential of coaching and impacting his team, they started to get excited about as well.

And really great hesitancy in those first initial coaching, coaching meetings, team

coaching meetings. But they started to have this, they

were a siloed organization. And then I remember the breakthrough when they

all signed an agreement saying they're going to support each other outside of this room

and they're going to support each other even if they don't agree with the decision.

And they're going to make decisions and help each other's

departments regardless of how it

benefits their specific unit. They're going to see that team coming Together

as the most impactful and important unit in the company's success. And

the energy that you get from that, I mean, it just gives me so much

excitement to tell the story and to get and to help and to grow the

business of decide your legacy because of seeing these things. So retention of

employees, tremendous. Growth of the business, tremendous.

Dealing with issues they hadn't faced in a decade so they could actually solve

the problems and move forward, tremendous. So I'm excited for you as

well. So there's some of the objections that you commonly hear and I know there's

more and I know I could share more as well, but I just want to

go ahead and close this up and just challenge you that

instead of asking, do I need coaching? Instead ask,

what's the cost of continuing exactly as I am?

What's it really costing me? So what insight have you gained today? I want you

to commit to taking action based on some insight that you gained today. What

are you going to apply? Decide, act,

and then repeat. And there's no positive change unless you decide to change.

80% of transformational change is committing and acting, doing

something. 20% is insight. You gained insight today. Now the challenge for

you is to take some action. Take action. Follow me.

Leave a rating and review Apple or Spotify. Check it out.

Follow us. Decide your legacy wherever you find content.

And to decide that whole word definition, eliminating other options.

You're like, I'm gonna give this a shot. I'm looking at all these options. I

wanna do this. Your legacy is the impact your life has on

other people. There's no positive change until you decide to change.

Decide today because your legacy depends on it. I'm gonna close

today the way I always do. Make it your mission to live

the life today that you want to be remembered for 10 years after you're gone.

You decide your legacy, nobody else. I appreciate you greatly and

I'll see you next time.