Who Is Sitting Across the Table from You?
So you’re thinking about lunch. You’re wondering who to get a quick bite to eat with. You call up your friend (who happens to be another coach) and you go out. You talk about clients. You enjoy your lunch because you share the same problems and you envision the same opportunities.
Perhaps it’s time to revisit who you eat lunch with. Although I am a coach, I enjoy eating lunches with 3 people on a sort-of informal rotation (whomever happens to be available). One is in restaurant equipment sales, one is an illustrator, and one is a retired executive. The three people are as diverse as you can imagine… and I am richer for the experience.
The point of this article isn’t JUST about lunch. It’s about connections.
By sticking within the coaching field, your connections are limited. Your conversations will always seem to be about coaching, you may get fewer referrals, and your view of the world will be very coaching centric (which, after a while, isn’t a good thing for your clients). However, by connecting with people outside of your peer group, you’ll gain a fresh perspective on your world and that will translate into better coaching skills and more effectiveness with your clients.
Case in point: After lunch with my friend in the restaurant equipment industry, I return to my office completely thankful for what I do (because her job is the definition of a grind and she hates his job and is actively seeking something else). After lunch with my friend the illustrator, I come back with a slightly skewed view of reality because his view of the world is c-r-a-z-y. And after lunch with my retired executive friend, I drink up so much wisdom from her years of working with other people that I find I’m just a little better at what I do as a result.
There are other benefits, too. By broadening out your points of interaction, you’ll learn more and that will give you more to talk about with clients, which is especially valuable when breaking the ice. You’ll also be exposed to new opportunities for referrals which might not have occurred when you lunched with your coaching colleagues.
I think this "forced look beyond your realm" is akin to product designers. They could spend all day designing products that make sense from an ergonomic and economic perspective… but they need to go out into the real world to see how people are actually using the products.
Okay, so I don’t give "homework" very often but I will for this post: Set a lunch appointment this week with someone who is in a totally different industry than you. Plan to talk to them about what they do (with no other agenda than to enjoy yourself and learn from them).
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- When Clients Have Poisonous Peers
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