FAQs
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What is coaching and consultancy?
Put simply, coaching is about working with another to fulfil your potential, achieve some goal or develop specific skills.
Consultancy is the provision of professional advice or assistance by another.
The International Coaching Federation defines it as a professional partnership between a qualified coach and an individual or team that supports the achievement of extraordinary results, based on goals set by the individual or team. Through the process of coaching, individuals focus on the skills and actions needed to successfully produce their personally relevant results.
Management has been defined as the art of getting results through other people. While it is change that often makes management necessary, what is required for people and a company to change is what makes management difficult. A consultant brings:
- Professional expertise
- A wider perspective than the leaders and management ‘in the business’
- Practical implementation advice or actions
What people say
“Good coaches can help busy people to do better at work. They ask clear, simple questions, and listen carefully to the answers. A decent coach can help you make specific improvements in the way you go about things. They will hold you to account, trying to make sure you do what you say you are going to do”
Stefan Stern of the FT
What people say
“Coaching … bridges the growing chasm between what [leaders and] managers are being asked to do and what they have been trained to do”
Betsy Morris, Fortune Magazine
What is Scarlet?
Scarlet is a consultancy for people who run businesses. Scarlet's objective is to lead people into leading themselves and their companies better. Scarlet makes them more successful at unblocking business growth and then introduces models, frameworks and a structured process for achieving high growth.
Scarlet’s services are a combination of business and executive coaching, consultancy and mentoring.
Scarlet’s service starts with a set of tools and techniques used to achieve a powerful vision of future success. A set of successful outcomes that remove all the blockers and override all the dissatisfactions that you, your board and management teams are feeling.
Scarlet always starts with the leaders. Scarlet delivers to its objectives in one contained session. And that’s it: no ongoing sessions unless you want them.
Why would I use a coach/consultant?
The International Coaching Federation suggests:
- There is something at stake (a challenge, stretch goal or opportunity), and it is urgent, compelling or exciting or all of the above
- There is a gap in knowledge, skills, confidence, or resources
- A big stretch is being asked or required, and it is time sensitive
- There is a desire to accelerate results
- There is a lack of clarity, and there are choices to be made
- The individual is extremely successful, and success has started to become problematic
- Work and life are out of balance, and this is creating unwanted consequences
- The individuals running the business desire work and life to be simpler, less complicated
- There is a need and a desire to better organized and more self-managing
Get in touch if any of these statements are true for you:
- You are working very hard in your business, but you don’t really know where you (or the business) are going.
- Your relationships with your fellow owners/ directors/ executives are fine, but you’re not sure that you all agree on what the future of the business is. You feel this may be holding you back.
- You think you know where you’re going, and that this is a shared view, but you’re not getting anywhere. Revenues, growth and /or profits are stuck.
- You remember feeling happier in your work and/or life: at another time, place or in another role.
- You are ambitious for growth, but have a secret concern that you don’t know how to get there/ don’t know whether your mission and strategy is right/ don’t really have a mission and strategy/ don’t really know what a mission and strategy is.
- You have thought about how coaching or consultancy could help you, but have been put off by the potential ‘unknown’ costs and open-ended nature of normal arrangements
What does Scarlet do?
Scarlet uses a range of tools and techniques to achieve an agreed and fully engaged vision of your success. You are then able to focus on what you’re aiming for.
Scarlet works with you to agree your key current blockers. This is done by looking at where you, the company and your people are now and the gap to your vision.
Implementable management actions are brainstormed and then agreed.
How does it work?
Your future becomes more certain by clarifying what you really want for you and your business and using a powerful set of tools and techniques to create a vision of your successful outcomes.
You stop thrashing around with activity or behaviours that do not deliver to this success.
With this clarity, and a set of actions to start you off in overcoming current dissatisfactions and blockers to your vision of success you find yourself continually alert to all opportunities and activities that can accelerate your journey.
How long will it take/ How much time do I need to commit?
A first meeting is normally arranged by booking a place on an event (normally held at weekends in the centre of Brighton to avoid disruption to the working week), or arranging a getting to know you session which is normally a short meeting over coffee where we establish if and how we could work together.
During the Planning Session we spend about 90 minutes exploring what you want out of your time with Scarlet, what you want out of life, what’s blocking you and specific areas for development. A headline plan of action is agreed.
The Main Session typically lasts for five hours. It is only longer when more than two directors or managers are involved.
And that’s it. We try and do what we need to in the one session so that we have an agreed time and cost bound event that you can feel comfortable with, and start to track results against straight away.
Clients choose to arrange new or repeat sessions to explore certain areas in more depth or to concentrate on a different area of their life: home vs. work or a different business or venture.
Often clients choose to hire Scarlet as task master, trusted advisor and mentor on a monthly basis to help guide them through their growth journey.
Is Scarlet’s coaching/consultancy right for me?
To be frank, Scarlet is not for everyone. If you want open-ended, fluffy and comfortable then look elsewhere. If you want precise, clear, contained and focused then read on.
Scarlet is right for you if you value your time and want quality for your money. You also want very high return on your investment.
Get in touch if any of these statements are true for you:
- You are working very hard in your business, but you don’t really know where you (or the business) are going: you have no business growth models to increase marketing, sales and margins to the next level.
- You feel lonely at the top. You wish you had a trusted co-director/ advisor, or could fill that ‘missing’ member of the Board.
- Your relationships with your fellow owners/ directors/ executives are fine, but you’re not sure that you all agree on what the future of the business is. You feel this may be holding you back.
- You think you know where you’re going, and that this is a shared view, but you’re not getting anywhere. Revenues, growth and /or profits are stuck.
- You remember feeling happier in your work and/or life: at another time, place or in another role.
- You are ambitious for growth, but have a secret concern that you don’t know how to get there/ don’t know whether your mission and strategy is right/ don’t really have a mission and strategy/ don’t really know what a mission and strategy is.
- You have thought about how consultancy or taking on a mentor could help you, but have been put off by the potential ‘unknown’ costs and open-ended nature of normal arrangements.
What benefit do I get?
Simply (and boldly) put:
- A vision of your future that matches the most successful outcomes for your business and life that you can imagine
- A way to achieve it that is immediately implementable
What will it cost me?
For the same price as paying for one junior employee for a month you can transform the way you are leading your life and your business. Scarlet is not cheap, but is a premium, bespoke cost and time-bound service that will give you the foundations, plans and architect’s scale model to achieve your most exciting vision of successful outcomes. Full details are here.
The International Coaching Federation gives clear guidance:
What are the factors that should be considered when looking at the financial investment in coaching? Working with a coach requires both a personal commitment of time and energy as well as a financial commitment. Fees charged vary by specialty and by the level of experience of the coach. Individuals should consider both the desired benefits as well as the anticipated length of time to be spent in coaching. Since the coaching relationship is predicated on clear communication, any financial concerns or questions should be voiced in initial conversations before the agreement is made.
What are the events that Scarlet holds?
Scarlet holds a series of events throughout the year. These are mainly held at weekends in the centre of Brighton to avoid disrupting your work week.
'MyNeuroCoach Sessions' are regular, free meetings and webinars which focus on more scientifically helping you grow your business.
The ‘Introduction to Your Future’ full day event is one of the most popular introductory events for people new to coaching and/or Scarlet.
'Creating Your Successful Outcome' focuses on providing attendees with a tool kit to create their most successful outcomes imaginable.
Specialist events and retreats include subjects such as 'Delivering your Change', which provides a range of techniques and behaviours to reinforce and accelerate achievement of your vision of success.
Events for your teams and middle/ junior management are also available as part of the change management required to achieve your vision of success.
See Events for more information and to book places.
How is Scarlet’s coaching/consultancy different from pure business/ management consultancy?
Usually you hire a business or management consultant when you want someone to come up with specific recommendations and tell you what to do. They have professional expertise and experience in the field of management. They do not tend to coach the company’s leaders or make recommendations with regard to their personal development.
Scarlet always starts with the leaders. If you can lead and manage yourself better then you can lead your company better. Scarlet uses a range of tools and techniques to achieve an agreed and fully engaged vision of your success. You are then able to focus on what you’re aiming for.
Scarlet works with you to agree your key current blockers. This is done by looking at where you, the company and your people are now and the gap to your vision. Implementable management actions are brainstormed and then agreed.
The expertise of Scarlet’s consultants in business/management and coaching enables this ‘two for one’ coaching and consultancy hybrid offer.
The International Coaching Federation clearly highlights how Scarlet is different when it states ‘In general, the assumption with coaching is that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks’. Scarlet consultants bring both coaching skills and expert business consultancy to bear to help you deliver an enduring change.
How is coaching different from counselling or therapy?
Scarlet coaching/consultancy is forward moving and future focused and about taking action based on goals and objectives. It is not about trying to uncover or solve issues in the past, although insights about the past often occur as a result of coaching.
What people say
“The experience felt like a mental "spring clean", in which vague and semiconscious concerns were brought into sharp relief. But, crucially, the coach is also there to get the subject to commit to specific actions. This is not therapy: coaching is about raising people's performance.”
FT, Stefan Stern 18.7.7
The International Coaching Federation notes that therapy outcomes often include improved emotional/feeling states. While positive feelings/emotions may be a natural outcome of coaching, the primary focus is on creating actionable strategies for achieving specific goals in one's work or personal life. The emphasis in a coaching relationship is on action, accountability and follow through.
Why is life coaching different to what Scarlet normally does?
Life coaching is about achieving personal goals. Scarlet is more like business coaching than life coaching. Scarlet uses the term coach/ consultants as they combine business and management expertise with coaching skills. The focus on the individual is to get them to be better at leading themselves and their companies to achieve their visions of success.
Life goals may be achieved through the Scarlet process, but only because of:
(a) the success of what you achieve through your company, or
(b) you have personal issues that are blocking business success. We are not life coaches, but in these cases will give blunt life recommendations and provide coaching to get your personal issues out of the way for the good of the business.
How is coaching different from mentoring?
Mentoring always involves a developmental relationship between a more experienced "mentor" and a less experienced partner, and typically involves sharing of advice.
Scarlet coaches naturally provide mentoring as part of their coaching and consulting due to their cross-sector and company growth cycle experience.
How can the success of Scarlet’s coaching/consultancy be measured?
Three main ways:
- Your identified dissatisfactions and blockers to success start to fall away as your agreed next step actions take effect.
- You start to achieve your vision of success.
- You start to feel happier.
If financial performance or other business or personal goals are involved, and you deliver to your committed actions and the agreed changes required then Scarlet’s success is measured by their achievement.
What is Scarlet Training?
Scarlet Training is a set of mix and match training modules for directors and senior managers. In line with the Scarlet principles of being about value for money deliverables at a time that will suit you best, the sessions can be out of hours and at weekends. Scarlet is always about a fixed price with fixed objectives, and the training modules are no different. Different from the standard management development programmes on offer, Scarlet Training specialises in providing an advanced set of tools for running a high growth company, including
- Cashflow Kung fu - a set of proven tools and techniques for achieving a calm and controlled relationship with your businesses’ cashflow
- The Mission, Vision & Strategy Black Box - teaching you the primary tools at your disposal to gain competitive advantage in your market
- Finance for Non-Finance People (Who really need to know about Finance) - strip through the terminology to the only things that matter. Access the only information that is important to run your business and ensure your team are focusing on the right things.
What is Scarlet ‘1&1’ £1,600pm?
Scarlet ‘1&1’ £1,600pm is a regular service increasingly being taken up by people who value the ability to have a dedicated personal or company adviser, month in and month out. This service treats them as a regular part of the leadership team with two hours face-to-face and unlimited telephone and/or email support each month. Available as a standalone service without having used any of Scarlet’s other coaching and consultancy services, it is often used like buying the services of a Non-Executive Director or Chairperson without the normal costs. Clients use this for monthly Board or management meetings, as well as a personal ‘helpline’ or on-call adviser for those difficult decisions.