I met Gil Tossou through the networking event LinkedIn Local Montreal. He’s a talented speaker who has gone up through the ranks after many years of practice.
On this occasion, I had an opportunity to sit down with Gil and ask him about his coaching business.
How important is to have a business coach
What’s the difference between a coach and a facilitator?
When Gil works one-on-one with a leader, that’s coaching. But when he’s working with a group of people, that’s facilitation. His role as a facilitator is to aid the group manage what they already know to achieve the wanted results. A facilitator helps with the decision-making process, create an action plan, solve conflicts, and so much more.
How does a business know they need coaching
Most small business owners are “technicians.” They understand the product or service they offer to the market place. But their businesses have many gaps. The owner doesn’t have a complete understanding of sales, marketing, personal time management, they don’t understand how to manage employees, etc. So George helps fill up those gaps, and help the manager understand the best practices.
What are some warning signs a business needs a coach
- Having a hard time keeping employees
- Having a hard time attracting employees
- Sales going down
How do people find you?
- Most of my clients are referrals from people who are satisfied with my coaching
- After public presentations, people come to talk to me
- During networking conversations, I tell people what I do for a living
Can you describe your coaching process?
Gil relies heavily on assessments. He sends assessment questions to his clients, then he looks at the results. The results generally reveal the gaps or challenges of the organization.
Those challenges could be the structure of the organization, or the moral of the people, or lack of training.
The results are shared with the leader of the organization, and then they discuss a plan for coaching and training.
What makes your coaching different from all the other coaching programs out there?
- Most of the coaching programs in the market are programs designed by Americans for Americans.
- Our program is designed by Canadians for Canadians
- Specialized in small and medium-size businesses
What are some tangible signs of improvement
When Gil does his initial assessment, he gives the organization a score. The goal is that after the coaching/training that score will go up.
By virtue of the score going up, he can deduct that:
- The employees are more engaged,
- The communication skills have improved,
- The time management skills have improved,
- The ability to facilitate meetings has improved,
- The relationship with their fellow employees has improved
- The relationship with other stakeholders has improved.
What are some examples of being a good communicator & facilitator
A good communicator is a good listener. George teaches techniques on active listening. Some techniques for active listening are:
- Ask open-ended questions
- Ask probing questions
- Ask for clarification
- Repeat with your own voice. “If I understand well, you are saying…”
- Be attuned to the feeling and body language of the speaker
- Summarize what you heard
How expensive could it be for an organization not to have a coach
An organization who hire coaches, they can get five times the return invested in the coaching.
How to find Gil Tossou
Last tip for leaders
One of the major complaints from employees is that the employer is not communicating enough about the long-term strategy of the organization with the employees.
The tip: Have an active communication with your team about what the long-term strategy is. And let them know where they stand. Are we achieving our goals? Have our goals been identified?
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- Jy Nanda: My Journey to Self Improvement
Connect with me
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