Wayne Clarkson is the Managing Director of Great Western Insurance Brokers. He has worked with Clark over fifteen years as a business consultant, leadership coach and facilitator of a company-wide Leadership Program.
Helped Grow Our Business
Our experience with Clark has given us an appreciation of why you need a coach, where there's value and how it can lead to improved business results. Clark has been consistently performing for us for over fifteen years. The service he has provided has helped us grow our business.
A Fresh Perspective
The main benefit of working with Clark is that it gives you a completely different perspective. We get a different set of eyes and ears on our business. If you are working in a business it is easy to get engulfed by the day to day needs of that business. We rarely had a chance to step back and have a look at our business from another perspective. Clark brings that other perspective to our business.
Managing Personal Workload
Before our engagement of Clark, it was like I had a tennis racquet in each hand and tennis balls continued to fall. I kept getting bumped on the head. I don't think I hit too many tennis balls. I had more hit me on the head and I just couldn't see the forest for the trees. I just thought if this keeps going something is going to give and it would have been me. Clark provided some transparency, clarity, and some shared understanding about how to deal with all the competing demands. It helped me put it in into compartments and deal with it in a professional and manageable way. This assistance alone gave me a lifestyle back again.
Skilled Observer
Clark is a very good observer. He is skilful at seeing your business and the people who work within it. Clark can assess your business procedures, mannerisms and people.
So Much More Than A Coach
Ten to fifteen years ago business coaching was popular. Today that trend has dropped away. I would suggest to people who've been there before, go back and do it again. I say this because Clark is so much more than the title "coach" suggests. Clark is not just an executive coach, he is a mentor as well as a fresh set of eyes on your business and on yourself.
Leadership Program
The Leadership Program is a big commitment. You need to be prepared to accept that some of the findings aren't exactly what you thought they were going to be. It's a pathway to work out for yourself where you're going and making sure that you tackle those changes in a happy healthy manner.
Personal Insight
We all self assess. The programme used by Clark certainly took the individual assessment to a totally different level. It was a lot more professional, with more methodology behind it. It was process driven and I certainly learnt a lot more about myself. It was confronting and useful. The process was so valuable we decided to implement it for everyone on staff.
Happy Engaged Staff
The result of the Leadership Program has been first class. It really gave us all a more defined reason for coming to work. Rather than just working for brokers and insurance brokers, everybody has a shared understanding of our value to each other. I continually get feedback telling me how happy and comfortable our people are. Clark took us on the process that delivered that end result.
How The Business Operates
Clark has a great set of ears. He has a great skill of being able to go into someone's business and understand what is happening. It doesn't matter what type of business, he can take a holistic approach to what is going on. He achieves that by listening to his client and the important insights they bring. The type of business really isn't the important bit. You have someone looking at the business, the running of the business and the operational components of the business. That's where you get great value from Clark.
The Big Picture
We've had a wonderful relationship with Clark all these years. He's given me a broader understanding of myself. He has given me the ability to be able to appreciate the business that I run and the staff that I work with. I can share that with him. Sometimes we get too caught up and too worried about ourselves, money and our issues. When you start to break out of that and think, "well is it about the money, or is it about the friendships that we've got working?" These days I am far more appreciative of the big picture and what is important. It's one of the things that Clark brought to our business that I really value.
Fix Business Problems
Clark will help you see things differently. If your business isn't prepared to accept a completely different opinion or a different perspective, then don't engage him. This is his role and it is what his education and training have prepared him to do. Clark will tell it like it is and if you work with him he can help you fix up a lot of the trouble in your business. He will give you direction and a path to follow. He will help you understand why you are taking that direction. I think that is the type of guidance we are all looking for.