'How did you end up as a Business Coach?' is a question I'm often asked by new contacts. Well, here is my story ...
On leaving school I was not clear what I wanted to do career wise. After changing direction a few times, I completed a degree with Psychology and Computers as my majors and went on to do Psychology Honours, with the intention of doing Masters and becoming a Psychologist. I realised I wanted to help people work through their challenges and become the best version of themselves. I was particularly interested in working with communication and families.
👆👆👆 1988 Psychology Honours (I'm 2nd from the left in the middle row) 👆👆👆
My plan was to travel around Europe for a year and return to enroll for a Masters in Counselling Psychology, but National Service interfered – I was called up to Pretoria to serve my two years National Service. During this period I studied a marriage guidance and counseling course through Unisa.
When National Service finished I looked for a job in the IT world that utilized interpersonal skills. I worked at one of the banks running daily workshops gathering business requirements for IT systems. I learned to listen, ask questions and keep the conversations focused on the goal of the workshop.
My career trajectory changed when I left the banks and joined an IT consulting company. I loved being exposed to different businesses and felt myself drawn to management. I was also considering moving into management consulting and figured an MBA would be an advantage for either direction. I thoroughly enjoyed my MBA. My dissertation was on staff retention. My key learnings from my dissertation were the importance of concentrating on people’s strengths, not their weaknesses, and secondly that a person’s manager had a large influence on whether they left or stayed engaged at their place of employment.
A key transformation point in my journey was when I moved into middle management in the company I belonged to. I very quickly came to the disconcerting realization that my job as a manager was never done, my To Do list would never be finished, no matter how many hours I worked. It dawned on me that in the light of this, I had to choose carefully what were the most important tasks to focus on, and which balls to drop. With this insight, I also realized that I got to decide how many hours I wanted to work, how many hours I wanted to spend on my MBA studies, and how much time I wanted to spend with my young family. This was not static – there were seasons where I spent more time on my studies, other seasons where I spent more time at work etc etc.
👆👆👆 The ladies in my life. 👆👆👆
During the latter part of my studies I contracted to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for 18 months, Programme Managing the technical leg of establishing a Client Service Centre at a local university, and in the process was exposed to the worlds of Research, Open Source, Agile, Donors and Non Profit Organisations. On completing my MBA I had a bee in my bonnet to see if I could make a difference in the management team of a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME).
I joined the management team of a small (about 15 staff) IT company and there followed a wonderful 13 years, experiencing the highs and lows of being a business owner of an SME, along with the challenges that accompany managing and growing an SME, such as having to watch cash flow on a daily basis in some seasons, and the challenge of appointing leaders reporting in to the executive team. Whilst I was involved in all aspects of the business, I focused more on account management, operations, HR and compliance.
Many wins to celebrate, many lessons learned during this season.
One of the key lessons came out of a season of changes in our executive roles and responsibilities brought about by our growth. I spent that season playing a role that was not a good fit for me and in the process of trying to be someone that I wasn’t, I became miserable and did not perform well. I realized once again the importance of working in your ‘flow’, where you naturally add your most value and are the most fulfilled.
Amidst the highlights were working with partners I respected and admired, the joy of seeing a team member grow as a result of my input, and being part of a team that grew the company to about 75 staff when I left. This season confirmed my passion for SMEs and growing people to become better versions of themselves.
After 13 years I decided to move on – I had a different view to my partners of my desired role and shareholding in the company, I was working longer hours, travelling further to work, and family life was suffering as a result. It was a tough call to make, but I felt it was the right thing to do. I left without a defined next step – I was part of the team running the company, had shareholding, and just felt I could not look my partners in the eye every day and at the same time be pursuing other opportunities behind their back.
My management style had been a mentoring and coaching one and I considered moving into that full time but at that stage thought it wasn’t really a full-time job, but something one did after hours or part time. I also gave thought to soft skill or management consulting but decided to look for General Manager (GM) or Managing Director (MD) opportunities.
I joined a five person Software As A Service (SAAS) startup that had been going for about two years as their MD. It was a short season of 10 months, as we realized the company was not sustainable with the headcount it had. Although not a great season financially for me, I had a ball and came to a number of conclusions – I realized I had a lifetime of value to add to the management of SME’s, that I loved mentoring and coaching motivated people, that I was comfortable with more risk than I initially thought, and that with the correct focus it is possible to change a company.
So once again in the space of two years I was looking for my next opportunity, but this time with more certainty of what I was looking for. I knew I wanted to assist as many SMEs as I could, and I knew I wanted to play more of a mentor and coach role. In my searching I came across ActionCoach and it ticked all the boxes for me – coaching business owners of SMEs, a great community, and a system that could make sense to any business owner. In November 2018 I purchased my ActionCoach franchise and thus began the current season of my life.
👆👆👆 10 Day ActionCoach training in Vegas. 👆👆👆
Initially I was a little uncertain as to my focus, my why, but with time and reflection I now know what drives me – Creating Thriving Families. I do this through:
I'm Andy Hofmeyr
Your ActionCOACH Business Coach
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