What is an ActionCOACH? That is the question we will try to answer over the following series. We sit down with each of our ActionCOACH ask them important questions, such as how you take your tea, what the best type of client is and why they became an ActionCOACH.
Our first coach in our series is Derek O’Dwyer an ActionCOACH for 20 years he has been part of ActionCOACH Ireland since its beginning in 2002. Within this role as an ActionCOACH he has seen business owners through the highs and lows of being a business owner in Ireland.
He has worked with some clients for so long they are now no longer clients, but friends, which you will find going through this series is one of the best parts of being an ActionCOACH. The difference an ActionCOACH makes to a business is nothing compared to the difference they make to the lives of business owners and their families.
See for yourself.
Interviewer:
When you’re not working, how do you like to spend your time?
Derek ActionCOACH:
I like to spend more time with family and play a bit of golf, take some regular exercise, and do a good bit of a personal development
Interviewer:
Golf for me is I very much believe in that statement that it’s a good walk spoilt, beautiful grounds, ruined by golf.
Derek ActionCOACH:
It’s an old man’s sport. You’re forgiven.
Interviewer:
Are you reading anything now?
Derek ActionCOACH:
I listen to rather than read too much. I listen to a lot of audio books. So, the book, the one that I’m listening to now is a book called power by change, by a guy called Jonathan McDonald. He presented at our Globel conference there recently.
I’m listening to that. And then I listen to a lot of Tony Robbins and Eckhart, anyone who I think can help.
Interviewer:
Have you got a favourite book?
Derek ActionCOACH:
Well, I read more. Non-fiction so probably “Think and grow rich” by Napoleon hill.
Be kind of a good base book to start off with. And then there’s a lot of books that kind of stem from that of your non-fiction. And fiction come back to me on that one.
Interviewer:
What was your first job?
Derek ActionCOACH:
My first job was working well, I grew up on a farm, so I was working farming all my life. My first paid job was working in amusement, arcade, helping people on the dodgems.
Interviewer:
Standing at the back of them pushing people around?
Derek ActionCOACH:
Yeah
Interviewer:
So, what’s your hidden talent?
Derek ActionCOACH:
I suppose a hidden talent would be solving problems, getting out of fixes and probably leads on from my first job, but, you know, putting people on the right path, right.
Interviewer:
So, would you say you are an outgoing person?
Derek ActionCOACH:
I suppose just I get things done. Like obviously we call ourselves ActionCOACH, but I would like to think that I am able to get things done and to get through a huge amount of work, that’s not surprising to people. That’s a tricky question. But I would also say like that I’m open with people. So, I don’t, you know, what you see is what you get with me. Like there wouldn’t be that many surprises.
Interviewer:
Okay so, knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to your 18-year-old self-advice?
Derek ActionCOACH:
My old self would be to get yourself into a position where the choice about what you do is yours. So, what a lot of 18-year-olds kind of would see school as being pointless and stuff like that. May very well be. And, but at least then if you get a good education, then you choose what you’re going to do.
And then if you do well in the next stage, then you’re always, if you’re in demand, then it’s your choice. So, you’ve got to kind of continually work on yourself and be good at what you do, no matter what. So, if the person who doesn’t have that choice is locked in, whereas the person who has the choice can do whatever they want.
So, work hard on yourself. So, the choice is yours.
Interviewer:
And what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given.
Derek ActionCOACH:
The best piece of advice ever been given. It really is kind of going back to some of the books we’ve read and not necessarily been given directly.
It’s basically work harder on yourself than you do on your job. So again, understand your worth and don’t spend all your time. Too busy earning a living to get wealthy. Like you have to kind of open Periscope every now and again and say and say, am I on the right path here? Am I doing what I should be doing?
But also like, you know, you can be, you can get a reputation for being a very hard worker and you get to the age of 60 and you’ve worked very hard, but you could still be broke. So, you know, it’s about the difference is kind of understanding that you must whatever you’re doing has to be a value, so you can get, you can get rewarded for the value you bring, as opposed to the work.
Interviewer:
I love that. That’s good. Thank you. So now we’re going to move on to the important part, because although you’re wonderful and we all want to get to know you. We want to really know about your role in ActionCOACH. So, I want to know why did you become a business coach?
Derek ActionCOACH:
There are several reasons. One I had been living abroad and I wanted to come back to Ireland and I wanted to live where I now live, and I wanted to be my own boss. So, and because I didn’t have a trade or a profession that I could turn into a business as such I decided I’d looked down the route.
Franchising, see if I could kind of buy a systemized business. And I came across ActionCOACH then, and it was in the business of systemizing businesses, and it was also in the business of business, and it would put me in talking to other business owners. So, I ticked a lot of boxes in terms of what I wanted.
I hadn’t been overly aware of. Coaching at that time because it was a long time ago. But it, it just ticked the boxes and it meant that I could get up and running immediately. And as I spoke to people, then from the first day of becoming an action coach it seemed to fit very well. And it seemed to fit who I was as well, so I persevered.
Interviewer:
So, what do you enjoy about coaching?
Derek ActionCOACH:
What I enjoy the coaching is seeing the transformative change that we can initiate with clients and see that happen over time. And then while that’s happening getting kind of quick wins and long-term wins for clients and seeing them develop as people and seeing them develop as business owners while also seeing the team develop. So, when we were working with clients for a long time, we are often involved helping them to recruit new team members.
And when you can see those team members come in then and be part of the business and grow with the business you can take a lot of credit for the fact that we hired well at the beginning. And we Work with the business owner then to be a good leader so that he retained good people. So, as you develop with tie-ins and you’re there a long time, you see all that happening and while you wouldn’t be taking credit for it all it’s just rewarding to see this on the bottom line, the impact of those decisions and influences.
That’s rewarding. And then they like, there’s a lot of clients that have come along then and they would have either retired or the business, all the business transfers the business to other family members and then all that goes smoothly. It’s very rewarding to have been involved in it.
Interviewer:
So, on that, what’s your favourite type of client?
Derek ActionCOACH:
Favourite type of client is a client that wants to progress understands their own, not necessarily shortcomings, or they might understand their own weak areas is prepared to. Put a bit of effort in because sometimes we can go in and we’re considered like a show pony where we’ve got to perform every week.
That’s, there’s no joy in that. And then the client then this engages you with the team so that you’re seen as kind of part of the overall business. That’s the ideal. One that just wants to move on and sees you as an equivalent to let’s say the accountant or any other kind of resource that they would call on rather than just kind of a luxury right.
It’s support for them wanting there. Isn’t yeah. Okay. So, here’s a hard question.
Interviewer:
So, have you got a client story to share something that kind of highlights what you’re getting out of it as well? Something that you love, like a favourite story or something that happened?
Derek ActionCOACH:
There isn’t one that stands out to be honest with you, like yeah. There’s a lot of clients that said they would have been with me a long time.
Where if you map out there if we just take financial results on their own, if you just map out their journey before they became a client and then map out their journey after they became a client where you can see exponentially. And it’s like complete like hockey stick view. And I have a few clients like that and sometimes would have been in business for maybe 10 or 15 years before they take on a coach.
And then the transformation in the two or three years after that is you know, its mind blowing. Now, some of that change could have been just down to the economy that we’re in, but they were in a better place to take advantage of the opportunities that are presented as them. So, I have a few results like that.
I have a few clients that where you would have helped them to exit the business. So, you can see the difference it makes in their life and able to hand over the business. Just when people kind of fall back in love with the business where they might’ve been seeing the business has kind of a millstone around their neck. And then they understand that if they can get the business working so they don’t have to be there morning, noon, and night.
And sometimes it can be a simple thing where people just get more time to do things and they can see other opportunities and do other things. The worst thing is where the guy is too busy. And I’ve had a situation recently where I have a client who is too busy to meet.
And you just think like, but the reason you took me on, and it was because you were too busy, and you couldn’t see the wood for the trees. And then when they take on the coach, they’re still too busy to meet me. Yeah. And that becomes a very frustrating type of client relationship then because you’re trying to hold them account for it, but they won’t turn up to be held accountable.
And then you have the other extreme. Then you have a person who will get their work done and they’ll ring you up during the weeks and I’ve done that now. What’s next. And then they’ll push you the other side to always be a better coach and always drive them on. So, there’s lots of different types of clients and every, every time it brings a different relationship.
And then you must be prepared for all those different relationships. Yes. I like that. You really get like an understanding of not just business or different businesses, but of different types of people as well. Yeah. And then you often get clients as well, where there might be two or three business owners in it, and you’re trying to work with the two or three of them. And that can be tricky because you want to be their confidence, but also you don’t, you end their sounding board, but you don’t want to take sides either because at the end of the day, you’re, you’re. My objective is to help the business be successful and the people within it. But you don’t want it to become a device at first within that?
And what then, I suppose, team comes to the top of the list then. So, if there’s three people at the top, do you work with them building that team? So, then it funnels down to the rest of the business. So, you can do, and sometimes when there’s three people at the top, like you might have three owners, but there might only be one of those that’s good at being the MD and there might be another guy who’s good at being. The marketing director and there might be another guy and it’s for them to understand that they can all, or they can all own the business evenly, but they might have different jobs within the business. And if they can accept that you know, the real progress can be made. There’s an expression there “that it’s amazing what can get done when, when no one looks for the credit.” So, if you can kind of build that kind of ethos into companies.
Interviewer:
Yeah, that’s fascinating. And it must be wonderful to have a job like that, where you get to see what you’re doing, come to fruition and you’re not just changing a business, but you’re changing people and their lives. We talk about, about abundance, but you get to see what you’re giving back. That’s incredible.
Derek ActionCOACH:
And a lot of the clients will acknowledge that back to you as well. Like once upon a time, you think that the average Irish business owner is a bit staid and kind of reserved, but like the, a lot of them would be very quick to give you the credit for, and it could just be a trigger, like if you don’t quit and do the work for them, but it could be something you said.
How you said something or how you challenged him on something and that might’ve been enough for them to make a move. A lot of the time you are just to kind of a catalyst for change and, but you still rely on them to make it.
Interviewer:
Okay. So, we talked a little bit about ActionCOACH and abundance just briefly, but we have 14 points of culture and I just want to know what is your favourite point of culture and why?
Derek ActionCOACH:
Well, I suppose they would, an important would be there’s two, one is success, and one is commitment. And like the, the game of business is a long game. And you know, and it’s not one year it’s five years, 10 years. So, you must make a commitment that success, and there will be peaks and troughs. And if the people that have that commitment to themselves, their business really does grow, it’s about time in the business rather than timing. You’ve got to spend the time and stay committed to it. So that’s an important point of culture. And then obviously success, if I was to put values in, I would put success up there and success is different for every person. It’s not always all about financial success might just be a feeling you get that you’re doing, working to the best of your ability, or achieving as much as you can achieve. So that’s important. And then funnily enough, that wasn’t one of the points of culture when I started, it was 12 points ago.
And then we added two to them, one of the two we added was gratitude and it’s a lot more powerful than people think. You know, even if you just ask them, so it was every day, what are they grateful for? Or even if it just you know, give tanks every day, there’s a lot of power in that.
And it allows them to kind of stay present as well.
Interviewer:
What do you think the best system or program within action coaches?
Derek ActionCOACH:
Well, I primarily do one-to-one coaching. I’ve done action coach before I’ve done group coaching before and they all have their place within the, the offering.
So, the important thing is if, when we meet a business owner to understand is that we have something or a program. This will suit every business owner, irrespective of where they’re at, whether they’re at start-up, where they’re at kind of evolution or whether they’re in maturity or whether they are small, medium, or large, or whether they have a team, or no team are depending on where they’re at in their own kind of maturity of business for they’re just the basics. So, if a business owner comes to us and says, can you help me? The answer is yes, we can. So, it’s a matter of kind of, whereas once when we start off, we had one-to-one coaching. So, we’ve obviously evolved ourselves as an organization and we’ve brought all these other things to the party because they make sense for where we’re at and you also get to see when you are approaching people in the beginning, I suppose, and what you get to understand what people need. And some people need that group coaching thing.
If you go to a potential client who wants to be coached and wants help, and you, all you have is one-to-one coach in which may, for all intents and purposes be too expensive for them or not right for them. And you can’t help them then and they go, go away with nothing. Well, then you’ve done them a disservice. Whereas if you said, okay, specifically telling me what you want to achieve, how much time can you put in? Who do you want to involve? Well, we can, you can tailor a package around them. It’s an interesting question.
Interviewer:
And is that, can I just ask, is that from working with engineers?
Derek ActionCOACH:
Clients for the past 20 years would have been kind of construction-related and you kind of get a feel for the type of work, you’re involved in developing and creating things and bringing things to life. So that’s what it is. Yeah. So, I guess not maybe the exciting answer you’d look for.
Interviewer:
I think that’s a great idea. It makes sense that you know from the other answers that you’ve given as well, especially with how much you love being a coach, an engineer offers solutions to problems that everybody in society faces like, you know, and that’s what a coach is offering to businesses.
Interviewer:
Okay. I have one last question. It’s very controversial. Are you ready?
Derek ActionCOACH:
Yes.
Interviewer:
Okay. How do you take your tea?
Derek ActionCOACH:
A little bit of milk, no sugar,
Interviewer:
No sugar. Okay. And like the milk goes in after the tea, and would you trust other people to make your tea for you?
Derek ActionCOACH:
I would, yeah, it’s a bit like the food. I’m not that really.
Interviewer:
So, to you, that’s not that controversial a question then?
Derek ActionCOACH:
it’s the same as coffee I’ll have Maxwell house coffee.
Interviewer:
That’s great. Thank you so much for doing this today.
ActionCOACH Business Coach
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