Dr. Ian Brooks With Rhodes Smith Consulting

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach Radio brought to you by the Business RadioX ambassador program. The no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to be BRXAmbassador.com to learn more. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Dr. Ian Brooks with Rhodes Smith Consulting. Welcome in,

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:00:44] Ken. Thanks, Lee. Happy to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:47] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Road Smith Consulting. How are you serving folks?

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:00:52] Yeah, sure. So Rob Smith Consulting focuses on personal and professional development. I accomplish this through one on one group and leadership development coaching. So my clients in the personal development space tend to be successful already, but are searching for expansion and take a detailed interest in moving to new heights. Whereas my group clients tend to be those who may need a little bit more foundation to help specifically around, let’s say, what they want. So these clients tend to benefit from collaborative learning without the spotlight being solely on them. And finally, my corporate clients in that leadership development place focus on developing frontline and mid-level mid-level leaders to build or refine their leadership skills that impact their employees and build skills so that they can grow and expansion to their job titles and expectations.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:39] Now, have you found that the corporate world is more welcoming to coaching and kind of working with coaches for not only the highest level people, but maybe throughout the organization?

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:01:53] I have actually I’m working with coaches within the organizational space lend itself to how do we delivering upon our ROI in particular, what’s being impacting and how does how are we impacting our employees? So as you might imagine, there’s a lot more focus directed towards organizations, bringing in coaches like myself to focus on core competencies, such as communication, influencing how to lead peers, because that has a direct influence on employee retention, the level of engagement, the level of buy in. And actually, obviously, as we think about development and keeping that knowledge capital within organizations, extremely important components to make sure that leaders across the entire organization have and can actually execute against.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:37] Now, on the organizations that aren’t kind of using coaching, where do they think these leaders are going to get the skills? Like, do they just think that people come to the table with these kind of leadership skills that they don’t need outside help to help them kind of get the most out of themselves?

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:02:54] No, I don’t think there’s necessarily a limitation that organizations that don’t use coaches or more importantly, where they expect their leaders to to develop these skills were the acquiesce that that knowledge. I think oftentimes it’s a direct result of what is the business focus and where is their dollars going. So most notably, I work with organizations that are startups or that mid-sized organization. So as you might imagine, leaders are are brought in based off of what they know, not how they go about doing it. So in that capacity, they’re experts in what they do, experts in being able to deliver things strategically, go after customers, et cetera, whereby they don’t necessarily provide that focus towards dollars or attention toward how are they now developing leaders and using skills necessary to navigate an organization beyond what someone knows in a particular silo or from an expansion perspective as we think about mid-sized organizations or startups.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:55] Now, have you seen through your work kind of the impact a good leader can make, as opposed to a person that maybe doesn’t have that kind of good leadership skills?

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:04:07] Absolutely. A number of instances, both myself as being a former leader as well as those of whom I coach, you can see a direct result and impact both on employee morale, retention and as important even that on their individual coce and their growth and development and within the organization. So as an example for myself as being being a leader, one, the impact good leadership has on employees. Obviously, you think about some of the challenges that organizations go through and the decisions that leaders have to make on behalf and as stewards of an organization don’t necessarily take into consideration the employee experience. So as an a leader for myself, to my employees, and at that time, I had 25 employees, 15 full time and 10 contractors. It was important to demonstrate good leadership and being a good steward of the organization while also treating and acknowledging their morale and so that they would be willing to stay. Given some of the transformative actions that were being taken place within the organization as we were working them night and day to get things done and pushing them to their limits so that important of engaging them was extremely important, and one, minimizing their stress level while also acknowledging the breaks and beating them as people. I’ve also seen that as being a coach to a number of coaches. From a startup perspective, I was. Working with us cooh and impacting his employees, again, as I mentioned earlier, in that particular scenario, the gentleman was an outstanding individual, really engaging, really won’t be seen as the nice guy and was great at what he did, but he wasn’t necessarily a good leader.

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:05:48] Now, although he was a nice guy and even his team would say that he was very nice gentleman, he wasn’t a strategic thinker. He did not communicate very well. So as a result, the team felt lost. And as a result of that, they didn’t know how they were going to be received from a performance evaluation standpoint. They didn’t know if they’re working on the right projects or when decisions were being made. They didn’t know how that decision was being made that was impacting their job. So, long story short, in his case, people were on a short list of leaving and or transferring to other departments because of that ambiguity of which he was offering, although being a nice guy wasn’t caring due to them being able to get their job done. And in those particular examples, you do see how leadership can be very influential in the respect of one employee retention, but also the morale and actually staying with an organization. And as we’ve seen over the last year, that’s really becoming more prominent across all organizations. We start our measure of leaders is now based off of their return on heartbeat’s rather than return on investment or return on income.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:56] Now, in your career, were you always involved in coaching or was this something that came later?

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:07:03] Actually, it’s been involved in coaching in a number of different aspects. I’ve had an interesting path to get to become a coach. Reason being, I actually started my career as a clinical psychologist. So as you might imagine, working in clinical psychology, you’re constantly acting as a coach. So as a clinical psychologist, I worked in a twenty four hour lockdown ward. So this experience offered me the educational and applied experience of psychology to help people become better today than they were yesterday. Now, I had one point I decided in my life that working with I wanted to work with higher functioning people. So I made a transition to working in organizations is helping them transform in that context. I didn’t moved into when I was writing my dissertation, it was focused on the impact leaders have on employees and group performance and their own individual confidence, which I collected at a call center over a six month period. So I’ve always been about the applied experience of the impact people have on others, most notably leaders, as well as a coach on to others in that clinical psych ward. In that respect, I’ve had the opportunity to work in a number of organizations, a whose list, if you will, of to be able to work with leaders, all providing opportunities for increasing either communication for leaders, one being at a large cancer hospital and research center.

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:08:27] That transfer that I’ve been transferred into a consulting gig for Big four consulting firm, working with technology changes impacting people across an organization. Heck, even in my own journey of growth and learning, it started all with my desire to push myself, not in comparison to other people, but compared to my previous bar. So in my example for myself, I’d often select schools to attend, places to live, and even jobs that would push my limits, where I’d have to learn about myself while also learning a particular skill to move me forward. That coincided with being a leader and having the opportunity of failure, as well as growth to really understand the challenges presented and leading. And all told that my personal journey has led me to some core learnings I bring to my coaching. And one heck of a personal journey. So combined with my educational experience, my applied experience, as well as my own journey, I’ve had to work in pleasure of working with some of the great people around this world and organizations to improve individual and professional stories.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:29] Now, do you have any advice for that new coach, the person that may be coming from, you know, kind of a job like you had where it’s not kind of an entrepreneurial job? You are working with an organization that had a lot of resources, and now you’re on your own. You’re you’re the guy that is a what you call world. This is now kind of your path that you’re on. How do you make that transition? How do you get those first clients? Like what are some of the activities you were doing to get yourself ready for this entrepreneurial venture that you’re on?

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:10:01] Wonderful question. And having made that transition myself and even starting Roach Smith with that guys in mind, because it can be very vulnerable and scary, if you will, to embark upon that path. But from my experience and the advice I’d give someone who’s looking to make such a transition, the first thing is to establish do you trust yourself, trust yourself enough that you do have the skill sets to actually move forward? One of the biggest challenges I think many people have going from working internally to actually being an entrepreneur in any space, is that vulnerability and that level of safety. Do I have enough clients? Am I making enough money? How are things going to get paid for? You know, words bet landing spot. There’s quite a bit of ambiguity, ambiguity. All of those things are true. But what is also true is that you have the skill sets and capabilities to actually make it and carry it forward. So the second piece around building the client base, because obviously that’s a key component to any entrepreneurship, especially one that is based on relationships. Nothing more than what a coach is to their coach. Part of it is maintaining relationships with if you want to work with organizations, making sure you have connections with professionals, those of whom have actually decisions around senior, much broader perspective of where leadership development programs are instituted and started. The second piece around that relationship would also be around leaders, leaders of whom you’ve had relationships with and for, who may want to carry you forward.

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:11:38] As being on call or creating contracts for them or to their employees from a one on one coaching perspective. Now, outside of that leadership development world, as I noted, I also work with individuals who are outside of organizations who are just dealing with personal transformations that they are embarking on. That also, again, built on relationships. And people have to be able to trust you enough to let you into their world. In that respect, being seen on social media, what’s the advice that you are offering? What is the various institutions of which you’re actually speaking at, being at colleges or conferences, being seen as an expert, while also demonstrating trust, trust that you have their best interests at heart and knowing that you can take them from where they are today to where they want to be. So for anyone who’s looking to embark and make that transition, the obviously the one of the key themes here is trust. The second is building the right relationships. And then finally, the last thing I’d say support. Support is always a key function of starting any entrepreneur endeavor, especially within a coaching space. So don’t feel like you have to do everything or you have to be an expert in everything. Recognize what you’re good at, but also recognize what you can outsource and or get support that help care Euphorbia business development, website development or heck, even using a PR firm or marketing firm to help create visibility for you in different avenues.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:09] Now, let’s talk a little bit about your book intention and building capabilities to transform your story. What was the impetus to writing a book? That’s a you know, that’s a big job. That’s a business unto itself.

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:13:23] Yes. And quite quite frankly, I needed a coach and in writing it, quite frankly. And, you know, it was interesting. My book started off with me jotting down notes around the experiences I was seeing within my coaches. Where were they getting hung up the most? What were they struggling? What were they consistently asking me? Questions that we, you know, three months down the line that we had talked about at the very outset. And so it was just a diary of questions and points that I was started noting around the experiences of my coaches. To that extent, it was my my first intention was that it was going to be a guide to that I would leave with my coaches and or others as they were looking to go through numerous changes throughout their own experiences. What I realized after writing my first version of this book, which the current title and and book is, while it’s the first version people have actually seen, there was a previous version that I had written that was an audio book. And what was interesting about that experience to me, writing the book, as you mentioned, it was a job and number two itself. It was also a transformative experience for me, for me all in to have a self as well, whereby I became not only the author, but I became the client.

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:14:43] And it started when I was went into the booth to actually record the first version of this book in an audio format. Now, as you might imagine from my skill set, being a clinical psychologist, my job then was not to be out the forefront. It was always to be behind the curtain. You know, obviously, as a clinical psychologist, we’re taught to always have the client’s interest at heart. Put them at the forefront. And we very we share very little bit about ourselves. That also fit my personality. So when I went into the booth, I didn’t realize I still held on to those those very idealogies. So I started speaking out loud and saying the words and reading the words directly off my book. And I realized that several things came up for me. Number one, I didn’t like the content that I was actually writing because I wasn’t giving all the information that I needed in order for someone to be successful in picking this book up by themselves. That was due because I wasn’t allowing myself to actually write the information in a way that it offered that clarity. Given my own fear, judgment by my own ideology of staying behind the curtain, I was only giving just enough to give people a taste in that after I conducted that audio book and then hearing the 52 clips of it.

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:16:04] And I did an audit of myself as though I was coaching myself. And at the end of listening to all of the clips. I said to myself, number one, I can’t send this out to anybody because no one would get any benefit out of this and I’m embarrassed of it of myself. The second piece of it was if I had asked myself if I’m actually going to write this book, am I going to be willing to open up in ways that I have not allowed or afforded myself to do so previously? And if that answers yes, then we need to write this book and a lot different way in a lot different format. And so as such, based on my answering yes to that question, I scrapped the entire audio book and started writing this book from scratch. And it took me six months to rewrite rewrite the book. And from that experience, writing the book and hearing myself in that audio book. That experience afforded me to become the author the book needed me to be and also to be a client through the experience of my own coaching.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:08] Well, those are important lessons unto itself just now what you said, ignoring sunk costs and not getting hung up about what you invested into that project when you weren’t satisfied with the way it turned out. And you just move boldly forward and then being vulnerable and opening yourself up and being authentic and generous rather than not being that way is a great lesson for your coaches.

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:17:34] Absolutely. And I think I have gained more experience and awareness of myself and the transformative experience that I now even bring, even this authenticity in this voice, not only to your listeners, but also to my coaches as well, because we’re all going through the experience. Just because I’m an expert at it doesn’t mean I’m not malleable or vulnerable in this experience and transformative nature.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:01] Now, is there a certain kind of specialty that you have where a person is struggling in certain areas? That’s kind of a sweet spot for you to help them through, or is it something that if they’re struggling in any regard, you’re you’re a good resource?

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:18:16] Yeah, I’m a good resource and struggling in any regard. I have to say that typically my individual clients outside of the corporate space, they tend to I tend to work with people who want to push themselves to be better. So my coaching style of working combines laughter, partnership and depth. But my job is to hold individuals accountable to accountable and expand them past where they currently are. And they’re typically coming from a place where they’re already successful, yet their patterns of their current success are getting in their way and then moving forward. So as an example, one woman approached me as she was feeling a sense of being overwhelmed. Well, in her particular example, in case she was overwhelmed because she was getting ready to retire from a job for 20 years, she was already a clinical therapist and running that business. Aside from that job, at a third job of starting another business with her family around websites in Ohia, by the way, she wanted to feel retired and have free time. So in that respect, I was able to work with she on an opportunity to reduce her overwhelm and how to be able to trust and delegate in some ways. On the other hand, I work with my corporate clients. They often come to me in the development of better communication skills, leading former peers, meeting remotely engagement and just talent development. So as an example, I just, you know, assisted a retail organization, build their internal leadership, development culture, focused on specific leadership skills. So in that example, I’ve helped develop a monthly group, leadership development course calls, excuse me, focused on new skills. And in this case, driving accountability, having difficult conversations and providing feedback where we were able to engage leaders across the entire organization remotely honestly to drive consistent behaviors and feedback. So to overall, to make it more poignant, my clients tend to come from a place of success. And now we’re looking for expansion. And it can vary on what they’re looking to expand from. And then to

Lee Kantor: [00:20:17] Say, well, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you. What’s the website?

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:20:23] Yeah, those who are looking to reach out to me can come to Rhodes Smith dot com. That’s our H.O., D.S., Smriti dot com. There they can find more information about myself, my individual group and corporate coaching practice, as well as this audio file, as well as others where I’ve been able to share some of my insights, as well as they’ll be able to find my book intention building capabilities to transform their story, in particular, where to purchase, as well as several reviews on the book itself.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:55] Well, congratulations on all the success, and you’re doing important work and we appreciate you going.

Dr. Ian Brooks: [00:21:00] Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:02] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Coach the Coach Radio.