When Jackie Gillen and her husband turned to ActionCOACH White Rose, the business was already performing well. However, despite the success they had achieved, they recognised that they needed more structure, focus and guidance to help take the business forward.
“We felt we needed a bit more guidance in terms of being more structured and more focused,” explains Jackie.
Like many business owners, Jackie and her husband had experience working within businesses but had never previously run one themselves. Whilst they often had plenty of ideas, making decisions and agreeing on the best way forward could sometimes be challenging.
“Sometimes we would clash a little bit on ideas. You need that external guidance to help you see things in perspective and move forward instead of either procrastinating for too long or never actually making a decision.”
One of the first benefits of coaching was gaining clarity around both business and personal goals. Rather than simply focusing on day-to-day operations, Jackie and her husband began creating longer-term plans, setting clear one-year, two-year and five-year objectives for the business while also considering what they wanted to achieve personally.
“It’s about making the business work for us as well. Not just us giving everything to the business, but also what we can get back from it and what we want to achieve personally.”
The accountability that coaching provided also helped keep the business moving forward.
“It’s good having that external accountability because it keeps you motivated and focused. Otherwise, it’s easy to get pulled back into the operational side of things rather than working on the business and the strategy.”
One of the biggest practical improvements has been streamlining processes throughout the business. Working closely with their Registered Manager, Gemma, Jackie had always focused heavily on process improvement. However, coaching helped the team step back from the detail and focus on what would create the biggest impact. The business has also seen improvements in profitability since beginning coaching, despite operating within a particularly challenging sector. Perhaps most importantly, coaching has provided an experienced external sounding board when important decisions need to be made. Rather than becoming stuck in discussion or uncertainty, the leadership team now has access to independent advice that helps create clarity and momentum.
“We can have our discussions, share our opinions and then ask Alex what he thinks. That helps us decide what actions we're going to take and how we're going to move forward.”
Today, Radfield Home Care has clearer goals, stronger processes and greater confidence in its future direction. And while there is still work to do, she values having trusted support alongside the business as it continues to grow. “It’s reassuring to know we’ve got that support there. We’ve got processes in place that have really helped us streamline things, and we know where we want to go moving forward.
