Why I coach.

Why do I coach?
Award-winning business coach, Andrew Priestley
specialises in working with ambitious manager/leaders
running established 6, 7 & 8 figure businesses.
He talks about why he loves coaching.
SPECIAL INTERVIEW
THE COACHING EXPERIENCE

Andrew Priestley Special Report: Why do I coach?
© 2018 The Coaching Experience www.andrewpriestley.com 1
Why do I coach?

Andrew Priestley is an award-winning, business
coach, speaker and #1 ranked author.
Qualified in Industrial and Organisational
Psychology, Andrew was listed in the Top 100
UK Entrepreneur Mentors 2017.
Through 1-2-1 coaching, workshops and training
he works with owner/managers – and
specializes in working with managing directors
running established mid-sized six, seven and
eight figure businesses to fast track highly
effective leadership skills and business
performance.
Typical results are 30-400% uplift in revenues,
better operating profits and business growth. In
some instances, clients are coached to scale or
to an exit valuation.
Andrew’s clients don’t need to be convinced
that they need to develop as leaders in order to
solve both strategic and operational challenges.
Andrew developed his award-winning coaching
methodology after years of working with senior
managers in high-risk, high-compliance
environments such as aviation, mining,
government and medical.

Over time he identified that highly effective
leaders do five things really well. He now applies
what he learned in those stringent
environments to his business clients.
In this article, he talks about why he loves
coaching.

“I love what I do and I feel I am good at it but I
am of the generation that feels awkward
blowing my own trumpet.
I have won awards for coaching but I feel I owe
my success to an amazingly diverse range of
clients worldwide. And I have been privileged
to work with some seriously high profiled
clients who I am not allowed to mention. When
you play at that level you pick up an amazing
breadth of learnings and experience, so I
genuinely am indebted to my clients.
Without their stories and case histories I
wouldn’t have developed something I feel is
truly world class for business leaders.
I’m a fan of qualifications
I started my career as a schoolteacher. I gained
my Diploma of Teaching and then a Bachelor of
Education and taught across all levels from
primary and secondary through to university
level.
I love learning new things but I have a talent for
taking complex topics and making them simple
to understand and apply.
I left teaching in 1989 and started an
entertainment newspaper which gave me a
degree from the university of business life on
how not to run a business!
Running an entertainment lifestyle newspaper
proved demanding and stressful and ultimately
unrealistic business for a man with a very young
family.
That business was incredibly successful but after
six months of 12-16-hour days, seven days a
week, I made the decision to close the business
down. It nearly destroyed my health, marriage
and family life.
Lesson learned!
I took what was brilliant about my first business
and started a small but successful advertising
agency. It was much easier to run, more
profitable and ultimately more family-friendly.

As a trainee teacher I had majored in Reading
Psychology. I know what makes copy either hard
or easy to read. I did a game changing course
with the National Advertising Bureau of
Australia (NABA) and actually trained under
people like Jim Alexander and Colin Wheildon
who link directly to people like John Caples and
David Ogilvy.
I knew how to make ads work based on
structured copy writing and tricks like shorter
sentences, line length and the use of subheads.
I was then head hunted as an Account Executive
for a much larger marketing agency. In that
capacity I exceeded sales targets and helped
that company win several awards.

I remember doing a marketing project for the
owner of a small natural foods supermarket –
John Jodvalkis. John said something that stuck
with me. He said, “This is text book marketing
but I still don’t get it that you’re in my shoes.
What would you do if this was your business?”
I have never forgotten that pivotal lesson and as
a result I now dig a lot deeper with my clients so
I can understand the business as if it was mine.
I made some great professional relationships
and increasingly I found myself chatting more
about business-development issues.
“I think you’d make a good business coach.”
My son’s best mate was a business coach and
over various family outings he said, “I think
you’d make a good business coach.” Back then I
had no idea what a business coach was and I
believe there were about 97 on the planet when
I started!
After many discussions, I left the marketing
agency and started training as a business coach
and soon I had a thriving coaching business.
The essence was developing the business
leadership skills of the business owner – usually
a managing director running an established six,
seven or eight figure company – who had
reached the near limits of their operational
management skills but lacked strategic
leadership skills.
One day I was referred to a senior manager
working for a local government authority. The
three-month coaching programme was very
successful and pretty soon I was being referred
to similar clients. Eventually, I was asked to
pitch for leadership development clients at both
State and Federal government level.
In these cases, the clients were trying to
transition from technical- operational expertise
to more commercial and business leadership
skills.
MBA or Psych degree?
I remember meeting the HR manager for the
Brisbane City Council, Australia who asked me
what my qualifications were. He said despite my
impressive track record and client history he
couldn’t employ me without either a psychology
degree or an MBA.
I really wanted that level of client because they
are in positions that can make major beneficial
changes that positively impact a lot of people.
I rang my friend Professor Anthony Green at
Macquarie University and he asked if I liked
finance and numbers; or people?
I like people and he suggested I explore
Industrial and Organisational Psychology (the
equivalent of an Applied Psychology or Business
Psychology degree now); or Behavioural
Psychology.
Because I didn’t want to do clinical work I chose
Industrial and Organisational Psychology but I
majored in Abnormal Psychology and Behavior
Modification.
Curiously I learned a lot about human
performance by studying dog training and
weight management!
I also loved all the subjects related to treating
addictions, abnormal psychology and diagnosing
using the DSM-IV.
I was very lucky to study the ‘cycles of change’
work of Prochaska and DiClementi and this
theoretical base still underpins the work I do
today.

My clients want to change and lock in changes
this material has consistently allowed me to
achieve long lasting benefits with clients.
A key insight from studying abnormal
psychology was observing that what works with
highly dysfunctional people and applying that to
so-called functional people.
In my opinion, human behavior is actually
predictable and easy to understand.
I was not given my degree
It took me five years to get my psych degree.
The study, tutorials and exams were not easy
and my assessors were not lenient. And the
university did not give my degree away.
After becoming a father, I mark gaining my
psych degree as my best achievement. I was a
mature-age student and actually ready and old
enough to totally appreciate my psychology
studies.
26,000 hours+
I confess I get annoyed at coaches who’ve done
a 2-week coaching course who give this
profession a bad name because they basically
do not know what they are doing.
In addition to a psych degree, I have racked up
over 26,000 coaching hours of coaching.
To put that in context, a commercial airline pilot
or military helicopter pilot usually has racked up
14,000 hours; Mozart racked up 10,000 hours by
the age of 12, the Beatles racked up 10,000
playing in Hamburg which explains why George
Martin said they were the tightest band he had
ever recorded.
But the typical coach has clocked about 3,000
hours tops.
I’m probably bragging but I love the fact that I’m
qualified and experienced.
Six figure business
The coaching industry has an incredibly high
churn rate with the average coach lasting about
two years. Most coaches do not earn anywhere
near what they could, and subsequently leave
the industry.
The average life coach earns £17,000 (about
$22,400USD). I have been in the top 2% of fee
earners on the plant since 1998 earning six
figures from my second-year in.
Today I show coaches world-wide how to do
build a six-figure income practice.
I understand business and business owners
I think I have a real appreciation of what it’s like
to run a successful business having stunningly
failed and gloriously succeeded.
I also know how your business life impacts on
your personal life and who you become as a
person in the process – good and bad.
Trust me, success is pointless if your family hate
you or you hate yourself!
So, I understand the demands of a business and
what it takes to succeed in the leadership role.
Many of my clients already have a successful
business but usually they have hit the limits of
their management skills and are often isolated
with no one to talk to about leading.
Often, they have become someone they don’t
like much. Many are so successful but despite
the success they feel unfulfilled and often empty
and cynical.
Empty often describes some of the most
successful clients I have coached.
In almost all cases, we hit the business goals.
Revenues increase. Profits are better. Staff are
more productive. I save them money or make
them money. They even exit with a valuation.
But they become much better people in the
process. They become more reflective. More
responsible.
When my first business failed I remember
having to tell my staff my business was closing.

The real reason was I failed in my role as
business leader. That is still painful to
remember. I vowed to be responsible and to
take my obligations more seriously, next time.
I think that set me up well to work with business
clients later.
My psych degree gave me an incredibly practical
insight into human behavior – especially under
pressure - and gave me an amazing orientation
to principles of behavior modification and
change that are based on solid research.
My own business journey has set me up to
empathise with the challenges of business
leaders.
Both have been invaluable in helping me as a
coach.
Diverse experience in high-end compliance
Since 1998, I have worked as a full-time business
coach. My first few clients were
owner/managers – manufacturers, wholesalers,
finance etc.
Through referrals I started working with senior
managers in high compliance roles.
I worked with departments of environment,
water, trade, certification, engineering and
finance. That led to work in aviation,
infrastructure, town planning, steel fabrication,
construction and then medical.
As a result, I have had extensive experience
working with senior managers working in
high-risk, high-pressure, high-end compliance
industries such as mining, medical, engineering,
aviation and government authorities.
The five behaviours
About two years into my coaching career, I hit a
major hurdle. My theory was good but it was
wasn’t helping to the degree I hoped. It wasn’t
remarkable, outstanding or world-class.
I recall being asked to coach a senior manager
working in water treatment for a major city.
Imagine the 24/7 challenge of working in strict
adherence to inflexible EPA regulations.
First off, he was totally offended that I knew
nothing about water treatment. Nor was I his
equal professionally or intellectually.
This was a highly qualified engineer with a
doctorate in his specialty. He quizzed me on the
science, the internal consistency, reliability and
the statistical validation of my coaching
methodology.
I then worked with the CEO of a major cosmetic
company; and the CEO of a national finance
company. These clients had access to a host of
the best business brains available and had
engaged some of the world’s best-known
coaches. One was Harvard MBA trained and had
even written an award winning in-house
coaching programme!
In short, they all critiqued my methodology.
Up to that point the coaching was based on
strengthening the supposed qualities and traits
of a ‘leader’.
Theory-Based Issues
When I first started coaching I drew heavily on
personality theories. Essentially, if they rejected
my take on the theory they undermined me and
the coaching.
Qualities and strengths
Back then the essence of my approach was
leaders develop competencies and proficiency
by modeling the strengths and qualities of other
effective leaders.
It has its origins in Benjamin Franklins’
12 habits. Lee Iacocca wrote a book on his nine
Cs of leadership. Colin Powell talks about his 13
points. You get the idea.
It seems every high profiled leader has written a
‘how I did it’ book. The assumption is you can do
it too and the way they did it.
Jack Welch’s book often appears on the shelves
of my clients. A colleague in London used to
work for Jack Welch and he said what the book
doesn’t tell you is Jack could throw 50 MBAs at
any problem he faced. Only one or two of my

clients have anything that remotely came close
to that level of resourcing.
One flaw in the qualities and strengths literature
is this: which strength do I use under pressure?
As an example, if you are following Colin
Powell’s 13 leadership skills, which one do you
use in a crisis? If you can’t recall what Colin
would do, you’ll do what you normally do!
You will revert to type. They relapse. (Relapse
underpins Prochaska’s work in drug
rehabilitation). We know that under pressure
most people revert to their default setting.
So that might mean yelling at someone.
I can guarantee that you will not see leaders
reaching for a book to see what Jack or Lee
would do. Especially if they are handling a
potential life and limb issue.
Overhauled my coaching approach
I felt embarrassed and even fraudulent. And at
this time I started to let go off the approach I
had been trained in. Instead I trawled back
through my case notes and looked for what
really worked.
Over time, I discovered that underneath all the
traits and strengths, highly effective leaders – no
matter what industry - do the same five things:
1. Awareness – they are aware of what’s
happening. Call it mindfulness or simply
managing the obvious, they recognize a
problem when they see one.
Importantly, they recognize how they
feel about what’s happening.

2. Assertive – they can assert themselves.
This sounds like communication skills
but at it basic level if there’s a problem
they open their mouth and speak up.

Typically they behave congruently –
they say and do what is authentically
needed.

3. Agreements – they broker very clear
agreements. Basically, who will do
what and by when?
4. Accountability – highly effective
leaders hold others accountable. They
do this by managing agreements. They
might still manage problems but
ultimately, they manage agreements.
Understand agreements are the glue of
delegations.

5. Adjusting – importantly highly effective
leaders recognize if they are part of the
problem. Or: they are the problem!
Effective leaders adjust and tweak their
game rather than make wholesale
game changes. Basically, they manage
themselves by reflecting on what they
can do even better, And then, they
follow through and do it.
It took several years to distill my observations
down to these five factors but time and again,
that’s what I observed happening. In my
experience these five factors sit alongside or
underneath most leadership theories.
I once heard a retired Lieutenant and
Afghanistan veteran talking about leadership.
He attributes his style to the qualities of
courage, commitment and communication.
He told the story of going into a deserted village,
sensing an ambush and narrowly avoiding
enemy engagement. He was able to successfully
retreat with no casualties despite one or two of
his men thinking they should engage in return
fire.
The way I see it he sensed the situation and
trusted his gut (Awareness); he told his men to
pull back (Assert); they complied (Agreement);
he cautioned one or two newbies - would-be
heroes - about doing anything stupid
(Accountability); and he spent several days
reflecting on what happened – and made
several ‘notes-to-self’ for next time! (Adjust).
Can’t afford to get it wrong
The Awareness material, for example, was
developed from working with the air traffic
controllers. I learned a lot from working in the
aviation industry. And from my client working
under the ever-watchful eye of the EPA.

Make a mistake and the consequences include
deregistering, fines – on a good day. On a bad
day injury, death and gross criminal negligence
proceedings and even jail time!
This material worked wonderfully for improving
safety on mining sites. It transformed the entire
leadership approach to geriatric critical care in a
large national private medical company. It
transformed public works in a large local
authority.
But here’s the thing. It works for anyone, in any
business, at any level. And best yet it is based on
your experience, your training, and your
knowledge of your business.
A leading-hand saved his boss over $60,000+
because he was aware of a double-handling
issue.
I would never have gone into his factory and
picked that – but he could and he did!
My critical scientist became aware that he was
ignoring sloppy systems and procedures that,
left neglected, could easily have resulted in
multi-million-dollar fines.
My CEO became acutely aware that he was a
first-rate bully breaching basic employment
relations laws.
Countless clients have now used this material to
become highly effective in their roles.
The Business Leadership Profile
In addition to revamping my coaching approach
I wanted to be a lot more accurate in identifying
coaching targets prior to starting a coaching gig.
Most leadership theory is drawn from military,
sport, politics and commerce. But business
leadership is very different to sports, military or
politics.
My programmes are based only on what
business leaders are doing well.
Most coaches base their programmes on what
the client thinks they need; and guesswork.
80% off target
The problem is research tells us most coaches
spend 80% of their time working on the wrong
problem. And working on the wrong problem is
the problem.
How many times have you met with someone
and the thing you really needed to talk about
most was mentioned just as they were walking
out the door? That’s how a lot of coaching
sessions go for most coaches.
Most coaches guess; and then coach
accordingly. But they can’t say what the exact
coaching target is, or why.
In my training prescription without diagnosis is
malpractice.
I wanted an independent laser-focused, pre-
coaching assessment that was bang on, so I
could hit the ground running.
Too easy to get it wrong
I once asked a client what he wanted from
coaching and he said he wanted to feel more
motivated. He had worked with three coaches
before me who apparently failed to motivate
him.
I developed profiling software called the
Business Leadership Profile (BLP) that allows me
to clearly and accurately profile the coaching
needs of a client.
The BLP reliably identifies coaching targets
before we start coaching.
In this case my client had motivation in spades.
His real problem was a lack of focus.
He was your typical fingers-in-every-pie business
owner. He not only mentally managed his team
but he actually took over from staff. Some
would say he was a meddler.
And he was so angry and frustrated all the time!
I developed the BLP because I had used some
well-known academic profiling tools but I found
they were too academic.

In the end I opted for creating a hybrid
assessment that was based more on commercial
reality.
I’ve employed people and I’ve written the pay
cheques and I know the frustration of paying
someone who says they can do a job, but can’t.
I know about mishires and trying to deselect
someone who isn’t working out.
The BLP answers the question: can you lead?
Psychology meets the bottom-line
The BLP allows me to identify what’s working for
you and what isn’t before we start coaching.
This means we hit the ground running from the
get-go. I want to work on things that will have
the highest impact personally and
professionally.
Bio data session
As a throwback to my psychology training, I
developed a comprehensive bio data feedback
session to gather meaningful input from my
client and to add important context and
distinctions to the report.
My clients then identify key business
frustrations and goals to work on and as a result
– because they are meaningful – they usually
achieve these outcomes bigger and sooner.
Behaviour and Problems in the Business

The BLP also enables me to identify specific
problems in the actual business. In essence we
bring your behavior and bottom-line together.

Consider this. As a coach I don’t have a lot of
time to get to the issues. Business is simple:
make more than you spend. Revenues and
Costs.

Over time I have identified four parts to a
business where problems typically show up.
(Revenues) Marketing and sales; and (Costs)
management and administration; operations;
and financial control.

If you have a problem they will show up in one
or all of those key areas. For your reference
revenues and costs impact growth, profit and
liquidity.

Revenues Costs
Marketing
Sales
Management,
Administration, HR
Operations, Logistics, IT
Financial Control

The BLP shows how you will handle problems in
your business … in those key areas … and
subsequently the impact of underperformance
in those key areas.

Problems now make sense
The BLP links your behavior to problem zones.
For example, one of the traits we measure is
Responsiveness. A low score tells you that you
have problems in the business that you are not
responding to.
It is a given that your business will have
problems but the question is: how do you
handle those problems?
The BLP tells me where the problems will most
likely show up; and how you will typically handle
those problems on a day-to-day basis.
The Intensive 3-Month Coaching Programme
I developed an intensive 3-month coaching
programme to address issues identified in the
BLP.
My clients
The bulk of my clients are owner/managers or
key people running established successful mid-
sized six, seven and eight figure companies.
Typically, they are far too hands-on in the day-
to-day operation of the business. They are often
working by themselves and isolation. They
usually don’t have good teams. And they are
often not so good at delegating often because
no one can do it as good as them.

Many don’t have a good plan going forward –
and certainly nothing strategic.
While they believe in self-reflection and
professional development they usually don’t
consistently allocate the time or resources to
adjust their game. A lot, hold others
accountable, but no one holds them to account.
Collect Problems
Too many coaches and consultants create big-
scope, high-end, big-fix, big-ticket agendas.
By contrast, I start a typical coaching
programme by working on day-to-day problems
- and how the client typically handles those
problems – first.
I have observed that the way you handle small
issues is how you handle bigger ones.
Once we see positive operational outcomes we
start working on more strategic issues. In just
about every case where I’ve followed this
approach the client has generated significant
short and long-term results bigger and sooner.
Most of my clients would say they are very good
at solving problems but obviously there is a
problem not resolving easily or at all otherwise
they wouldn’t engage a coach. Sometimes
clients don’t work on the real problem even
though it appears they are.
The Bigger Picture
Over the years I have also focused on helping
business leaders play a bigger game. This
includes a deliberate focus on strategic
direction, business performance, and building
high performance teams; and on enhancing the
ability to be more influential through self-
knowledge and better communication.
Broader goals are to focus on positive emotions
and meaningful accomplishments; positive
engagement and better relationships.

Bottom-line
I specialize in helping business people -
especially MDs – become remarkable highly
effective business leaders.
I can help people resolve problems quickly

A lot of people have problems and it’s good just
to talk them through. Often the resolution
comes from having someone to talk to. And the
get the result bigger and sooner.
I love a challenge

A lot of my clients are heavy hitters. They are
used to getting what they want and when they
want and how they want it the way they want it.
If what they are saying is rubbish I will push
back. I have never met a client at that level who
didn’t find that refreshing!
I’ve got a really good framework for helping
people that works

We start with the BLP.
I worked with the medical administrator for an
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the BLP showed
her exactly why she had the staff problems. She
was too soft! Her ‘regulars’ knew she was too
soft and her softness reinforced the idea that
they could take advantage of her good nature.
Three months later her unit was fully accredited
under a national ICU compliance scheme.
This is unheard of. No one gets full
accreditation, first time they apply.
My client did the hard yards but she was coming
from a crystal-clear platform of knowing her
strengths and weakness and how they
manifested in her team’s behavior.
I enjoy resolving problems

For years I saw how problems are unpacked at
the arbitration or inquest level. So my clients get
the benefit of that fabulous framework. As a
result of that they start to see where can they
go next with the problem.

So as an example, my medical administrator had
staff arriving late for shifts. We looked at why
that was a problem and the implications if it
wasn’t resolved and the benefits if it was
addressed effectively.
To give you context imagine it’s 2am in the ICU
and you are on night duty and staff are absent
and two heart attacks go off simultaneously.
Which patient does a nurse attend to?
This is not a benign problem in this context. We
are talking deregistering, closing down an ICU,
personal and criminal negligence etc.
The BLP identified the default behaviors: over
tolerance and nice-guying obvious problems.
We looked at how the client was behaving
around people coming in late for work. And
then we discussed options and a plan for going
forward so that willful behavior wasn’t a
problem anymore.
My client came up with new policies around
zero-tolerance, staff-behaviours, staff
deselection and selection, review and training.
They ended up with more resourceful outcomes
that have been rolled out to ICUs nationwide.
I’m good at unpacking their problems so they
can see what the real problem is and how they
are responding and reacting to that problem.
And where their behavior is resourceful or
appropriate. And whether it’s going to get the
result or not.
As a kid I loved jigsaw puzzles and problems are
like that. Pieces. Clues. Edges. Pictures.
Strategic development

In most cases even the most successful clients
lack a strategic direction.
Profiling them identifies a background story and
context. We pull that together into a positive
plan to move forward in day-to-day stuff and
then longer term strategic stuff.

I am direct

The coaching community is divided on the
direct/non-direct approach. If a client is on the
wrong track I will say, “I disagree. You are on the
wrong track. You need to rethink this.”
This invariably saves them the time and effort
and money. And rarely does it go unappreciated.
And I’m good at helping people see that how
they typically respond to issues

The BLP shows you how you behave around
little issues ... and subsequently where you go
under pressure ad how you behave around big
issues.
I had a client who consistently let his debtor
days run out to over 120 days. He was owed
about USD$84,000. In one session we had
addressed this issue and he had collected over
$56,000 in two days after the session. Moving
forward he renegotiated all his client accounts
and now he has impeccable accounts
receivables. Average debtor days now are 42
days. It doesn’t sound much, but in his case, it
really was the difference between liquidity and
insolvency.
Coaching is incredibly satisfying

Coaching is challenging. There’s loads of variety
in coaching. I love that
I get to work with very successful business
people

I am across a wide range of interesting personal
and professional issues. I get to link behavior to
performance in a really practical way.
I love seeing people succeed

Just about all my clients get dramatic results.
They start making more money. Their business
becomes more profitable. Their business is run
more efficiently. The people become more
productive and more effective and more
productive in their roles. They become more
accountable.

I love seeing my clients develop an even better
game

They focus more on strategic direction and
business performance. They work on operating
efficiencies and raise staff accountability,
productivity and effectiveness out of their staff.
They build team and create a great place to
work.
I like how core values and principles rise to the
top

I often see a client get very clear on what they
value most. Your business is a reflection of your
values.
I like seeing a business deliver the original
benefits it was intended to deliver

From an accounting perspective, there are four
key reasons why people start businesses. One of
them is to support a lifestyle.
But often the business isn’t delivering basic
lifestyle benefits such as family time or time to
relax.
As a result of coaching, however, clients get
more of the results that were originally
intended, sooner and bigger. I like that.
That could just be more money. The business
grows. It becomes more profitable. It has better
cash flow.
It might be more satisfaction. Or more family
time.
It might be more meaning. We know that
successful people are motivated by doing
something purposeful.
That may mean they need to divest themselves
of some of or all of the business.
In one case, a client got rid of the manufacturing
side of the business and retained the research
and development part that he really loved.
Another client exited the business altogether.

They may choose to scale or exit on a high

On average, many of my clients have been in the
driver’s seat for about 26 years. It’s hard to
hand over your business or let go. Some hang in
past good judgement.
In coaching they might finally decide to focus on
a positive exit valuation. (The opposite is they
exit insolvent).
I like seeing personal issues resolve

I am not a life coach or a counselor and while I
am a good listener I’m probably not the most
empathetic ear. But sometimes we identify very
personal reasons that need attention.
I worked with a client who was so worried his
team would mess his business sup that he
literally touched all three shifts in his factory.
He was there for the end of the night shift,
during the day shift and at the start of the
afternoon shift. Think about it. He went in early
and came home late. Imagine what they did to
his personal life.
In this example, the reason he worked so hard
was to provide for his family. But his kids hated
him. His wife didn’t like him and resented his
work. They were living awful separate lives. All
his needs were being met by work. But he was
desperately unhappy even though his business
was financially superb.
So sometimes coaching tiptoes into that arena.
But as a result of becoming a better boss they
also become a better husband or better father.
Or a better brother or a better family person.
I like helping people flush out what is important
to them and helping them find ways to spend
their time doing things that are truly important

Coaching gives them the opportunity to reflect
on what’s truly important.
I do what I do because it’s very fast

It’s very dynamic. Even though I have
psychology qualifications I do not put someone
on the couch or spend too much time having

warm, fuzzy intellectual chats. We cut to the
chase. On many occasions I have had to go toe-
to-toe with a client to get them to inspect
behavior everyone but themselves can see.
Sometimes that was on Day One of the
programme!
I have worked with some tough cases.
A couple of clients have been recreational drug
users i.e., party drugs, cocaine. Others have had
DVOs. I’ve worked with a pornography addict,
a sex addict, assertive-aggressive clients.
If it’s a clinical issue I refer on.
I have an award-winning format

I am not a fan of meeting one hour per week
every fortnight or once a month.
It takes 20 minutes to warm up and then just as
quickly the session is over. The coach leaves and
is instantly forgotten. I learned this through
studying the treatment of drug addiction.
I guess a common theme I have used is find out
what works in the extreme and dial it back for
so called normal scenarios.
In essence I took what I learned from working in
high compliance and applied it to medium sized
businesses where compliance is less stringent.
But we are meeting every week for two hours.
This approach drives momentum for the result.
Importantly, it’s organic

I am usually not teaching the client anything
new. And it’s not school. There is no exam or
certificate. I usually work with what is already
working well for a client ... and enhancing it.
I do it because I’m good at it

I mentioned earlier that I’ve racked up 26,000
hours. But they have been good hours. I’ve been
very fortunate that my clients have all been very
interesting cases. That has honed my skills and
as a result I have an 83% referral business. And I
get referred good clients. That keeps me sharp.
Some people repeat the same year endless
times but I don’t think I have ever felt I was at
the very top of my game. I like the fact that I am
constantly learning.
I do it because I enjoy it

I find it immensely satisfying. Personally, I find it
rewarding, immensely satisfying and meaningful
work. And
I can’t do something that isn’t meaningful. I feel
I’m making a difference maybe not on the world
stage but I’m making a difference to the people
that I work with.
I make good friends out of it

Some clients have been friends for years.
I get to change their life for the better

I’ve saved their self-esteem. I’ve helped them
avoid major blunders. I’ve helped them avoid
major public embarrassment. I helped some
clients avoid financial ruin. In some cases, I’ve
saved their marriage. Or their family. And in
some cases, a life. That has meant so much to
me.
I can see implications and consequences clearly

In many high compliance issues I’ve actually
saved a company millions of dollars in costs, in
fines, in litigation.
I did a coaching gig with a major oil company
and at the time new laws were being passed
about how cigarettes were displayed in fuel
stations. My client developed a behind-the-
counter solution that not only met the new laws
but has made them a lot of money simply
because my client was a plannogramming
expert overlooking the obvious!
Clients have saved lives because they explored
issues that lead to changes in procedures.
The ICU, for example, has an impeccable patient
morbidity rate. We reduced the number of
inbound patient ‘touches’ from seven down to
three. If you are in a critical scenario you want
pain management as soon as possible.

Clients have minimized or totally prevented
adverse impact on environments.
One client created an EPA policy that has
literally changed the ecology and health of an
entire river system. Another changed a policy
that positively reversed deforestation and
created urban conservation corridors for
migratory animals. Think koalas or hedgehogs.
Companies became better staffed, better
equipped, more efficient and safer places to
work. We changed what was happening in that
critical care unit for the better. Lives were saved
as a result of the fact that she was a better
operator, a better boss, with better boundaries.
I am very proud to be associated with those
sorts of benefits.
I love people. I love results. I love making a
difference. That’s why I do what I do.
Contact Andrew Priestley
Web: www.andrewpriestley.com
Email: Go to www.andrewpriestley.com/contact
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TCE.HQ
Twitter @arpriestley

Why I coach.

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