Your client is stuck in their business goals. How can you help them break through their barriers?

Being “stuck” or lacking motivation in relation to business goals typically results from losing sight of vision. Rather than revisit goals, I encourage clients to take a step back and consider their original vision for the business and personally. I find that by facilitating the client to delve back into their mission and purpose helps to reignite their original passion for the business and brings more clarity to overall vision. Setting goals by working back from vision creates more motivation and is far more effective than focusing solely on the original goals in isolation.

One situation that springs to mind in this context is the business owner I was coaching to manage his transition and facilitate succession, he felt shackled by the demands of the business and was convinced his only options were to either continue working very long hours OR close the business down. He’d assumed his team wouldn’t want to step up, and that by reducing the hours worked in the business he’d be viewed as less committed. We discussed the information he’d based these assumptions on and I supported him to differentiate between fact and theory. I ultimately facilitated a conversation between him and the team who were unified in supporting his transition to flexible working and their commitment to enabling the change.

As referenced above, the first stage was to break down assumptions and replace theory with fact. The client made a commitment to approach this by having open and honest conversations to understand different perspectives. We identified the key individuals he needed to approach and planned the specifics of each conversation, agreeing an objective for each discussion and considering how he might react and respond to different scenarios so he felt adequately prepared and able to clearly articulate his own feelings and set appropriate boundaries to ensure he achieved his own goal of reducing hours and workload.

Once the client had held these discussions and obtained the buy in from his senior team he set a goal to work from home 1 day a week for 4 weeks. After the first month he planned to move to working 4 days per week. By month three he planned to take a 2 week holiday, something he hadn’t done for over 15 years. This clear action plan helped him and his SLT prepare for his absence and put controls in place to enable him to monitor key data remotely such that he felt confident to take time away from the business.

By providing your client with action steps, you will also be providing a clear, structured path forward. When you break down their goals into manageable, actionable tasks, it's going to make the process less overwhelming and more achievable for them. This approach helps identify specific challenges and develop targeted solutions, enabling your client to focus on incremental progress rather than feeling stuck. Regularly reviewing these steps will also allow for adjustments and refinements, ensuring continuous movement toward their goals.

Initially we held updates every two weeks and then switched to monthly catch ups before moving to quarterly. The client used our catch ups to reflect on the period since we’d last met, such that we were able to explore what went well vs what didn’t. The clients self awareness developed through this period and by our only sessions he was able to flag the areas he needed to improve with limited prompting. This process enabled the client to make subtle changes where he was holding himself back and as a result his 2 week holiday became a 3 week trip of a lifetime.