The previous articles defined coaching, the economic value and fundamentals of building commitment in ourselves as leaders and in our businesses. In addition, we looked at selecting a professional coach to work with your development as a leader and how to ensure you get the support you need. This last article is going to be a sharing of my perspective on the similarities and differences I’ve experienced in coaching leaders from different industries.

Editor’s note: This article is the second in a series about coaching dairy leaders. The first article appeared in the April 1, 2014 Progressive Dairyman. Click here to read this article. Coaching can generate results quickly for dairy leaders, yet there is much of coaching that is leveraged over time as skills are acquired and new perspectives are gained. It can be difficult to define return on investment (ROI) for coaching because of this very aspect.

I think my coaching adventures started when I was a young child on a Midwest row crop, pig, chicken and dairy farm. I followed my dad around the farm from a very early age, asked a lot of questions, observed how the work got done and received the responsibility of doing chores.