To help clients avoid burnout on their path to success, business coaches must be proficient in helping them identify stress triggers.
As a business coach, you come into a client relationship with a set of tools, strategies, and systems to help them build their businesses, right? You work with them to identify goals and opportunities, then map out a path to achieve greater success. But one of your most important jobs is to help them manage the stress that comes with leading an organization. Even if they do everything “right,” they could still crash and burn if you’re not aware of the personality traits that may be driving them to burnout. You need behavioral data.
Occupational burnout is more than simply being overtaxed. It involves dispositions and expectations that people bring to their activities.
“What’s Really Behind Burnout” - Psychology Today
The weight of being in charge of running a business can cause a great deal of stress for anyone. For a time, that stress can provide an adrenaline rush that drives and invigorates business leaders. The problem is, even those who love the challenge and excitement may eventually reach a point when it’s all just too much.
So, what can you do as a coach to help them avoid burnout? In addition to your arsenal of exercises and checklists, you can provide them with an awareness of their natural strengths. More importantly, you can help them understand which roles and responsibilities do not align with their nature and, therefore, are going to be a major source of stress.
No matter how much education, training, and experience a person has, they are who they are at their core. And, when operating under stress, that true nature will invariably surface. That’s why it is critical to understand your client’s personality so you can help them manage or avoid personal stress triggers and better align their leadership role according to how they prefer to operate.
Aligning your life, career, and financial path to your distinct behavioral style can help you find new energy and opportunities while dramatically decreasing your stress level.
DNA Behavior has identified ten unique behavioral styles. While each person’s behavioral profile is unique, even these high-level groupings can tell you a lot about what is going to stress them out.
Let’s look at two styles that underscore just how different stress triggers may be when people are not wired the same way.
Initiator: Take-Charge and Reserved
Initiators like to take bold, aggressive actions to make things happen. They like to create the rules, preferring to lead, make decisions, and set the agenda for others to follow while monitoring the timely completion of tasks. They are results-oriented, goal-driven people who like their expectations met while preferring not to get caught up in unnecessary details.
Stressors
Stylish Thinker: Planned and Outgoing
Stylist Thinkers exhibit two traits that do not normally go together: Planned (organized) and Outgoing (social). This equips them to understand systems and details, and they enjoy connecting with people. They like to test ideas in discussions with other people. Typically, they have a gift for style and like to make things look good.
Stressors
>> It’s important to note that a successful leader can have any behavioral style. We have found, however, that most of the top CEOs are either Influencers, Initiators, or Strategists. If you are interested in our detailed findings, you can read about them in the blog post, The Link Between Executive Behavior and Company Profitability.
By knowing what causes the most stress for clients, you’ll be better equipped to help them build resilience as business leaders. Your insightful guidance can help them become burnout-resistant, re-engage, and build long-lasting businesses. It’s an incredible opportunity for growth that can have a positive impact on all aspects of their lives.
Try highlighting just one stress trigger for each behavioral style above and think about how you could use that knowledge to help a client manage it. Are they in the wrong role? Can they shift some responsibility? Would understanding each other’s behavioral style help the whole team work more cohesively? Is their physical environment part of the problem?
Understanding the individual is an absolutely crucial part of the coaching dynamic. If you don’t “get” your clients, then you won’t be able to provide the personalized solutions they need to succeed. So, you need your own set of specialized assessment tools to figure out how they think. Maybe you already use Myers-Briggs, DISC, Enneagram, or Big Five to get some hints about their personality. But, as you know, it can be a struggle to figure out exactly what to do with that information. It doesn’t have to be.
Our objective from day one was to put behavioral data in your hands that is immediately actionable. We want coaches to be able to move beyond static personality reports and quickly get to information that can be used to achieve better results.
You need insights about each client, like their decision-making style, how they prefer to communicate, how they relate to money, and what might kick their stress level into overdrive. DISC and the other personality assessment tools can’t give you that, but we can. And guess what?
You can easily import DISC data into the DNA Behavior web app to substantially expand the behavioral profile of each client.
Imagine having these:
Stress is a part of life, so knowing what is creating all that internal conflict can be very empowering. Our insights, backed by behavioral science, give you the map to your client’s mind so you can provide more personalized guidance. You’ll be able to help them face fears and challenges, when necessary, but steer them away from stress triggers when there’s a path to their goals that is more in sync with their nature. Together, you can find the balance so they can achieve their goals, fully engaged but with much less stress.
It’s simple.
Step 1: Run a Digital Scan for instant insights on you and your clients.
Step 2: Use our web app to do more in-depth behavioral assessments, as needed.
Step 3: Personalize your coaching by using the behavioral insights provided in the interactive dashboard and customized reports.
Step 4: Deepen your connection with clients by sharing your own behavioral style with them, and encourage them to do the same in their own organizations.
Book a Call to learn more about how DNA Behavior can put over 4,000 behavioral insights and personality traits at your fingertips!