TRIM THE FAT
My wife Andrea is an EXCELLENT cook and has gained a reputation for her culinary expertise. Every Tuesday she prepares and provides OXTAIL, a popular Jamaican dish, to order to her ‘regular customers.’
Oxtail isn't always easy to get in central Georgia, but Andrea found a market with ample supply.
On one occasion a few years ago, she purchased a package with 3 pounds, 12 ounces of oxtail.
To cook oxtail, you must first trim the fat from the meat, and as she did, I heard her exclaim, "Oh my GOODNESS! So much FAT!"
Intrigued, I rushed over to the sink to see. On a lark, I said, “Weigh it!”
Total: 1 pound 2 ounces! 30%!
We took it in stride, and she prepared a delightful oxtail meal. (Did I mention that Andrea is an amazing cook?) Then a question hit me.
Do we deliver 100% VALUE to the people who hire us, depend on us, and expect quality from us? Or do we need to TRIM THE FAT? As a presenter, it’s easy to repeat ideas and principles that I’ve heard over the years, but do I REALLY need to tell the STARFISH STORY, or retell stories that other speakers have told for decades?
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Should I be 'wowing' my audience with my eloquence and speaking style, but not offering SUBSTANCE? Sure, I'll be on the platform...physically or virtually...for up to an hour, but will it be QUALITY time?
Do I offer my coaching clients simplistic, banal advice that could probably get in a basic volume on public speaking?
Do I spend a lot of time regaling them with stories of what I have done and with whom I have worked instead of working with and for THEM?
At the end of a 45–60-minute coaching call, will my client say confidently that it was time (and money) well spent?
Do I need to trim the fat? I don't dare presume that you are not fully serving your clients or providing value, but it never hurts to take a look inside ourselves once in a while, much like inventory or stock-taking, to see what we have, and what we need. Andrea was understandably very disappointed that she couldn't use 30% of what she bought, and I would hope that none of my clients would ever feel that way about my services.
I hope the same for you, and when you and I do our self-reflection, may we never conclude that we have to TRIM THE FAT.
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1yExcellent points made using this simple story and analogy. You demonstrated how we can look at almost anything in life and find a lesson to be learned.
Be your own best teacher
1yAs a coach, and with 55 years of teaching experience I have felt the same way. Do I need to trim the fat? I discovered the FAT that needed trimming was the amount of time I spent talking. For a good coaching session, 30% of the talking should be done by the coach, and for a great coaching session--15%. If I am coaching, I'm looking for wisdom, resilience, resourcefulness, creativity and persistence in the participant, and I know everyone that I coach has those traits. They should not be looking for MY wisdom, etc., because until they internalize the process, they'd be coming to me to solve problems they could do on their own. They may not know they have these traits, and so I bring them to their awareness by asking them deep-diving, intuitive, and curiosity-based questions. This approach moves them to think and be transformed from the inside out. It takes them from behavior modification to mental enhancement.
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1yI often remind myself to take more stuff out of my presentations. Some of it is obviously fat. The tricky part is trimming stuff that isn't clearly fat and can easily appear like meat.
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1yI like to refer to the substance as the”meat and potatoes” (sorry vegetarians). As coaches we need to be Uber focused on the substance, although I think a little bit of fat is ok for context framing, don’t you? Fat free is not very tasty Mark Brown, CSP .