KEN TERAMURA; CEO, MANAGING PARTNER, Be Positive - Team Based Coaching "Helping Business Owners

Ken Teramura, Founder of BE POSITIVE – TEAM BASED COACHING

works with business owners with ten staff or less. He describes his role as, "Creating positive change and extra-ordinary results.” A CEO’s great ideas can (and often do) get lost in translation. Yet, many business coaches and consultants only work with the business owner and fail to include the owner’s team/staff when recommending change.

“That’s like trying to eat jello with chopsticks. Before anything can change, owners and their consultants must understand the team’s current commitments as well as its future capacity. When the owner fails to engage his or her team, staff resist. This makes everyone even more stressed and more frustrated than they were before. I see a large part of my role as bridging the gap between the CEO’s good ideas and the team’s will and capacity to implement them,” the business coach says.

A holistic coaching approach can be very effective. “I have been working

with Ken Teramura for the last 12 to 15 years…Ken has always been available should a situation develop that required his input. Even more

valuable has been his insight into the business; his ability to ask questions of which might seem obvious but are sometimes missed; his ability to target the crux of a problem or situation and be able to ask the difficult question.

Ken has created a coaching style that for me was individual. It was not prepacked like so many coaches. He understands me, my limits, and my capabilities, and was able to magnify them. He helped me develop my practice to be both seamless and successful,”repeat client Morley Silverman, CFP, says.

Ken told me that he has always been a “glass half full” person and provided a fun example of the magic that happens when he focuses on the silver lining. “I was giving blood (a positive). Although I was mentally prepared to take one for the human team, I wasn’t overjoyed about being poked, jabbed and filleted in order to do so. As the technician tightened the rubber band around my arm, it occurred to me that my blood type (B+) would make a great company name, because it succinctly captured my personality and my personal philosophy/approach to business coaching (another positive). Maybe that explains why I didn’t feel anything when the technician took my blood. Positive outcomes like this happen to me and my clients all the time,” the business coach says.

Sometimes life tosses grenades and it is difficult to find the silver lining.“When I was 14 years old, my only sibling/sister (Brenda) drowned.When we were newly married, Cathie and I lost our first child (Megan). At first glance, it is hard to find anything positive in these tragedies. Over time, I have come to see these events as a reminder that I can control how I think about everything and that is a very positive outcome. Bottom line, having a positive attitude keeps me moving forward and helps me to be better person, and a better husband, father and grandfather,” Ken adds.

A positive attitude brings energy to the business owner and to the team, both as individuals and as professionals. A positive attitude also helps Ken to be a better coach in that he often has to ask his clients to do things that they may not feel competent or comfortable doing. If the request is not approached with compassion and from the belief that positive change is in fact possible, his clients will (understandably) resist.

Wendy Eustace, another long-term colleague says, “Ken Teramura and I have worked together for more than 8 years. Ken is compassionate, professional, a great listener and a very knowledgeable coach. A man of integrity and a life long learner himself, Ken is a humble leader. If you need someone to help you gain a clearer perspective, to keep you accountable to create unprecedented results, I urge you to speak with Ken.”

Ken encourages his clients to work ON their businesses, rather than IN their businesses. “Step out of the office, unplug from technology, dream a little. If you don’t understand where your business is heading, then you don’t know what you have to do to get there or how to tell when you’ve arrived,” he says.

He also believes there is a link between a person’s personal life and his or her business life and continues to be surprised by the number of people whose sense of self worth is defined by their job. “Because of our vortex lives, it is easy to overlook the importance of the personal things, and to build the things that make us happy into our busy schedules. “For example, I have a new grandson. My happiness about that wonderful event spills over to my business life.Even when I’m busy, I purposefully and happily build ‘Ezra-time’ into my schedule,” Ken says.

There is no cost for the first 45-minute, “Getting to know you/can we work together?” phone call. Since Ken does not subscribe to a cookie cutter consulting approach or have a menu of prepackaged coaching solutions, he is willing to provide as much or as little business coaching as the client requires. Before he decides if he can add value, Ken asks potential clients to describe the three things that keep them up at night.“If a client can’t articulate his or her challenges, or does not have a clear vision about where he or she would like the business to be in ten year’s time, both of us are likely to be frustrated with the coaching process and with each other,” Ken says.

Even the hardest working business owner runs the risk of becoming like Lewis Carroll’s Alice, lost in Wonderland if he fails to plan. “I have never met an entrepreneur that did not have hundreds or even thousands of great ideas which is why I’m so surprised by how many entrepreneurs fail to write them down or to plan what they are going to do to actualize them.This makes it relatively easy for human, technological and geopolitical changes to distract, derail and even hijack the business.” Ken says.

When I asked Ken if he had any words of advice for entrepreneurs considering a business coach he says, “Coaching is very personal. To get the most out of the relationship, you and your coach have to be kindred spirits. Whatever you do, don’t settle. The right coach will help you realize just how very powerful you are.

”Before he launched his own firm, Ken worked in corporate training at the head office of Investors Group. In addition to business coaching and consulting, he currently serves on the Board for Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba. In May 2017, Ken and his wife Cathie celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary. The Teramura’s have two adult children, Keeley and Connor. Their seven-month old grandson Ezra, and their two Shitzus, Zeppellin and Sumo, continue to provide work/life balance, inspiration, and joy.

Suzen Fromstein is the author of Suits and Ladders, Ten Proven Ways to Keep Your Job Safe - with a few jokes thrown in. Suits and Ladders was an Amazon Best Selling Book in the Career Guides Category

Be Positive

Team Based Coaching

Ken Teramura; Founder

bepositiveco@shaw.ca

Ken Teramura (204) 295-8857