Genuine Contact for Small Business

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This blog post is the first in our new bi-weekly small business column by Rachel Bolton.

Rachel Bolton has been a part of the Dalar team since 1998.  First working with us as our production manager, she undertook training in the Genuine Contact program and was authorized as a Genuine Contact Trainer in 2002.  After working alongside and being mentored by Birgitt and Ward, Rachel formally joined our team as a consultant and coach with Dalar.  She now leads our work with start-ups and small businesses.

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I’ve been working with Genuine Contact for a very long time. More years than I care to count.

I did that work quietly. In the background. First, supporting other consultants who were working with medium and large businesses the Genuine Contact way.  Then, supporting the Genuine Contact program as its first program director.

Slowly, I began coaching small business owners who already had a business in place to explore their business as a Genuine Contact Organization…walking the Medicine Wheel Tool together to ensure that the work being done was in alignment with a clear purpose through values-led leadership, towards an inspiring vision for betterment of the world we all live in.  Still, behind the scenes.  Very quietly.

Over the last year, I’ve had the privilege of also working with half a dozen start-ups.  People who had an idea for work they wanted to do in the world, and were looking for support in making that idea into reality.  We did it together, based in Genuine Contact.

Somewhere along the way, I had an epiphany.

I’ve literally grown up immersed in Genuine Contact.  For me, the ‘living’ part of ‘living and working the Genuine Contact Way’ has always been true.

I’ve also always known how incredibly successful working the Genuine Contact Way can be for medium to large organizations.  I’ve seen it to be true over and over again in consulting assignments I’ve been a part of.

And while I’ve inherently known that working the Genuine Contact Way is also incredibly valuable for small businesses and solo-entrepreneurs, it’s not something that we talk about often.  Not in the Genuine Contact community, and not here at Dalar either.

Yet, the Genuine Contact community has been largely built by people who are solo-entrepreneurs or working as part of small business partnerships and teams.  We are each successful in what we do because our small businesses are based on the solid foundation of Genuine Contact too.  And, I’ve been working as a coach for entrepreneurs working the Genuine Contact Way for years too.

The epiphany was that it’s important that rather than just inherently knowing that this way of working is possible, that it’s time to begin being explicit in working the Genuine Contact Way with small businesses too.  To talk about how working the Genuine Contact Way works for solo-entrepreneurs and small businesses.  To do that, we’ll be sharing stories, insights and practical ways you can work the Genuine Contact Way as an entrepreneur here in the blog.  We’ll also be sharing some specialized offerings for taking this learning deeper into your work every day.

If you’re a small business owner, I’d love to hear from you!  How has working with Genuine Contact impacted your work in the world?  Leave a reply below.