Business Coaching
Award winning Business Trainer Derek O'Dwyer takes a look at every organisation needs to consider Business Coaching.
Coaching is a relatively new concept in business. Essentially, coaches do for business people exactly the same thing as a sports coach does for sports people – help them, and their businesses, reach maximum potential.
The question coaches often get asked is, “but what could you teach me about my business? I’ve been in business for years and I’ve done well”. Coaches should reply - “Absolutely nothing. If you have built your
business or department successfully then you are unquestionably an expert in your field. There is nothing coaches can each you – about your business.” What coaches can do though is give you a completely objective view of your business. Coaches can work with you to enable you to tap into the knowledge and experience gained from working with thousands of businesses, the knowledge of what has really worked in those businesses and introduce you to a way of thinking about your business that will change the way the you approach things.
“Working on building the business profits is often the first thing that effective coaches focus on when working with a new client”
Let’s look at the sports analogy again. There is no denying that David Beckham is immensely talented as a footballer. Would his raw talent alone have made him successful? Almost certainly. But it was Alex Ferguson, his coach, who was able to recognise the full extent of that potential, had the knowledge of how to tap into it and had the skills to enable Beckham to realise his potential to the full.
It’s exactly the same in business. Many senior managers have made it on their own talent and are running profitable businesses as a result. But the question is, what are their and their real potential, and that of their business or department? That’s why business coaching is so important. It’s the key that can unlock the potential in both business and manager.
Effective coaches don’t consult. They don’t do the work for you. They will teach you how to realise that potential, by giving you the knowledge, the tools, the vision, motivation and challenge to take both you and your businesses to the next level, and to ultimately enjoy the financial and lifestyle benefits that come with it.
Let’s look at TIME first. Do you work harder than anyone else in your business?
A business can be described as “a profitable enterprise that works without you”. The key is the last phrase… that works without YOU. If you are the greatest asset of your business or department, the glue that holds everything together, you don’t have a business – you have a JOB. Effective coaches can help you work on the things that get you out of your job and give you your business. You might, of course, like to start with having more time to spend with your family, on your hobbies or take a holiday… Which leads to the TEAM. In order for you to have the time, you need to have the TEAM. Great teams don’t just happen. Coaches can work on how to recruit, build and motivate your team. On how to ensure they give the best customer service - as good as you could give – every time, all the time. Then the business can work without you.
"Why would I, or anyone in my management team, need a business coach? Is a question we are always being asked”
What about profit and turnover? Immensely important, of course, and often the main reason for business people wanting to work with coaches. As such, working on building the business profits is often the
first thing that effective coaches focus on when working with a new client. Effective coaches focus on strategies that have been proven to be effective and use these to unlock the potential within YOUR business or department. Effective coaches have the tools, knowledge and systems, and you, as the expert in your field, will implement them and get your business flying. Did you know, for example, that by working on five key areas in your business and improving them by just 10%, you will improve your profits by more than a 60% ? What would a 60% increase in PROFITS mean to you?
Coaching within the business is also a very important follow up part to training & development. Business coaches sometimes claim that seminars and training programmes do not work. They don’t – the people that attend them do. Follow up coaching to training programmes ensures that the training participants do put into practice what they have learned during the training. The follow up ensures that training participants do not give up at the first hurdle and effectively encourages them to learn new habits. Of course, in order tolearn or acquire a new habit you have to unlearn an old habit and this is often the hard part.
Some coaching firms offer, as part of their coaching programmes, training on sales, customer service, team building, time management, systems and overall business alignment. These courses allow the coach to leverage time and introduce new concepts to larger groups where the client business may be large or widely distributed.
In terms of measuring the success of the coaching for business, it is important again to refer back to the sporting analogy. Take the example of the best swimming coach in the word and a new swimming pupil. If the pupil refuses to get into the water or does not see the point of getting wet, all the coaching in the world will be irrelevant. The same is true in business, the client must participate. More importantly, they must participate 100% and give the programme full attention. In some cases, where the manager is addicted to the “busy” drug, they will just not give themselves the time or the space to step back and start the process of growing and developing their business in a structured manner. In many cases the coach is trying to change the type of work being done by the manager, rather than reducing the number of hours – that comes after the “hard yards”.
The coaching process can take a number of different forms depending on where the manager is at with the business. Some business coaches offer Business Boot Camp Events, Single Planning Days, Group Coaching and 1-2-1 coaching.
Business Coaching is one of the fastest growing businesses in the world, with more and more managers recognising the value of having a neutral unbiased confidante to speak to and to have someone who holds them accountable for results on a week to week basis.
