Coaching Is For Champion Athletes And Successful Small Business Owners As Well
You life coach may have played on a sports team and had a coach. But, that may not help you understand how coaching can help in business. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, or the CEO of your company, the focus, goal orientation and strength building of a coach is invaluable.
You may be surprised to know that not only great athletes like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods had coaches. Not only great singers, great actors, or other great artists had coaches. But,CEOs and great business leaders like Michael Dell, Meg Whitman, and Scott McNealy used coaches to reach success.
WHAT IS SMALL BUSINESS COACHING ?
Many people try to explain the coaching process by explaining what it is not. It is not therapy, as there little emphasis on your past, or your psychological profile. It is not business consulting, because the relationship is a collaborative one. The business coach has expertise, but worked with you as a partner to apply what will work best for you.
The executive and small business coach is there to help you set extraordinary goals, and to make you accountable to accomplish them by building on your strengths.
THE REALITY OF COACHING IS DIFFERENT FROM THE MYTHS
MYTH: Coaching is for washout, weak figures who can't make it on their own.
REALITY: It is just those executives with the profiles of champions and a track record of success that understand and maximize the benefits of coaching.
MYTH: Coaching starts by identifying your weaknesses and filling in the gaps.
REALITY: Coaching encourages you to declare a powerful future, of what is possible and predictable based on your strengths. It is there to give you the clarity, power, and velocity to reach your goals.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN
• Business Expertise - A coach should quickly understand what it's like to be in your place. You should have a coach with business experience of running and /or starting a small business to be able to understand your challenges.
• Professional Training - In addition to business experience, a coach should have training in how to help people make positive change in their lives. Such training is from Psychology, Coaching, Social Work or HR programs.
• Encouragement and Support - Your coach is your partner. You must feel that in addition to understanding your situation, that your coach recognizes your strengths and uses them to build your business success
• Goal Oriented - The purpose of the coaching partnership is to get results. One of the key strategies for making that happen is for your coach to collaborate with you to set challenging yet realistic goals, while holding you accountable as well
HOW DO YOU HIRE A SMALL BUSINESS COACH ?
It is not essential to be geographically close to your coach. Most coaching is done by telephone. That opens up the possibilities for you. You can check for coaching online, and it is advisable to review a coach's website to get a sense of whether you feel the coach's background matches your needs. Do not hire a diet or spiritual life coach if you are looking for strategic business planningand growth or ways to find money for your business startup.
In almost all cases, a coach should offer you a free consultation to make sure that you both feel it can be a successful and productive relationship.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE ?
It is really different for everyone, and depends on your long term goals. It is not therapy and will not take years of sessions. On the other hand it is not an advice program. I like to compare it to dieting or physical fitness. You can hear a lecture about what to do, but it takes months of practice to change old habits and establish new ones.
HOW TO CONTRACT WITH YOUR COACH
Make sure the terms of your contract with your business coach are clear, articulated, understood, and agreed to by you and your coach.
Time Frame - Be clear on what help you are asking for and realistic on the time you both think it will take to get done. From my experience it takes at least 3 months to ensure that you have made a plan, executed it, monitored it and follow up to ensure that it was set in place. It is a good idea to set up a trial period of and then reevaluate if both parties still feel it is a win-win relationship.
Have a Clear Focus - Both you and your coach should have a clear focus or vision. The more concrete you can be about your goals the more likelihood it is that you will benefit from business coaching [http://successful-small-business.com/business_management_coaching.html].
Coaching Style - Make explicit your preferred way of being coached. You want advice and insight but you also want to make the final decision on accepting this advice. You are not asking them to do your job for you, just to provide a unique perspective for you to consider in your decision making process. Monitor the coaching process to determine if you feel the coach is pushing you too much, or maybe too little. Like all relationships, your coach will need your feedback in order to help you the most.