If you are feeling stuck in your business and need help discovering a new path to success, consider hiring a business coach. Hiring a coach can make a significant difference in regards to the future growth and success of your business. The problems you face are challenging. However your coach can help you generate solutions and ideas that will allow you to shift gears so you can give your business a chance to survive.
Having a business coach allows you to engage with new ideas and opportunities for growth. With that said, I feel it’s time to talk about what your coach is not. Understanding what your business coach can do, what they are responsible for and how they can impact your business will help you understand what to expect when you hire a coach. Understanding these few things will help shift your perspective and save you heartache in the long run.
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The Expectations Of A Business Coach
On many occasions I have interviewed potential new clients that will start the interview off with, “I had a bad experience with my last coach.” When I hear this, it leads me to ask a number of questions about their expectations in coaching and why they felt they had a negative experience. Most importantly, I want to know why they believed it did not go well. The most common concerns I hear concerns things like, “My coach did not have a plan for me and wanted me to bring the agenda,” or “My coach was not able to help me understand what was wrong with my business.” I have even heard things like, “I just was not getting my money’s worth.”
Hear me out! All of these business owners felt justified in their reasons for having a bad experience. All in all, not every coach is right for every person. That is a fair statement and at times the relationship is not going to work out. But, I do believe understanding the purpose of a business coach may help shift your perspective so you can get the most out of your coaching experiences in the future.
What Should You Expect From Your Business Coach
There are thousands of quality coaching programs and services available. Business coaching programs are not a one size fits all solution. Business in general is not one size fits all. However, as a business owner, it is important to evaluate your most pressing needs for your business so you can discover the right program for you.
Business coaches will support, educate and motivate you to grow your business. Of course this list is not exhausted, but here are a few ways coaching can provide the support, education and motivation you need to help you grow your business:
- Help you develop goals and vision for your company.
- Assessing strengths and weaknesses for key players.
- Challenge you to see blind spots in your business that may be holding you back from growing.
- Holding you accountable to profitable tasks and projects designed to move your business forward.
- Monitoring business growth and suggesting new methods or ideas that will improve the trajectory of the company’s overall results.
- Giving insight into projects and tasks.
- Keeping you inspired and motivated when the going gets tough.
As a business owner you are so close to your business that it can be hard to spot the roadblocks that are preventing your growth. The additional support of a coach will offer an unbiased viewpoint and remove mental roadblocks resulting in the constructive criticism necessary for stimulating growth and success.
What Your Business Coach is NOT
One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make when hiring a coach is creating the expectation that the coach has a full responsibility to fix your business and to drive the final results. When things are not going well for a business, it is always easier to blame someone, something or the economy for the lack of results. So let’s talk about what your coach is not!
Your coach is not the sales team and does not hold the credit card of your consumers. While your coach will help you enhance your sales skills and develop you as a leader, the coach cannot take full responsibility for your sales process and approach.
Also, your coach is not responsible for generating your leads! While your coach can assist you with practical ways to network and discover leads, they cannot be responsible for what you DO or DO NOT generate when it comes to prospective buyers and leads.
If you have or had a coaching relationship that was not going well, I challenge you to look within your expectations of your coach. If you are still in a rocky coaching relationship, communicate your concerns to your coach. There is a possibility that you are lacking understanding about what you need to be doing to grow. It’s possible you are close minded right now and have not been willing to hear out your coach and the direction they are providing. Understanding what to expect in your relationship with your coach can help you determine what the outcome of the relationship is supposed to look like.
Maybe it is time to break up, but try not to make that rash decision!
What Does Your Coach Expect From You?
As your coach I will want your full attention. Clients that are active in the tactics and objectives they are tasked with prove to be the most successful. The goal is to work on your business rather than in it. Of course I understand that you need to keep the business moving while we work together on your business. However, if you are starting a relationship with a coach that means that you are serious about growth both personally and professionally. Make time for the work you will be tasked with during this relationship.
Be sure to make time to answer your coach’s questions honestly and listen to their advice and recommendations if you want to meet your goals.
The system is not always perfect. Overcoming failure and making mistakes is a part of growing a business and developing as a leader. Despite having a coach, there may be times you fail or something does not work. As an entrepreneur or leader you are fully responsible for your successes and failures! Ask your coach for guidance when something appears to not be working. Together, you will be able to make the changes needed to overcome and keep things moving forward.
Your coach can educate, guide and direct you, but you alone are the person that will make it all happen! Share the challenges you have faced or are facing in the comments below! We would love to help guide you in your coaching relationship.
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