Even the world’s best can’t do it all on
their own. Athletes such as tennis No.1 Novak Djokovic, the world’s best footballer Lionel Messi, and
Rugby World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson all reached the pinnacle of their
craft, yet each has coaches and advisors around them to guide them further down
the path of success. Likewise can be said of the sharpest minds in business;
Caan, Robbins, Branson etc and political leaders like Obama and Cameron have a back room of staff
offering direction. Just because
they have achieved success does not mean they presume to be the finished
article. They continue to employ leading thinkers and
experts in specific fields around them, regardless of the success they enjoy.
So the question is, if the best in the world in
every field recruits a bit of help – why don’t you?
With the help of our clients, we’ve come up
with…..
5 Ways
that a Coach
can make a Difference:
1. Offers a different perspective - It is
always rewarding in some form to receive alternative ideas on the processes,
values, people, products etc that make up your business. Often when an owner or
MD spends a lengthy period involved with the intricacies of running a business,
they lose the ability to identify areas of weakness that may have gradually
increased over years, subtle enough to be overlooked by
the SMT. The fresh approach of a coach entering such an environment with a
clear head and no preconceptions benefits even the most affluent of
organisations, as there is always something to be improved upon.
2. Can’t afford to have a coach? More like can’t afford NOT TO – of course no coach would offer their services for free, so yes
unfortunately they come at a price. But it can’t be stressed enough that this
short-term expense would see a return on your investment swiftly, and in more
ways than one. Cost saving short cuts can be taken and increased productivity
means that from a financial perspective, the benefits will become apparent quite quickly. The removal of a negative or unproductive employee or
a slight change in processes and procedures can have a profound effect on the
overall cost effectiveness of your business. However what I would argue is the
most striking benefit to cost effectiveness is the time that is saved. Time is
the most valuable currency that any of us hold, so to spend that time listening
to someone who has been through the process of running a successful business
may end up saving you from time wasting initiatives and rash ventures further
down the road.
3. Focuses concentration on the right areas
– as alluded to earlier, it is very easy for members of senior management to
get bogged down in the detail of the day to day running of the company,
particularly in SME’s when staff numbers are low. This can lead to a loss of
direction as the team has lost its’ captain at the helm. Growth and expansion
become difficult, as those required to facilitate this are focused elsewhere. A
business coach can, then, coach you and your team to focus ‘on’ rather than ‘in’
the business.
4. Accountability – procrastination is the
barrier to growth. When you are a law unto yourself, as owners of business
usually are, things get stuck on the back burner. Jobs that may require
something that makes you uncomfortable or might be out of your comfort zone can
get forgotten about. When you only have yourself to answer to, simply put,
you’ll probably get lazy. The presence of a business coach positively alters
this dynamic, giving you someone who can scrutinise your decisions and force
you to question the judgements you make. In short, business owners become
accountable to the coach, therefore can no longer put off the jobs which
otherwise would be left undone.
5. Life and Business experience - we never
stop learning. However long you have run a business for, there’s always a
lesson to learn from every new experience, if you are open-minded enough to see
it. It is this open-mindedness that makes the acquisition of a coach especially
rewarding. Surely it makes sense to take the advice of someone who has been in
your position, and has seen it through to achieve success. The road to success
is never a straightforward one, indeed it is more likely a maze in which you
are presented with multiple options at every turn, making it incredibly difficult
to reach your targets. A business coach stands at your shoulder, helping you to
identify the right route to take, having walked the maze before and having made
mistakes that they can now help you to avoid.
The world’s best across all industries have coaches, so why
wouldn’t you?
