Business coaching has evolved from something completely unknown in the 1980s to an extremely in-demand service in Australia and throughout the world.
The good news:
Most business owners see business coaches as an investment that their organisation needs to succeed. They are starting to become informed consumers who understand the influence and outcomes of working with a successful, proven business coach.
The bad news:
As with anything that gets popular, there are now many people who want to get on the coaching cart and offer themselves as executive coaches. Anyone today can give himself or herself the label of “business coach”.
How do you know who is really “Good”?
Here are five qualities a good business coach must have. Read through them and keep them in mind when you’re considering a business coach to help you run, manage, and grow your business better.
You’ll be ensured that business coaching becomes a great investment; not a huge waste of time and money with the tips below.
A Good Business Coach…
Has a clear and proven process
A really skilled coach can provide you with an overview of his process. He or she will move you through the process clearly.
That process should include, but is not limited to:
Defining key challenges and objectives
- Helping you understand where you are, and more importantly, where you want to go
- Describing how you will learn new skills and tactics
- Helping you understand how these new skills will be applied directly to your business
- Specific action plans to achieve business and profit growth
A good business coach understands more than his own point of view
He is not a dictator
If the coach does not take into consideration your opinions, concerns, and views, instead relies only on his own opinion, you will likely have a problem.
A good business coach will tell you that his approach includes gathering information about your company, the people who work with you, and also ‘patterns’ of feedback to draw a clear picture of how you are seen by others.
He will then work with you to decide the areas where you can have the most positive impact on how you are being watched by your team or your client. He will also look into their capabilities and their success. A good business coach will also help you prioritise your goals in order of urgency.
He demonstrates real skills backed by real success
A good coach should have a strong client portfolio that helps illustrate real achievements. These success stories tell you that he has the skills you need from a business coach.
If a coach cannot or does not share testimonials or case studies showing how he/she has helped other businesses, why are you thinking about working with him/her?
Furthermore, great business coaches will be able to describe very specifically how they have worked with their past clients to achieve success while maintaining dignity and without divulging sensitive or confidential information about their past clients (also see below).
He respects confidentiality
A good and trustworthy business coach maintains client confidentiality. It’s really as simple as that.
Will your business coach make very clear arrangements about confidentiality in advance with their clients? Good. This is enormously important.
He helps you make the most of your budget
Yes. You probably already realised that an investment is needed for a business coach to help you grow your business.
But if a coach starts selling you additional services that are clearly beyond your reach in managerial coaching, this might be a RED flag.
A few additional services could prove to be really handy, but if it seems that upsells become his only offering, politely step aside.
Looking for a top-notch Melbourne business coach? Contact BRUCE today or fill out this form and let’s discuss how I can change your business and your life.
