What is business coaching?
Business coaching is effectively mentoring, support and advice. A coach can add value to your business by setting goals and helping the businesses focus on what is most important. The aim of business coaching is to help you develop successfully in the way that you want. Business coaching can teach the skills needed to grow your business, the ability to raise targets and focus time and attention on what really matters. You will get independent and objective advice to help you make decisions.
What are the options for business coaching?
You can have one to one coaching, coaching development workshops or virtual group coaching. These sessions can be weekly, fortnightly, by phone or email or whatever you agree with the business coach.
What are the benefits of coaching?
Business coaching can offer support to unleash the company’s potential and bring about changes, growth and long lasting business results. Coaching can help a new business or transform and improve an existing business. The right business coach can help you develop staff, enhance performance, improve productivity and work life balance and generally help overcome obstacles and challenges. Business coaching can also help you develop a business plan, a sales and marketing strategy, develop confidence and interpersonal, time management and organisational skills as well as improve overall performance, productivity and effectiveness.
How does it work?
By focusing on your specific company needs. Business coaches take an impartial look at your business, its strengths and weaknesses and work with you to get the most out of the business. You sign up for a certain number of sessions – perhaps talking to the coach once a week or once a fortnight (or email, or even face to face) This helps keep a tight focus, generates more commitment and encourages you to take the action necessary between sessions. Knowing you will be talking to your coach on a regular basis is a real motivator to make changes. You should become more focused, organised and structured.
Why does coaching work?
Coaching is effective because you have the coach on your side to help you focus on what matters most to you. Because you agree to regular sessions you focus and commit, become more organised and structured. Coaching is personal; it is about you as well as your business. It will develop your personal needs and strengths as well as those of your business.
What is the difference between business coaching and business consultancy?
Business coaching will help you to clarify the most important goals and aims for your business, helping you take and keep control. It can teach you techniques and skills to make the right decisions.
Business consulting on the other hand is much narrower and will focus on business aims, objectives and targets and how to achieve them. The business will be analyzed to see how it operates and you will get advice how to improve profits or run it better. It can be particularly useful for specific projects, rather than ongoing business support.
Why are there so many different coaching qualifications?
Currently, there is no central body in the UK regulating coaching. There are various organisations offering many types of training. These range from one-day courses to part-time courses which can take a couple of years to complete. There are also many books and home study courses on coaching. Many coaches are trained Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioners.
What type of coaching models are there?
There are a few different coaching models. Many coaches follow what is known as the GROW model. The GROW model is applied to all forms of coaching, whether it be in a business or life context. You book a series of sessions in which you work through the GROW model and continually review your progress towards achieving your goals.
G – goal
Your coach will ask you lots of questions to establish specifically what it is that you want to achieve.
R – reality
Identify where you are right now in terms of meeting your goals, the progress you’ve made so far and any obstacles that might be getting in the way.
O – options
You will be challenged to look at all the options open to you. You will look at things that you could do, but not necessarily should do.
W – will or way forward
You turn your ideas into action points. You will agree with your coach what you will do and when you will do it by. This will be reviewed at your next session.
How can I get an accredited coach?
Look at the International Coach Federation website (ICF) .This is the largest worldwide resource for business and personal coaches, and the source for those who are seeking a coach. The ICF is a non-profit, individual membership organization formed by professionals worldwide who practice business and personal coaching. There is a free search directory to find a coach. www.coachfederation.org
