Are you an entrepreneur ready to grow yourself and your business to the next level? In that case, a business coach can help you get there, but be sure to look for these attributes in the coaches you consider working with.
Summary
These are the attributes you should look for in a business coach:
- A track record in coaching entrepreneurs.
- Someone with great questions.
- Look for a fit with you.
- A person who can help you grow as an entrepreneur and leader.
- An experienced entrepreneur who gets you to face the facts.
- The coach that you will be accountable to.
- An entrepreneurial coach who has completed coach training.
If you are ready to consider a business coach, call me at +1 (604) 721-5732 or Contact Me.
Audio
Transcript
What should you look for in a business coach?
Coaching I think is a fundamentally different kind of relationship. I think you need to look differently at what you want in those relationships. For example, in consultants and advisors you look for their expertise. When you go to a coach you look for their expertise in coaching people. What’s their track record in actually coaching people.
It’s different. You are going to build a relationship with your coach. At the end of the day the coach is going to come with questions not the answers. A good coach is going to help you realize what the answers are that are the best for you. They act as someone who facilitates that process, not someone who actually has the answers.
For this reason, it is very important that you have a great fit with a coach. I recommend that you spend time with a perspective coach, or you interview or spend time with multiple coaches to really get a feel for what it is like to be with them, be challenged by them, and be on a call with them. Make sure there is going to be a fit.
Ultimately you hire a coach because you want to grow yourself to the next level. So that you can grow your business to the next level. So that you can grow your people to the next level. That’s the reason you should be looking to hire a coach.
Are you prepared to be challenged by the coach you are considering? There is no point hiring someone that is just going to give “yes” answers to you. That’s probably why you are looking for a coach right now. You want someone who will ask you the tough questions, who will ask you to face up to the brutal facts, and that you won’t hide from any of these. All too often as entrepreneurs and the leaders of our business, people are afraid to actually put the real issues on the table. Or there is something else that is holding them back from really telling it like it is. That’s not the case with a coach. A good coach will tell you the way they see it. That’s what you want.
Does the coach you are considering have enough business experience? I have over thirty-five years’ experience as an entrepreneur. It’s not important, necessarily, that your coach has domain experience in the industries you are familiar with. They need to be someone who has expertise in how to accelerate and grow you and your business.
You need to be prepared to be accountable to your coach. Otherwise, how can you really make progress? You need to ask yourself:
- Are you prepared to be accountable?
- Have you chosen a coach or are you looking at a coach who has a good track record of being accountable?
Then there is the issue of training. I was surprised when I decided to become a coach and decided to take my coach training through The Coach Training Institute, that I learned a whole new set of skills. I had spent a lot of time coaching employees and others throughout my career, but it [coach training] lifted and accelerated and lifted myself and brought me an entire new set of skills that I have been able to bring to clients since I competed my coach training and become a coach. I don’t think it is as important that someone be certified as a coach. I do think it is important that they have had some training as a coach.
If you are ready to change and grow and figure out what is next for you, then I would love to be the coach that helps you. Give me a call or send me an email and we’ll set up a time where we can be together for an hour so we can collaborate together for an hour to solve whatever your current challenge is. From there, we’ll figure out whether there is a fit.
