What is Business Coaching?
So very often when we see and meet business owners for the first time they often ask, “What is this coaching thing?” Or, “I know it all. I don’t need coaching.” So let’s draw a few parallels between coaching in personal training and coaching in business.
What images does it conjure up when we talk about people with a personal trainer? For quite a lot of people, a personal trainer is quite an exclusive thing. To have a personal trainer you’ve got to have money. You’ve got to be highly successful. You’ve got to be fairly fit, driven, and know what you want. You also have to be prepared to be pushed and challenged. You need to have someone who is going to call you out on your B.S. when you don’t want to do the work, when you’re making excuses, or when you’re not eating properly. A personal trainer is expensive but we all know that the ROI is there because you see results.
In business coaching, it is exactly the same. The coach is not there to do the work for you and they’re not there to tell you what to do. A good coach will ask a lot of questions and help you find the answers yourself but they won’t give them to you. That’s up to you.
Very often people get confused between coaching and consulting. So let me help you draw the line here. A consultant comes into your business and does the work for you. A coach will teach you, mentor you, help train you to do it for yourself.
Now you’re thinking, hold on. Why am I paying you not to do it for me? Let’s clarify. Imagine going to the gym and they say, ” Take a seat. Today we are going to be lifting 30kg dumbbells. But you have a seat, Peter, have a drink. I’m going to pick up the dumbbells for you. So I’m going to do the 30 reps for you.” How would that work? Would you ever get fitter as a person? Absolutely not. Would you be paying the personal trainer to get fitter? Absolutely.
And very often when consultants come into the business it doesn’t work because they do all the work, the business owner doesn’t, they make all the changes and as soon as the consultant’s taken out, guess what? Over a period of time, that business always reverts back to the single lowest common denominator, which very often is the leadership in the business, which is you.
Business coaching is all about YOU learning. It is about getting the best out of you and developing you. If you don’t grow and develop, you will be the person holding back the business. You may be thinking, “Ah, that’s me.” Absolutely, so now you need to do something about it and get the right business strategy coach.
