Business coaching is one of the best tools available for the growth and success of small and medium enterprises.
Business coaching context:
Starting a business is not easy. Sustaining and growing is even more difficult in an ever-changing VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) business environment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70% of the small businesses (with 500 or fewer employees) fail within the first decade. Most fail to reach annual revenue of $10 million, and the minority reach $100 million in annual revenue.
Why is business success elusive?
In the last two decades, the way we do business has changed drastically. Think about the trends and disruptions
- Globalization of markets and supply chain
- Internet, smartphones, worldwide connectivity
- Rapid changes aided by technology
- Global competition and continuous change
- Changing customer needs and high expectations
These factors impact businesses in both positive and negative ways. Small and medium businesses that anticipate and adapt to these changes usually survive and thrive. Businesses that fail to change their strategy and approach may suffer or even go out of business.
Business coaching for business success.
Many factors account for a business’s success (or failure): the right product, the right time, good marketing, unique niche, or even plain luck. However, one factor that consistently predicts the long-term success of any business is the quality of the leadership in the company. To grow the company, the leaders need to grow. So it starts from the top – the owners, the promoters, and the top management team (CEO, CXO, etc.). The impact of good and not so good leadership can easily be seen in the business performance over the long term. Obviously, the owners and promoters of the business are the driving force in small and medium enterprises. Therefore, the company cannot grow beyond its own growth. Business coaching is one of the best tools to support business owners, proprietors, CEOs, and senior leadership teams.
What exactly is business coaching?
The job of a CEO or a business owner is not easy. At a lower level, an employee can discuss things with their supervisor. But, who does a CEO bring his issues to? Where can the business owner reflect his ideas, get clarity, and get support – in a confidential conversation? Obviously, a business owner cannot discuss his worries, concerns, fears, plans, problems, etc., with their employees. It is ironic and sad that the person whose development will have the largest impact on the company usually cannot ask anyone for help. In addition, business owners are constantly bombarded with urgent issues. When do they get time to think, plan and reflect without being interrupted? Without the time to think and reflect, the business owner can make rash and reactive decisions that may impact the owner’s effectiveness and the business performance. That is where a business coach comes in. Business coaching creates a pause, a safe and confidential environment for the leader to think, reflect, and re-organize priorities.
Read: CEO coaching – the what why and how of it
Business coaching – Why do we need it?
Most business owners are self-made. However, they are also hands on.
Many business owners have difficulty in transitioning from owner operated business to a professionally managed business.
What brought them to this level of success in business stops them from reaching the next level of success. Business coaching provides the mindset, skillset, and toolset to help the leader make this transition. Think of the Olympics or any professional sport. Every successful athlete or sportsperson has a coach. From school level athletes all the way to professional level sports, everyone has a coach. This is true even for those who are the best in the world. But, if they are the best in the world, why do they need a coach? The coach provides an outside perspective, holds the athlete accountable, and supports them continuously. No athlete would ever think of “doing it alone.” It is not possible to compete at any level without the help of a coach. Why should business be different? In a highly competitive, constantly changing, and disruptive business world, it is difficult for a small or medium business owner to do it all alone. Just like the athletes have a sports coach, business owners hire a business coach to help them and their business reach higher levels of success and avoid the pitfall that is part of a competitive business environment.
How can the business coach help?
The business coach can help with one or more of the following areas of business skills.
- Create a shared vision
- Set the right strategy
- Design and implement processes
- Hire the right talent
- Lead and inspire employees
- Stay ahead of continuous change
- Build partnerships within and outside
- Get more work done efficiently from the team
Business coaching can also help with developing the leader individually
- Provide an outside perspective and act as a sounding board
- Understand own strengths and improvement areas
- Gain clarity and decide on improvement areas
- Create, commit and make progress on your action plan with small, consistent actions
- Get satisfaction and fulfillment from your career
- Survive and thrive in the next normal and a VUCA world
- Future proof your leadership skills
- Become a coaching leader
Business coaching has gone from “remedial” to essential.
Two decades ago, most business owners wouldn’t dare to admit that they had hired a business coach! Most people would look down on them. Why do you need business coaching? Don’t you know your own business? Is there something wrong with you? Are you not smart enough? Business coaching was looked upon as “remedial.” It was needed to “fix” an incompetent leader or business owner. Today, we have come around a full circle. In industry meets and around the conference tables, business coaching is discussed openly. Small and medium business owners routinely ask one another if they knew a good business coach and if they could provide their references. Smart business owners are taking advantage of business coaches to grow and stay ahead of the competition. Business coaching has become essential and is considered a competitive edge.
Most of the Fortune 500 companies use coaching to develop leaders and to improve performance and productivity. Why should small and medium business be left out?
How to select the right business coach?
In sports, the top players seldom become great coaches. What is the main reason? Coaching requires a different skill set. When you are a player, you do things yourself. When you are a coach – you have to use many skills like motivating, reflecting, building relationships, instilling discipline, supporting growth, accountability, and many more. While good working knowledge is necessary, it is in no way sufficient to make a good coach. Here are some of the criteria and questions to ask to select the right business coach
- Can the coach support you?
- Will the coach challenge you?
- Can the coach collect and deliver honest feedback?
- Does the coach have a structured and validated process?
- Does the coach maintain confidentiality?
- Will the coach help change the leader’s behaviors AND the team’s perception?
- Does the coach practice what he preaches? Role models the right behaviors?
- Does the coach have relevant experience in coaching?
For more details on selecting the coach, please read my articleHow to find the best executive coach for you or the leaders in your organization
A majority of the owners don’t get the business coaching they need:
According to many surveys, 90% of the small business CEOs don’t get the business coaching they really need. There may be many reasons for this. Many business owners are not aware that business coaching exists. Some other owners believe in the old paradigm that they are weak or incompetent if they ask for help. Others don’t know where to find a business coach or how to evaluate business coaching.
Without proper business coaching, the business owners and top leaders perform well below their potential. And consequently so does their business!
Get the best business coaching today.
We bring a tried and tested process for business coaching that has a 95% effectiveness rate. We offer our New Age Leadership – NAL Triple Advantage Business Coaching. That delivers guaranteed and measurable leadership growth. It is based on a stakeholder-centered coaching process with a 95% effectiveness rate (a study of 11000 leaders on 4 continents). It is used by companies ranging from startups to 150 Fortune 500 companies to develop their leaders. Here are some of the salient benefits of NAL Triple Advantage Leadership Coaching.
Time and resource-efficient:The leader does not have to leave work to attend training programs. We go to the leader and her team. And it only takes 1.5 hours per month. The rest of the time, the leader is working to implement with her team.
Separate and customized improvement areas for each leader: Every leader is different. One size fits all approach doesn’t work. Instead, individual development areas for each leader are aligned to the business strategy.
Involves entire team: Unlike most leadership programs, NAL Triple Advantage Leadership Coaching involves the leader’s entire team. As a result, it has a cascading effect – increasing the team effectiveness and improving organizational culture.
The leader becomes the coach: for continuous improvement for leaders themselves and their teams. It is like kaizen for your leadership development.
Cost-Effective: Our entire one-year coaching engagement often costs less than sending the leader to a short-duration leadership program at any reputed B school.
Guaranteed and measurable leadership growth: as assessed – not by us – but anonymously rated by the leader’s own team members.
Pay us only after we deliver results! : We work with many of our clients on a pay for results basis. What does it mean? If the leaders don’t improve, you don’t have to pay us.
Schedule an exploratory 15-minute conversation with our leadership adviser today