You need a business coach—there’s no way around it. In my 17 years as an accounting professional (12 of them as CEO of Ignite Spot), I've worked with hundreds of business leaders. I now see that every successful person has a good coach in his or her corner. I also believe that every great coach has a different coach helping them along.
Research from management consultants Korn Ferry International shows that after introducing business coaching, 96% of organizations reported individual performance improvements. Further, 92% reported improved effectiveness in leadership and management.
Obviously, you don’t know how to do everything. In this world, some people will always be better at certain aspects of business and life than you are. So, learn from them.
A lot of entrepreneurs entertain the idea of hiring a business coach (also called an executive coach or leadership coach), but are they worth the investment? The answer depends on your goals and the type of coach you engage. Hiring a trainer, consultant, counselor, therapist, manager, mentor, teacher, or even a life coach for the same cost you’d pay an executive coach, for example, will backfire. That’s because a business coach is a wholly unique role.
If you want to become the best at something, you should find the best in the world and pay them for their time. Yes, you can read their book, and yes, you can learn on your own. But how long will it take you to master the subject? And how many unanswered questions will you have along the way?
One analogy is in cooking a chocolate cake. Assume you want to cook the world’s best chocolate cake. You could experiment with a lot of recipes, read all the books, and bake every day. Eventually, you’ll get there, but it could take five or even ten years of constant refining.
The other option would be to research who makes the best chocolate cake in the world and spend time with that person. Imagine standing in their kitchen and actually baking with them. If you do that, you’ll learn 100 times faster.
I have a business coach, and yes, he’s worth every penny. But not all coaches are created equal. A helper who focuses on knowledge transfer, imposes their own agenda, or works without purpose, for example, isn’t worth the cost of a business coach’s fee. So put yourself in the executive kitchen with a master business chef. That way, you’ll create and consume all the first-hand learning that you can.
When we drop our egos and admit that we don’t know everything, we can finally see that we’re the biggest hindrance to our company’s growth.
Our fears often hold the company back. That is, until a coach helps us face (and understand) them.
If you’re reckless or miserly with money, your business will suffer financially—until you get a coach. If you’re horrible about training, your staff will suffer from productivity and morale—unless you get a business coach that helps you excel in people development. If your vendor management stinks, then your operations will stall and fail—until a qualified coach changes your perspective toward your partners.
You get the idea.
Business coach and speaker Tony Mayo says business leaders come to coaching with all kinds of goals, but one always tops the list: conflict management.
Source: 2013 Executive Coaching Survey, Stanford University (in association with the Miles Group)
You may have a challenge in mind now that you’d like help with. Or, you may know something’s holding you back, but you’re not sure exactly what it is. A coach can help with both.
Watch and learn 8 key factors that give your business a competitive advantage from Executive Coach Savage here.
A good business coach can be expensive—between $1,000 and $4,000 a month, typically. And for the small amount of time you get with them, it makes sense to question their value. Let’s look at what a business coach is not in order to clarify what, exactly, a business coach is (and subsequently, is worth).
The reason you pay differently (usually more) for a business coach than these other roles is because your coach’s work is unique to you and your agendas, not their own or those of a curriculum. Let’s look at what you might expect from coaching.
Stakes seem high when looking for the right coach, but a little trial and error is expected (and even healthy). Your goal is to understand your own weaknesses and then find an expert in that skill set. Alternatively, you can find a generalist to help you learn your specific areas for improvement.
We put too much pressure on ourselves to find the perfect mentor or coach. Here are a few tried-and-true tips.
Experts at the Association of Talent Management say that instead of all the above roles, an executive coach “provides a safe, structured, and trustworthy environment in which to offer support for the individual. The coach also helps the leader understand their current competencies, see how they’re perceived by others, and focus on identifying and clarifying current goals as well as the appropriate action steps to reach those goals.”
In practice, that means mental breakthroughs and perspective changes that perpetually get you and your business “unstuck.”
Experts at Wharton’s McNulty Leadership Program describe the rhythmic developmental growth of working with a business coach this way: a period of active experimentation (planning) is followed by concrete experience (doing), which is followed by reflective observation (reviewing), which is followed by abstract conceptualization (concluding), followed by more informed active experimentation, and so on.
Source: University of Pennsylvania Wharton McNulty Leadership Program
If you hire a coach who doesn’t help you achieve clarity using one or all of these tactics, then remember you’re free to fire them.
As you search for the right person, avoid entering into a long-term contract with a coach. A good coach should earn his or her keep each month. Their presence and commitment to you should be so strong that you want to keep them around.
Start by asking around within your network. Go to other business owners you know and ask them if they have a coach. If so, request an introduction.
If none of your professional peers have a recommendation, find a few (moderated) online Q&A forums full of business owners and make some inquiries. Another option is to “Find a Coach” on the International Coaching Federation’s website.
You can Google your way to a good business coach and mentor, but be careful of their hype. As the demand for good coaches has skyrocketed, so has the number of fraudulent suppliers.
The coaching industry isn’t regulated, so there are a lot of bad players who promise the world and deliver only snake oil.
In fact, some of them are downright thieves. So, yes, you have every right to be wary of them. I’ve seen people pay thousands of dollars to an “expert” and get no value in return. But this mainly happens when people start their research on a search engine rather than with a professional friend, fellow business leader referrals, or credible institutions.
However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn't explore getting a coach. I have one. I also have a degree in Accounting and an MBA. Despite my education and experience, I use my coach a lot. I rely on him heavily to help me navigate my company and work toward achieving my dreams. Just be sure your search starts with your network, and your shortlist only includes coaches with the right education and track record.
After you’ve collected a handful of potential coaches, it’s time to weed out the good ones—to find the best one.
So, how do you know if a coach is going to be great? First, they need to have a track record, not just of helping other people succeed, but also of helping themselves succeed. If your coach is living in his mother’s basement and doing this on the side while he works his part-time day job as a pizza delivery guy, I would hesitate to pay him for his services. Again, look for a person with a proven track record.
Second, it helps if they’re part of a reputable system or company. My coach is one of the lead coaches in the Anthony Robbins Life Coaching Program. He helps manage the business mastery classes created by Anthony Robbins and has coached amazing brands around the country. There are a lot of coaching companies out there. Just make sure they have a good track record, and their clients are seeing success. And if they’re certified, be sure the certification is accredited by the International Coaching Federation.
Third, make sure your personality fits. It doesn’t matter who your coach is if you can’t get along. Your business coach or success coach isn’t meant to be your best friend. In fact, you don’t want to be friends at all. They need to have enough personal distance from you to call you on your crap. This person is responsible for holding you accountable to your goals and metrics. Buddy up with this person and emotions get in the way of that accountability. In terms of having a personality fit, make sure that your coach operates the way you do. Are you a fast-moving, energetic nut job like me? Or are you methodical and more subdued?
Just like a good mechanic, dentist, or tailor, you might go through three or four people until you find a great business coach. Moving on to the next one doesn’t mean the previous coach isn’t qualified or competent—and it doesn’t make you a difficult case. You simply need to find someone you’re comfortable with to truly accept their direction and advice.
If you find a good business coach, they’ll be worth millions to you. This person will get you outside of your comfort zone, hold you accountable, and help drive your success. If you could hit your financial, business, relationship, and health metrics ten years earlier, what would that mean for you?
Clarify the answer to that by engaging Ignite Spot’s CFO services. It’s the first step toward experiencing a unique relationship with a business coach who can show you what’s possible. Sign up now for a free session with an Ignite Spot virtual CFO.
Eddy Hood
