This is Part one of a two part article.
Take a moment to think about almost any work out facility in America today. Inside of that facility are many personal trainers. The personal trainer is working with EACH client to strengthen their overall body, specific muscles and overall cardiovascular makeup.
A business Coach does much the same as a personal trainer. The Business Coach will
- Work with you to help you to hone your business skillsets
- Help you to have a better understanding your financials and how to read them
- Provide guidance on how to handle personnel issues
- Work with you to understand how growth can affect what you can and cannot do at certain times,
Some specific items that a good business coach can help with are:
A Business That Is Financially Sustainable
When thinking about “Financials”, many owners either do not know which part of a financial to read OR do now understand how to read their financials at all. They go on something the CPA or the bookkeeper told them is in their financials and at the end of the year, they either made some money or owe some money. They do not necessarily have an in depth understanding of what is needed from within their financials on a month to month basis.
Financial planning is crucial for a business to live. A business coach that has well rounded advice can work with you so that you understand your financials. Additionally, the coach will assist to help you to focus on your goals, strengthen your strengths and work with you on your weaknesses about understanding financials.
For your business to be sustainable over the long run, it is important to have regular financial information and for you to have a strong understanding of your current and historical financial information.
Change In Business Or As An Owner
Many times, the difference between just a business coach and a Mentor is the ability of the person giving the advice (Mentor) having the ability to challenge the status quo and at the same time, work to change the environment that is currently at the company.
The role of the Mentor is to be a change agent for the Company. Invariably, Mentoring is listening to people and then explaining to them how to make the changes that they actually desire to make. Mentors have normally been “seasoned” through life experiences. In Business, this may mean through failures and successes.
Generally speaking, in life, most people make change at a relatively slow or even keeled pace. In Business, sometimes it is important for you to have a Mentor to make changes to survive or to grow your business or to possibly grow personally. Maybe, you have been stagnant for a long time and need to make a personal change about the way that you do things – like running your business and putting in a lot of hours.
Change can be a challenge for a business that has generally done things the same way for a longer period of time. The KEY to making a change(s) is that you have a Vision.
Through their own experiences, the Mentor can guide you with your decisions to avoid many of the pitfalls that await you in business. The Mentor can help but you are the one who must be able to see it, grab it & DO IT!
THE Role To Play In Your Business Success
Leadership is a KEY ingredient to any successful business because the nature of good leadership is that it provides important direction to an organization. When a business is not improving, whether it is because it is growing without being more profitable, moving along at the same rate or falling, most likely it is because leadership is unclear.
John Maxwell, in his book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”, states that “Leadership (Law # 3) is the Law of Process (Leadership develops daily, not in a day)”. This is a DYNAMIC statement because it takes time. If I were to ask you this question about your business, “when you are working daily ON your business (notice, I did not say in your business) do you have a good feel for where you are going, what your vision is and how to get there”, what would your reply be?
There has to be a road map TO success for a business to be successful. One of the most important skillset areas to think about when focusing on improving your business is your communication skills (specifically listening) of what you as a Leader are looking for from each person, department.
Customer Service – A Key For Your Company To Experience Growth
Customer service is another KEY ingredient (possibly the most important key) to building up customer loyalty and in increasing market share. Your “capital” – good will – can be completely exhausted with one bad customer experience.
Customer satisfaction and referrals are probably THE most precious items to have when you are looking to grow your business. In today’s “IT driven world” it can be complicated to know what to do, The business Coach will have not only ideas but a plan for implementing Above and Beyond Customer Service within your Company.
When you create service engineering cycles within your company, a customer can be kept loyal and happy in numerous ways.
Cultures Where Coaching Of Employees Is A Daily Occurrence
As in developing your own (and others) leadership, developing the Company culture tales TIME and should be worked on daily. The implementation of mentoring and coaching in the workplace is an effort to create cultural change at both the organizational and individual level.
Many times, the change has started because the owner can “see” that things are not going well or not as good as they could be going. A good Coach will give ideas about culture, fit, style, etc. The Coach will dialogue with you about how your style can “fit” with others within the company and how you can change your style. It is important to understand human behavior when you are looking to develop a cultural shift/change to the organization.
Some existing personnel may not agree with “this shift”. In all cases, but especially with those who may not be in agreement with the “new” culture, the coaching by the owner and by the Business Coach, should be results focused with clearly recognizable measurements. The ongoing verbal feedback you get from each of your Company Team members will permit you to improve and change your culture within the company.
A good Business Coach will be knowledgeable about your business but also passionate about you, your team and YOUR success in shifting the culture of your Company.
More on this in part # 2 to come. Make it an OUTSTANDING day! For more info on COACHING
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