Center for Coaching Articles

Business Coaching for Growth

Posted by Henry Barbey

Small business growth does not just happen. It requires planning.

It might seem like some owners get lucky. There is something to be said for being in the right place at the right time.

But usually if you take a closer look at those lucky individuals who developed a product at a time when there was a huge demand for it, you will find that they recognized the need for the product beforehand. They did some research. They talked to people and they planned. Sometimes they even created a new market where none existed before.

The details depend on the type of company, which is why individualized business coaching has become so popular. There are some bits of general advice that apply to all businesses. Here are a few of them.

Define Your Goals

It is not enough to say that your goal is to grow your company. You need to specifically define how much growth you expect to see in a specific length of time.

Defining your goals will help you to judge your progress as time goes by. You can create milestones and celebrate every time you reach one of them.

Celebrating is important because it helps you maintain a positive attitude. If you get down in the dumps, you can become depressed and you will quickly lose your energy.

Big companies use “SMART” goals to help their employees decide where they would like to be in one year, five years, ten years, etc. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. When you set your own goals, keep those five words in mind.

Do the Research

Some companies start up without doing the necessary research. They don’t know what the competition is like. They don’t know who their customers will be. Those companies fail as a result.

One of the plans often used in business coaching is a sales and marketing plan. Established companies use the plans to decide where to best spend their advertising dollars and to create sales goals for their teams.

Where does the information in a sales and marketing plan come from? It comes from research.

You need to know your competition. You need to know about the industry. You need to identify your target audience, those people who are most likely to buy your products or services.

Do the Math

Money is something that all businesses need in order to grow. Once you have defined your goals and done the research, do the math to figure out just how much money you will need to achieve your goals. Then figure out where that money is going to come from.

The basic advice you have just read does not guarantee small business growth but it does give you a starting point. The next step might be individualized coaching.

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Consider Whole Life Coaching

Posted by Henry Barbey

Whole life coaching has become increasingly popular for good reason. It works.

Coaches help their clients to proceed with confidence. They get them “unstuck” so to speak. People from all walks of life are seeking help because they are unfulfilled, unsuccessful, struggling or just feel like they can’t get their lives together.

There are many types of coaches. They originally spent most of their time with business executives helping them to become more successful or more productive.

The “whole life” term refers to those coaches that offer coaching in all aspects of individuals’ lives. They may provide coaching that focuses on:

• Careers

• Relationships

• Leadership ability

• Communication skills

• Goal-setting

Or all of the above. The aspects to focus on will vary depending on individual needs.

If a person is simply “lost”, the first step will be to define some goals. A personal coach helps you to do that by asking you lots of questions. The questions help the coach to figure out who you are right now and where you want to be.

Clients usually start out worried. They are not in need of psychotherapy, which involves delving into a past that could be painful. They are worried that their lives are passing them by and they need direction.

Coaches help their clients define their futures. You have the ability to have the future you want. Every person is in control of his or her own destiny. We are not being pushed forward by some undefined force. We carry ourselves forward on our own two legs.

People need different things at different times of their lives. Teen-coaching is one of the latest trends. But you could need help at any time of your life. Teens might go on to have coaches for their entire lives. It is nice to have a guide.

Choosing a whole life coach can be difficult. There has been some concern that coaches are not well trained. There are no regulations concerning the 10,000+ coaches that are currently practicing in the US alone.

The best advice is to interview a few coaches and find out about their training. If you want a lifelong guide, you want to be sure that you will not outgrow or exceed your coach’s ability to help.

Many coaches have extensive training. They have backgrounds in a variety of different careers. The thing they have in common is their desire to help other people. That’s what we do in whole life coaching. We help others to achieve success and happiness.

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A Career Transition Coach Can Help

Posted by Henry Barbey

If you are looking for a career transition coach, you are not alone. More and more people are finding they need to change careers for many reasons.

Your reasons could be changes in technology or in the economy. You might have made the wrong decision to begin with. You might be bored, dissatisfied or simply unfulfilled.

Coaches help people discover their reasons for wanting to change. They ask pointed questions to help people figure out what is missing.

Once people figure out what is missing from their current careers, they need to create some plans. Coaches sometimes have their clients write out a blueprint of their life goals.

Starting over is not always easy. It is scary to take a different path. One of the things that coaches give their clients is encouragement.

It is much easier when you have help. You might think of your coach as a partner, someone to walk down your new path with you until you are ready to go it alone. One of the scariest parts for many people is feeling alone.

There could also be an easy path or at least one that is easier than what you might be thinking about. A little more education might be necessary but there are many careers that are complementary to each other.

Some of the things you learn about in career coaching are the complementary opportunities. There could be fields that you could transition into without having to get a completely new degree. You might already have the education you need.

You might be unsure about what you want to do with the rest of your life. You might need some clarity.

We start talking about what we want to be when we grow up at a very young age. We sometimes lose sight of our childhood goals as the years go by. A career coach might help you remember your childhood passion.

On the other hand, it could be the job you thought you would love as a child has become boring or unfulfilling. One of the human fundamental needs is to participate. Participation often means giving back to the community. Not all careers allow us to participate fully.

Everyone has unique gifts or talents. There are things that you do better than anyone else. Are you using those talents?

The answer is probably not since you are looking for a career transition coach. There’s no better time than right now to get started with your new life.

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Business Team Coaching Works

Posted by Henry Barbey

The goal of business team coaching is to produce a successful team of people who work well together. The members develop a sense of belonging. They often call it a family. They have clear shared goals and recognize that it will take teamwork to achieve those goals.

In business team coaching, we teach how to build a successful work team by choosing the right people and making sure they have the right information before the project begins. In order to choose the right people, the leaders need to know a little bit about them.

Generally speaking, loners do not do well on teams. On the other hand, the social butterfly might not be able to stop talking long enough to get the project done. People who are serious and able to focus on the project at hand make good team members.

Teammates need to know exactly what is expected of them. There will probably be some general things that are expected of all teammates and some specific things that are expected of individual members. What are their responsibilities?

In executive coaching, we emphasize the importance of communicating with individual members so that they know why they were chosen to participate in this group. Why were the members chosen for their teams? What special abilities do they have?

Communicating with the members in this way ensures that they recognize why they are an important part of the group. People who know they are important feel responsible. They work harder. They don’t skip meetings or show up late because they understand the importance of what they have to contribute.

Another thing that we talk about in executive coaching is recognition. Sometimes companies set up teams but fail to give recognition to the members for what they are accomplishing. Everyone needs a pat on the back or the occasional “good job”.

In order for executives to be able to give honest recognition, they need to be aware of what is going on. The “good job” is hollow if all of the members know that the executives have no idea what the group is actually doing.

Successful business team coaching can take time. Some people might need to leave the group. New members might need to be added.

In executive coaching, we point out how successful professional football teams work. They are not stagnant groups. They are constantly changing.

Introducing someone new to the group can create excitement that contributes to business team coaching. Change can be a good thing.

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Career Planning and Development Strategy

Posted by Henry Barbey

Career planning and development is a process that can be intimidating. Whether you want to do something different or you need to make a change because of changing technology and job opportunities, there are a few things you should do right now to improve your chances of success.

Research

Research usually involves defining what it is you want to do and whether or not your choice is realistic. Let’s say you have decided to fulfill your lifelong dream of becoming a veterinarian.

Once you do a little research, you will learn that veterinary school takes years to complete. There are only a few veterinary schools in the country and competition for the seats available in those classes is fierce. So becoming a veterinarian at middle age might not be a realistic choice.

On the other hand, there are plenty of other jobs and businesses that involve caring for animals. People love their pets and they spend a lot of money on them. With a little research, a middle-aged animal lover could find a realistic opportunity and learn how to take advantage of it.

The internet is a great source of information and it’s free. Of course not all of the information you see on the internet is honest. Some of the career advice you see is skewed. Even when it is honest, the information is not personalized.

If you find you are having a difficult time deciding what you want to do, a professional counselor or career coach can help. One of the things coaches can help you create is an educational plan.

Get Educated

You may be able to make a change without getting additional education. There are careers that overlap in terms of educational requirements.

On the other hand, you might find that what you want to do is quite different from what you have done in the past. In that case, you will need additional education. Don’t be afraid to sign up for college courses at your age. You will find students of all ages in today’s colleges and universities.

Get Experience

Another thing a career coach can help you do is figure out how to get some experience in your new field of choice. Employers want experienced employees. You might not want to spend years climbing the corporate ladder in order to get experience.

With careful planning, you should be able to get the experience you need while you are getting the education you need. You might even have some applicable experience that you are overlooking.

Get Help

Most people are very happy after tackling the process of career planning and development. Those who are happiest are the ones that got professional help right from the beginning.

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Business Coaching Program for Leadership Success

Posted by Henry Barbey

Business leadership is about the success of others. A business coaching program can help business leaders elevate their leadership skills to new heights.

Leaders take pride in helping others become successful. When you think about it in that way, you might not think we have many good leaders. Words like selfish, self-absorbed or self-centered might come to mind.

One of the things that you have to do if you want to be a successful leader is to stop looking at how badly others are doing and focus on how well you are doing. Being critical of others is widespread in today’s society. Not too many people take the time to critique their own actions. You might benefit from working with an executive coach if you are about to become a leader. You might also benefit if you are already a leader but you are not sure you are leading effectively.

Coaches can help you do some self-evaluation and help you learn how to evaluate the performance of others. You might need to learn how to give praise along with constructive criticism. A company’s long-term success can only be guaranteed with high quality business leadership, something greatly helped through a business coaching program. Organizations all over the world have started to realize that.

Many organizations are bringing in the executive coach to help improve the quality of their leaders. It is a pro-active decision. Rather than reacting to failure when it comes, they are pro-actively working to prevent failure.

The size of an organization matters. In large organizations, a schematic linking one individual leader to another and another can look like a huge spider’s web. The strength of the web may be weak in areas where the leaders are weak. Small organizations are less complicated but the strength of the company leaders is even more important. In a large organization, leaders can and should help to support each other. When there is only one leader, support can come from an executive coach.

Small businesses seem less likely to turn to professionals for help. Yet the quality of their business leadership could depend on getting the help they need. An executive coach can help with communication skills. Many talented individuals are terrible communicators. While we learn to talk in pre-school, we rarely learn to communicate effectively.

Coaches can also help leaders who are suffering from burnout or dealing with personal crises. Focusing on providing quality business leadership can be difficult for any number of reasons. Regardless of where you are today, you can be in a better place tomorrow if you take advantage of the help that’s available through a business coaching program.

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What Is Leadership Development Coaching?

Posted by Henry Barbey

There are many ways to grow a leader. The idea of leader development originally came from the sports world.

Benjamin Carter was one of the first life coaches. He started helping develop leaders during his career as a college football coach.

Eventually he wanted to help more people. He achieved that goal through motivational speaking and private coaching sessions, often with executives who wanted to be more effective.

Life coaches provide general guidance, support, advice and sometimes training. More specific kinds of guidance are used for emerging or prospective leaders.

Leaders need to be able to organize. They need to be able to manage their time wisely. They need to be able to remain calm during times of crisis. They need decision-making skills.

The elements included in leader development training vary. The advantage of one-on-one training is that it can be customized to suit the individual or the individual organization.

Your goal might be to become a leader. You might want to become a more effective leader. You might want the current leaders in your organization to become more effective. Every individual is different.

Helping you to identify your goals is the first step for the typical executive coach. But even that step is unnecessary if you have already identified your goals.

There is no off the shelf blueprint for teaching leaders to become more successful. You will actually develop your own blueprint as time goes by. Coaches give you the tools that you need to do that.

Ongoing support is one of the things provided by most coaches. By the time you get to the ongoing support part of the process, you will have defined your goals and created a plan for achieving them. You will know how to measure your success.

The ongoing support provided during executive coaching helps to keep you focused on your goals because it is very easy to lose sight of them. You will also get feedback, an unbiased opinion of how you are doing.

Who benefits? Individuals and organizations of all kinds benefit from focused training.

Research has shown that training alone increases productivity in the work place by over 20%. Training does not usually include the ongoing support or other coaching techniques used by professionals.

Certain leadership development coaching programs have been shown to increase productivity by over 80%. It is a win-win situation and everyone benefits.

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