‘What or Who’ is the Best Type of Business Coach to Help You?
There is one particular style of business coach that you might want to think about – the one that’s guaranteed to deliver a terrific return on your investment. The truth is, ‘Business Coaching’ can mean anything you want it to mean. There is no single academic ‘agreed definition’, instead just plenty of speculative suggestions – many very similar to each other, but none precisely the same. Therefore, when it comes to defining a business coach to help in your organisation the range of options are similarly ill-defined; they might be anything from a business advisor utilising a coaching style to a business experienced coaching generalist (with plenty of options between).
Here at the-Coaching Blog-run by Gerard O’Donovan, our aim is to constantly bring value to those seeking to improve their lives. Therefore we have a policy of publishing articles and materials by guest authors whom we value and appreciate. Today’s guest author is by Martin Goodyer (UK).
However, a less usual and yet highly effective business coach is the one focused solely on expending people potential. He or she will speak the language of your organisation, but will know little or nothing about the intricacies, details, processes, or your current business challenges. This style of coach does not need to know because their expertise sits elsewhere; they have the skill to turn the word ‘investment in people’, ‘human capital’, or the ubiquitous ‘people are our greatest resource’ from an ambition to a reality. They have the skill to facilitate (often) significant enhancements in the performance of everyone within your organisation and bring to life the dormant and hidden opportunities you have not yet done work for you.
More than 40 years ago Tim Gallwey, then a sports coaching author identified that a person’s performance can’t be improved by simply telling them what needed to be done and then hoping they’d do it.
He recognised that first and foremost, if a person is to improve they must have the potential to be better; having established they do, the job of the coach is then to remove the barriers and interference in the way of reaching that potential. The Gallwey’s equation is powerful and timeless: Performance is equal to potential minus interference, P = (p-i). Sometimes those barriers are a lack of technical skills, sometimes they are issues of confidence, or sometimes even the simple awareness that their potential is real.
The successful coach accepts performance as part of a balanced equation – if the person’s potential is greater than their performance then there must be things getting in the way. Therefore, the coach’s job is to help the person identify those barriers and get rid of that interference, safe in the knowledge that the resulting performance will inevitably improve.
The ‘best’ business coach is the one who helps the business be at its ‘best’ – in this case identify its most underutilised resource, engage with it, and leave with the business significantly better for their engagement.
There is no doubt that a business consultant disguised as a coach will add some value, as will a coach engaged specifically to help with a current issue or challenge, and a coach hired to help leaders be at their best will of course also be valuable – but, inviting a coach into the business with the sole aim of unleashing the potential of your honest-to-goodness greatest ‘potential’ resource, the people committed to making the business be the best it can be, must always add the most value to your organisation.
Hiring a business coach like this is probably the easiest decision you will ever make; just list each and every person in your organisation and next to each identify the potential improvement they could add to the organisation if their full potential were reached?
It may be a question you’ve never asked, if so that’s all to the good because you will surprise yourself. Then, only when you’ve done it for everyone, have a guess at what all that will mean to the overall performance of your organisation.
It might seem impossible, unreachable, even unattainable, but what if ‘this’ style of business coach could help get you closer to that performance?
You can watch this video of Gerard – How he discusses What advice do you have for someone looking for a coach?
However, a less usual and yet highly effective business coach is the one focused solely on expending people potential. He or she will speak the language of your organisation, but will know little or nothing about the intricacies, details, processes, or your current business challenges. This style of coach does not need to know because their expertise sits elsewhere; they have the skill to turn the word ‘investment in people’, ‘human capital’, or the ubiquitous ‘people are our greatest resource’ from an ambition to a reality. They have the skill to facilitate (often) significant enhancements in the performance of everyone within your organisation and bring to life the dormant and hidden opportunities you have not yet done work for you.
More than 40 years ago Tim Gallwey, then a sports coaching author identified that a person’s performance can’t be improved by simply telling them what needed to be done and then hoping they’d do it.
He recognised that first and foremost, if a person is to improve they must have the potential to be better; having established they do, the job of the coach is then to remove the barriers and interference in the way of reaching that potential. The Gallwey’s equation is powerful and timeless: Performance is equal to potential minus interference, P = (p-i). Sometimes those barriers are a lack of technical skills, sometimes they are issues of confidence, or sometimes even the simple awareness that their potential is real.
The successful coach accepts performance as part of a balanced equation – if the person’s potential is greater than their performance then there must be things getting in the way. Therefore, the coach’s job is to help the person identify those barriers and get rid of that interference, safe in the knowledge that the resulting performance will inevitably improve.
The ‘best’ business coach is the one who helps the business be at its ‘best’ – in this case identify its most underutilised resource, engage with it, and leave with the business significantly better for their engagement.
There is no doubt that a business consultant disguised as a coach will add some value, as will a coach engaged specifically to help with a current issue or challenge, and a coach hired to help leaders be at their best will of course also be valuable – but, inviting a coach into the business with the sole aim of unleashing the potential of your honest-to-goodness greatest ‘potential’ resource, the people committed to making the business be the best it can be, must always add the most value to your organisation.
Hiring a business coach like this is probably the easiest decision you will ever make; just list each and every person in your organisation and next to each identify the potential improvement they could add to the organisation if their full potential were reached?
It may be a question you’ve never asked, if so that’s all to the good because you will surprise yourself. Then, only when you’ve done it for everyone, have a guess at what all that will mean to the overall performance of your organisation.
It might seem impossible, unreachable, even unattainable, but what if ‘this’ style of business coach could help get you closer to that performance?
You can watch this video of Gerard – How he discusses What advice do you have for someone looking for a coach?
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