In the old days when the term “Business Coach” was a bit of mystery to business owners, a coach could say “I am a business coach” – and there was sufficient novelty for people ask “what’s that?”
This could then lead to a useful discussion on value. This “novelty” affect wore out about 5 years ago when the “become a business coach” industry reached critical mass. The availability of “become a business coach” training courses, franchises, licenses, and various hybrids meant that a whole horde of people were being recruited, ‘trained’ and set upon the world.
“..for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
The concept of business coaching is good one. Application of effective coaching to any endeavor will have a high probability of improving the outcome. Coaching is a process, not an act of magic. The coach being simply the person who applies the process. Each coach will have their own set of styles, structures and systems – which will produce different levels of improvements with different people. This explains the huge level of turnover in the ranks of “new coaches”.
The training given by most coach training providers usually focuses on a set of “tools”. Living life before becoming a coach gives everyone some tools. Our ability to observe, to question, to analyse, to build trust, to communicate, to focus, to manage emotions, to stay on track, and to speak directly but with compassion – are all skills we develop as humans – not as the result the “coach training”. They form the foundation for the more specific set of skills relating to helping business owners master their business lives. Over the top of this foundation is the entire gamut of business building tools that again varies immensely with each coach.
In general, over time, business coaches will build their arsenal of personal power and business building systems that can be grafted into both the life and the business of clients. Whether this is a time management system or whether it is a set of rules for the creation of marketing programs, or even the determination of what attitude is to apply to building systems or processes – it ideally needs to be determined by the defined purpose of the coaching program.