Why is business coaching important?
Managing a business in differing economic times and remaining competitive as well as profitable are key challenges facing Australian businesses. It no longer is a matter of simply demonstrating the ability to sell a product or service in order to be a viable entity. With the proliferation of other business in Australia, businesses are required to develop and maintain their competitive advantage and know how to exercise buying power, respond to threats of substitution, barriers to entry and exit, and others jockeying for position within their own industry1. The business community in Australia has grown at such a staggering rate that in 2013 Australia there were 563,412 small businesses employing approximately 4.5 million people2. Last year, Australian small businesses grew even further to employ over 4.7 million people3.
The extended language of businesses in Australia now includes the ability to deliver on not only operational efficiency but also in areas of sustainability, differentiation, and solid leadership. Coaching has therefore become an integral part of this new wave gaining a steady momentum over the past decade. Business coaching also assists business managers into becoming business leaders. A core area of leadership is the ability to motivate, inspire and produce a higher level of productivity in teams through skills such as modifying behaviours and understanding preferences of behaviour to bring about change4.
Subsequently successful businesses in today’s landscape have increasingly sought relationships with those that can sustain and grow their business in the long term.
What do business coaches do?
Business coaches assist business managers into becoming business leaders. A core area of leadership is the ability to motivate, inspire and produce a higher level of productivity in teams through skills such as modifying behaviours and understanding preferences of behaviour to bring about change4. They take holistic view of a business and also have in depth knowledge and practical experience on how to better market and improve the state of a business on an operational level.
Business coaches such as ActionCoach® create a trusted environment where business owners can analyse, monitor and plan their activities. They can be viewed as pseudo Board of Directors for businesses, and relied upon to give appropriate levels of accountability. A business coach is similar to a sports coach of a major league team, they provide learning opportunities and identify areas to strengthen and maintain. Additionally, a business coach will ask those tough questions which for various reasons have been avoided.
Researching which business coach is suitable to ensure a business owner receives positive results is highly recommended. This can be done by reviewing their online presence and contacting an organisation to discuss their capability. Reputable organisations will offer the ability to reference check their business coaches by way of providing direct access and contact details of their clients.
Are there different styles of business coaching?
Yes. Each business coach has his/her own personal experience and finding the coach that suits an owner is important. The journey that is undertaken is for a year or in many cases, multiple years. Business coaching organisations give owners the opportunity to experience a coach through various events throughout a given year.
The delivery of how coaching is provided also comes in different forms. The most common and effective is one-to-one coaching, where both the business owner and the business coach assess that particular business and arrive at a highly individualised program. Other forms of coaching are delivered through team training, providing interactive experiences for all involved; or a round table boardroom approach where multiple business owners to meet and share their collective views.
SOURCES
1 Porter, Michael E. (1985). Competitive Advantage. Free Press. ISBN 0-684-84146-0.
2 http://www.treasury.gov.au/PublicationsAndMedia/Publications/2012/sml-bus-data
3 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8165.0
4 https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/
5 https://www.theactioncentre.com.au/ is an affliated organisation of ActionCoach®
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