Anyone who has worked with a business coach knows that they can have a huge impact on the potential of a business. Some even consider getting a coach the best decision they’ve ever made. So, what can you learn from a business coach?
Have you ever wondered what sets a great business apart from an average one? The best companies make smart and diligent decisions and make steady progress toward growth and success.
The good news is that you can consistently make smart decisions for your business, even if you lack the vision of the greatest entrepreneurs and CEOs. A business coach provides valuable advice to help your business thrive.
If you have any doubts, consider these seven amazing things that you can learn from a business coach.
1. Make better business decisions
As you launch and grow your business, it can start to feel like every choice you make is a business decision. A business coach can help you feel more confident and supported in your decision-making than ever before.
A coach is a source to bounce ideas off of. They even have their own suggestions and guidance, based on industry experience.
A coach helps you manage your time better. You’ll work together to figure out what activities are time-wasting. After cutting them out, you free up time in your day to focus on productive tasks.
Coaching can help you make other types of decisions, too – everything from knowing the exact moment to hit the accelerate button to know how to launch new services. These activities can make or break a business, and a business coach helps you stay away from the “break” category.
When shopping around in the coaching market, be sure to understand your own needs and look for a coach that fits. There are so many niches and fields of expertise in the coaching world. Doing a bit of preparation ahead of time helps you find the best coach.
2. Make better personal decisions
A business coach helps you in more ways than just the business side of things. You’ll also get valuable advice on how to manage expectations and set aside more time for your family.
Many entrepreneurs who are trying to launch and grow businesses fail at finding the right balance between work and life. For many, work and life are the same thing. However, at least some separation is important. Mixing the two too closely can lead to negative consequences like stress and fatigue.
By keeping on top of your schedule and knowing when to delegate tasks, a business coach can help free up your personal time so you can enjoy life to its fullest (away from the office).
3. Align your personal values to your corporate values
Another personal element you can learn from a business coach is to align your values, both individual and corporate.
Your corporate values impact your operations and your business brand. However, many entrepreneurs fail to realise that their personal values are intrinsically linked to their business, too.
For example, you may value integrity highly on a personal level. It shapes the way you interact and builds trust with friends and family. If it’s really important to you, then a business coach can help you convert that value into your business.
Integrity in the business world means managing commercial relationships, keeping good data practices and doing business in an ethical manner.
On paper, a personal value and a business one may appear different, but in reality, they are more closely aligned than you may think. With the right coaching, you’ll learn some amazing tips on how to make values a core part of your business while staying true to yourself.
4. Hire the best employees
A business coach helps your human resources strategy and can set you up for success simply by taking a closer look at your hiring decisions. Often, once the right people are on board, other difficult aspects of the business take care of themselves.
A coach’s advice can boost team effectiveness. Team productivity is affected by how people work together and whether they are compatible in the first place. Coaching helps you identify star performers and then surround them with compatible colleagues. This process can drastically boost productivity.
It’s not only about efficiency, however. Hiring the right people also leads to better employee job satisfaction because there will be less in-fighting and drama amongst your employees. Candidates can be screened for compatibility for the organisation and their potential colleagues. That way, your employees will be a better match for each other from the start and your teams will be happier.
5. Set clear goals
One of the first things you will learn from a business coach, apart from getting to know one another, is to identify your needs and set clear goals. A coach helps you make better goals than if you try the process out yourself. What’s a good goal, you ask? The best ones are:
- Specific;
- Measurable;
- Achievable;
- Relevant; and,
- Timely.
Take the first letter of each of those descriptions and you’ll see a nice acronym: SMART goals. Smart goals have been a staple in the business world for a long time but entrepreneurs still don’t utilise them correctly.
A business coach elevates your goal-setting process because they’ll help you put short, medium and long-term goals in place. With guidance, you’ll also create a broad vision for your company and link your goals to achievable targets.
6. Identify skill gaps for you (and your team)
Leadership advice is one of the things that most helps new entrepreneurs and business owners. If you’re past the startup stage of your business, you’ll find pretty quickly that being a leader is different than being an owner.
On top of many organisational decisions that the business owner makes, a leader has to hire colleagues, manage relationships, listen to advice and inspire employees to greatness.
That’s no small feat. Working with a coach is a great way to gain those leadership skills.
In addition to leadership-based competencies, a business coach can also assess your growing team of employees and make sure that any skill gaps are filled. By targeting important upskill opportunities like technology, business or marketing, you better manage the resources you set aside for training.
7. Take action
One of the best things about a coach is that they encourage you to take action. One hundred hours of research is wasted if you never take the first step to try to implement improvement activities in your business.
Coaches also hold you accountable for your activities. You’ll observe steady progress toward your goals by tracking results and holding yourself accountable through regular check-ins with your coach.
Ready for coaching?
When launching or growing a business, decisions and problems fly at you from all over the place. It’s hard to figure out what should take up your time.
A business coach helps target your efforts, make better decisions and remove stress from your life.
If you’re interested in knowing more about these seven business improvements, a coach might make all the difference for you. Plus, you’ll get hundreds of more pieces of advice to help your business thrive, meaning your investment will be well worth the payoff.
Find a business coach for your business today. Book a 15-minute free discovery call with one of our business coaches today to find out what will make your business thrive.
