I was recently interviewed by a on-line business reporter for an article on leadership that may not appear for 3-4 months, if at all. However, once the phone interview was officially over, the reporter had a deep curiosity about business coaching and proceeded to ask me some fascinating questions. In fact, I thought his off-the-cuff questions about business coaching and his insights into the issues facing small business owners would make for a beneficial topic for our business coaching blog.
After we finished the 30-minute interview on leadership, he confessed that down the road, he really wanted his small business readers to better understand the world of business coaching. He also wanted to learn more about The Growth Coach and our unique business coaching process. I was more than happy to oblige, hoping to earn a future article on this very topic. I knew he had to get enough substance to win over his editor.
Initially, he started off by telling me his opinions about business coaching. Based on his observations and interviews over many years, he felt many owners were using expensive consultants to tackle tactical symptoms in their businesses when they should have been using business coaches to help tackle the real strategic problems in the business...the mindset, behavior, and habits of the owner. I about fell off my chair. Wow, this reporter clearly got it! He went on to lament that too many of his small business readers were giving away control, decision-making and responsibility to outside consultants... many with expensive horror stories and lessons they shared with him.
It was then my turn. I proceeded to answer his questions. He wanted some basics about coaching so I told him business coaching was all about helping business owners, executives, and sales professionals to achieve greater success and balance in their lives. Coaching was designed to help owners master the internal game of business (mindset, beliefs, focus, skills, habits, etc.) as well as the external game of business (strategies, plans, processes, execution, etc.). Coaching done right should help improve the owner, the business, and their personal life.
He then asked me about one of my favorite topics in the world, my North American network of certified business coaches. I went on to explain that The Growth Coach is a business coaching franchise system that uses a year-round, strategic-focusing process to help clients achieve four major victories: (1) face the truth about who they are as an owner and where their company is right now [good, bad and ugly], (2) attain clarity about where they want to take their business and personal life, (3) develop a simple and focused action plan to bridge the gap and get them there, and (4) provide on-going, objective feedback and accountability to help keep them on track for the results THEY want. Best yet, our clients continually refine and update their visions, goals and plans on a year-round basis (once a quarter at a minimum) in order to make strategic adjustments. While all this appears simple, it's a powerful process that transforms owners, businesses and lives for the better. The reporter seemed to get this as well!
That is when I also stressed how business coaches are different from nearly all consultants. Our coaches do not tell clients what to do or how to do it. We do not dis-empower them. In fact, our coaching process empowers clients to discover for themselves the changes they want to make in their professional AND personal lives. We also do not dive into all the details, do lots of analysis, and create expensive plans that seldom get implemented. I believe the reporter quietly said, "Amen" when he heard all this.
I was on a roll and continued. As business coaches, we believe that our clients are the true experts in their businesses and industries. They simply get lost in the details, fall into bad habits and ruts, get overwhelmed, and become blinded by their busyness, denial and distractions. They simply need a proven process to help burn off the fog, get them to slow down and think, and provide them with the structure and discipline to go to work "on" their business, problems, threats, opportunities, and themselves as owners. After all, they are in the best position to decide what needs to change ... it's their business and life. Best yet, they buy into and own their self-generated dreams, goals and plans.
Through coaching and on-going accountability (critical for transformation), we help clients to expand their mindsets, knowledge, skills and habits so they achieve significant and permanent improvements. They think, behave and perform at a higher level, more like strategic business owners and less like technicians. With greater focus and leverage, small business owners and sales professionals can truly work less, earn more, and enjoy richer lives. At that point, the reporter told me he had to run. I think I may have gotten too passionate and carried away. Oh well, that is who and what I am...an enthusiastic, tough-love business coach.
Regardless, I plan to follow up with this reporter to see if we can collaborate on a business coaching article for his readers in the future. I will send him and his editor a link to this blog.
Daniel M. Murphy
President, Founder & Business Coach
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System