Who needs a coach anyway?

“Why would any business need a coach?  To me that is a sign of weakness.”  

That’s a true comment that was recently overheard about a client and our company. In our business we hear things like this all the time, but this one floored me because it was from a fellow entrepreneur. Being a “business coach” is a major part of what we do. For example, our Organizational Excellence (O.E.) program is a process that walks entrepreneurs through 6 Stages, 24 Steps and 54 Tools in a peer group setting that forms a system to aid successful businesses to get to the next desired level. When not formally enrolled in O.E., we frequently become “coaches” to the CEO as we work with their Management/Sales/Customer Service Teams in order to help them get their businesses to the next level. But this is not the reason for me being floored. Let’s break it down…

So, just what is Business Coaching? According to The Alternative Board, Business Coaching is: 

“A process used to take a business from where it is now to where the business owner wants it to be. A business coach will assist and guide the business owner in growing their business by helping them clarify the vision of their business and how it fits in with their personal goals.”

I thought about this as I watched the Masters, strangely enough. While Tiger Woods was making his astounding comeback to win his 5thgreen jacket, I wondered how many coaches he has?  A swing coach, putting coach, exercise coach, sports psychologist, financial coach, and maybe a business coach. Just one? More than one?  We know for sure that he’s had at least 4 swing coaches over his career: Butch Harmon, Hank Haney, Sean Foley and most recently Chris Como, and we know that he has a putting coach recently as well, but why? 

This then got me thinking about elite college athletes. They certainly have multiple coaches as part of their development as well….

• Physical Trainers
• Physiology Experts
• Position Coaches
• Assistant Coaches
• Psychologists
• Nutritionists
• Statisticians
• Managers

Just to name a few. So why does an elite athlete like Tiger OR a successful business owner need a coach at all? The reasons are actually very similar. Here are just a few: 

1.    Personal Vision.  This is where it all starts for the entrepreneur, but I’m surprised at the number of successful CEO/Owner/Entrepreneurs that I talk to who have no idea on this subject. They have goals and visions for the business, but many have put no real thought into what their very personal vision of the business is.  Tiger gave us a glimpse into his as he sat in Butler Cabin after his victory. It was about his kids. See, his son wasn’t even born yet the last time he won at Augusta and his daughter was very young. He wanted to share a victory with his kids the same way his father shared his first victory at Augusta. This personal vision is a POWERFUL motivator. I’ll be excited to see how this evolves and what is next for him. I’ll bet a coach somewhere in his life is asking him about what the next evolution of his personal vision is. (Watch the interview here from 2:33-3:33)

2.    Accountability.  When you are at the top, you don’t have to be accountable to anyone.  Of course, this is part of the attraction of owning your own business. But as you sit in the CEO spot or in the position that Tiger does, there are few people that you have to answer to, and this has the potential to become problematic when you are looking to grow. Of course, if you don’t want growth or accountability, then you don’t need a coach! 

3.    Work Ethic. Out-working others will get you far, but it won’t keep you there because there are plenty of people out there who work hard and maybe even harder than you do and if they happen to be your competition, you’d better watch out. Tiger obviously works hard, but so do 1,000 others on the Tour and as many trying to get onto the PGA Tour. The other thing to think about is from an entrepreneurial standpoint, are you satisfied working hard in the day to day or are you looking to transform the entrepreneur (day to day) to a leader who inspires, develops, evolves, strategizes, etc…? If not, you don’t need a coach! 

4.    Blind Spots. You can’t see your own blind spots, and everyone/every business has them. Sometimes they are mechanical and sometimes they are between our ears and behind our eyes and other times you are just stuck. It takes outside perspective and someone who will ask the tough questions and make the uncomfortable statements to you to help you uncover the blind spot(s) that are holding you back so they can be addressed. Our Blind Spot Surveycan help to identify them. That’s the easy part. Working with someone to do something about them is another thing altogether. Of course, if you are convinced that you don’t have blind spots then you don’t need a coach! 

5.    The Process. How you got to the successful place that you are is no longer working. It may require a slight tweaking, or you may need a complete overhaul. Tiger is a great example. He was successful early on by leveraging a powerful swing that over time wreaked havoc on his body. In order to compete at the highest levels, he has had to rework the swing in order to maximize the limitations that he is currently working with. This was not done solo, nor did he say, “I’ll just figure it out.” Smart business owners look to coaches to help them as well. They re-look at and re-work processes and systems that worked very well at one time but won’t take them to the place that they want to be in the future. You may be there already, and if so, you have not made it to this point in the article and you certainly don’t need a coach! 

So these are 5 of the many reasons why you may or may not need a coach. I truly love it when I meet an Owner/CEO/Entrepreneur who has a coach of some sort. This tells me that they are open to learning, growing, being challenged outside their comfort zone, etc…. These are exactly the types of clients we love to engage with regardless of what that may look like.  If you are in the camp of the entrepreneur that was the catalyst for this article, please tell us.  We will agree that you don’t need a coach! (and then we will prospect your competition).

Want to learn more, take our Blind Spot Survey or reach out directly to see if we may be a fit for you and your business. We can’t promise anything other than a conversation to see.