Using a Coach
Here’s a question I’ve asked and been asked: How do you know when to use a professional coach? Many people seem to believe working with a coach is an elite benefit arranged by Human Resources for highly paid executives in big budget organizations or it’s a last ditch effort for employees before they are fired. Is this the extent of a coach’s usefulness?
The answer is professional coaches aren’t just a perk for high level executives, celebrities or those on the brink of unemployment. The greater value of a coach is as a resource in individual development. Anyone with a particular goal in mind, a strong personal commitment to achieving results and the ability to actively take steps towards achieving that goal can benefit from working with a coach. Being in a small business or an entrepreneur is no reason to dismiss the idea of having your own coach. If the industry you are in, the size of your organization and life span of your company aren’t a consideration for using a coach, what is? You can boil it down to two things: your need and you.
Start by evaluating your need against what a coach is equipped to help with. If you need someone to give you specific answers or actually do the work you’re probably better off with a good consultant. Suppose your need is building a particular skill or improving at a certain task. Here you may consider a trained facilitator, instructional designer or someone with proficiency in the task or skill in question.
This can be confusing because lots of people are leaving the ranks of corporate America and parlaying their experience into a career as a “coach” when what they are offering is their know how within a particular business. We often associate a coach with training because of the way the term is used in athletics, where the coach may actually be teaching a skill like hitting or fielding a baseball.
At this point, it’s worth understanding what a coach can help with. A professional coach isn’t going to tell you or teach you to do something, though hopefully you will learn throughout the relationship. A coach is going to help you build insight about how to accomplish your objective. He does not need to be an educator, but does need to be a motivator. A good coach doesn’t need industry specific knowledge, but does need coaching skills.
If your need includes getting clarity on the desired outcome, understanding the impact of your behaviors, assumptions or beliefs on success, helping to create a plan of action, and monitoring progress then a coach is a possibility for you. In summary, when you need help to build your own insight, stay motivated and provide objective support and guidance then its time to consider a coach.
Once you know the situation is appropriate you have to determine if you are ready to work with a coach. This is more then making the decision to hire a coach, though that is a part of it. This step is really about determining your commitment to the process of gaining insight. You have consider how equipped you are to be coached.
Remember your coach isn’t going to hand you the answers he is going to challenge you and prepare you to deal with the next difficult situation. The process won’t always be easy but, if you are set to do the work, it can yield remarkable results.
Using a Coach - To learn more about this author, visit Chris Dawson's Website.
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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