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What business coaching can do
By focusing on structured guidance, business coaching can support our personal and professional development. Not everyone can clearly see the path to success or what path might appeal to them.
Coaching sessions help you identify and achieve specific goals. They will show you the challenges of your ambitions and what you need to overcome them. Lastly, coaching can enhance your overall performance at work, to ensure lasting security for your job.
What results to expect from business coaching
Among other benefits, you can expect to gain self-awareness, improve your leadership skills and strategic thinking, and enhance your problem-solving abilities. Your business coach will help you explore what you ultimately need to be effective in your professional role and what skills and attributes you should strengthen to reach that point.
When business coaching is effective
Business coaching demands a certain time commitment, which it isn’t for everyone. Coaching is particularly useful for people who need to develop their leadership skills, such as in strategy and conflict resolution, or people who want to move across industries or fields. But even if you’re not looking to make a drastic change just yet, coaches can also help you to achieve more contained issues, like improving your work-life balance or your team’s dynamics.
How to select the right business coach
The right person will ultimately depend on how well you connect with them on a personal level, but there are some tips for you to get closer to finding the right person:
- Find a coach with relevant experience: We recommend a coach with relevant experience and expertise, either in your industry or the specific areas you want to improve.
- Find a coach on the same page as you: Ask them how they prepare and structure their coaching sessions to see if their methods align with your preferences and learning style.
- Read their testimonials: If they have them, read their testimonials from past clients. A good coach should not only be technically capable but should also have strong interpersonal abilities.
How to prepare for business coaching
You must put in the work to get the most out of your coaching sessions. Sitting there and hearing what you need and then not acting on it will ultimately leave you more frustrated than when you started out.
Coaching does demand active participation, a readiness to listen to new perspectives that may contradict your ideas, and a willingness to apply what you learned.
Here are our tips to effectively prepare for business coaching and make the most of your sessions while they are underway:
- Before your session: Review your goals set from the previous session and any progress made on them. Prepare any burning questions or topics that you want to discuss as a result.
- During your session: Listen attentively, and be willing and open to exploring new ideas and the possibility you may be going about a task in the wrong way.
- After your session: Reflect on the conversation and implement actionable steps that your coach has given you.
Why being open to feedback and self-reflection is so important
Feedback gives you an external, objective view of your performance and behaviours. Even with our best intentions, none of us can be perfect, and self-reflection helps you to identify underlying patterns or problems that need to be resolved. Remember that feedback is not there to critique and make you feel silly! It’s there to help you improve.
Feedback is fundamental to coaching, so you should expect to get plenty of it as part of the process.
How long it takes to see tangible results from business coaching
Times can vary depdending on your circumstances and what you are aiming to achieve. You might notice the first improvements after a few weeks to a few months of regular check-ins. But expect to see substantial results only with a long-term commitment. Six months to a year is a standard length of time, depending on the frequency of sessions, the difficulty of achieving your goals, and your dedication to the process.
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We hope this has given you a clear picture of what to expect and how to maximise your business coaching sessions!
If you are on the fence about business coaching or how it could help you, Aldrich & Co. runs regular coaching sessions, and we would be glad to answer your call. If you are a business executive who wants to improve your leadership skills and develop your career, send us your query, and we will be in touch.