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The business world in 2024 is increasingly a buyer’s market, and as a result, professional coaching sessions are in real demand. What goes on in a business coaching session, and how can it be useful for your career? In this article, we explore how you can prepare for business coaching and feel satisfied with the results.
What business coaches do
Business coaches are there to give you personalised guidance and support over a defined period of time. You will emerge from your sessions with strategies and techniques to better tackle your work tasks and goals.
Who needs a business coach?
Business coaching is particularly helpful for people who face distinct challenges in their work or career. These challenges may be big or small, ranging from leadership difficulties and resolving conflicts to planning strategically for an individual project. A business coach can also be very effective for people looking to start or grow their business, to ensure they hit the ground running when they launch.
Before you start your business coaching: Identify your goals
Good business coaching sessions should be personalised to you. You should be able to express what you need from your coach, whether you want to improve your performance at work, overcome distinct obstacles, or get the job you love. If you’re not sure how to define your goals, we have a whole series of articles on the GROW Method. We recommend starting with Goals.
How to choose a business coach
With so many business coaches around, how can you select a coach that will understand and help you achieve your goals? We recommend asking your coach for an initial session where you can get to know each other. You are likely to be working with this person over a period of time, so it is important that you feel your personalities fit! This, we find, is just as important as ensuring their credentials match the advice you will need from them.
Keep a flexible mindset
To reach the next level in your career, it is possible your coach will be giving you some tough love. It is never easy to take criticism, but try to keep an open mind and avoid the knee-jerk reaction to resist their advice. Take notes and listen; don’t butt in! Great coaches will always give you the opportunity to ask questions before the session concludes.
When to expect results from business coaching
The timeline for when you can expect results will vary, depending on the complexities of your individual need. Rather than focusing on a hard deadline, we recommend thinking of business coaching as a process over time. Real change takes consistent effort and persistence. Your coach will set out a recommended number of sessions to ensure your aims fully manifest.
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Looking for more advice? Aldrich & Co offers executive coaching sessions for finance professionals who are at the top of their game and want to push themselves beyond their limits.
We accept expressions of interest by email; let us know who you are (a CV is fine) and what you need, and one of our expert consultants will be in touch.