It is funny how often people ask ?What does a business coach do?? and yet in the world of sport no one ever questions what the coach does. All top sports people understand that they will not achieve the levels of success they are looking for without using at least one coach. Novak Djokovic would not be the number 1 tennis player in the world, Luke Donald would not be the number 1 golfer, and Barcelona would not be the best team in Europe (if not the world) without great coaches supporting them. A business coach is no different, they are there to ask questions about ?How things are done?, ?What is being done?, but most importantly ?Where do you want to go?? because if you do not know the destination how will you know when you get there?. Albert Einstein defined insanity as ? Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results? and yet how many of us are living ?insane? lives?
Like all good coaches, in all areas of life, a business coach has a toolkit of practical, proven tools that can be implemented into the business that will have positive results. They also use questions to help create awareness of what is happening now and then help develop a way forward and a way to make small improvements which lead to the big improvements and results. A key skill of a good coach is the ability to hold you accountable to carrying out the tasks and the changes you agree with them, as it is very easy to agree to change, to make decisions and then to not carry them through because we have developed our habits over a number of years. A coach is not necessarily a ?motivator?, because as I was once told ?If you motivate an idiot, they just do stupid things faster?, a coach is there to help educate, create awareness and make sure you follow through with the improvements so that you reach your goals.
