A common question is “why should I hire a coach?”.  A good business coach brings many benefits to their clients.  They bring accountability, knowledge & experience, tools, education, and much more.  But I believe one of the greatest values we bring to a business is the opportunity to get an outside perspective on your business.

Get an outside perspective on your strategy

It’s been said that some people “can’t see the forest for the trees”.  People with this issue often get so lost in the weeds that they miss the fact that they aren’t executing on their strategy.

At FocalPoint, we often talk about the “three eyes of an entrepreneur”.  Based on the concepts of the fantastic book, The E-Myth Revisited, we point out that there are three broad roles that an entrepreneur often finds themselves working in:  The entrepreneur/visionary, the manager, and the doer/technician.  Most entrepreneurs find themselves trapped in the role of a doer most of the time.  But successful companies demonstrate that the leader should be focusing less than 20% of his time in this role.  The majority of his time should be in the visionary role, with the management role being a distant second.

A coach can work with you to help you focus on what you need to be doing, and delegate those other responsibilities to other members of your team.

Get an outside perspective on your team

Teamwork gets messy sometimes, doesn’t it?  People are people, which means they bring a lot of stuff to work with them.  The fight they had with their spouse.  The financial problems they are facing.  The child that’s failing in school. The elderly parent that’s creating burdens on them.

Understanding team dynamics is critical in leadership.  Great leaders have a fundamental understanding of the dynamics of their team.  We talk about them having a high “EQ” (Emotional Quotient).

Coaches work with leaders to help them understand their team dynamics.  By increasing their awareness of the various styles of people and advising them on how best to deal with the various personalities on their team, they increase the EQ of the leader and help drive better performance for the whole team.

Get an outside perspective on your finances

It’s interesting how we often get accustomed to the status quo.

I worked in a business one time that had seen a gradual increase of one particular category of costs.  It wasn’t a sudden change, it inched it’s way up in very small increments.  And since there weren’t any noticeable percentage jumps from one month to the next, or one quarter to the next, it didn’t raise any eyebrows.  It’s hard to believe, but it took years for it to be noticed.  In fact, it was only because of other financial factors creating challenges to the business that the team began to break it all down and discovered this expense “leakage” that had been slowly degrading profits over many years.

It’s sort of like the water main leak we recently discovered in our front yard a few months ago.  We had a slow leak that had been building up for years, but it wasn’t noticed until it went from seeping to leaking!

A coach comes in and helps you identify these leaks by bringing a fresh pair of eyes to the finances of your organization.

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Get an outside perspective on yourself

The hardest place to see the need for change is in ourselves.  But we need to look at that “man in the mirror”, to use Michael Jackson’s words:

I’m gonna make a change,
For once I’m my life
It’s gonna feel real good,
Gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right

It’s hard though.  It takes a level of vulnerability and authenticity to look seriously at your own weaknesses.

And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

A coach brings this outside perspective in to help you take an honest look at yourself.  Our coaching relationships always start with a personality assessment that helps us understand who you are. And with a coaching plan that focuses on accountability, we can help leaders face those issues and make sincere turnarounds that lead to greater effectiveness and a more efficient team.

I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make that CHANGE!

Would you like to find out more?

If you’d like to find out more about me, follow this link to a recent press release regarding my coaching business.  Or contact me directly at jjennings@focalpointcoaching.com.