I am surprised at how many business coaches there are. A Google search yields 208,000 responses. All say you don't need specialized training or certification but there are companies that provide just that. It's probably a good thing as the prices per hour average $275 for phone conversations with different levels for face to face meetings or email coaching. There are even goal coaches that spend five minutes a week holding your feet to the fire.
According to Wikipedia mentoring and business coaches are not the same thing. "Mentoring involves a developmental relationship between a more experienced "mentor" and a less experienced partner, and typically involves sharing of advice. A business coach can act as a mentor given that he or she has adequate expertise and experience. However, mentoring is not a form of business coaching. A good business coach need not have specific business expertise and experience in the same field as the person receiving the coaching in order to provide quality business coaching services."
Interesting. Mentors and mentees have a difference in experience in a specific field that is reduced through development of the mentee. Business coaches are not industry specific but can offer mentoring as part of their offering.
Okay. So does that mean coaches are only for small businesses as large companies probably have plenty of people who want to help others climb the corporate ladder? Mmmm, no. That leads to whole lots of politics generally and, well I don't care about corporate mentors or ladders. I am interested in entrepreneurs. So what should small companies do if they need to seek outside advice?
Here are a few guidelines.
- If you are not able to get a recommendation then look for someone who has some sort of credentials or certification. It's not a guarantee by any stretch but they do have a code they have to live by. It's a good start.
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Decide exactly what your goals are. Do you need to expand, increase sales or hire staff? These are all vastly different and you may hire different coaches for different issues.
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Be clear on how long do you plan to work with a coach?
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Keep an open mind. You didn't hire them to be "yes men". (Shoot you could have just assigned that to a staff member.) You hired them to move your company forward.
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Expect changes in your staff as you change. They may be a little wary of your new way of thinking. That's okay. Maybe they need coaching too although mentoring might be a better idea.
Coaching is a personal experience. You want it to be a positive one. Spend as much time investigating potential providers as you would on selecting a new car. In fact do it right and you may be buying the car of your dreams much sooner!
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