Not All Business Coaching Is Created Equal: How to choose the best fit
As the business coaching industry has evolved over the last 5 years in particular the offerings available to companies looking to invest in coaching have increased. Like most growth industries niche offerings appear giving the buyer more options but at the same time potentially more confusion as to what to buy. This is our take on the different options and the appropriateness of each.
Options available
Executive coaching is specific to corporates i.e. large established companies with defined organisational structures and pre-set career paths. Executive coaching focuses on developing the skills and confidence to climb the corporate ladder and to take on higher roles with that company. It is usually purchased to support a recently promoted individual to assist them becoming confident in their new role or it is purchased to develop potential leaders as a way of fast-tracking them to higher roles in the future.
The main focus for executive coaching is to equip the leader with the specific skills and mindset required to thrive at the next level within the corporate structureStart up coaching is the first purchase some entrepreneurs make to help them navigate through that challenging first couple of years where there is a high degree of uncertainty in play and they can benefit from having an experienced coach to bounce off and guide them. The main outcome from this type of coaching is to successfully launch your business to a stage where you have greater clarity and certainty around the future direction of the company and the strategy you need to employ.
The main focus here is keeping the ‘ship stable’ and ensuring that the company is growing quickly enough to get to profitability before the initial investment runs out. This type of coaching is often delivered by coaching companies with templated models and formulas that can be adopted to short cut the learning process.
Leadership coaching is the SME equivalent of executive coaching in that it is an investment in the future development of high potential individuals. It can be delivered one to one, in small groups or normally in a combination of both so that it is focused on developing leadership capability but also in creating a strong aligned leadership team. The main outcome for a leadership coaching programme is to convert high performing / high potential managers into confident & capable leaders, so that the company has enough leadership capacity to cope with the anticipated future growth.
The main focus for a leadership coaching is to convert managers with a specialism who are either leading a function or a service to become more generalist leaders who have a wider understanding of all aspects of the company and can contribute to both the strategic and tactical decision making processes.
Founder coaching is the newest niche and as the name infers it is focused on individuals that have built their own businesses from scratch. Founder coaching is delivered one to one, or if there are multiple founders in small groups with a wide ranging brief that cover the challenges the founders are facing on a personal and business level. It is normally purchased when the founder starts to become overwhelmed by the business they have successfully created and they need to find a sustainable way of leading the business differently.
The main focus of founder coaching is assisting founders to create a different more sustainable relationship with their own business. If delivered effectively it enables them to successfully evolve their role to one where they are spending less time working IN the business on operational challenges and more time working ON future strategic projects.
What works best?
Obviously, it depends on the specific size and stage company you are operating as to which would be the most appropriate investment. The key is finding a coach or coaching company that specialises in assisting with the specific challenges you are facing. Its also important to find coaches with the relevant real life experience the matches your current and future challenges. Ideally you need someone who has already successfully coached other people and companies through similar situations.
In our experience the optimal outcome is achieved for an SME when both leadership and founder coaching are invested in and delivered simultaneously. This joint investment enables a smooth transition to occur from a founder led business which is becoming overwhelming to operate, to a leadership led company which has sustainability & future growth capacity.
