[Closed] Business coaching - ever tried it?

Also just started seeing one.
We are a small business, employ 7 people at the moment.
My Parents started the business with my Grandfather, 39 years ago.
I have been there from the age of 19 full time..I'm 43 now and my folks have retired.
Since they retired we have managed to make some good ground in terms of growth.
Over the last 18 months things have been a bit flat for me, and I have been coasting a bit (Too much STW at work maybe)
Saw a friend "Like" a business coach on FB and had a look.. Then an initial meeting now we have a monthly get together.
It was the BC's comments on Sleepless Nights that hooked me in.

She has been very helpful, it is early days.
Some good ideas and some very straight talking, and some good motivation.
Going to stick with it, for now.

My Mum works as a business coach and I have to say, the tangible results the companies she works with are pretty impressive.

Thanks, I feel the same. There's no one to keep you in line when you're your own boss. I'm going to run with it and see how it goes.

It's good to have someone to bounce ideas off, and see your business in a new light.

Thats it, fresh ideas, different perspective.
I had no training in management, business studies or lots of other things. I am good at making signs and I had a looooong apprenticeship.
The other directors are not involved in running the business day to day and are behind the curve in terms of technology, customers, marketing etc. so have less and less to contribute. To be fair they are retired and deserve a blooming rest!
The BC is adding some useful stuff so far.
I am looking at potentially another 18 years of work before retirement, do I want them to be the same as this year? No, I want to move forwards, and this is where the BC comes in.

I would love to be one!

Yes, since I have been seeing mine, my wife is thinking it looks like a nice job.!

I've worked in the industry for 15 years and have been coached myself. I would emphatically echo the comments here.

A good coach is worth every penny, BUT and this is a big but, there are an awful lot of charatans out there, lots of former 'life style' coaches who fancy themselves as a John Harvey Jones type. You can always tell them beause they are a lot cheaper than an 'executive coach' and talk a lot of guff.

My tips for selecting a good coach are as follows:

- don't put any emphasis on having a coaching qualification; it's not that it doesn't mean anything, but there are about a dozen different accredditing bodies offering it, you'll never know which are the good ones and which are the ones you can just buy an affiliation to and there are plenty of good coaches that don;t have a formal coaching qualification.

- expeect to pay around £1000 a session and you really need to committ to six sessions. Anything less and it's a waste of money. A session should be around two hours and the frequency of engagement about once a month.

- Ask for references and case studies and then ask to speak in person with someone they've coached. then ask that person really probing questions: what did they work on with you, what was their style, how did they engage you, what were the results, would you receommend them etc.

- don;t be too hung up on them knowing your industry; it can help but the whole point of coaching is the way you engage as an outsider and ask the difficult questions that others wont.

- expect it to be challenging and hardwork, perhaps even a little painful at times. This is a good sign; it means the coach is really doing their job well. The whole point is that they challenge you and make you think differently.

- Good coaches usually correlate with age but not exclusively so. I've worked with some really good coaches in their 30s but they are rare. The more life and business experience you have the more likely you are to end up adding value.

- coaches are NOT there to give you answers so don't expect that; they are there to help you understand exactly what questions you should be asking and then help you to come up with the answer. That's the essence of the coaching methodology.

Goal - Reality - Options - Will

I've also recently been considering this. My wife and I run a business together, and finding it difficult lately both with staff problems, the sheer pace of work and juggling it with a 10 month old baby plus a dog.

I'm sure it's true that you get what you pay for, but is £1000 a session really the going rate, or is that at the upper end of the scale?

I'm sure it's true that you get what you pay for, but is £1000 a session really the going rate, or is that at the upper end of the scale?

It is at the upper end of the scale if you contract through a reputable organisation that specialised in professional development.

For your situation I would never recommend spending that kind of money though. Your challenges, though very real, are probably not fixed by an executive coach of that calibre. I think coaching could still work but you need to be sure that it's a business problem you have rather than a general life problem. They're both equally challenging (actually the life problems, from my own personal experience of being a two child two professional parent family, are far more challenging to fix), but a coach really focuses on the business challenges.

No doubt a self styled life coach would profess to be able to help but they're blurring the lines between coaching and therapy (which is a big line of demarcation in the executive world as I found out).

Depending on where you're located I do know a really fantastic coach and professional developer that we use in our company but who also sells her own book of business. She is fantastic; has oodles of business acumen but also tons of people skills as well. I think she charges about £900 a day; she might be willing to sell a half day but that's the problem with executive coaching and why it costs so much. A two hour coaching session largely means at least a half day out or maybe more of your time so as the coach you're pricing for opportunity cost of at least half a day or more.

If you're near London or the Home Counties send me an email and I can convey you with her.

My old boss is one and is excellent. He helps me from time and I asked him to help with some of my senior people in my old company. Rarely rocket science - more a robust sounding board and clear objective advice. A few years back, I was changing jobs and kept getting to last two and then winning the silver medal. I discussed this with him and he got straight to the point - quite emotional meeting actually - amazingly helpfully

FWIW I got friends rates but still insisted on paying £2.5k per session for my company. Money very well spent even thought we were a start up/ turnaround