Choosing a Business Coach

The value of a business coach comes from their ability to grasp your business issues, help you improve strategy, reduce complexity, improve process, and scale. Yet with so many people claiming to be a coach, how do you choose one who can actually make a difference? And how do you know when it is time to change coaches? Before you choose a coach, do your due diligence: Explore six specific reasons for coaching failures – and how you can mitigate the risk of a “bad fit”.

• Is there clarity on their role as your coach?  (eg poor fit)

  Sadly, the term “coach” can mean many different things, so what kind of coaching does a particular coach provide? Is it accountability, reflecting back what you say and encouraging you to define the steps to implement? Or is it personal development, helping you learn to be more assertive, more empathetic, etc.? Or is it to give perspective, provide tangible advice on your challenges, and help you scale your business?

  Mitigation: Make sure you know what you want, then match it with the coach you are considering. Most successful leaders have already figured out personal accountability, but if you haven’t, then you know what kind of coach you need. For everyone else, you probably want to hire an extremely knowledgeable and innovative brain, not someone who simply runs you through a series of proscribed questions.

  The Test: Ask questions about the coaching methodology used, and how a typical coaching session would unfold. As soon as you start hearing traditional coaching questions (“What is your biggest challenge? What different solutions can you think of? Which solution do you think is best? What is the first step to implement?” etc.), you will know that the focus is accountability – not knowledge transfer or adding subject- matter expertise.

• Do they have the experience, or over-rely on frameworks.

  Every business is different: unique history, unique future, unique differentiators, priorities, challenges, leadership team, clients, etc. So how can blindly following a single framework or “system” possibly take this into account? It can’t. An experienced business coach can help identify your culprits that are holding back growth. And yes, the coach should have at least some frameworks and process… but they also must have the relevant experience to flex the process – or discard it altogether.

  Mitigation: Does your coach have experience pivoting their own companies through an array of transformations and trends to achieve product-market fit and growth? What is their experience with digital strategy and tech transformation? Changing client needs, and employee retention? Have they grown their companies through recession and inflation? There is a huge benefit in frameworks, but relying on them alone assumes that your business is identical to all others. 

  The Test: Examine both their experience and their frameworks. Experience: Ask about their career, as this is where their experience has grown. Look at the list of clients they have served: are they credible, and relevant? This is where their advice has been refined, and where their frameworks have been proven. Finally, check the coach’s LinkedIn profile for recommendations: what have their past clients said about them? Frameworks: Do their frameworks simplify issues, or add unneeded complexity? Have they personally written about their growth models and frameworks in their books and media? Or do they exclusively rely on frameworks that others have built. Find out how many years they have been using them, and what they have most recently added.

• Do they ask challenging questions?

  Every entrepreneur has a unique vision and acumen, and as the business grows, there is a tendency for the leader to assume that their gut instinct is always correct. Because of your role (and your success), staff do not always provide open and objective input. 

  Mitigation: An expert business coach is an experienced business leader who can appreciate your vision, but as an outsider, can also challenge your thinking so that your decisions and output are as sound as they can be. They need strong critical thinking skills, communication skills, and the confidence to challenge your assumptions. And the ability to suggest solutions and innovative approaches to the challenges that you are facing.

  The Test: Insist on a no-cost test-drive session with the coach, before signing their engagement letter. Was it a sales pitch, or did they ask great questions? Did you leave with a new perspective on your problems, and how to solve them? Or was it a simplistic accountability session (see #1).

• Do they motivate you?

  Too often, entrepreneurs are struck with a moment of inspiration to start a coaching program, but once the contract is signed, the coaching program fails to provide sustained motivation and new ideas.

  Mitigation: A skilled business growth coach understands the principles of motivation and the nature of leadership, i.e. they can’t motivate you by simply telling you what to do. Are they inspiring? Challenging? Do you find you look forward to your coaching sessions, and leave them with the confidence to tackle your problems? Or have you begun to notice that you are getting less and less from the process?

  The Test: Again, insist on a no-cost test-drive session with the coach, before signing their engagement letter. The “fit” between you and the coach is exceptionally important. Beyond what you learn during your test-drive session, it is a test for your future working relationship. Do you admire them? Do you respect their ethics? Do you like how they treat other people? Do you feel comfortable sharing private information – are they discrete? Does your experience confirm what their other clients have written in their LinkedIn references?

• Is their knowledge both wide and deep? A coach only knows what they know.

  Every business coach has their unique mix of professional experiences, but just how deep is it? Were they in your shoes before – not just as a coach or consultant to others, but as an entrepreneur themselves? How many times? And are they a reputable thought leader? If you’re going to rely on a coach’s advice, it shouldn’t be based on thin experience or theory. When a coach has limited experience, their ability to support you through your unique experience is unlikely.

  Mitigation: Ask potential business coaches questions to ensure that their experience is wide and deep, relevant, and aspirational. Their toolbox should be more than just a “proven” methodology or (licensed) content from a business coaching franchisor. Do they understand your business model, industry, and challenges? Have been there before, not just with a business of your size and complexity, but with ones that are bigger? What is their corporate board experience? Two final questions: Do they invest in continuous professional development? And have they used coaches in their own business, so they understand the coaching relationship from your side of the table?

  The Test: In your conversations with them, talk about your business problems; can they offer thoughtful and practical solutions extemporaneously? Do they give examples that are relevant to your business? And is it evident that you can learn from them? Or is the conversation just a sales pitch and a lot of promises?

• What resources and practical tools do they bring to the relationship?

  A coaching session is a conversation, but why must it always start from ground zero? If the coach has so much experience, is it documented and available to you, outside of you the conversational coaching session (in the form of templates, tools, white papers, videos, etc.)?

  Mitigation: Either they have their own IP, or they don’t – there is no mitigation.

  The Test: Ask to see the list of the coach’s resources, along with several examples.Ask which was created personally, vs by others – this is a barometer of their business knowledge.Then review the examples: is it fluff, or is there depth? Is it only focused on one functional area, or does it cover the breadth of your business? Does it provide practical ideas that you can act on immediately? And could these resources enrich your coaching conversations?

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  Choosing to hire a business coach – or making a switch when you’ve outgrown your current one – can be transformational to your business. But only if you approach the decision strategically, and with the appropriate due diligence.