7 Topics for You and Your Business Coach

Choosing to work with a business coach is a choice to grow and learn as a leader. Together, you form a partnership focused on cultivating your talents and stretching your perspective through frank — and sometimes challenging– discussions. Sometimes, though, the hardest part of working with your business coach is not the discussion but instead knowing what you want to talk about. 

Choosing topics that matter to you can help guide your coaching experience and give you goals to strive towards. While your coach can direct some of your conversations, there should be a point at which you are comfortable bringing up specific things you are interested in working on. 

If you need a little help getting started with choosing topics to discuss in your coaching sessions, check out our list of 7 starter conversations that can help you key in on growth areas:

1. Setting Goals

Before you can actively pursue a productive relationship with your business coach, you should discuss goal-setting. It lies at the heart of every decision you make as a business owner and a leader. Without goals, we are rudderless ships without purpose or direction. Understanding what you want and the steps you have to take to get there is the first critical step of making your investment in coaching meaningful. 

2. Avoiding Common Self-Imposed Obstacles

Sometimes, our brains are our biggest enemies! Leaders often suffer from Imposter Syndrome, a topic we’ve discussed in a recent blog post. This mental state can be crippling, causing you to question your abilities, burn yourself out, or create unhealthy dynamics with your team. Your business coach can help you improve your self-talk and confidence. 

3. Creating Work-Life Balance

Work and personal affairs are two sides of the same scale. When one side becomes unbalanced, it begins to affect the other side. Missing out on your hobbies, family time, and self-care routines are going to be a detriment to your motivation and capacity for work. Talk with your coach about ways to set boundaries for your day and become more efficient in your working hours so that you can enjoy your downtime more. 

4. Releasing Control and Delegation

Part of creating a work-life balance is being able to walk away from your business when it’s time to do so. Whether you’re heading out on vacation, want to take a long weekend at home, or are dreaming of days that you get to go to bed at a decent hour, you have to be willing to let others step in as leaders. It’s a tricky thing for many owners and leaders to do, but your coach can guide you in developing strategies and mindsets to make delegating a little easier. 

5. Kindling Team Enthusiasm and Buy-In

Without a team, you can’t be a leader; ensuring that they are happy, motivated, and invested is critical. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you always know best or that others should always do exactly what you think they should, but your employees are going to be far less likely to cooperate when they feel that they don’t have a stake in the team’s success. Learn new strategies for creating authentic, positive relationships that lead to a fruitful mutual interest in the big picture. 

6. Advocating for Yourself

Advocating for yourself is difficult because we hold our ideals, values, and talents close to our hearts. Learning to communicate clearly about those topics is challenging, as is balancing our passion with our professionalism. Coaching can help you unlock new ways to share what you’re thinking in a way that allows you to stand up and speak out without appearing improper or out of line. 

7. Handling Conflicts

Conflict is frustrating. Whether it’s a difference of opinion regarding a particular procedure or dissatisfaction with the progress being made on a  project, some form of conflict will arise anytime people collaborate. In many cases, conflict results from a misunderstanding or miscommunication, so it’s necessary to learn how to gracefully handle those situations, make your point, acknowledge the other person’s point, then move on with a growth mindset. If this is something you struggle with– either holding your own in a conflict or being able to back down–, constructive disagreements feel less like an opportunity to learn and more like a competition of wills. This mindset is dangerous to teams, which should be focused on lifting each other up and finding ways to become greater than the sum of their parts. 

A Business Coach Can Unlock Your Potential

Catalyst Group ECR works with business owners and executives to help them realize their potential and experience growth in their focus areas. Through one-on-one meetings, we work with you to build a sense of community and rapport that provides a foundation for growth.

Catalysts’ advisors build ongoing relationships with their clients to help them alleviate some of the day-to-day pressures of running a company and focus on their long-term needs.

With monthly or bi-monthly consultations, we work diligently to help our clients tackle their most pressing barriers to growth and the largest obstacles to success.