Getting the Most Out of Business Coaching

As much as we’d love for it to be, business coaching isn’t a magic wand or miracle that instantly transforms all your professional woes into solved problems. It’s a process with growing pains, frustrations, and cognitive dissonance. 

Unfortunately, people often enter coaching relationships with the expectation that a couple of problem-solving sessions will take care of their issues, and then they can move on. They get busy with the daily minutiae of leading and wonder whether their time is better spent doing something yet intangible to them or focusing on the very real, pressing concerns in the workplace. 

Business coaching only works when you do. It requires focus, dedication, and time to put the things you’re learning into practice and, even more so, to reflect on the results meaningfully. 

So, how can you get the most out of business coaching?

Commit Wholeheartedly

Business coaching, above all else, must be a two-way street. No matter how skilled a coach you’re working with, they’re not going to get very far with a client who refuses to participate before, during, and after each session.

That requires taking what you’ve learned or discussed, putting it into practice, reflecting on it independently, then walking into your next coaching session ready to talk about it. 

Business coaching is an investment in yourself, and if you want to see returns, you have to be willing to accept the work that actual growth requires.

Go Into Your Meetings with a Goal

Before you sit down for a business coaching session, you must have a goal for the day. It can be as simple as debriefing a challenging conversation with an employee or as massive as defining the kind of leader you want to be. 

Goals help you get excited about your session and create parameters for the conversation that make it more personal. If you leave all the discussion topics up to your coach, it’s easy to disengage if they bring up something you’re not interested in working on. 

Be Transparent About Yourself and Your Business

Being realistic is one of the hardest things to do as a business leader. Entrepreneurs have a natural, unquenchable optimism that pushes them to keep trying when anyone else would have quit.

In a coaching setting, vulnerability is essential. Brutal honesty about where you stand as a leader and your business’s health is the only way to get to the heart of your concerns. Your coach isn’t there to judge you or mock you. They’ve seen it all and helped countless people through the worst situations. 

Be willing to share your challenges and the context around them. Only through sharing mistakes, mishaps, and hangups can you gain a proper perspective of who you are as a leader. 

Have Realistic Expectations

As mentioned earlier, coaching isn’t a magic potion. You will be working on a range of new skills that require time and effort to implement, and it won’t happen in a month or two. 

Remember that you’re seeking to change deeply ingrained behaviors and strategies you didn’t realize you engaged in. 

When it comes to business coaching, you have to go slow to go fast. That’s the only way to spend time teaching, learning, talking, reflecting, and practicing all the new things you’re learning. 

Welcome Challenge with an Open Mind

Business coaching will challenge your ego, question your practices, and hold a light up to your weaknesses, which is a challenging situation to contend with. There will be plenty of cases during your coaching commitment where you feel defensive and want to push back against your coach’s honesty. 

It is in those moments when it’s most important to remember why your business coach is there in the first place. 

Their role is to give you a new perspective on who you are as a leader, with their expertise and insight informing the feedback they give you. They aren’t there to pat you on the back or cheer you on as an empty sign of support. That wouldn’t be fair to you or your investment in the service. 

Instead of jumping to defend yourself, take the time to digest what they’ve said. Reflect on it out loud, in writing, or mentally. Get out of your comfort zone and welcome accountability. 

Catalyst Group ECR Pushes Business Leaders Toward Their Potential

What barriers to business growth are you facing?

From cash flow management to executive training, Lori Moen at Catalyst Group ECR can help you reach greatness through honest, helpful feedback and uncompromising accountability.

Her experience as a business owner has prepared her to work with clients to form long-term growth plans that fuel their entrepreneurial spirit while alleviating systemic and personal stumbling blocks. 

Schedule a consultation and see how Catalyst Group ECR can help you develop your entrepreneurial skills and reach your potential.