Coaches provide an extra set of experiences and perspectives that are invaluable for people who want to excel in their field, maximize business profitability and improve quality of life — or all of the above!
1. Business Leaders Prefer Coaching
According to Career Partners International, 40% of 400 U.S. and Canadian business leaders interviewed chose coaching as their preferred method of leadership development. Research is accumulating that shows a return-on-investment (ROI) of five to eight times the cost of coaching, 500%-800%.
David Rock and Linda J. Page
Coaching with the Brain in Mind
If that isn’t reason enough, let’s look at these other reasons to hire a coach.
2. Experience the Difference Between
Success and Failure, Great and Good
In virtually all professions (sports and entertainment especially), executives, leaders, and top performers hire coaches to give them an edge against the competition and to personally excel. Coaches are trained to draw out your genius, the difference between success and failure, or great and good. The smallest insight or tweak to a viewpoint, perspective, or skill can create maximum impact to the bottom line, whether personal, financial or both.
3. Use Cutting Edge Science and Training
Most coaches are lifelong students. To hone our craft, and our understanding of how people work, we immerse ourselves in the most cutting-edge learning in the fields of human potential, psychology, neuroscience, consciousness, and business.
4. Rediscover Your Authentic Self
As we grow and develop, we discover and experience things we are passionate about and find compelling; we are excited and engaged when we do it. Then something negative happens or someone says, “You can’t do that.” or “That’s not practical.” or ‘’There’s no future in that.” and we become discouraged and give up on it. A coach helps you rediscover who you are, so you can tap into your strengths and passions bringing them into your life and work.
5. Gain Insights vs. Accumulate Knowledge
Coaching focuses on insights, not knowledge. If knowledge were all that was needed, we’d just read a book by Richard Branson or Warren Buffett or surf the Net and go to work. Coaches facilitate insights so you see something you didn’t see previously, opening new doors to new solutions and better results. These insights lead to increasing your awareness, providing a deeper and richer understanding. Consider the experience of learning how to ride a bike. One moment you’re falling off the bike and then the next moment you’re riding! What happened? You discovered balance. You had an “AHA” moment. There is a level of ownership available when you experience an insight that is distinctly different from learning something from a book, an audio or a video. It becomes part of you. It’s also permanent. You can’t “unlearn” how to ride a bike.
6. Ask Questions vs. Give Answers
Coaching taps into the unknown, asking provocative questions, not providing answers. It facilitates insights and breakthrough thinking igniting one’s creativity. It is not a slave to conventional wisdom; coaching questions the status quo, encouraging curiosity and innovation.
7. Challenge Your Beliefs and Assumptions
We all have limiting beliefs about ourselves and the world. You can’t go more than an hour without having a limiting thought about yourself or some challenge on your plate, or have someone, a colleague, a friend, or family member, or some talking head pontificating about all the reasons why something “can’t” happen or be accomplished. The more we hear them, the more they seep into our thinking. A coach will challenge your thinking, the status quo, and conventional wisdom, providing the space to be creative and think outside the box.
8. Provide Honesty and Clarity
Coaches are not cheerleaders, friends, or Yes Men; they tell you the truth and will challenge your beliefs, assumptions, and actions when appropriate. They hold up the mirror or shine the light on things so you can see them clearly and honestly.
9. Provide a Sounding Board
Having a coach removes you from the limitations of a single perspective. You have an outlet for bouncing your thinking off someone who is practiced in using provocative questioning, well-honed listening skills, and keen intuition. This provides a powerful space for you to refine your ideas and goals.
10. Help You Slow Down Your Pace to Speed Up Your Results
Coaches can help you slow down and take stock. In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world, the coaching relationship provides a space that allows you to slow down, take a breath, ground yourself, sort through the noise, and use your own innate knowledge and genius to select the most powerful choices.
So the question isn’t “Why” anymore, it really is “Why Not.” Why wouldn’t you take advantage of all the benefits coaching provides? Coaching is not only a great investment, but also it is a great investment in you, the main driver and engine of your business and your life.