In any fast-paced industry such as IT it’s hard to stay on the ball. A combination of client, employee and supplier concerns all add up to draw a fine balance between a profitable operation and going under. Furthermore, there is that constant requirement to up-skill oneself and to stay on top of things such as the latest solution developments to recommend to your clients.

This constant juggling of priorities comes with a price. Many businesses fail because they don’t understand the glue that holds any enterprise together — the human factor. Without the right motivation or the right goals, all activities between yourself, your employees, your clients, and your suppliers can fall flat.

Unlike some software suites, your life doesn’t even come with a third-party “Life Management for Dummies” self-help book. If you often wish that you could start planning and managing your business like an Excel spreadsheet, then maybe it’s time to consider a professional coach to help you with it.

The value of a coach

Although most like to consider professional coaches as contractors, a good coach is more like a business partner, working together with you instead of managing you. An effective coach helps you lay down a development plan consistent with your business aspirations, your skills and your goals as a person. Of course, it helps to have realistic yet bold expectations – all of which a coach can help you with.

Professional coaches, much like their athletic counterparts, are passionate about performance and committed to helping you achieve your personal best.  Their aim is to help you achieve your goals through linking your personal potential with your work. This can even lead to them bringing out hidden possibilities.

Benefits of having a coach

Coaching is proven to work when the coachee is willing to grow, and there is a gap between where they are now and where they want to be. That is all that is necessary for you and your coach to solve problems, create new opportunities, turn a business around, increase sales and profitability, and design and implement a plan of action.

An effective coach will:

•     Work alongside you, offering you support and encouragement
•     Ask probing questions and push you through boundaries you have set knowingly or unknowingly
•     Offer constructive and challenging feedback to your answers
•     Hold you accountable, check in on your progress and help you to measure it

With the help of a coach, you will be able to:

•     Map the path between where you are and where you want to be
•     Enhance strategic work skills
•     Design and implement a tailored plan of action in accordance to your personality and goals
•     Solve specific problems from day-to-day challenges to long-term ones
•     Reinvigorate your business – processes, clients, service delivery, and business offering
•     Boost sales and profitability by creating a conductive environment
•     Expand your business through facilitating right decision-making
•     Pursue opportunities that you may have missed, or have shied away from
•     Be motivated, bright and ready from the very moment you wake up

What to look for in a coach

Just like the right business partner, the right coach must be someone whom you feel comfortable working with and someone whom you can trust. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, gauge their personalities, ask for references, or test their expertise – these are professionals from whom you will be seeking a professional business service.

A good coach will be a support structure, a second conscience, a motivator, and a source of both encouragement and information.  The best coaching is:

•     Action-orientated
•     Focused on where you are, where want to be and how you can get there
•     A partnership where the coach supports you to draw wisely from your own resources

Be on the ball, stay on the ball

When you’re on the field, it’s hard to see the bigger picture — that’s where a coach comes in. With the right help, you’ll be able to see the bigger picture for what it’s worth, and the results of having a coach will definitely shine through in your business productivity and working relationships. That would be a well-made investment in human technology.