Would You Benefit From a Coach?

1:1 NLP trainer and Business Coach, Michael Beale gives his view of how you can benefit from a coach and the circumstances where a coach may be more beneficial than other interventions like consulting and training.

A coach’s sales proposition is a curious one. Unlike a consultant’s which delivers the service required so it’s taken care of, a coach is saying: “I’ll help you take care of it yourself” and “I’ll totally support you, however you’ll most likely need a touch of ambition, openness, courage, and discipline to achieve the very best result.” The proposition often involves real work on the part of the client. It’s not so instantly appealing. Coaching is most useful when you want to become better at something yourself, rather than outsourcing it to someone else.

Coaching is also really effective when you want to get practical results, rather than learning the theory. There is normally a huge disconnect between understanding and achieving. A simple example of this is that the significant number of dieting books sold hasn’t reduced overall obesity. People understand the theory of dieting. That in itself isn’t enough for them to lose weight. A good coach will help you turn theory into practice and in doing so help you get the results you want.

What are the key aspects of your business (and / or of course your life) that you want to better at? What are the key aspects that if you improved would make a significant difference to you now and have an even greater significance moving forward?

The key aspects for many of my clients are around aspects of setting an empowering vision, understanding where they are now, and helping them develop and implement a simple plan that will get them there. Occasionally blocks will appear and a good coach is often the ideal person to help you break through it.

In theory these are easy steps, however the real pressures and challenges of everyday life often get in the way of us doing them properly. We often put off investing in the activities that will both improve our success and reduce our workload longer term.

A good coach creates the framework and discipline to ensure they are done properly. A lot of success both in business and life is about establishing great habits. Sometimes it’s surprisingly difficult to do this on our own.

Good trainers, consultants and coaches all have their strengths. If you want to understand something hire a trainer. If you want something done and taken off your hands, hire a consultant. However for those areas of your life that you need and want to be really good at, hire a coach.

Michael is a certified Richard Bandler NLP trainer and a Marshall Goldsmith certified Stakeholder Leadership and Team Coach. He can be contacted through Business NLP Ltd or Leadership Executive Coaching (UK) email michaelbeale@execcoach.net or on 506563.