How can a business coach help me with my team?

Here at Action Coach, we realise that one of the most challenging aspects of being a business owner is managing and leading your team. On top of managing and leading them, you have to recruit a winning team as well. If you’ve been wondering how you could build a high-performance team, you might have considered using a business coach. If that’s the case, you may have asked yourself “how can a business coach help me with my team?”

Here’s a detailed explanation of how a business coach can help you. There’s also a level of honesty in this article. That being said you’ll learn how a business coach might NOT be the best thing to help you build your team.

Can a business coach really help me with my team?

Probably.

Having a coach is not for everyone and in this article, we’ll explain when you should and shouldn’t use a business coach to help you manage, lead, and recruit a winning team.

Thousands of books have been written on the subjects of management and leadership. And still, most small business owners struggle to run a great team.

We get it, the team isn’t doing what they said they would do. There’s bickering between team members. There’s no culture of accountability and team members keep blurting out “it’s not my job.”

There are some key principles that a coach can help you with. Leading a great team can be difficult when there’s emotion involved. So a business coach can really help get 10,000 feet above the problem and help you detach the emotion.

The tools

A great coach will have lots of tricks up their sleeve. They may include:

• A strong recruitment process to help you find the very best talent available. It’s so much easier when you have a team of high performers.
• The boxes. A great coach will help you look at who’s doing what in the business. What “boxes” are you in as a business owner? If you’re in the boxes that head up “marketing”, “sales”, “operations” and “finance” then you won’t be performing. Get the right people in the right boxes.
• Assessment tools. Coaches often use various assessment tools to help business owners and their teams identify areas of strength and improvement. These tools may include personality assessments, team dynamics assessments, and leadership assessments.
• Communication and leadership training. Coaches may provide training and guidance on effective communication, leadership, and interpersonal skills. It could help business owners and their teams build stronger relationships and work more effectively together.
• Team-building exercises. Coaches may use team-building exercises and activities to help teams improve collaboration, trust, and motivation.
• Conflict resolution. Lots of business owners use a business coach to help them resolve conflicts in the team. That could be conflicts between individuals or even departments.
• Pulse meetings. A coach may work with your team to build a regular meeting rhythm. Done well and the communication and accountability just flow through the business. That way, everyone knows what’s going on in the business and they know what’s expected of them too.

There are lots of different tools that a coach uses. Whether they are communication tools like DISC or Talent Dynamics, or even feedback tools like 360. A good coach will know which tools will work best for you and your business.

When should I look at using a business coach?

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and struggling to manage, lead, and recruit a great team, it may be time to consider hiring a business coach.

Or, instead, maybe you are not in pain. You might have a team that you believe has more potential. You might want them to reach for the stars. If that’s true a coach could be the right way to go.

A coach can provide you with the tools and strategies you need to become a more effective leader. Especially if your team isn’t performing. They can help you navigate the challenges and complexities of running a team.

Additionally, if you’re looking to take your team to the next level, a coach can provide the support and guidance you need to help your team reach its full potential.

Are you coachable?

The other thing to consider is if you are “coachable”. I know what your thinking, what the hell does that mean?

You are generally coachable if you have a growth mindset. If you want to learn, increase your knowledge, and work on yourself, then there’s a good chance you are coachable. If you are into personal development and you have an open mind, coaching could be perfect for you.

Being coachable also comes down to your resources. Do you have the resources to be coached? If you can make the time to work on the business instead of in it (a necessity when it comes to actually growing a business) and you have the financial resources to invest in coaching then you could be coachable.

Put the two together, you have the growth mindset and you have the resources needed to invest and coaching could be just the thing you need.

When is using a business coach to help manage, lead, and recruit a great team NOT a good idea?

Firstly, if you’re not coachable. There’s no point in hiring a coach if you aren’t open to learning. Or if you aren’t into personal development and don’t have a growth mindset.

It can be a bad idea to hire a business coach if you don’t have the resources to do so either. If you’re not willing to make the time or invest the cash. If you don’t have either of those things then hiring a business coach might not be the best idea.

While a business coach can be a valuable resource for many business owners, it’s not always the right choice. If you’re just starting out and don’t yet have a team in place, a coach to help you grow a team may not be the best step.

Additionally, if you’re confident in your abilities and feel that you have a good handle on managing and leading your team, you may not need the additional support of a coach.

If you didn’t like the idea of a coach, you could always just hire a trainer or consultant to come in and do a workshop with your team. That can often lack follow-through without a coach holding you accountable but if you’re extremely disciplined it might work really well.

Alternatively, there are lots of great books out there on running a great team. Building a library to improve your skills is always another option.

What will a coach actually do to help me with my team?

A business coach will work with you to identify areas of improvement and provide you with the tools and strategies you need to become a more effective leader.

This may include coaching you on communication, motivation, and delegation. It could include helping you to create a more positive and productive work environment for your team.

Additionally, a coach may work with you to help you recruit and retain top talent, and provide guidance on how to build a strong and successful team.

Your coaching sessions might be 121, where you work directly with the coach and they help you become a better manager or leader. You could join a group coaching programme where the business owners in the group receive the learnings, education, and accountability from the coach, but have each other for support too. You could even bring your team into the coaching environment as well. That way, all of you are growing.

It really depends on your level of commitment and budget.

Could I just try to improve my team myself?

Of course.

Improving your team can be a rewarding experience, and you may be able to make meaningful progress on your own.

If you’re a real implementer. And if you do what you said you were going to do. If you’re ready to read the books, do the courses, and then act on all the learnings, then you might just be able to do a great job on your own.

However, working with a coach can provide you with additional support, guidance, and expertise. Those things could just help you achieve your goals faster and more effectively.

How does business coaching work?

Business coaching typically involves one-on-one sessions or group sessions with a coach. You’ll work together to identify areas of improvement and develop a plan to achieve your goals.

The coach will also provide you with ongoing support, feedback, and guidance to help you stay on track and make steady progress.

For more information on what a business coach actually does just click here.

Could a coach work with my team or do they only work with the business owner?

A business coach can work with both the business owner and the team.

In some cases, a coach may work with the entire team to help improve communication, motivation, and collaboration. A coach might help you build a more positive and productive work environment.

In other cases, the coach may work directly with the business owner to provide guidance and support on managing and leading the team.

How much does it cost to hire a business coach to help me with my team?

The cost of hiring a business coach can vary depending on the coach’s experience, expertise, and even their location.

Some coaches have huge profiles and charge huge fees. Tony Robbins for example is rumoured to charge £1 million per year for just 12 sessions. Other coaches with large profiles like those that appeared in the Netflix Documentary “Business As Unusual” may have a more reasonable fee than the likes of Tony Robbins.

There are local, solopreneur coaches that are much cheaper still. There are even free coaching programmes available that are usually government funded.

It’s worth taking a little time to figure out which coach is right for you.

In general, you can expect to pay anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand pounds for a coaching engagement. The average cost is somewhere around £500 to £1500 per month.

That being said the cost of hiring a coach is often offset by the benefits you’ll receive, such as an improved team, more cash and a more valuable business.

If you want to find out more about our programmes and prices here at Action Coach just click here.

And if you don’t need to see them because you’ve already looked, but want to join one of our programmes just click here.