5 Skills You Need To Be A Great Business Coach

By Author: Achin Puri
Total Articles: 1
Comment this article

A business coach is a person who assists and guides a business owner on how to run a business by helping with clarification of the vision and how it fits in with their goals, personal and business-oriented as well. Taking a business from its current status to where the owner wants it to be is what a business coach does.

There are a lot of people who start a new business with some capital in hand and a lot of aspirations. However, in the long run, they fail to sustain it as they fall short of expertise and help. Following and sticking to the principles and values of a business is not a piece of cake. This is where the expertise of a Business Coach comes into play.

A business coach directs the business to meet the targets and constantly monitor its performance and progress. Chalking out plans and setting targets based on the vision of the business is what a business coach does whilst constantly scrutinizing the performances and needs of the business. A business coach also takes care of the channelling of investments and reviewing the budget to ensure maximum profit.

Every business, irrespective of its size, ...
... needs business coaching in order to form strategies to improve business. A business coach also evaluates employees’ performances helping them with enhancing their skills, competence, and capacity. The business coach assesses the potential and helps to direct it in such a manner that the targets are achieved more efficiently and quickly.

However, a business coach focuses solely on the success of the business and not on an individual’s goals. Hence, business coaching should not be confused with life coaching.

To be a great and successful business coach, one needs to be devoted to the idea of success and adhere to the vision of the business.
The 5 skills a business coach needs are as follows:

1. Being a Good Listener

Listening with maximum attention and curiosity is crucial when it comes to being a business coach. Lack of patience and attentiveness can send in the wrong message, thus, leading to misunderstanding and miscommunication.

A strong and crystal clear dialogue between the business coach and the business owner is crucial to the sustenance and progress of the business. Genuine interest and curiosity help with a well-structured conversation which in turn is fruitful for both parties. Keeping interruptions to a minimum and keeping the conversation well-paced and on target is crucial to the job.

Alongside listening, it is important to take in what the other party is trying to convey. Hence, it is important that, as a business coach, one should absorb and register what is being said.

2. Response

Reflecting with accuracy on what the person talked about shows one is listening and helps in confirming that the information has been received and interpreted in an intended manner. It also allows the person to cross-check and correct within himself or herself if need be. Being empathetic, whilst working as a business coach, is also important. A business coach should be able to step into the shoes of the business owner and visualize things as the owner sees. The business coach has to be understanding enough to help the owner cross whatever hurdles he or she faces.

The possible ways to respond are:
a. Paraphrasing: Restating what one heard in his or her own words.
b. Summarising: Whilst going through a lot of information, it is important to have an overview of the entire concept.
c. Repetition of important terms: It enables the speaker to understand that the intended information has been correctly interpreted.

3. Questioning for Exploration

Questions help in extending a conversation and give the room to explore. Asking open-ended questions helps the business owner in gaining insight into the idea that is being proposed.

When the speaker is able to answer the question, it empowers them and instills in them the confidence that would help them to go ahead and achieve what he or she wants, and even more than the predetermined goals. It also sets in their mind that their business coach trusts in them and will support them throughout. The ability to ask not just questions, but the right questions is important.

4. Providing Feedback for Development

Feedback is a very crucial aspect of being a business coach. One should be careful about the way he or she dispatches the feedback. A badly dispatched feedback could lead to crushing of confidence, thus, making the business seem inadequate and even unnecessary to the owner.

Well-Tailored feedback is important to build trust and confidence in the relationship between the business owner and the business coach. When providing feedback, the business coach should take care of the fact that the feedback should be constructive, relevant and non-evaluative. Being arrogant and using feedback as a method to assert one’s knowledge and expertise would only lead to destruction.

5. Learning Ability

As a business coach, one needs to plan and guide business owners through various hurdles. Success comes to a business coach only when they clear these hurdles in the most efficient manner possible. To cater to this, the business coach needs to have a wide variety of knowledge and expertise in several different areas.

Recommending the business owner about various workshops, fairs, books they should read, etc, not only shows one’s interest in the business but also strengthens the relationship of the business owner and business coach. The important thing is before recommending anything, the business coach himself or herself has to go through the same training to be able to properly guide the business owner.

Essentially, a business coach needs to be able to understand the intricacies of the business world. Hence, a basic knowledge of all the various subdivisions of the business sector is crucial.

A business coach can learn different things in different ways. While for a certain category, the business coach has to go through a few books, the other topics can be covered up by listening to podcasts. Attending seminars or webinars could also be helpful.

I am a Xoogler and have worked in several industries owing to management consulting background. I have worked extensively on new product launches, business strategy, and operations excellence.