Developing entrepreneurs and business owners often face challenges and circumstances outside of their experience and look for the guidance of a wise mentor to help them succeed. But apart from turning to their accountant or lawyer, where can businesses owners go for help and specific advice?
Many people end up reaching out to a business coach for an answer. But according to a popular article published in The Sydney Morning Herald, one of the most prestigious daily newspaper in Australia, hiring a business coach is a process fraught with danger.
In an article titled “Are business coaches a waste of time?”, the Sydney Morning Herald claims that many Australians who have hired a business coach ended up dissatisfied and out of pocket.
According to those sharing their negative experience in the Sydney Morning Herald, the most common objection was that the business coach they hired provided a ‘rigid coaching program’ that only gave them ‘general information’, at a relatively high cost, and did not seem to have the capacity to tailor instruction and mentoring to suit the specific circumstances of the specific business challenges that individual business owners were facing.
“These criticisms in the Sydney Morning Herald ring true,” says top Melbourne business coach, Stuart Hayes, the founder of Stuart Hayes Leadership.
“Let’s face it, every business IS different, even businesses in the same markets can face unique circumstances and have unique internal dynamics that mean they face completely different challenges to success” said Hayes.
To demonstrate the validity of these criticisms, Hayes did something really interesting. He did a quick search in Google under the term ‘Business Coach’ and pointed to a prominent entry in the search results showing “770 business coaching jobs available on LinkedIn!”
Pointing to the Google result Hays said. “Do you really think that all the people being hired to fulfill the roles of 770 business coaches advertised on LinkedIn will have the experience required to help businesses looking for specific or specialist help?”
Shaking his head he continued to make his point. The fact is, coaching isn’t something that anyone can provide. The simple truth is people with real world experience and the qualifications required to meet the needs of most people looking for a business coach are very rare” said Hayes.
“A good coach needs to be able to accurately diagnose the specific reasons why a business is falling short of expectations and have the experience and capacity to help the owner his leaders and their teams develop specific tactics, programs and skills to address specific areas of underperformance. No canned coaching program will do that!” He said.
A really big problem according to both Hayes and the Sydney Morning Herald is that there is no professional body that regulates business coaches (in Australia, or for that matter in many other parts of the world). The way it is right now, anyone can wake up one day and claim to be a business coach, which means the only things that entrepreneurs can rely upon to distinguish between truly qualified coaches and everyone else, are the academic credentials of the coaches, and their past successes in business.
Lately there have been calls for regulation in the business coaching industry, and a regulatory body would provide business owners with the information they need to identify good coaches, restore the reputation of the business coaching industry as a whole, and obligate business coaches to adhere to certain quality standards, including ensuring that their coaching programs are relevant to their client’s individual businesses.
Hopefully, the business coaching industry will be regulated in the future, says Hayes, but until then, business owners must learn to identify good coaches by themselves.
“Finally, entrepreneurs and business owners need to pay attention to the way business coaches structure their coaching programs,” said Hayes. Does the program seem too canned or rigid? Does it address the specific problems that your business has? Is the coach offering a formula-based program even before he takes the time to study the fundamentals of your business?
In conclusion, according to the Sydney Morning Herald and one of Australia’s best credentialed Business coaches, Stuart Hayes, entrepreneurs should be wary of coaches and advisers who provide a one-size-fits-all coaching program. Instead look for experienced, well qualified people with a demonstrated capacity to produce programs based on your specific needs.
