What Kind of a Coach Are You?

Most coaches I've met and whose web sites I've visited seem to be of the "coaches who coach coaches so that they can coach coaches" variety. No one seems to be coaching regular traditional mainstream businesses. Most coaches just seem to be coaching each other.

Those coaches who say they coach people who are not coaches all seem to have references from clients at Fortune 500 companies plastered on their web sites. How is it possible you ask, that 100,000 coaches (ok, maybe that's an exaggeration) all seem to be coaching executives at only 500 companies? I uncovered the truth. It's creative copywriting.

A little research demonstrated that these coaches have actually coached individuals at this or that tiny division or regional facility of a Fortune 500 company. The name on the check they received 'proved' they had worked with a Fortune 500 company and we are left to assume that meant executives at the highest level.

In fact these coaches were coaching small businesses, because that's what these divisions actually are. They have their own budgets, their own processes, their own need to be accountable to the market. It's just that the market for them is the committees of big shots - or as they are often called, "the people upstairs."

These divisions typically have less than 500 employees and fewer than two dozen executives, like the traditional privately held and family owned businesses that make up almost 90% of all organizations worldwide. These divisions have all the productivity, communication, conflict, leadership, and management issues faced regularly by the small companies that populate Main Street.

Except of course that you can be hired, do your work, and be paid by one of these Main Street companies - in less time than it take your proposal to get through the decision making process at a Fortune 500 divisional organization.

The owners of these mainstream companies are executives in the truest sense of the word. They make decisions that effect their lives and the success of their entire universe every day. In a family owned company mistakes can be fatal. These executives need executive coaches to help them uncover the pot holes before the company drops into one.

Leadership is the key core competency required to achieve and sustain success in the 21st Century. Mainstream companies do not have leadership development programs - everything is OJT (on the job training) so if you are a leadership coach, there are more clients among the companies within 20 miles of where you are sitting right now than you can ever serve.

Unmanaged conflict is the largest reducible cost in organizations today, and the least recognized, according to Dan Dana, known around the world as the "Conflict Doctor" and the creator of the revolutionary self-help conflict resolution method. While Dr. Dana's process was created to allow mediation without a mediator, sometimes businesses need help getting everybody on board and cooperating with the process. These mainstream companies are made up of people who know each other well - where nothing is just business, everything is personal, so an outsider is often required to help train and facilitate the start up of the conflict resolution process. This is the role of a conflict coach - helping real people deal with very real issues that effect their lives and those of their entire family.

As some corporations position themselves to transition the business to the next generation of owners it becomes clear that the business is unlikely to get big enough quick enough to provide opportunities for everybody. Or the younger generation are not interested in the family business. Enter the career coach to help the younger generation members consider their alternatives and maybe help find qualified outsiders to become managers and successors in the next generation.

And these companies need management coaches. The average successful business owner is in his or her sixties. That makes their offspring probably less than forty. Virtually every successful mainstream company also has key employees, managers, and supervisors who are within 10 years of the owner's. That means that the people exist who, if coached well - can create the internal management team that will lead to seamless growth as the senior generation heads off into the sunset.

In fact for every speciality and sub-specialty of coaches there is work to be done on Main St.

What kind of coach are you? What kind of coach do you want to be? What contributions do you want to make?

Article Source: http://articlewagon.com

If you want to connect with the thousands of business owners who visit our web site each month be sure to join our brand new directory of professional solution providers for businesses at www.FamilyBusinessAdvisors.biz Wayne Messick reports on how Main St. businesses are poised to succeed in the 21st Century on his blog www.WayneMessick.com

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated