Are you a good coach? Don't be too quick to nod in the
affirmative. Entrepreneurs, say the experts, often come into
coaching with several strikes against them. "You can't do
this if you have a need to be right; you must be open-minded,"
says Cheryl Richardson, former president of the International Coach
Federation and author of Take Time for Your Life: A Personal
Coach's Seven Step Program for Creating the Life You Want
(Broadway Books). Of course entrepreneurs are
strong-willed--that's part of the package--and that means you
may have to work extra hard to coach right.
Strike two is that the surest way to derail even well-meaning
coaching is by not committing the time needed, says Richardson.
Time-pressed entrepreneurs, she says, are notorious for letting
coaching meetings slip off their calendars. But even good
intentions won't produce results if you don't commit the
time.
"For coaching to bring benefits, you've got to be
patient," says Chuck Popovich, a business professor at Robert
Morris College in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. "You won't
see results in 45 seconds."
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Strike three is the fact that many entrepreneurs feel they have
to act like a cop to successfully coach. Rich Russakoff, president
of Bottom Line Consultants in Richmond, Virginia, and a coach for
owners of small and mid-sized businesses, explains: "Too
often, coaching happens only as a way to criticize an employee. But
that's not being a coach; it's being a cop. A cop focuses
on the past and finds fault. A coach focuses on the future and
looks at past behavior only to find better ways to perform in the
future. But many entrepreneurs think they're coaching when
they're simply being cops."
Have you struck out? Even if you have, don't despair,
because the coaching experts are quick to offer up the tips you
need to coach more efficiently and effectively.
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