What Makes A Good Business Coach? [VIDEO]
If you’re looking for the qualities of a good business coach, then I think you’ll find this post interesting. In my 10+ years of being a business coach I can tell you what makes a good business coach is this…
A great coach doesn’t tell you what to think. They teach you how to think.
– HAROON RASHID, BUSINESS FIXER
[VIDEO] What Makes A Good Business Coach
Give A Man A Fish VS Teach A Man How To Fish
In this video, I explain this in more detail using the analogy of ‘teach a man to fish.’ If you give a man a fish then you’ve only fed him for a day. If you teach a man how to fish then you’ve empowered him. He is now self sufficient.
Think about that for a second.
If a someone gives a man a fish a day, then they are not doing their job. Their motivations could be to keep the man dependent on them.
The same applies to business coaches!
If a business coach simply keeps ‘feeding’ you for a day then they are wanting you to stay dependent on them. This is not a good business coach!
A great business coach looks to teach someone ‘how to fish’ (or in this case, how to think). That way, a business coach makes their client self-sufficient. They are now independent; they are empowered.
The best business coaches aren’t trying to keep you dependent on them. A great business coach will do such a great job that you are independent and self sufficient.
Being Taught How To Think
The ideal outcome that you’re after is to be taught how to think. This means that your business coach can give you mental models or approaches to dealing with various situations. This could be anything like:
- How to get our of the rut and be motivated
- How to deal with difficult situations
- How to deal with fear
- How to develop good habits
- How to look at your business from an elevated perspective
- How to find the root cause of a problem
- How to view a business objectively
- and more!
Different Altitudes Of Thinking
In his book, ‘Getting Things Done’, author David Allen talks about the different levels of how we can look at our lives and business. He calls this the ‘6 Horizons of Focus’ which look like this:
- Ground: This is where work happens. It’s all the things on your to-do lists, calendar items, meetings, emails, next actions etc
- Horizon 1 – Projects: David Allen defines a project as anything with more than one action step
- Horizon 2 – Areas of Focus and Accountability: At this level, you are clear on your job/role. This is where you decide which projects you’ll take on and which ones you’ll ditch
- Horizon 3: One to Two-Year Goals and Objectives: At this level, you will think about and clearly define what your life/business/job will look like in 1-2 years time.
- Horizon 4: Three to five-year vision: These are the long-term outcomes that you want for your business/life/job.
- Horizon 5: Purpose and principles: These are the hard questions. This is the ‘big picture’. What is your purpose on this earth? Why are you here?
Have you noticed that the higher off the ground you go, the less defined things are?
At Horizon 5 (Purpose and Principles), your language will be more open and a little vague. I’ll use myself as an example. I’ll stat at the highest level and work down to the ground so you can see how things get more defined the lower you go.
- Horizon 5: Purpose and principles: My purpose is to educate and entertain.
- Horizon 4: Three to five-year vision: I want to be considered one of the top business coaches and turnaround specialists in the UK. I want to be the number one resource for courses on these subjects.
- Horizon 3: One to Two-Year Goals and Objectives: I want to have 5 business coaching courses available online and be in the top 10 selling courses on those platforms for my industry. I want to have given the keynote speech at 1 large business conference in the UK. I want my podcast to be in the top 10 podcasts on various podcast platforms (Apple, Amazon, Google etc). I want to have written 1 book on business turnaround that gets to the top business sellers charts.
- Horizon 2 – Areas of Focus and Accountability: My most important jobs are to create excellent content – podcasts, blogs, courses, videos, eBooks, books. I need to build up my client base and keep getting referrals for coaching and speaking engagements. I need to continue networking worldwide with social media influencers to appear on my podcast.
- Horizon 1 – Projects: Write my 1st book. Get more speaking engagements. Get 10 social media influencers on my podcast. Get 10 more customers by the end of this year.
- Ground: Email [INFLUENCER] about coming on the show. Have a 121 with [NAME] – potential new client. Book time in diary this weekend to finish off chapter 3 of my book.
Can you see how that works? A great business coach should be able to give you some sort of horizon thinking to help you shape your business and life.
