written by
Steve Kincanon
published Nov 16, 2023
Business coaching significantly impacts businesses and employees, hence the rising demand for their services across various industries. There were over 71,000 coaches worldwide in 2019 alone focused on helping company owners develop and sharpen leadership skills.
They create or revamp existing business strategies and prioritize the implementation of these techniques to ensure upward growth for their clients and their employees. Even more business coaches emerged during the pandemic, and the business coaching market has now been valued at $13.9 billion. It hasn't stopped growing, as the industry is currently home to over 125,000 certified business coaches.
However, not all these consultants are effective or offer the results they advertise. Some are focused on attracting multiple clients and receiving huge checks without the clients' interests at heart. To help you make better decisions, this article explores the traits you should look out for when considering working with a business coach. Let's dive in!
What Is Business Coaching?
Business coaching is the process of getting professional consultants to help you plan and implement your business goals. The best business coaches are those experts who not only maintain a high level of professionalism but offer incredible value to their clients.
Business coaching has been proven to impact organizational performance, and 97% of entrepreneurs agree that implementing coaching advice positively affects their employee performance. Depending on your business needs, here are some of the common impacts of business coaching in an establishment:
Increase productivity by helping employees understand what keeps them going and exploring this uniqueness.
Highlight where things are going right or wrong and offer solutions to these problems.
Boost employee engagement and retention.
Improve communication and collaboration among executives and other employees.
Develop and implement a company culture favorable to employees and executives.
Help entrepreneurs and leaders enhance their decision-making skills.
Help employees explore new ideas and become more creative and innovative.
Work on building an environment where every team member can express themselves freely.
The best business coaches develop and implement strategies to increase your revenue and put you ahead of competitors. However, finding coaches like this takes time, resources, and effort. Here is a list covering the traits of a good business coach.
1. Confidence
A confident business coach will build a strong and lasting relationship with you and your team. This is because they can offer smooth and quality insights into your struggles and also give you tips to help you effectively overcome them. They know your self-confidence affects the people around you and the relationships you build.
They understand that the quality of the relationship your employees feel they have with you determines how much they are willing to engage and be active and productive. Therefore, you need a business coach who is confident enough to help build your own confidence.
2. Enthusiasm
Generally, only about 20% of the US workforce is passionate about their jobs. The best business coaches have a genuine interest in helping their clients achieve their business goals. This is because they deeply enjoy helping entrepreneurs and enterprises succeed. Being enthusiastic about business coaching motivates them to go above and beyond to find a favorable solution for their clients.
3. Authenticity
Being a business coach comes with huge responsibilities. It's about being real, meeting your clients at their point of need, understanding their pain points, showing that you care, and being strategic about offering solutions. The best business coaches share these traits because they know that showing their clients they relate to their struggles without making them feel awkward is the best way to make people feel comfortable.
Aside from making clients comfortable, authenticity makes communication easier, so a good business coach must be ready to handle difficult conversations without making the client feel uncomfortable. To come across as authentic, they have to:
Be open and transparent.
Share experiences that are closely related to your struggles.
Use non-verbal cues, such as nodding, smiling, or mirroring expressions, to show they’re paying attention.
Validate your feelings and opinions. They use statements like "I can see how challenging this is" and "I can see how this stresses you out."
Listen actively.
Offer support and show compassion.
Offer solutions and value tailored to your needs.
Follow up after your meeting.
Follow through with the improvements and ask for feedback regularly.
All relationships are built on trust, and that goes for business relationships as well. Authenticity is perhaps the most important trait to seek in a coach since it engenders this trust.
4. Connection
Being the best business coach transcends knowing what to do and how to help companies succeed. It encompasses how they communicate, build long-term connections, and share ideas. Connections create a mutually beneficial ecosystem for both your company and the business coach.
However, building connections is different for everyone. Some individuals do not have a preference when it comes to sessions, while others (about 75% of people) prefer in-person meetings. Studies show that only 7% of communication happens verbally and 38% through tone, while the remaining 55% occurs through body language.
You'll discover that only 70% of entrepreneurs who opt for business coaching enjoy effective communication, and this affects the kind of connection they build with their business coach. So, opt for a business coach who:
Listens actively and attentively.
Addresses your questions and concerns thoroughly but is concise and specific.
Asks relevant questions and makes you feel comfortable.
Educates you and keeps you engaged throughout the process.
Ensures they understand your pain points.
Pays attention to non-verbal signs.
Requests feedback after you have implemented the solutions they offered.
5. Flexibility
Over the years, one-on-one meetings have become less of a bother for businesses. New advancements in the 21st century remove the accessibility barrier, as clients and coaches can communicate any day and anytime via innovative online meeting suites like Google Meet, Zoho Virtual Meeting Rooms, and Microsoft's Online and Virtual Meeting Software.
The best business coaches leverage these developments to make themselves available to clients throughout different time zones. This shows entrepreneurs that the coach values them and genuinely cares about their organization. It will also give them a good impression of their communication skills.
6. Intuition
The importance of intuition in business coaching is sometimes overlooked. An intuitive business coach opens your eyes to blind spots and guides you to make the best decisions for your business using their intuition. They do not impose their ideas on you, but they empower you to delve deeper into your wisdom and gain clarity into your company's vision and purpose.
However, there are downsides to this trait, especially when the business coach's intuition is wrong. This is why intuition is better when backed up with other traits of a good business coach, like knowledge and expertise, showing that your coach has a consistent track record of helping companies in various industries grow.
So, when choosing a business coach, ensure they've been rooted and have years of experience coaching various establishments, including those in your sector. To find this information, go through their website and social media handles, and if they have an on-site office, ask around to learn how well they've helped other companies in the past.
If you are scouring online, it is easier to find testimonials, social posts, and case studies; simply search on the platform they are most active on. Intuition, knowledge, and expertise help the best business coaches know the most profitable tactics to employ since they've been down that path before.
7. Power
Having power as a business coach doesn't mean that they can force their decisions or choices on you or cajole you to make changes you don't want to. It only means that you trust them and are willing to try out the solutions that they bring to the table. So, when you're choosing a business coach, ensure that they can influence your decisions. Without this strength, you may not be willing to listen to them or even trust their suggestions.
8. Engagement
One of the traits that make a successful business coach is knowing the best way to address various audiences and keep them engaged throughout the coaching session. The best business coaches know what works for what audience and make adjustments to their methods to ensure effective communication. If your coach lacks engagement skills, a good message will be lost, and you'll waste time, resources, and effort spending time with them instead of gaining new knowledge.
9. Energy
Just like energy is the bedrock and matters significantly in work-life balance, so does it matter in business coaching. Positive coaching energy enables you to connect with the consultant, build a lasting relationship, enjoy a healthy environment that also improves your workplace culture, and effectively apply the suggestions you receive.
Additionally, business coaches with the most positive energy tend to have a growth mindset, which is important for you and your business. Such professionals believe your and their knowledge, abilities, and expertise can be developed and expanded through hard work, consistency, and dedication.
For business coaches, a growth mindset means:
Willingness to learn continuously and stay ahead of the curve.
Ability to gain and implement new knowledge that will help you succeed.
Helping you find the best solution by showing you how to change your perspective and see things from others.
Encouraging you and letting you know it is okay to fail because there's a chance to get back up and beat competitors.
Showing entrepreneurs the value of a growth mindset culture and how to inculcate it in their company.
10. Professionalism
Having a business coach with ethical beliefs who strongly follows industry standard codes of conduct is one of the most important traits you should look out for in a business coach. For coaches, professionalism shows the level of credibility, reliability, and trustworthiness they've attained over the years. It protects their brand and yours from bias, being subject to unethical demands, and dishonesty.
Find a Coach Who Shares the Traits You Need
The best business coach for you should listen actively to your problems, understand your worries, support you, and focus on finding solutions to help your company thrive. At Foreword Companies, we offer even more value with our 3PX approach—which covers the planning, process, and implementation of solutions. Schedule a call today if you want to be part of the community enjoying this convenience.
