Hiring a business coach is a commitment to a two-way relationship. For coaching to work, you have to commit to making changes and work with a coach with whom you have an affinity and whom you trust to hold you accountable. Before you sign a contract with a business coach, it’s important to ask questions and obtain answers that make sense to you.  You may hire a business coach to assist with any number of business or interpersonal skills. For example, perhaps you need to learn how to use social media better. Maybe you want to improve your public speaking skills, or maybe you have thinking patterns you would like to change. The coach you hire should answer your questions to your satisfaction, and you should have a comfortable rapport with him or her. After all, you’ll be working together for a period of weeks or months. How do you know when it’s time to hire a business coach? If you’re not sure, here are 5 typical signs that business leaders often interpret to mean that a business coach may be of help.

1. You Need to Bounce Ideas Off Someone

The business coach is uniquely suited for this role. Your coach isn’t influenced by company politics, and doesn’t have a close personal connection that may color his or her strategy. A great coach knows how to ask powerful questions of you that will reveal your most deeply held values and help shepherd you toward your most important goals. The business coach is non-judgmental and doesn’t look for angles. He or she is there to help you be the best business leader you can be.

2. You Have Trouble Putting Ideas Into Action

Follow-through is tough for a lot of people, even if they are highly accomplished. Having amazing ideas but not putting them into practice is a common problem of business leaders, yet the business coach is able to map out the exact steps you need to take to follow through and make those ideas happen. If there is a skill you need to improve and practice in order to get there, he or she helps you work on that skill until it’s fully assimilated.

3. You Feel Stuck and Frustrated

Business may be going well, with profits up and expenses down, yet you know it can be better. What should your next move be? How could your strategy and tactics improve so you can reach your goals? Your business coach can help you become “unstuck” and have a better understanding of the direction you should aim and the steps to take to address your frustration and become confident your business is moving forward again.

4. You Want to Increase Personal Accountability

It’s not uncommon for otherwise outstanding leaders to fall short in terms of personal accountability. A business coach can be the perfect partner for changing this. Some people, when they know their coach will hold them to their objectives and goals and specifically ask if certain steps have been taken, are more likely to hold themselves accountable. Furthermore, a great coach trains the business leader to develop personal accountability as the essential skill it is.

5. You’re Working Too Many Hours to Accomplish Too Little

Business leaders expect to work hard, but if you can’t remember the last time you had a real vacation, or the last time you worked something resembling a 40-hour week, you may benefit from business coaching. What inefficiencies exist in your planning and execution? Is it time to hire more people? Could some tasks be automated? A business coach can bring you to a place where you once again love what you do and remember why you went into business in the first place.

Business coaches have a unique place in the world of the business leader. Because of his or her outsider status, a coach provides a viewpoint a leader may not see otherwise. The coach isn’t swayed by company politics as colleagues often are, nor by the personal relationship of a spouse or family member. A great coach knows exactly how removed and objective he or she needs to be while still developing the trust necessary to help the business leader reach his or her most important goals. As an experienced business coach, I invite you to peruse my books and also to find out more about speaking and training services, leadership coaching, and corporate culture services.

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