Why consider adding a coach to your business team?  The simple answer is that it could just help you achieve your goals and objectives.

Perhaps a story can illustrate it better.

A long, long time ago in a galaxy… oops that’s someone else’s story. A good story, but mine is true. Anyway, a long, long time ago I was playing little league baseball at West End Little League in Ontario, California.  I was eleven years old and was playing for the A&W Papermakers. The way I remember it, I came to bat with a runner on first base and we were trailing by a run.  After a couple of pitches I hit a shot to the fence in left field and made it around to score for an inside-the-park homerun. Or, so I thought. The runs were called back. Apparently, the first base umpire had called time out. I was devastated. You see, that was my first homerun.

Well, the best coach that I ever had, Mr. Barber, called me over and said “don’t worry about it, you can do it again, hit the ball to the opposite field”. As I was walking to the plate, still thinking about what might have been,  my dad, who was my biggest fan (along with my mom of course),yelled from the bleacher in this big booming voice, “do, it again Paddy, I know you can”.  At this point, I pretty much changed my attitude and got back in there with the intent of hitting another homerun. Guess what? I did. All I heard as I ran around the bases was my dad yelling “Run, Paddy, Run”. If any of you are wondering, I am indeed reminded of this when I watch the movie Forest Gump.  I hit two inside-the-park homeruns in the same at bat. This may be the only time in the history of the game the feat has been accomplished. At least I like to think so. And it is definitely one of my top 10 precious moments.

This article isn’t so much about business as it is about the power of coaching. It certainly applies to both your business and your personal life. I had the skills. I could hit and I was pretty fast in those days. But what I was lacking at that moment was focus and the belief that I could, in fact, have the same positive outcome. The coaching that I received at that moment made the difference. I try to remember this story every time I lose focus or run into something that seems improbable if not impossible to me.

A good coach not only has the relevant skills to teach but the ability to motivate, to help you achieve focus, as well as helping you define your goals and objectives. A great coach will tell you what you need to hear and not always what you want to hear.

When picking your coach follow these three rules:

1)       Choose wisely. There can be expense involved but if you choose wisely the returns will far surpass the cost.

2)      Be sure that they bring the skills and attitude you need. Don't choose someone that you know will simply agree with you. You don't need another "yes" man. I am sure that you can find plenty of those. I also don't believe  that you need to sign a contract.  

3)      And then, and this is important, don’t be too quick to fire them when they tell you something you don’t want to hear.  Coaching isn’t just “ra-ra-shish-boom-ba”.  There is serious work to be done and you need them to help you stay in the game. Sometimes you need to hear “Ok, so that didn’t work, let’s try this. I know that you can do it”, or even “look Joe, if we do not do something different your business will not survive”.

Even if you do have the skills, sometimes, you just need someone pointing out where to hit the ball and helping you believe the skills that you have can get the job done. I am sure that most if not all of you have had coaches that made a difference in your performance. Perhaps it is time to bring them back into your life, work and play.