How to become a business coach: values, motivation, skills
The profession of a business coach appeared in Russia recently, only twenty years ago. In Soviet times, of course, there was a system of continuous training for managers and working specialists - as part of postgraduate education, teachers gave lectures, and students wrote them down in detail. After training, in the workplace, under the guidance of mentors, conditions were created for the development of practical skills.
In modern conditions of information saturation, intensive changes and time limits, there is a requirement for the participants to develop new skills already at the stage of postgraduate education. No extra time! At work, you need to act, quickly implementing the acquired skills into business processes. Training is now interactive, with exercises and role-playing games. The appearance of the teacher has changed: from a methodical and strict professor, he has turned into an energetic and charismatic business coach who knows how to raise the energy of the participants, infect them with the spirit of development, ambition and movement forward!
So what is he like – a modern business coach? What are his values and motivators? What basic skills should he have? Let's discuss these issues in our article: values determine the direction of a trainer's activities, motivators set energy levels, and skills determine methods of action.
Business coach values
A business coach should be interesting to his listeners not only as a professional, but, above all, as a person, an individual. Please note that the training sessions are attended by successful people, with excellent willpower and bright energy. The coach who stands in the center of the group must be one of them and, at the same time, the one who has earned the right to lead.
What makes a trainer interesting to listeners? What helps him stand with dignity in the center of the group, as they say, “in the embrasure”?
I know from experience that during trainings people are interested in:
- to see a person with inner freedom and relaxedness;
- communicate with a confident person;
- receive confirmation that optimism helps you live a high quality life and build a successful career;
- become a participant in positive interactions in the group, feel comfortable;
- connect to the internal state of development that the coach possesses.
Inner freedom and relaxedness attract always and everywhere, and especially during training. In the first minutes of communication, people tune their “antennas” to a special “frequency channel”, through which they receive information about the degree of internal freedom of the trainer. You can say smart and useful things, but if the coach is constrained and not free, they will not listen to him. And, conversely, you can broadcast ordinary information, but if this information is accompanied by the inner power of freedom and spontaneous looseness, they will listen to you carefully, consider you, join your words, and reflect.
People “drink” freedom like a healing balm! They need this energy “food” like air! The need for inner freedom and looseness is one of the basic needs of modern adults, vested with power and loaded with responsibility.
That’s right: in addition to receiving new information and skills, people go to training to “feed” on the heady feeling of free flight - albeit virtual, symbolic, realized only in the information field of the training. But this free flight is what the participants need!
It would be great if, to create free space in training, the coach would say:
- “Everyone has their own opinion and their own position!”
- “You have an interesting idea, give reasons!”
- “You think differently, expand your thoughts!”
A coach's self-confidence is also a sought-after value. You can’t play confidence; it must be a real, true state. If there is no internal confidence, sooner or later during the training it will be discovered that behind external confidence lies weakness and uncertainty, and it will be very difficult to restore your dignity in the group.
Imagine that at two o'clock in the morning you had a health problem and you called an ambulance. An unsure doctor entered the room, began listening to you and asked in confusion: “I don’t know what you have? Either the heart, or the stomach, or maybe the lungs...” Would you believe such a doctor? Will you follow him? You probably won’t go, but if you go, it will be sad and doomed...
So during the training, the group follows only a strong and confident trainer-leader.
How does self-confidence arise? Experience shows that in any work there is a goal that commands respect from the vast majority - this is awareness of one’s mission in the Profession and serving the chosen Path. The motivation of a Big Deal always attracts people and creates basic confidence for the “carrier” himself. The Big Business is always larger and more objective than the small, individual, subjective “I” of a specific person, including a coach. If service to the Great Cause is deep and not feigned, then the “pillar” of the collective unconscious holds the coach and gives him hurricane self-confidence: “Not only do I need this, others need this! I’m doing important work that people need!”
It is great if the coach behaves calmly and with dignity, does not get lost in the face of objections, and expertly develops his position. Coach says:
- "Experience shows that..."
- “I have thought about this question. My opinion is that..."
- “To support my position, I am ready to formulate such arguments...”
Optimism as faith in the success of learning is always better than pessimism and harsh criticism on the part of the teacher. If the trainer only criticizes, using his place in the center, the information will take longer to be absorbed by the listeners, and skills will be more difficult to develop. True, you shouldn’t limit yourself to only “sweet” praise either: students’ motivation will decrease, they won’t understand where to go and what to strive for? It is necessary to set a goal and express optimism that everything will definitely work out! Efforts and activity will always give positive results.
In conditions of intensive immersion in the content, especially at the beginning of the training, many people have a “mess in the head”, which only over time is structured into knowledge and experience. Therefore, the first reaction of listeners associated with information overload must be neutralized by the optimistic confidence that after a certain time they will be able to apply their knowledge in their work.
If, as a result of the training, the participants have “wings behind their backs,” the training was completed correctly, the process of assimilation of information and formation of skills has begun, and after a latent period, this knowledge and skills will certainly manifest themselves in practice.
The trainer supports students:
- “Do it, everything will work out for you!”
- “In learning, first there is a zone of discomfort, then a skill arises!”
- “It’s hard to learn, but it’s easy to fight!”
- With humor: “You can’t retreat! Moscow is behind us!”
Positivity as a mandatory value of a business coach has long been accepted by everyone, they are used to it, they expect it. But there is something to discuss here too. It is important that the positivity in the trainer’s communication with the participants is sincere, real, as they say, from the soul and from the heart. A professional-technological and aloof-cool customer focus will not work: customers need real positive acceptance.
Here, however, tact and prudence must be observed. You should also not violate the “law of territory” and reduce the distance of business communication too much towards closer relations: people will feel awkward.
Equally respectful, positive acceptance by the trainer of all students, without exception and without singling out “favorites,” creates the necessary atmosphere of openness and safety during the training. Participants understand that they have gathered not for rings and competition, but for training and information exchange. Everyone who shares their experience and who simply listens will be supported, no one will be humiliated or insulted.
Revealing my positive attitude towards everyone, it happens that I say this: “Wild animals gather around a pond to drink during a fire. At this moment they do not touch each other, respecting everyone’s right to life. So we have gathered around the information flow, and we will feed ourselves without touching each other!”
If, nevertheless, competitive confrontations break out in the group between informal leaders, maintaining self-control and a positive attitude towards everyone, I usually say: “I am the guarantor of security! We agreed that in this audience we interact without the desire to fight, attack, take prisoners or sit in the trenches. Business war - in offices. Here is a temporary truce to gain information and skills!”
After such calls, the participants calm down and easily exchange experiences - the “group resource” factor begins to work.
The state of development is an important factor in training. In order for it to arise in listeners, a “living carrier” is needed that broadcasts this state and infects it with it. Development is the pursuit of high values and goals, improvement, movement, openness, dynamics, flexibility, constructiveness, pleasure and joy. If in the center there is a really developing person, you can connect to him, like an “energy socket,” and adopt his ways of thinking and communication, style and manner of behavior. Such “reading” in conditions of information immersion during the training reboots the minds of students and accelerates positive changes. In life and at work, achieving excellent and outstanding results can take a long time and with resistance; with good training, the developmental effect is achieved quickly and easily.
I often say at trainings: “Every person has seven geniuses!” And our task is to implement at least one of them!”
Many famous people talk about the exceptional importance of developmental education:
- “The coach raises the student with his personality,” says sports coach Tatyana Tarasova.
- “Man takes pleasure in developing the abilities with which God has endowed him,” writes Hans Selye, the author of the concept of stress.
In addition to experiencing development during the training, students need to maintain this vibrant state and transfer it to work. If this is successful, then after the training, at work, brainstorming sessions are easily organized and new decisions are made. The feeling that any problem can be solved by “pulling yourself out by the hair” and “turning to your gray matter” creates a feeling of joy and confidence that any difficulties and trials are only stages of growth!
Business coach motivation
Taking into account the traditional division of motivators into tangible and intangible, it should be noted that it is intangible motivators that are leading for a business coach. Of course, for his work, a coach receives a monetary reward corresponding to his competence and value in the market, but in the first place for him are such professional motivators as the need for meaningful work, self-actualization, achievement, leadership, novelty, creativity and communication. If non-material motivators are relevant for a coach, the quality of his work will be high, and, consequently, his fame and value in the market will increase.
The need for meaningful work is the need of a business coach for his own personal mission, implemented in the profession.
If a trainer not only works, but serves the Big Cause, this inspires him and gives him energy that is transferred to the participants during the training. In addition, the mission creates the opportunity to build a personal vision - a “picture” of the planned future, and, therefore, the leading direction, key goals and specific tasks in the work. The listed motivational factors contribute to the coach’s internal concentration, focus on work, dedication and dedication.
This is not feigned pathos and not just beautiful words! Without concentration and dedication there will be no positive results: the specifics of the work of a business coach do not tolerate averageness. Either the trainer works brightly and uniquely in the field of business education for adults, or it is better to move into other educational niches that do not require such dedication.
In addition, the focus on realizing one’s mission at work gives a lot of strength, which is necessary under conditions of intense stress during training, travel and flights, if one has to work, for example, first in Krasnodar, and after a few days in Barnaul. Adaptation of the trainer to a new group, quick inclusion of people in training, creation of a free and creative atmosphere from the first minutes of communication, maintaining the interest of participants throughout the entire training cycle and reaching an emotionally positive conclusion - all these mandatory conditions of coaching work are fulfilled with joy if the coach has a professional mission.
The need for self-actualization is the desire of a business coach to realize his Ego, his personal Self.
I often say with humor: “Of Western names, only Freud was previously known in Russia, then they knew Carnegie, now everyone knows Maslow!” But seriously speaking, the need for self-realization, which Abraham Maslow once wrote about, is a key motivator for any specialist, including a coach.
Such a need arises in the presence of creative potential and talent for coaching. “Nothing has been written yet, no one knows me, but where do I come from this seething stream! I! I!" — something like this was written by young Yuri Trifonov in his diary. To do something important and significant in your life, to leave behind a major result, to become strong, educated and successful - these are the goals that a gifted person sets for himself. Taking into account the specifics of coaching work, they can be reformulated as follows: conduct excellent training, write brilliant articles and books, become famous, the best or one of the best in your field - these are the goals a business coach sets for himself.
The need for achievement is the professional ambitions of the coach, his desire for constant improvement in his work, as well as the ability to meet the challenges that arise during professional development. Coaching is a type of activity where confirmation of your competence is required every day, every time you go to the center of the group. And not only for young trainers starting their professional journey, but also for experienced and famous trainers who have successful trainings and interesting publications behind them. As soon as a coach begins to calm down and “rest on his laurels,” his career begins to decline: there will always be a listener who asks tricky questions and a participant who convincingly proves that the coach is wrong!
Therefore, if it turns out that the trainer does not know something, after completing the training he must quickly improve his competence - read on the Internet or specialized literature, ask colleagues or experts from other fields, think, change his opinion, correct his mistake.
The need for leadership is manifested in the desire to influence, manage and control the situation and other people in a training environment. Essentially, this need is associated with the presence of leadership potential and organizational abilities.
The coach's leadership is based on his high competence and experience. The coach must have approximately four times more information than is required for actual contact. If a coach knows how to answer correctly, he confidently demonstrates his professionalism. But even if the coach doubts the answer, it is better not to demonstrate his ignorance, but to say: “Let's discuss this point of view!” or like this: “Are there other opinions in the group?” At this point, the leading trainer retains the initiative by turning to the group resource - the experience and knowledge of the participants.
And, on the contrary, if the trainer answers questions with uncertainty and reacts with fear to objections, the participants experience anxiety and regret that they chose this training and this trainer. According to statistics, an unsatisfied and disappointed client will tell twelve of his colleagues and friends about the unsuccessful training. Such negative “word of mouth” significantly reduces the trainer’s informal rating in the business education market. This means that the popularity of the trainer will soon decrease, and the number of orders will decrease.
The need for novelty is manifested in the desire of a business coach to constantly receive new information, new impressions, and have active contacts with new people.
The trainer's work is a project work that ends at the end of the training. The coach always has new groups and new participants, new regions and new programs. Currently, in an unstable economy, when budgets for personnel training are decreasing, trainers with a wide specialization are actively working. This means that the trainer must be able not only to conduct training on various topics, but also to consult, give interviews, write articles and books.
In a stable economy, when the activity of orders for training is high enough to avoid routine, monotony and “clutter,” the trainer must introduce new games and exercises into his programs.
In addition to new technological techniques, if a coach has a developed need for novelty, he comes up with new internal settings for himself that warm up his charisma. It is desirable that such installations be on the topic of the day. For example, now there are excellent calls to overcome the crisis and maintain optimism. At the same time, such calls must not only be spoken, but also demonstrated in one’s mood and behavior during the training. Freshness, brightness and novelty always attract the group!
The need for creativity is manifested in the trainer’s focus on solving new, non-standard problems, developing creative programs, and formulating new ideas. In a training setting, brainstorming on unresolved issues in which the majority of students participate is useful; this gives the training an exploratory character and creates conditions for creative freedom in the group.
A brainstorming session can be not only group, but also individual. "Attack your head!" — I heard such a call from one of the participants. In other words, be able to find answers to complex questions on your own, showing flexibility and creativity.
The trainer's need for communication is his ability to actively communicate with participants during the training, without ever showing fatigue or irritation. In addition, the trainer communicates with students during coffee breaks and lunch breaks. Often, it is in informal zones that listeners ask the most interesting questions, and they need to be answered.
At on-site trainings outside of school hours, when corporate parties are organized, it is advisable for the trainer to take part in them. In this case, however, it is recommended to keep a reasonable distance, without mixing professional and personal.
The training has been completed, but the trainer’s communication with the students does not end; now it is moving to an on-line format. The trainer sends additional materials, provides consultations, answers questions, and analyzes cases. Often, a trainer’s communication with clients lasts from several months to several years.
Business coach skills
The dynamics of the creative flow during the training ensures that students are immersed in a developing state and the transmission of information and experience. Such conditions make it easier to learn serious, complex topics in a short time. Simply put, if people forget about their work problems and mobile phones, and become fully involved in the learning process, this is one of the best indicators of effective training implementation.
The educational and developmental, dynamic process of active learning during training has seven stages: the beginning of contact, rise and motivation, resistance and objections, the highest point of flight, satisfaction, calming and completion. The presence of effective skills allows the trainer to be in the center of events at each stage of training, acting as a key, “living” factor in development.
Beginning contact is 80% of training success
Before the training begins, people gather in the classroom. They are busy with their own business: drinking coffee, talking on the phone, writing something down, being silent, looking out the window, etc. Each of them is a separate person with his own life and his own worries. A few minutes before the start, they take their seats and gradually get ready for training: they turn off their phones, leaf through handouts, and look at the coach with anticipation. At this moment, different people have a general state of attunement to the learning process.
The training time comes and the trainer goes to the center. The trainer's welcoming words, the way he looks, the mood and facial expression with which he appears before the group - these factors begin to work for a positive learning outcome from the first minutes of contact with the audience. There is no full-fledged hearing yet; people are just beginning to move away from their affairs and engage in learning. They look at the coach and try to understand him. Before them is a “living picture” of a moving and talking person with whom they will spend several hours or several days.
Some of the listeners know the trainer from his books and articles, or have seen his photo on the company website or his personal website. Others are not familiar with the coach and are seeing and hearing him for the first time. In any case, there is a general acquaintance between the coach and the group and the group with the coach. It is important that in these 10-15 minutes the emergence of a creative flow occurs, in which the coach is the tool and leading factor.
It is the coach who must “raise” the group, make it a single, integral, collective entity and lead it. People should have a general state of movement towards a goal - obtaining information, experience and an emotional state. Coming out with a heated state of movement and development, the trainer infects the listeners with this state, immersing them in a special reality, more rich, intense, dense and vibrant than their life and work.
So, at the start of the training, the trainer implements the following skills:
- Attracting group attention
- Creating and maintaining students’ attention on the topic of the lesson
- Self-presentation, arousing interest and trust among listeners
- Quick, efficient acquaintance and positive contact
Uplift and motivation
The stage of upliftment and motivation begins immediately after the start of contact and usually lasts up to half an hour. By engaging with him, the trainer activates the attention of listeners, raises their energy and motivates them to learn. At this stage of the training, the educational motivation of the participants is formed: will they be interested in the topic of the training, will they be able to show trust in the trainer, will their expectations be met? Or, on the contrary, will they realize with doom or indignation that they are wasting time?
If successful, the trainer will see the interested eyes of the listeners. In case of failure, on the contrary, many participants will openly demonstrate irritation and rejection. Both of them can be understood: by paying for the training in advance, they spent the money, as if buying a “pig in a poke.” Now they really waste their life and work time. Of course, as customers, they have every right to receive a high-quality educational product!
It is necessary to pay attention to non-verbal signals throughout the training, but especially at the beginning and during the ascent stage: there is still time to flexibly change the tactics of leading the group, and if necessary, add topics that are interesting to the majority of participants to the main topic of the lesson.
Since the trainer infects the listeners with his condition, first of all, he himself must be interested and motivated.
- The ability to develop one’s knowledge and experience, clarity, logic and structure in the presentation of material and the construction of a training session
- The ability to instill motivation for learning and development
- Ability to constantly diagnose the condition of group members, observation, insight
- Flexibility, communication
- Ability to consolidate participants into a single group
Resistance and objections
I repeat: at any stage, the trainer is a “living” teaching tool during the training. But the role of the trainer is especially significant at the stage of resistance and objections, which manifests itself in any training. Resistance and objections are a sign that the trainer’s style and the topic of the training captivate listeners and do not leave them indifferent and detached. In addition, many participants are freed from thoughts about work through resistance and objections and are included in the training process.
They object to everyone, even the most successful and experienced. You should not be afraid of objections; on the contrary, you should rejoice in objections! The trainer's positive attitude towards objections helps him maintain confidence, leadership position in the training and the ability to promote his topic.
Along with positivity, it is also important for a coach to demonstrate strength of character, determination and competence. It is known that you need to know about four times more information on a training topic than is stated in the program. In this case, there is always the opportunity to formulate an additional argument, give a striking example, or analyze a case from the practice of a particular company.
If the coach has successfully overcome objections, people recognize his competence and authority, begin to open up, engage in active dialogue, ask questions, express their opinions and openly share their experiences. As a result, the training continues its ascent, gradually picking up pace.
If the coach did not cope with the objections, it is still necessary to “take the blow.” Since in the hot or “burning” place of the center of the group, in which the coach stands, his feelings and experiences become brighter and sharper than in ordinary life, there is often a painful feeling that your living skin is being “torn off.” Therefore, it still makes sense to deal with objections - it is more interesting for people to learn from a competent trainer, and it is easier and more enjoyable for the trainer himself to lead a group of listeners who trust him!
At the objection stage, the trainer demonstrates the following skills:
- Diverse and broad professional experience
- Adequate self-esteem, self-confidence
- Positive Thinking Skills
- Ability to listen carefully and actively
- Skills for handling objections
- Debate Skills
Highest point of flight
If the training is active and the group is involved in interesting work, everyone feels joy and pleasure from the overall process. The highest point of the flight is coming! There is a complete dissolution in what is happening, people forget about work, time flies by. At the end of the school day, many exclaim: “How unnoticed the day went!”
Often in a group I compare the role of a modern trainer with the role of an ancient shaman: build a fire, run around it, recharge with energy and drive, and run to kill a mammoth (read: attract clients).
In fact, we all need to expand our self-awareness, to escape from everyday reality, to experience an altered state - and this happens with good training. In this state of dissolution in the thematic and game content of the training, the formation of new skills occurs easily, without tension, as if through “implantation” or injection into the human body.
Having experienced the highest point of flight, people change. They came home from their offices, “busy with business,” tired, exhausted, depressed or irritated. And at the moment of flight, their eyes begin to glow, their faces smooth out, their postures straighten—along with learning, renewal occurs.
At such moments during the training, the business coach must have the skills:
- Leadership, ability to lead
- Charismatic, ability to charge with uplifting energy
- High performance and ability to withstand intense loads for a long time
Calming – drawing conclusions
At the end of the lesson, the trainer always formulates conclusions on the topic and also lists the results of the training. Quite often, participants speak in a circle, they talk about their impressions, professional and personal results that they received during the training.
Summing up, as a rule, occurs in a calm manner. People feel satisfied: the day has not been lived in vain!
At this stage of training, the trainer must demonstrate the following skills:
- Analysis, retention and formulation of professional and communicative results obtained during the training
- Positive assessment of each participant, highlighting the successful actions of each listener
Completion of the training
A properly structured training has a “Wings behind your back” type ending. People spent a day (or several days) together, participated in discussions, rejoiced, worried, fought, reflected, etc. Now, in the moment before parting, they must leave the classroom inspired for exploits and achievements! They should feel strong and self-confident, look to the future with optimism and enjoy life!
At this point I usually say: “We will succeed! Everything gonna be alright! Everyone will have achievements!”
Upon completion of training, the trainer demonstrates the following skills:
- Expressions of optimism when looking to the future
- Raising energy
- Confidence in positive learning outcomes
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See also:
Business “family style” Magazine “Les nouvelles esthetiques”, No. 2, 2006
The theory of generations and personnel management in times of crisis Journal "Motivation and Remuneration", No. 2, 2009.
He and she Magazine “Les nouvelles esthetiques”, No. 3, 2006
