The challenge to coaching

A coach recently asked the
question: what was the biggest challenge to your coaching business? Given the
abundance of coaches now in the market that is a good question.

I think there are two distinct sides to
this. First, the operational side – which is 
about developing our skills as coaches and communicators to enable us to
provide more value for the clients. This enables them to ‘buy’ us, or – gets
the client 'through the door'.

 This is, perhaps, a bigger issue than many
coaches want to concede; it is not enough to just get ‘qualified’, do a couple
of practice runs, and think that’s it – I can do this. Clients are a picky and
discerning lot: they soon realize that the coach (or consultant for that
matter) is running on empty with a series of prescribed questions. It’s almost
analogous to the much despised telesales person who cannot answer a question
unless it’s on the ‘script’. Few serious problems are solved by prescription
and so it behooves all coaches to undertake lifelong learning – a practice much
celebrated in the principle, but less embraced in reality.

And this leads to our second big question,
which is: how do we market ourselves? The route to market is vital, and
furthermore so is the allied question of our business growth. There is a
strange paradox – not resolved by the 'life style' answer – about coaches
advising people/businesses on personal/business growth, but not growing
themselves.

The operational and marketing sides meet,
in my opinion in the white heat of innovation – it is when coaches innovate –
service innovation/product innovation – that things start getting exciting, and
the chances of going through the door are much better. Of course, to innovate
requires many factors, not least a thorough expertise in the field – hence the
earlier point about lifelong learning.

So my answer to the question of what the
biggest challenge is in these turbulent times is for coaches to innovate, and
not to have a 'me-too' identity, or ‘same-as’ toolkit, or ‘standard set’ of
techniques and procedures derived from someone else. This does not require
outrageous originality, but rather the persistent and intelligent application
of one question to the mind’s inner eye: what do my core client base, or
potential client base, really want?