High Performance Coaching For Start Up. A Balance between Strategic and Tactical.
We love engaging with Start Ups. Founders often find themselves feeling very alone, even though they have LPs and GPs. Struck by the pressure of achieving results while balancing stakeholders interests. Coaching brings in an experienced support and tactical role that is not IP invested, can speak honestly (with confidentiality) and offer surgically insight for goals with specific methodologies and technologies. Coaching is not a cuddling assignment. It is one built with specific goals and achievement in view. A good business coach will help founder San start up teams tackle a distinct challenge and always keep in mind the overall strategic.
So why do Founders and Start Ups need Business Coaching?
It is often thought that start-up founders get enough advices from investors and mentors, and they don't need more of it. But in reality, investor and mentors are not tasked with the role of coming along side and assisting with tactical planning, people strategy, and execution.
What enables CEOs of very large and very successful corporations drive stellar results year after year? What differentiates successful leaders from the rest of the pack? What do BU heads, managing directors, and other senior leaders in these successful companies do differently? Work with a coach. The top performing company CEOs and their leaders in the organization work with coaches to define objectives and goals, often including both personal or for the business. A coach helps design a roadmap to achieve the goals, opportunities to grow skills, and helps installs accountable for perfromance.
While the coaching may sound simple, the real power of the is in what the coach brings to the engagement. Spend the time to select your coach. Coaching provides an environment based on complete confidentiality. It is an unbiased approach based on active listening, information gathering, and questioning skills. This is not usually available to a leader within an organization as competing agendas and stakeholders. This is an inherent fact of organizations and people.
So what’s the reason start-up founders don’t work with a coach? Quite simply it is the general lack of awareness of the coaching framework and how it benefits leaders and businesses. It is goes back to founders are expected to be getting enough advice from investors and mentors, and they don’t need more of it. And often start ups do not feel they are scaled enough yet to need a coach. Coaching is a different tool/relationship than the normal start up stakeholders.
Founders must trust the coach enough to share everything about the business. Even if founders believe they know what they need, a coach must grasp the whole picture before deciding where to focus. We spend a considerable amount of time going over the business plan and figuring out who the founders and stakeholders are and what the problems/opportunities are before setting direction and designing execution.
We often draw upon assessment tools, such as the Enneagram, or StrengthsFinder. We believe in rigorous diagnostic tools around people. The third most cited reason fro failure in start ups, Founder Teams/People.
We relentlessly coach on an agreed upon topic that falls within the strategic plan. The coaching is built upon honest direct feedback, developing options, agreeing on plans, and then a system to stay in action with accountability and measuring. A successful coach clears the trees in the forest, so the path for founders is one that limits risk and expresses the teams talents. In sports, coaching is required to improve the players game as well as the overall team.
Even the best athletes work with several coaches. One for the team and one for their personal game. It is seen as a way to get an edge in improving one’s game If you are a founder of a start-up or a small enterprise, you are probably like that amateur sportsperson who is looking to go pro. Coaching is in demand by top executives and proven athletes. Maybe it is time to consider a coach.
Coaching vs vs Mentor vs Advisor
