The coaching industry is an exciting and evolving field where each day mentors work with all different sectors of the business realm to achieve goals. Yet, while the industries a coach works on may change, the basic principles of business improvement rarely do. Here are five tools every business coach should have in their toolkit.

Communication

The most important tool any coach can possess is their ability to communicate, and this is a two-way street. Often a coach will learn more in a conversation with a business owner than will be contained in the business plan or paperwork provided.

A coach’s communication skills enables others to impart sometimes personal information about what a business owner hopes to achieve and the challenges they have in doing so. These skills will also enable a coach to understand, guide and assess progress throughout a relationship with a business.

Analysis

An essential part of coaching is establishing where a business is now and where it hopes to go. This involves identifying their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, commonly known as SWOT. By outlining such factors with a business, along with their current position in the marketplace, a coach can work with a business to find strategies to move forward.

Planning

Whether it’s a marketing plan, business plan or product introduction, the key role of a business coach is to assist with planning and strategies to move forward – translating the communication and analysis into action.

Written planning, created in collaboration with the business owner, provides the impetus and method for a business to move forward, with the means to measure their progress along the way.  

Knowledge

Analysis and planning are worth little if not considered within the broader context of an industry or the business world as a whole. This means any business coach should have a good grip on greater factors such as government policy, initiatives and industry players within a business field.

This enables a coach to see their client’s position within a larger realm and identify external factors that may impact their success.

Feedback

Like the businesses they coach, a mentor should be constantly seeking to improve their game, and feedback from clients provides this. When a coach finishes with a business client they should seek their feedback on the experience to further hone the toolkit.