6 Ways To Make Employees Believe In Your SME

Companies are born from belief. It’s an essential ingredient to making any business proposal a reality. As such, ensuring that your SME is up to its truest potential is essential.

After all, start-ups faced perilous trading conditions even before the pandemic, and it’s almost through sheer willpower alone that some of them can muddle through and achieve success.

Still, while you may be concerned with your levels of self-belief, it’s also important for your workers to feel similarly inspired. SMEs have fewer faces in the workforce, and each one of them must go the extra mile for the sake of the business. Because of this, they must have full confidence in your venture.

How can you ensure that employees believe in your SME? Read on for some tips on how to improve things, here.

Hire the Right People to Improve Your SME

Few things showcase a leader’s poor judgment more than a bad hire. Every team member counts in an SME environment, and onboarding someone who doesn’t share the same levels of passion as everyone else can be detrimental.

Of course, it can also be dogmatic to only hire within the parameters of a strict cultural fit rather than hiring people to evolve your SME forward. No progress can be made if you only hire people with identical values, personalities, and perspectives.

Therefore, a balanced approach is required here. Employees may believe in your SME more if you hire interesting characters who can contribute to your firm in surprising but effective ways. It can inject the company with new energy and help you all explore bold new directions together.

As your SME grows, more senior positions need to be filled. You should find these workers internally, as they will understand the business best and inspire the next wave of employees. Therefore, you should always be on the lookout for potential leaders during the early recruitment phases, as they will eventually be able to rally their teams to the SME’s set objectives.

Streamline Communications

It’s often the case that the people who talk most have little of value to say. As the leader of an SME, you should appreciate that time to produce good results is short. Therefore, all your workplace communications should be short, sweet, and streamlined.

Few workplace experiences can be as draining on the soul as meetings. They can also be costly from a creative, productive, and economic standpoint too. If you must host them, make sure you plan discussion points so that things run more smoothly and coherently. Ensure anyone calling in remotely is tech-efficient and has a strong internet connection before trying to attend.

Think about streamlining other forms of communication. Send emails that are concise in nature, featuring bullet-pointed agendas that are easy to read. Assign teams to project management software and designated group chats where their discussions won’t notify unrelated parties. Publish a company newsletter monthly if you wish to detail the direction of the SME. The more organized everything is, the less likely communications will bore or annoy employees.

Impactful messaging can stir employees into action. All great leaders can deliver information in a rousing fashion and inspire their workers with words alone. Revisit your SME’s communication methods and see if improvements can be made anywhere.

Focus on Inspiration for Your SME

What you say matters just as much as how you say it. If morale is low in your SME, then it needs to be raised at the earliest opportunity. You can do this by sharing inspirational stories and musings.

From Richard Branson to Walt Disney, many prolific individuals first failed before succeeding. It could be argued that setbacks are part of the journey. Learn and briefly summarize their stories or others similar. The road to success is rarely straight and clear, so reminding your workers of that fact may give them hope in bleaker periods.

People often related to underdog tales, too. Fighting tooth and nail for every victory, big and small, is part of every SME’s legacy. Try to make your employees understand that fact at opportune moments, especially when spirits and motivation levels are low. Share a powerful vision and plan for the future as a unit.

Economic strife can send many SMEs plunging into dangerous territory. However, depending on your industry, it can also open up access to greater opportunities. For instance, digital marketing firms thrived during the pandemic while others floundered. If you’re in a suitable sector, reminding your workers of its viability could help to rouse them.

Invest in Mentoring Software

Mentoring is an essential aspect of personal and professional development. Without it, your workers can’t hope to progress to the next stage of their careers or take on more responsibility in your SME.

That said, mentoring is a tough thing to manage. A robust scheme needs to be implemented, making a real difference to the prospects of your workers. Your SME needs to go beyond kind words and occasional advice here.

Invest in easy-to-use mentoring software for your SME to upskill your workforce. Streamline your mentoring programs, offered by experts such as PushFar, with enhanced reporting and management tools that are GDPR compliant and have web and app versions. You can find your own mentor on their free platform too. Their offerings are updated regularly, so their diverse features always operate at optimum efficiency. You’ll find various statistics that will convince your staff about mentoring’s importance as well.

If you utilize these technologies, you’ll also simultaneously communicate to your staff that their development matters to you. Both mentors and mentees have a digital space to revel in here, giving their careers a shot of adrenaline after every use.

Offer Personal Support Greatly Assists Your SME

It’s not enough to address work-related concerns only in today’s climate. The lines between personal lives and professional lives are becoming increasingly blurred. Your SME needs to adapt to those changes.

As so many employees feel pressure to put on a brave face these days, you may need to be more proactive in reaching out to your workers. Leaders of an SME have many concerns, but staff well-being should always be a priority.

Orchestrate wellness meetings if you think they’d have great results. Offer company perks that are wellness orientated, and provide employees with access to apps around mindfulness and meditation. Fitness memberships can be appreciated. Contribute resources to help them look after themselves.

Care and compassion can build unbreakable bonds. The level of empathy you display daily will determine how much your workers believe in you. Spread the word, and your kind presence shall be felt in your SME’s culture always.

Organize Staff Social Events

Work dynamics benefit greatly if meaningful relationships are at the core of them. Employees will go the extra mile for each other when a genuine affinity for one another is established. Human flaws in one another can be forgiven and tolerated if the overriding feeling is one of friendship.

Facilitate things here by organizing staff social events. You could throw parties on the premises, at a lavish venue, or simply head to your local pub or restaurant as a unit after a long and hectic workday.

Make these events optional so that nobody feels forced into these occasions. Employees should get to know each other when there’s a mutual desire to do so. A casual feel to the majority of them will likely work in your favor, too, making it more likely that everyone will feel comfortable about joining you.

Building a Property Business Alongside a Full-Time Job

If you are a full-time employee planning to start your own property business – whether as a property developer, investor, manager, agent or otherwise – the process has the potential to be stressful, tiring and even legally problematic.

However, with careful planning and via a cautious and considered approach, the tasks involved can prove quite straightforward.

In this article, we explore the process of building a property business alongside full-time employment, discussing the potential risks and pitfalls and laying out the most sensible path to take.

Clear Your Schedule Before Laying the Foundations

In the early days of running a business, one of the most hectic and busy stages is also the period when you should perhaps take greatest care. This is the time at which you’ll be drawing up a business plan, calculating financial forecasts and generally preparing for launch.

These tasks require a great deal of precision and concentration, and can take up a lot of your time and energy – particularly if you’re starting up a business alone as a sole trader.

As the jobs begin to pile up, you might consider arranging to take a period of annual leave, holiday or Time Off In Lieu from your main employment.

Make sure you time it right – there may be tasks on the horizon that are even more involved, and running out of holiday allowance at that point could throw a large spanner in the works.

Start Small with Your Property Business

If you plan to continue with your full-time job for sometime (which is a sensible approach), you need to be realistic about the amount of work your new venture will be able to take on straight away.

This isn’t just about your own wellbeing – although that in itself is vitally important. The fact is that if you have a high level of uptake from clients or users, there may not be enough time in the day to handle everything.

What’s more, trying to squeeze in every task by way of a punishing schedule can lead to stress, loss of sleep and panic, which – no matter how resilient you may be – will inevitably increase the likelihood of mistakes and foul-ups.

Begin with the very basics, and put the framework in place for future upscaling when the time is right. This gives you and your future clients something to look forward to. It also means you’ll be risking less all at once.

Perhaps, for example, you can plan well in advance to free up the time for viewings and to be present at online / offline property auctions.

Stay Accessible for Your Property Business

As we’ll explore later, using company time and resources to respond to calls and emails from your “side gig” is never a good idea. However, if potential clients can’t access you, they’ll go to a competitor instead.

To reduce the risk of this happening, try to put features in place that will allow you to communicate as and when you have the time available.

Set up automated responses for your email account, informing those who contact you that you will respond to their query within a specified amount of time in order to manage expectations.

Record a voicemail greeting too, encouraging callers to leave a message – again, specifying a timescale for your response.

This approach will assure customers that their communications have reached the correct place, and will dissuade them from chasing you.

The timescales you state should be manageable within your personal schedule. If you set yourself targets that are very difficult to hit, you’ll be more likely to let people down or become stressed and overworked.

Keep Clear Accounts

It’s easy for the proper management of your financial records and documentation to fall by the wayside if you’re working two jobs simultaneously, but it’s important that you do not let this happen.

Accounts can be very difficult to straighten out in hindsight – and you could fail to discover major monetary issues or oversights until it’s too late. The same goes for legal arrangements such as tax and insurance.

If you’re a landlord, stick to a clear schedule for rent payments, appliance testing and all other related matters such as buildings, contents and income protection insurance.

If you’re a property developer, make sure you have all the right insurance for any construction work and make sure invoices are organized at the right time.

As a property investor, it may go without saying that you should keep careful track of your investments – but even this can be a challenge when you are pushed for time!

Consider hiring an accountant or other specialist to assist you with this side of things if it’s likely to get too much.

Understand Your Contract and Legal Obligations

It doesn’t matter if your main job is in the property field or not – it may be that anything you develop or design during your working hours automatically becomes the property of your employer.

Investigate the intellectual property clauses of your professional contract to decipher your individual position regarding this matter.

Furthermore, if you use any resources that belong to your employer for the purpose of running your own business – such as responding to emails from a work computer – you could be in breach of contract.

You should even be careful who you speak to about your company at any length while at your main job, as some employers may consider this a promotional activity, and one you should not be undertaking while on their premises.

Above all, do not record contact details or other data belonging to clients from your full-time work for use in your “side gig”.

This is likely to constitute a major breach of data protection, as those individuals will not have given their consent for an additional business to use their information.

Read up on the Data Protection Act 2018 for more about what you can and can’t do with the data of your own clients and those of other businesses.

Avoid Burnout with Your Property Business

Schedule your activities with care. It can be tempting to spend every second of your spare time on your new business, but you are its greatest asset – and if you do not look after yourself, it is likely to fail.

Stick to your contracted hours where possible while working for your employer and make sure you give yourself sufficient time to undertake all activities relating to your own company without rushing, but don’t forget to program in some downtime and a little self-care too.

Make the Transition at the Right Time

Even if your company appears to hit the ground running, this may not always be the case in the future. It’s a sobering fact that 20% of businesses fail in their first year – and 60% in their first three years.

For this reason, you should wait until your new venture is properly established before you make the leap to quit your “day job” and start working for your own company full time.

Even then, it may be best to make a gradual transition. If at all possible, ask your employer whether you might be permitted to go down to part-time hours so you can have something of a cushion as you prepare to go entirely self-employed.

By following the advice above, you’re likely to find that building your property business alongside full-time work is easier than you anticipated. Careful time management, a keen eye on the legal side, and sufficient levels of self-care are vital for your success.

We wish you the best of luck in your venture.

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5 Tips for Coaching Your Employees to Improve Performance

Coaching encourages and enables a new way of thinking and supports the application of newly acquired knowledge through concrete actions. With its specific approach, this enables much faster achievement of desired goals and results, as well as faster and easier realization of lasting positive changes in behavior. In today’s demanding environment, whether professional or private, expectations are high, and coaching supports us to fulfill them faster and easier. In business teams, coaching employees to improve performance is an opportunity for all to enhance their potential and achieve goals in a desirable manner. With that in mind and a series of research activities behind us, we bring five best pieces of advice all employers will find useful when considering how to improve employee performance.

Five Tips for Coaching Your Employees to Increase Their Performance

Make an Efficient Performance Improvement Plan

The challenge is to create an efficient strategy to increase productivity. In this regard, your coaching plan for employees to improve their performance should cover these key aspects:

Goal – Companies need to precisely establish the employee’s level of production. As a consequence, they will identify what to expect and are more inclined to face the performance objectives challenge.
Action Plan – Successful businesses have a clear-cut set of measures with a precise roadmap. The performance problem will be solved after specifying the actions, means, and include individual ideas of each operator. Annual performance reviews will also do a great job.
Checkpoints – Companies should set dates for reviewing an employee’s advancement and recognize where something can increase. A smart move would be to include writing research paper as an extra measure for performance coaching.
How to scale – It is impossible to check how successful your approach is without adequate analysis. Therefore, companies must make their remarks when coaching requires so and to receive personal feedback from subordinates. Feedback is particularly important when administering a company remotely and goes beyond the traditional performance management approach. Also, year-end performance appraisals should be proposed by a coach whenever possible.

Motivate Them with an Opportunity to Advance

When their job is always reduced to the same job or when the job is at one point, it starts to suffocate the employee engagement and work performance. The same job, the same position, without any indication or chance for advancement can demotivate even the most ambitious team members.

But you can turn it around and coach! If you offer them a possibility to advance, your coworkers will be motivated to try harder and be more productive. Here’s a simple tip – instead of hiring someone new, just promote an employee who is already in the company. This will raise the motivation and productivity of all workers in your company.

However, promotion does not always mean a raise and a new position. Promotion can also be in the form of a training, a course, or by boosting resources with a good coach. Motivate an employee by offering him/her a chance to develop skills and enrich knowledge. And as a result, they will be much more enthusiastic about working for you.

Express More Confidence when Coaching

Some workers naturally have higher self-confidence than others, and leaders need to be conscious of this. Regardless of when leaders include employees in the company’s prospect, decision-making methods, and coaching strategy, they nearly invariably boost their trust.

Of course, if the employee does not deliver optimal outcomes, you will have to notify them. Nor does it indicate that a manager should underestimate the role of employee feedback and benefactions. Studies show that nearly 98% of workers achieve more meticulously when they feel assured. This is another area where adequate coaching can step up.

Help Them to Step Out of Their Comfort Zone by Coaching

The goal here is not to exhaust and demotivate anyone. The goal of this technique is to get out of their comfort zone in order to show additional qualities that they did not show due to nervousness, fear.

Here we also have types of workers who “sneak in” after a while and do not have any passion for progress as when they were just hired. People need to be motivated to further learn and grow. Coaches should inspire them to combine work and education, among other methods. Also, you need to always be ready to help and provide an answer to employee’s questions. Organize a meeting or coaching conversations and share any experience they can see valuable.

Additional Methods for Effective Employee Performance

Before concluding the performance coaching advices, we think that improved performance can be also based on the following aspects:

Create a culture of feedback: A manager needs to create a perception based on the team’s feedback. Moreover, open-ended discussion inspires all employees to emit their voices and rise in the workplace.
Build emotional intelligence: Successful managers have a high degree of self-awareness, which leads to greater emotional aptitude. When you have developed emotional intelligence, you can better understand employees far more.
Get to know individual strengths and weaknesses: Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and the same goes for company managers. Acknowledging depths and frailties empowers leaders to apply the best coaching strategies to their employees.

Conclusion on Coaching

Coaching is a relatively new area in whose importance is recognized by more and more companies. The effects achieved through a good coaching process prove that individuals and managers opt for coaching because the methods and techniques are quickly applicable. The world’s leading companies, such as Microsoft and Ikea, have a developed and organizational coaching culture that drives their success. With that in mind, new businesses are also advised to take part in this process, just like an already running organization that wants to build up.

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7 Ways For Small Business Owners To Avoid Burnout

How do small business owners avoid burnout? For many small business owners, their businesses are an all-encompassing and time-consuming activity which requires their full dedication. Yet, burnout and the inability to switch off, particularly from technology, is a very real problem for many entrepreneurs. From depression to coronary heart disease and fatigue, burnout can have serious consequences for you and your business.

Here are seven ways to help you learn how to avoid burnout

Be Organized And Use Time Efficiently

Entrepreneurs tend to be extremely busy. In order to avoid burnout, effective time management is one of the most important skills that you need to develop. In order to stay productive and focused, make sure that you take some time to organize your working day.

Ensure that you have an organized filing system so that you can easily store and retrieve files and data whenever you need it. In particular, administrative and financial tasks can cause some of the most stress. If there are particular tasks that you find especially stressful or tend to avoid doing, make sure that you create a plan in order to get these done in plenty of time.

Similarly, make sure that you use a comprehensive bookkeeping system in order to stay on top of your finances. Not only will this enable you to stay up-to-date with your business, but it can also be used to automate tasks, thereby saving you time. This will also make it easier and less stressful when it comes to completing your tax return.

Prioritize Tasks

It can be easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of things that you have to get done. Instead of trying to do everything at once, make a list and prioritize the tasks. Consider using a digital list-making app, which enables you to set reminders and share your lists.

“There may be tasks that need to be prioritized first due to set deadlines. Alternatively, consider prioritizing tasks based on goals. You can further categorize tasks into those which are ‘important’ or ‘urgent’. Not only will this make things more manageable, but you’ll also be able to dedicate your time and energy to the most pressing tasks first. Most importantly, be realistic about how much you can get done each day,” says Hollie Wymore, a writer at Lia Help and State Of Writing.

Avoid Multitasking

Multitasking is an important and valuable skill. However, there are times when multitasking can actually be counterproductive, leading to divided attention and errors, as well as increased stress and burnout. Instead of trying to do multiple tasks all at once, schedule individual time for each task. In this way, you’ll be able to fully focus on each task, improving your productivity and reducing the potential for mistakes.

Delegate Wherever Possible

Entrepreneurs are known for trying to do it all themselves. However, it can actually be more efficient to delegate tasks to employees or vendors, freeing you up to do other important tasks. Be aware of tasks which can be suitably delegated to others within your business, as well as any areas in which you require additional support. As a result, you’ll be able to make better use of your time and skills, as well as those of your employees.

Similarly, learn when to turn down work. Assess incoming work against your ideal client, project or business goals. Avoid taking on work which doesn’t meet these lists to prevent unnecessary stress.

Stay Healthy

Very often, burnout can be traced back to other aspects of lifestyle, including poor sleep, diet and exercise. Many entrepreneurs put their businesses, particularly in the early days, ahead of their own sleep and wellbeing. However, staying healthy is essential if your business is to thrive.

“Start by assessing your sleep,” suggests Joseph Gray, a small business blogger at Boomessays and Essayroo. “Getting sufficient sleep every night is extremely important. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Similarly, make sure that you’re eating a healthy diet and try to introduce some exercise into your weekly routine. Try to schedule a lunch break every day, where you can sit down and take the time to eat properly or even do a short workout. This will give your body the chance to recharge and feel more energized and better prepared for work.”

Schedule Regular Breaks

Incorporate regular breaks throughout your day, as these will enable you to refresh your creativity and refocus. Similarly, if you’re struggling with a particular task, consider taking a short break or returning to it at a different time of day.

A change of location can also help break up the day and inspire more productivity. Many entrepreneurs have the fortune of being able to work remotely, so consider trying to work in a flexible work space or a coffee shop to aid creativity.

Set Work Hours And Stick To Them

To improve productivity, set work hours and stick to them. At the end of your work day, whatever time that may be, be strict with yourself and avoid answering emails and unplug from your devices. Having a regular schedule can help you to be better organized and make the most of your time. It will also help you to develop a more positive work-life balance, leading to reduced stress and burnout.

Similarly, schedule down time into your day. In the same way you’d schedule a meeting, schedule in some time for exercise, to read, or simply step away from your work. If possible, try to book a holiday too, whether it’s a full week off, a long weekend or even just one day to yourself.

Conclusion

Burnout is a very real problem for many small business owners. Running your own business can be overwhelming and all encompassing, leaving you with little time for yourself or your personal commitments and interests. However, in order to run a successful business, it’s essential that you find a balance between your work and home life. By following the steps above, you’ll not only avoid burnout and reduce stress, but you’ll also become more productive and successful.

Lauren Groff is a successful small business writer at Academic Writing Services and Essay Services, where she regularly writes about ways to improve productivity in the workplace, as well as sharing tips on how to run a successful small business. She is also an experienced editor at OX Essays. When not writing, Lauren enjoys spending time reading and attending business conferences

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All You Need to Know About Executive Coaching

Understanding what Executive Coaching is all about

Executive Coaching, Mentoring, Leading… These are all variations on a theme where the objective is to improve your performance level, while still pursuing personal development. Coaching, in itself, is an acquired skill that every leader must possess. Not only can an executive coach help refine your abilities as a leader but you can further train your employees, using these methods, to improve their performances as well.

There are multiple levels of coaching and directions you will require through the course of your career. No single approach has the same outcome in coaching techniques. Every individual is different and so are their learning capabilities, performance cues, coherence, and comprehension. Therefore, a coach will understand and modify the techniques as per your needs and capabilities as a learner.

Executive Coaching techniques

Coaching is the targeted technique of helping an individual develop their core values and realizing their goals. Then specific steps are taken, focusing on self-improvement, realizing their potential, setting specific ambitions, and developing realistic methods to reach those goals.

A coach has a great responsibility as the learner is wholly dependent on the coaching techniques to meet their life goals. These could be career-oriented or personal ones. Either way, the coach must help the learner realize their strengths and weaknesses and work on further developing their strengths to capitalize on them and overcome what weaknesses can be managed.

Coaching is a highly realistic process. Therefore, the goals and targets must be achievable. It is best to break them down into short-term achievements and accomplishments. This way, the learner experiences the thrill of improvement when they begin to see results. Thus, they tend to dedicate their complete attention and efforts to improve themselves.

There are different levels of coaching:

Let’s start with the basic coaching technique where the learner seeks help from a coach to bridge their gaps in learning and understanding specific nuances that help improve their performance. The shortcoming faced by the learner could be evident, or it may be something they do not realize, which tends to frustrate them.

A coach must help them realize that shortcoming but also aid in finding new ways to cope with it. A learner must, in turn, be willing to adapt and learn for self-development.
Once the self-improvement and personal development are complete, the coach and the learner need to focus on bigger goals. Maybe the learner is promoted to a higher post which entails more responsibility and requires focus and leadership.
To lead others, you must be open to learning to develop, delegate, and provide support. It can be a complex process; therefore, it is only understandable that you seek help from a professional coach to help prioritize your goals. After all, you may be handling a team of ten now, but we’re sure you wish to climb the corporate ladder until you manage a team of ten thousand.
Higher ambitions require higher levels of focus, priorities, and capabilities. Don’t be ashamed of seeking help to improve yourself. The more you learn, the better you perform; therefore, the higher up you climb.
When you recognize the needs of your ten employees and elevate to a higher post where you handle a hundred or thousand, you are already in a great position to inspire your subordinates. However, when you reach an executive level, you have a greater responsibility to not only manage your employees and their performance but also a segregated set of responsibilities.
This is where executive coaches come into play. They help you recognize and evaluate your potential as well as those of your subordinates, thus improving the overall performance of your company.

Let us talk about executive coaching in detail.

Who is an executive coach?

An executive coach is a trainer and personal developer specializing in aiding clients in an executive, managerial and supervisory position. These job titles have greater responsibilities and require a special set of skills.

An executive coach focuses on helping the client realize their objectives and ambitions and define a multitude of structural and behavioral techniques to accomplish them. Coaching does not entail telling the learner what to do; rather, it aids them to grow and develop so they can make smarter choices and decisions on their own.

An executive coach will enlighten you with the different ways you can use your skills and capitalize on those of others in order to inspire and lead. The main focus of an executive coach is to help you realize your own potential and modify certain behavioral aspects to improve your performance.

In a position of power, you have a great responsibility to lead your employees and subordinates towards a beneficial and mutual goal. An executive coach will help you communicate and achieve these goals with your subordinates with encouragement and leadership rather than anger, micromanagement, and dictating. They teach you how to be an effective leader and accomplish your company and personal goals with integrity.

Why you need an executive coach

As an executive, you may already be an advisor or a C-level supervisory manager. In this case, you have a team of hundreds or thousands working under your supervision.

This is no time to micro-manage. Instead, you need to delegate tasks efficiently for a better outcome. That is one of the things that an executive coach is for.

You are already a great performer, no doubt. But the executive coach will help you further develop your existing skills and update them as per the needs of changing times. Additionally, the coach will help you learn new techniques and skills that are required for your new job title.

An executive coach will train you how to recognize the potential in others to help maximize your employees’ output. Everyone has a unique skill, just like you did when you were in their position. As an executive, your primary focus should be to lead your employees for better and nuanced output.

An Executive coach teaches you how to lead rather than boss people around. This encourages your employees to look up to you for guidance and idealization, which in turn improves the overall performance of the company. If you are a business owner, then congratulations, your company is about to reach new heights. If you are a C-suite executive employee, then your board of directors is about to be very impressed with your performance, and your leadership skills are going to be renowned, thanks to your decision to hire an executive coach.

You made the right choice for your career, and you are about to be rewarded for it.

The immeasurable benefits of Executive Coaching

Now that you know executive coaching is an invaluable solution, let’s see how you can benefit from this technique.

There is a multitude of benefits to executive coaching. These phenomena immensely equip you to handle all manners of business and personal problems with utmost care and decisiveness.

Executive Coaching helps improve your mental capabilities.

The first and most important characteristic of an executive is pronounced mental faculties. This is to say that as an executive, you are required to keep your calm under any situations while making the utmost important decisions.

It is not ideal for an executive to lose their cool when their decisions are going to impact the company or organization in its entirety. Regardless of your job role as an executive assistant or the Chief Executive Officer, the decisions you make affects the roles and functions of many. Therefore, it is important to exercise serenity in the face of upheavals. You must not stress out over small triggers or react to everything that crosses your desk.

An executive coach specializes in improving your mental capabilities. They train you to remain level-headed under all circumstances, no matter how dire. Remaining composed under challenging situations facilitates a better understanding of the problems.

When your mind is not burdened by the problems or overwhelmed, you can analyze and evaluate situations more effectively. The solutions come easily when your mind is tranquil. You can make the right decisions based on facts and figures rather than overbearing emotions.

Executive Coaching enables you to recognize talents and skills to delegate proficiently.

The job of an executive doesn’t always mean that of the CEO. You may be the executive manager, executive recruiter, executive producer, executive analyst, or work in any number of executive positions.

In order to carry on your functions more efficiently, it is important to recognize talents in others. For instance, if you are an executive producer, you need to identify talents that provide the best possible deliverables. To do this, you will have to analyze their body of work and recognize their innate skills. Then you must delegate to them what they are best suited to do. Similarly, if you are an executive recruiter, it is your responsibility to fill the gaps in the company. You need to hire people who are well-equipped to handle the responsibility.

If you are an executive manager, you need to realize what your individual subordinates are good at and delegate tasks according to their skills regardless of their position in the company. I can go on about each job function; however, let’s focus our attention on what they all have in common.

In each executive-level position, it is imperative that you learn the strengths and weaknesses of your employees and subordinates. As an executive, no matter your profession, it is under your purview to nurture their talents and unique selling propositions.

That is precisely what you learn with executive coaching. You will, no doubt, recognize your own strengths and weaknesses and harness your innate skills, but it is also necessary to identify them in others.

As an executive, you cannot handle everything yourself. You are required to delegate tasks as per the merits of your underlings. Therefore, it is important to assign them tasks that they are good at. You can help them improve upon their skills, of course, but more than that, you need to fuel their passion and capitalize on their capabilities.

Executive Coaching aids in segregating priorities and taking the right decisions.

As an executive, you have a higher responsibility. Since your decisions impact the organization as a whole, you must learn how to prioritize for maximum efficiency and benefits.

Your focus should always be segregated. The primary concern is the company; therefore, any decision you make should always be in favor of the benefits of the overall organization. Profits and output must always be on the top of your priorities list, not to mention maintaining the company’s image. Every decision you make must reflect the goodwill and merits of the entire organization.

Then comes your team. As an executive, you have countless people depending on you. Therefore, ideally, your immediate next concern after the company is its employees and your subordinates. Their well-being and their progress impact the company significantly. So, make decisions that benefit them in one way or another.

Only when your company and your employees yield satisfactory results must your attention focus on yourself and the well-being of your personal life.

These priorities may be a little difficult to adapt to, given the drive of human nature. Thus, an executive coach is the ultimate solution to train and guide you in the decision-making process. Keep in mind; an executive coach will never tell you what to do, instead show you the right way. It is your decision at the end of the day because you hold the power. Nevertheless, they are like your corporate north star.

Executive Coaching improves your upwards, downwards, and lateral management skills.

Management at an executive level is not just directed towards your subordinates. As an executive, you must balance the functionalities and coagulate with other departments laterally. After all, no company is built with one operational aspect.

Regardless of the industry you cater to; you will invariably have a financial, operational, and marketing team. You may also have production, manufacturing, research and development, sales, distribution, and various other departments as well. These may be segregated in larger companies or people wearing multiple hats in smaller ones. To successfully project your company image and grow your revenue, all the departments must coordinate with each other.

As an executive, your role is to ensure that each department is serving its functions towards the mutual goal of the company.

Then we have the subordinates who are directly or indirectly working under you. It is primordial to focus on their development and involvement as they cumulatively contribute to your set goal. You must always encourage and provide support for your subordinates to grow and learn.

Finally, you have responsibilities towards your superiors. As a CEO, you may have to answer to the business owner and the board of directors, while as an executive recruiter, you may have to answer to the CEO and HR manager. As a business owner and executive, you may have to answer your investors. Every executive role is required to provide accountability.

Therefore, it is crucial to learn how to efficiently manage your responsibilities in the upward, downward, and lateral directions, and that is what an executive coach enables you to do. They will hone your management skills so you can balance all the departments, subordinates, and your superiors with utmost ease and efficacy.

Executive Coaching helps build camaraderie and trust.

As an executive, it is essential to cultivate good relations with everyone. Most people tend to misunderstand the concept and think that their concerns only lie with their peers and superiors. However, your employees are reliant on you. Therefore, it is vital to build good relations with them as well.

Consider this: If the company is going through a setback because of fewer resources, or lack of funding, or external factors, your employees will still expect to be paid in full. However, you may not have the funds to suffice the tremendous expense.

If you let them go, then they can sue for wrongful termination. If you don’t pay, they can sue you for negligence and fraudulent behavior. Nevertheless, if you have good relations with them, you can explain why you must delay and relay your concerns to them about the company’s performance.

When you have effective communication channels and a sense of camaraderie and trust, your employees tend to work harder and smarter to meet the goals. They feel connected to you, and thereby the company itself. Therefore, they work towards mutual progress, goals, and profits.

Executive coaching targets this innate need for transparency and building substantial relations with employees, investors, and superiors alike. Each is an important cog in the company’s overall performance; thus, your communication must always be effective and professionally cordial.

Executive Coaching assists in adapting to contingencies and situational management.

An executive faces a multitude of scenarios that are unplanned or unprecedented. However, it is your responsibility to manage them and bring forth beneficial results.

As a high-level executive, it is necessary to prepare for contingencies. You must always think three steps ahead of everyone else and anticipate the failures or inordinate success as they come.

An executive coach focuses on developing your mind and personality to adapt to exceptional situations. They will train you to identify eventualities that may arise from your decisions and prepare for them in advance. You will also be trained on how to keep your composure in unforeseen situations and build around them.

As stated earlier, you can accomplish more with a calm mind. Executive coaching enables you to practice tranquility and keeps you from being unruffled during emergencies.

Executive Coaching aids in creating direction and achieving goals efficiently

Another significant role of an executive is to set goals and ensure that your teams achieve them. These goals are specified, keeping in mind a long-term benefit for the company. However, people tend to shoot for the stars from the get-go.

This can cause serious problems such as:

Your goals may be unrealistic,

It drives your employees over the edge, thus hampering productivity,
It affects your mood and, thereby, your behavior, causing you to lash out and destroy your goodwill with your employees.

In order to achieve your long-term goals, you must set short-term goals first that are more focused and company-oriented. Executive coaching is all about setting primary and secondary goals for development. An executive coach will teach you how to break down your ultimate goal into sub-goals that are easily achievable.

This invariably reduces the stress on you and your employees, thus enabling you to perform better and much more efficiently. The smaller goals are easier to complete, and they contribute towards the bigger picture. Your decisions, thus, have a defined direction and benefit your company in the long run.

Executive Coaching makes you a great leader, not just a boss.

An executive coach teaches you how to be a good leader than a boss. At the moment, you may be driving results, and the progression for your company is good. However, with evolving times, the methods of directing and accomplishing tasks will change.

Primarily, it is crucial to learn new techniques. You may be adamantly implementing a tried and true method, but maybe your employee has a revolutionary solution. Instead of discarding their ideas, you must encourage them.
Your communication goals must always be to lead by example rather than bark orders.
It is crucial to take empathy into account as an executive.

It is understandable that the job of an executive is stressful and strenuous. That is why executive coaching can provide substantial insight into the process. An executive coach will train you into becoming an effective and goal-driven leader rather than a boss with an iron fist. I need not tell you which is better because you already know the stories of Hitler and Mussolini. Aim to be similar to Elon Musk instead.

At Small Business Coach Associates, our executive coaching program is more than just training to do your job well. It enables you to improve the productivity of the overall organization. You begin to observe noticeable personal development that in turn changes your outlook towards your job role. For more information, schedule a complimentary coaching session here.

An executive leading by example is always admired and harnesses loyalty from their employees which translates to increased efficiency and output. That is exactly the kind of principles we impart so your overall performance hikes exponentially.

Summary

Executive coaching prepares you for the highs and lows of your job role, encourages enhanced mental health, teaches you to be a good leader, and most prominently, qualifies you to handle your job functions with ease. Read this article on What is Business Coaching?

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COMMUNICATION STYLES

Thinking about communication styles, communication forms the backbone of human interactions, and its mastery gives its master the keys to unlocking the doors to meaningful connections. To achieve this, it is important to understand communication styles and where best to apply them for effective communication.

In this article, we will be looking at communication styles, the four main types, and some tricks to becoming a better communicator.

But before we get into it, it’s essential to ask, who is an effective communicator anyway?

Who is an effective communicator?

An effective communicator can convey a message thoroughly and is concurrently responsive and receptive to other’s input.

Effective communicators speak clearly, directly, and with plain and easily understandable language. Effective communicators are usually open to the suggestions of others.

Some common characteristics of effective communicators include:

They contribute actively to their workplace

Effective communicators are mostly central to work operations as they know the company’s objectives and are equipped with new communication styles to function. They are also good listeners and know when to take direction from other’s suggestions.

Others trust them

Being effective communicators mean they speak honestly, listen attentively, and usually the go-to individuals for advice. They are great conversationalists because they value the input of others.

They express themselves freely

Individuals with effective communication skills have a good understanding of the necessity to be direct and honest in their ideas and opinions. And even when they disagree with others, they remain respectful of other team members.

They have their communication style

Effective communicators ensure their input is memorable, such that listeners are more likely to remember their ideas and opinions. To achieve this, they make use of communication styles that suit the situation. Communication styles include such aspects as inflections in speech, body posture, humor, etc.

They can make complex topics simple

The ability of effective communicators to make complex topics appear simple to enhance understanding in their listeners. Irrespective of the field of study, nature of the idea, or complexity of the concept, effective communicators know how to make it simple for the unlearned in that particular field to comprehend.

What are Communication Styles?

The various ways people communicate with others are termed communication styles, and there are four principal types of communication styles: passive, passive-aggressive, aggressive, and assertive communication styles.

Having a perfect understanding of the various communication styles can enable you to develop better relationships and improve existing ones. Your ability to connect with others will define your ability to navigate through difficult conversations.

Sometimes, our communication seems to work flawlessly and, at other times, may fail woefully. Communication breakdown happens as a result of patterns and habits stemmed from our communication that may get in the way. These habits are what we refer to as communication styles.

Now, suppose you’re working to be a better leader in exhibiting pristine leadership qualities. In that case, enhanced communication skills are topmost on your bucket list as they can shape the atmosphere in your work environment. Better communication also means a better cultural environment at home, the office, school, and the community.

So, what are the four primary communication styles? Read on to find out in this article.

The Relationship Between Communication styles and Connection

Our communication styles can help us build meaningful connections. Why are connections important? Because they are a crucial necessity for success at any venture in life. Some reasons why meaningful connections are essential include:

Our physical and mental health depends a great deal on the types of connections we have. Solid and stable connections will positively impact our well-being, while poor social connections will negatively imprint.
People with meaningful interpersonal connections with others are less likely to fall into depression and anxiety
People with strong and meaningful connections are more likely to live longer than those with more poor connections.
Our ability to communicate effectively and connect with others can positively affect career success and performance at work.
Our ability to connect with others creates a stable and healthy family environment.

Creating a connection requires sustained conversation, and sometimes conversations can go so south. We may say some things that suddenly push people away or changes the atmosphere from warm and loving to hostile or even awkward. At other times, the conversation can almost seem like you waved a magic wand. With everything going effortlessly well, with clear understanding and respect in the conversation, such instances are bound to create lasting connections.

Life is about connecting with others. As the saying goes, you can’t live out as an island. Meaningful connections, when rightly achieved, can make life brighter and more fulfilling.

Behavior Traits and How They Influence Communication Styles

As we interact with others, science fields like Social and Neuro-sciences have shed more light on what exactly goes on:

The behavior patterns people exhibit become more stable over time.
People develop impressions about others based on verbal and nonverbal behaviors.
Their perceptions of others determine the behavior patterns people exhibit towards others.
Assertiveness and responsiveness; are the most critical dimensions of human behavior.

Over time, our seemingly scattered behavioral patterns become habitual and may not always reflect our ever-evolving thoughts and emotions. As such, what we say may not always be exactly what we mean.

Our communication may sometimes give others a wrong impression about us or what we’re trying to communicate. These all impact how others perceive us and respond to our interactions.

Likewise, our interactions and habitual behaviors are sometimes misjudged by others who fail to understand what we’re trying to convey. This will always lead to misunderstandings, and it can be pretty frequent.

To solve this, we must understand the different communication skills and the best style suitable for specific scenarios.

The Four Main Types of Communication Styles

People develop behavioral patterns, verbal and nonverbal, which become habits that can influence how we communicate.

Generally, the main communication styles that people use are:

Passive
Aggressive
Passive-aggressive
Assertive

Passive Communication Style

Those who use the passive communication style usually have a hard time expressing themselves and often give in to others. Such lapses in communicating with others will often lead to misunderstandings, miscommunication, and built-up resentment.

The passive communication style has some characteristics that often give away its users:

Difficulty in making eye contact
Inability to refuse demands or requests, to say “no.”
Go with the flow type attitude
Poor posture

Passive communicators often use phrases like:

“It doesn’t matter that much.”
“It isn’t a big deal.”
“I just want everyone to get along.”

Aggressive Communication Style

On the extreme polar end of the passive communication style is the aggressive communication style. Aggressive communicators usually tend to dominate conversations. They often are bossy, issuing commands and asking questions rudely while failing to listen to others.

Aggressive communication style users can be selfish, making things all about them. Those in authority using this communication style are more of bosses than leaders.

Aggressive communication style users have some traits in common:

They talk over others
Poor listeners frequently interrupt others.
Controlling or demanding
Point fingers often
They use intense stares and glares
They often frown
Criticize, intimidate or even threaten others

Some phrases associate with this type of communication style include:

“It’s my way or the highway.”
“I can’t be wrong. I’m right, and you’re wrong.”
“Because I said so.”
“I’m the boss.”

Passive-Aggressive Communication Style

A Passive-aggressive communication style blend that appears passive superficially but with underlying resentment expressed in more subtle and indirect ways is called the Passive-Aggressive communication style.

Here’s how you can identify the passive-aggressive communication style, as its users have the following characteristics:

They use frequent sarcasm
Their words don’t often align with actions
Facial expressions and spoken words are often a mismatch
They have difficulty acknowledging emotions

Some phrases that give away passive-aggressive communication style include:

“Fine, whatever.”
After saying something rude, sarcastic, or severely damaging, “I was only joking.”

Assertive Communication Style

The assertive communication style provides the most effective and healthy way to express yourself. This style is a proponent of open and honest dialogue, taking into consideration the needs of others.

The assertive communication style has some associated vital behaviors:

The ability to confidently express desires and needs
Encourages balance in conversations in which every participant has a chance to speak
The unashamed use of “I” statements (ex: I feel worried when others fail to respond to my messages.)
The ability to say “no.”
Healthy maintenance of good eye contact

You may recognize the assertive communication style through phrases like:

“I am responsible for my happiness.”
“I respect the opinions and expectations of others.”
“We all have the right to self-expression honestly and respectfully.”

So far, you can quickly tell why the passive, aggressive, and passive-aggressive communication styles can cause problems when building genuine connections and interactions with others. The failure of the aggressive communication style to listen to others, the failure of the passive-aggressive communication style in shying away from any conflict, and the fear of expressing oneself as is the setback of the passive communication style greatly hinder communication and connection building with others.

Communication styles are fluid, and most often, more than one style can be applied by the same individual. You may rely on a passive communication style with family members and take up more aggressive approaches at work with colleagues. Communication styles can also change over time as we grow and learn from the experiences of life.

Which type of communication style to use

From all this, it is essential to point out that words may not always have the intended impact thereof, and it takes a great deal of skill and practice to have the desired impact. Such skills can be learned and improved upon.

The assertive communication style thrives in an atmosphere that requires both the listen and the speaker to express themselves respectively and openly. Such a communication style requires an open, honest and direct speech, without any aggression.

Here are some tricks to better your conversations with more assertive communication:

Express needs and wants with confidence
Be confident to use “I” statements
Sustain comfortable eye contact
Be apt to listen when the other person is speaking
Learn how to say “no.”

I’ll like to mention here that it helps to know the various communication styles to quickly recognize your dialogue partner’s communication style. This knowledge will enable you better decode what the person is trying to communicate, thus reducing the risks of misunderstanding in communication. Such knowledge will also enable you to know how to respond better.

Words often fail to describe our complex emotions and dynamic thought patterns accurately. Words often try to quantify abstract and intangible things. We ascribe meaning to the words, the sequence, and the timing to describe what stirs within us. But then, our inner feelings, perceptions, processing, attitudes, and others remain invisible.

Understanding these concepts is difficult, let alone trying to express them clearly. That’s why self-awareness is crucial. You must have an intimate knowledge of yourself before you can even begin to express what you think and feel to others. For this, various self-assessment and personality indicator tools like the DISC profile exist to help you know yourself.

The DISC Model

The first level of distinction with regards to determining your communication style is deciphering how you make decisions. The DISC Model provides an unbiased personality assessment tool for assessing human behavioral patterns.

The DISC model consists of four quadrants:

Dominance/Driver: This quadrant emphasizes results and the bottom line.
Influence/Inspirational: This emphasizes relationships and one’s influence on others.
Steadiness: This quadrant emphasizes cooperation, honesty, and reliability.
Conscientiousness/Contemplative: This emphasizes competence, quality, and one’s expertise.

The DISC profile assessment tool unveils a great deal about yourself. Your social results reveal your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for greatness. This can help identify your biases, blind spots, and unfulfilled needs, often reflecting lousy behavior.

Communication style assessment tools help you develop self-awareness, an essential aspect of ineffective communication, and developing healthy connections.

The Relationship Between Communication Style and Success

Pristine communication and success go hand-in-hand.

When we think of a successful person, two fundamental characteristics quickly come to mind. First, successful people have a sense of comfort with themselves and a high degree of self-awareness. Such confidence also reflects in their sense of purpose in life.

Second, successful people have good communication skills. They have an effortless time relating with other people and can quickly connect, set other people at ease, and communicate in such openness, inspiring trust in the conversation.

Having understood the four primary communication styles, it is imperative to develop self-awareness and unveil your personal needs and behavioral tendencies. This will allow you to employ an assertive communication style with confidence.

Without communication, you can’t achieve your goals in life, be it in business, family, health, or finances. Until you learn to communicate effectively, you’d always fall short of your expectations. Effective communication doesn’t mean dominating in a conversation or being the loudest voice heard, having the last say, or avoiding conflicts. Effective communication is all about understanding your needs and how to effectively express those needs while simultaneously valuing the input of others.

How to be an effective communicator

Know your purpose

There are different types of speech, like persuasive, informative, instructive, etc., knowing the purpose for communication helps to be effective. Having the intended purpose for communication goes a long way towards ensuring efficiency in communication.

Identify your audience

Knowing who you’re addressing is the next step to stepping up your communication game to the level of effectiveness. You should know who you’re talking to choose the communication styles better to use. Communication hinges on several factors like age, social status of the audience, etc. As such, the type of audience would declare the communication approach to employ.

Have a plan

If you intend to engage the audience as you communicate, it’s vital to have a plan. Anticipate any possible reactions from what you’re going to say and how you’d react thus comments. You should anticipate some reactions and prepare beforehand how to address those concerns.

Listen actively

When you can listen attentively to what others are saying, you can better comment on what is being said. As such, it is essential to maintain proper posture in listening and eye contact and minimize movements. Also, you should periodically make gestures that indicate you’re following up on what is being said, including some verbal expressions.

Be clear in your speech

Several factors go into being clear in your speech, such as your tone, volume, and pacing when it comes to effective communication. Ensure that your tone is appropriate for the audience; be formal when it calls for it and be casual when it’s appropriate. When it comes to volume, this depends on the number of people you’re addressing and the distance separating you from them. For a larger audience, a louder volume is expected than a few individuals in a room. Also, be sure to use a sufficient pace for the audience to understand what you’re saying.

Use appropriate body language

Communication goes beyond the words we speak but encapsulates our body language. As such, it is crucial to regulate such aspects as body posture when standing or sitting. Also, maintain eye contact when communicating with a smaller group of persons and avoid any forms of distractions, especially from your phone, except in emergencies.

Be approachable

Effective communicators don’t only keep up good skills in sustaining conversations but ate approachable for new conversational threads. Their ability to listen to others’ inputs makes them more open to conversation, encouraging their audience to step upo with new ideas, suggestions, and corrections, knowing such input would not be overlooked.

Avoid uncontrolled emotion

Emotion can sometimes spill into communication, especially when, for example, you’re speaking about something you’re genuinely passionate about, and it’s easy for those emotions to affect your communication. Generally, it is safe to avoid such emotions as anger or frustration in your communication, especially in a formal setting. Be objective in presenting that viewpoint, as it would allow the audience to process your ideas objectively and find more appropriate ways to respond.

Avoid Interrupting others

In conversation, there is an appropriate time to respond and an appropriate time to listen attentively. Effective communicators know when to respond and when to stay mute. It is imperative to allow others to air their minds before you present your viewpoint. This shows you’re respectful of the other’s opinions and are considering them.

To wrap things up

Investing to better your communication can change your life. So, take conscious steps today to improve relationships and build trust as you create meaningful connections with others. Here’s a great blog post on using effective communication styles to run team meetings.

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An Interview with Intuit: Avoiding Common Business Pitfalls

Below is an interview with Alan Melton and Brandi-Ann Uyemura, a blogger with Intuit discussing common business pitfalls:

How to Avoid Common Business Pitfalls

Brandi: As a business coach, what common business pitfalls do you see small business owners doing to unintentionally sabotage their business? Please discuss with real stories, if possible.

Alan: Many small business owners are too “in the moment” to make good decisions. In this scenario, the entrepreneur tends to make the business revolve around them. The business is dependent upon the owner to solve every problem. They allow crises to drive their business actions and make decisions that place them in the “hero” role. There is satisfaction with being the hero, but while focusing time and energy on a crisis other important areas will be neglected. During a crisis business owners may lose sight of customers, employees, competition, finances, family, and their health, etc.

Example of Business Owner in the “Hero” Role

Recently I had a prospect who is a business owner of a rapidly growing telecommunications service. His behavior was your classic business pitfall. He canceled several appointments with me because of his latest crisis: an employee theft, last-minute meetings, sick employees, the bank called his note, lost employees, etc. There was a new crisis nearly every day. When I observed him at work he was constantly being interrupted by people who needed his input. Soon his final crisis came: over $100,000 in unpaid bills.

Brandi: Who is at most risk?

Alan: Business owners of growing companies who refuse to delegate and empower employees will eventually fail. They fail because it is impossible to keep an eye on everything that happens in a growing business. If the common business maladies of poor cash flow, loss of customers, poor employee performance, or competition don’t cause the business to fail, failure will ultimately come through owner burnout.

Brandi: What can entrepreneurs do to not make these same mistakes and if they already have, what can they do about it?

Alan: Successful business owners learn to prevent crises. They develop strategic skills(focus on the future), rather than only focusing on tactical issues(focus on today). They learn to act more like a CEO. Below are some ways to be more strategic:

How to be a More Strategic Business Owner

Develop a team of employees with different skills than you.

Make sure someone on your team is focused on growing your sales, someone is focused on customer service, and someone is focused on your financial performance.

Do what you love to do and delegate the rest.

If you are doing what you love as a business owner you will never quit, and persistence leads to success. Train your employees, or get training for them. Give your employees the authority to make decisions. Put checks and balances in place to ensure that you stay in touch with each important area in your business. For example with paying expenses, you can make sure that two signatures are required on every check that is written.

Have a written plan, which includes your business vision, values mission.

Meet with your team to set goals and determine actions that will help propel the business toward your vision.

as a Business owner, Meet regularly with your team.

Share your plan with your employees and keep them focused on your vision. Discuss your plan and decide how to eliminate problems and obstacles.

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Alan Melton is the founder of Small Business Coach Associates. He and his team work with an amazing group of entrepreneurs, and small business owners who are getting on the fast track to achieving their personal goals. Alan has started twelve businesses and acquired six more. Recognized by two U.S. presidents, Alan is a nationally known speaker, author, and award-winning business leader.

Questions about our small business coaching services?

Call us at 1-888-504-0777,

Enter your information below to start growing your revenues and profits today…

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Do I Need Business Consulting, Business Coaching or Business Mentoring?

Which One Would be Best for My Business? Business Consulting, Business Coaching, or Business Mentoring?

Is business coaching the best fit for you? Sometimes when I meet a business owner there is some confusion about the different types of advisors. Not only do we have professionals that assist in the areas of accounting, legal and financial planning, we also have business performance advisors that assist in the areas of leadership, planning, sales, marketing, operations, time management, and human resources. And that’s just getting started with the ways these professionals can help!

As a business owner which type of business performance advisor is best for you? In this article, we’ll take a look at the 3 types of services that focus on business performance: business consulting, business coaching and business mentoring.

Business Consulting, Business Coaching or Business Mentoring?

Three Types of Business Performance Advisors

Business CONSULTING.

A business consultant is usually an individual who is a subject matter expert; they are experts in a narrow discipline in business. The business consultant actually performs the work within a business. Here are some examples:

A large company may hire a business consultant to study an environmental concern and bring recommendations.
A company could bring in a business development consultant to initiate growth.
For a company’s annual planning a business planning consultant could be retained to facilitate the planning meetings.
A company looking to improve its productivity could hire a business process consultant to study the organization, identify and develop key process owners, and create a system for process management and improvement.

Business consulting has been around for many years and large corporations frequently use business consultants. Many business consultants have previously worked as an employee in large organizations and then move on to business consulting firms.

Small Business Consulting

Additionally, there are firms that offer small business consulting services. An example could be a Public Relations firm which could help a business with logo redesign and branding. Although the costs associated with small business consulting are prohibitive to most small businesses, middle-market companies will hire a small business consulting firm from time to time.

BUSINESS COACHING.

Business coaching is a relatively new profession that has exploded in growth over the last couple of decades. Think about the role of a sports coach. The coach is able to develop a winning team of players, improve their individual skills, and orchestrate their strengths to develop winning strategies. Effective business coaches do exactly that for their clients. In contrast to the business consultant who performs the work similar to an employee, the business coach acts as a leader and advisor so that the client can deploy successful strategies in the business. Like a sports coach, the business coach is the motivator, trainer strategist, while the client is the player of the game.

Small Business Coaching

When I founded Small Business Coach Associates in 2002 the term “business coaching” was rarely understood by small business owners. In my mind, small business coaching is more holistic in nature. Added is another nuance of business coaching; services in the life coaching realm for business owner clients. Our firm focuses on the business owner first in establishing a vision, values, and goals. We believe that the business should be the vehicle by which the owner achieves his/her goals, dreams and aspirations.

Our Approach With Small Business Coaching

For the small business owner, there are myriads of areas to juggle. We coach in 36 areas that fall under the broad categories of Growth, Profits, and Freedom. Some of these areas include marketing, sales, planning, leadership, cash flow, employee recruitment, incentives and retention, time management, operational performance, and communications. We guide our clients through the five stages of growth: Creation, Disorder, Control, Prosperity, and Freedom.

Although business coaches may also specialize in specific areas within a large company, small business coaches usually have a broader range of knowledge to assist a small business owner in many areas of the business.

Business Mentoring.

A business mentor has “been there, done that.” This individual has personally owned a successful business and is in the position to teach from experience. The business mentor has “walked in the shoes” of his clients. Ideally, this individual has been through the anxiety of startup, to the chaos of growth, to the stresses of cash flow and employees and debt, to the burnout of working too many hours, to the comfort of profit, and to the freedom of selling the business. A business mentor will have lots of experiences to share as you encounter problems and obstacles in your business. Be ready for some interesting stories from this seasoned professional!

Lots of Business Coaching Rookies Out There

With the business coaching explosion, there are a number of individuals who have arrived on the scene after undergoing a weekend or week-long training course and are awarded a diploma as a “certified business coach.” These individuals may have never personally owned a business. They could be from any walk of life from a corporate employee to high school graduate. A visit to a networking meeting or chamber of commerce event may reveal a large number of business coaches who fall in this category.

So What Type of Advisor is Best For Me?

The answer to “what’s best for me” boils down to your need. Business performance advisors usually have strengths in more than one area. It’s possible to find a professional who is a business consultant, business coach, and a business mentor!

If I had to rank myself in the three areas discussed, here’s that assessment:

Business Coach
BUSINESS MENTOR
Business CONSULTANT

Conclusion

If you have a project that you’re working on and you need help to complete your project, bring in a business consultant or a small business consultant. If you are looking for someone that can help you with many of the areas that make a business successful, a business coach or small business coach will be your answer. If you want someone who has “practiced what they preach” through their own successful business, the business mentor is a great fit.

Questions about our small business coaching services?

Call us at 1-888-504-0777,

Enter your information below to start growing your revenues and profits today…

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Are You a Good Candidate for Business Coaching?

As I have worked with hundreds of business owners over the years, many ask the question; “Am I a good candidate for business coaching?” How coachable are you? Most business owners get good results from coaching. However, I have found a few characteristics in business owners that turn good results into great results!

Here are a few characteristics that will make you a good candidate for business coaching:

Are You a Candidate for Business Coaching?

Being Action-Oriented.

Above all other characteristics, being action-oriented is the biggest success factor in coaching. I have had many clients who during every session have completed the assignments that they agreed to complete. Their business results improve like a rocket!

Having Humility.

Being coachable means that you don’t have all the answers to improve your business. You humble yourself by admitting that. Although my best clients are some of the sharpest business people on the planet, they have some humility when they come to our coaching sessions.

Practicing Truthfulness.

One of the cornerstones to effective coaching is where the client and coach are truthful with one another. This builds trust and moves the coaching relationship to a deeper level. Being armed with the truth helps you and your coach ensure that effective decisions and actions are implemented.

Being Accountable.

The top thing my clients like about coaching is being held accountable. It’s lonely at the top. You may not have someone to bounce ideas off. Being held accountable to your plan increases your results exponentially.

Willingness to Learn.

Most business owners have a lot of knowledge. Some have learned to the point that they think they know it all. When I try to move forward with them, they have some reasons that something won’t work. This can become an obstacle to a business moving forward. Learners are earners. My best clients are eager to learn.

Conclusion

If you have the above characteristics, you are a great candidate for business coaching! Here’s a survey you can take to determine how coachable you are. Now to learn what characteristics are important in a business coach, here’s an article; What to look for in hiring a small business coach.

What do you think? Are you a good candidate? Let us know your thoughts below.

being accountable being action-oriented business coaching having humility willingness to learn

Interview of Alan Melton by Suit Magazine

Suppose you want to know more about the Founder of Small Business Coach Associates. Here is the exclusive interview of Alan Melton. In this interview of Alan Melton, you will learn about expanding and the keys to success for business owners and business coaches.

Alan Melton, you are the Founder of Small Business Coach Associates. Can you explain the gradual evolution of the business?

In my former business, we had won some awards and I was being interviewed about our success. A magazine editor in my industry asked me to become a featured columnist for their publication. I became a board member in our industry and soon became president. Trade show leaders asked me to present seminars at their events. All these opportunities began to lay the foundation for coaching.

I began to coach local business owners and then started Small Business Coach Associates in 2002. My desire was to help other business owners to become successful and to avoid some of the mistakes we made. Over the years I’ve coached, taught, and mentored thousands of business owners. I now have the best job in the world!

What were you doing before then?

I had experienced the powerful impact of business coaching in my own business. After being in my first business for 7 years, we had all of the classic problems. We had grown our sales to million but had problems with customers, employees, cash flow, and debt. I was working way too many hours and was making too little money. I made a good decision to hire a business coach. Within 6 months my salary doubled and my work hours were cut in half. The problems we had didn’t completely disappear but they became a lot more manageable. We grew to $8.5 million and sold the business to a publicly-held company.

Why do people come to you? What prompts them to call?

Many want to dump their business. They are experiencing owner burnout, a large bad debt, loss of customers, negative cash flow, etc. Many are going through an economic turndown, divorce, or health crisis.

Others want to grow to the next level. They may have been referred to me by a friend or business contact.

Coaching is fundamentally about attitude, behavior, change, and refinement. How challenging is it to help modify significant facets of your client’s lives?

For most that engage me, it is easy to change attitude and behavior. They are paying for that change and they have come to a point that they must sink or swim. We work with them to develop a clear life and business vision, and then the steps needed to achieve the vision.

Some, however, are more challenging. Old habits die hard. We may have to change our due dates for activities or find another person on their team that can implement the activity, or change the strategy. This is when we move more into the pure coaching aspect of the relationship and guide them to propose an alternative solution. Sometimes the expectations may need to be lowered.

Is there a commonality in the issues they are dealing with?

The most common problem I see is the business owner tends to revolve the business around themselves. All decisions are made by them. They get to be the hero. As a business grows the owner who will not delegate will eventually become overwhelmed and will burn out. They are personally performing activities that they don’t enjoy because they think they are the only one suited to do the job.

And, what impact does your coaching have on their business? On their personal lives?

The results are dramatic and life-changing. It is not unusual to see sales double, triple or quadruple. We frequently see business owners who are getting more time with their family; dates with their spouse, they can attend ball games and dance recitals. They sleep better at night. They are excited about their life.

When looking to find the right coach, what should a coach possess?

In my opinion business coaches must first have experience in running a business. They need to know what it’s like to meet payroll and to struggle with cash flow and how to sell and lead employees. Secondly, they should enjoy helping others. They must be good at brainstorming and leading their clients to find their own solutions.

What kind of skills and trust-instilling techniques should they have?

A good business coach will be a great listener. They will be great at asking questions and going deeper with clients. Secondly, a good coach will be transparent about their own shortcomings and failures. This helps to gain trust. A good coach will be action-oriented; constantly exhorting clients to move forward.

And, what kind of results do people and organizations get?

We regularly see clients with a business in the million-dollar revenue range see annual profit improvement above six figures. We guarantee that they will get double their investment in coaching back, but it’s not unusual to see an ROI of 10 to 15 times.

6. Authenticity is absolutely key towards achieving leadership. How do you define authenticity?

To practice what you preach. To walk the talk. To be what you tell others you are. Why is authenticity important in leadership? Leaders will inspire followers to be like them, good or bad. If you are not authentic you will replicate that throughout your organization and it will likely fail.

Explain how you are taking a more proactive approach to encourage strong business managers, CEOs, and leaders to become even stronger performers?

I help business owners do what they love to do and what they are passionate about doing. Doing what you love will lead you to success because you will not quit if you are doing what you love to do. Those who persist will succeed.

Call us at 1-888-504-0777, or email us:

authenticity business coaching principles of success

Hire the Right People to Improve Your SME

Streamline Communications

Focus on Inspiration for Your SME

Invest in Mentoring Software

Offer Personal Support Greatly Assists Your SME

Organize Staff Social Events

Building a Property Business Alongside a Full-Time Job

Clear Your Schedule Before Laying the Foundations

Start Small with Your Property Business

Stay Accessible for Your Property Business

Keep Clear Accounts

Understand Your Contract and Legal Obligations

Avoid Burnout with Your Property Business

Make the Transition at the Right Time

Five Tips for Coaching Your Employees to Increase Their Performance

Make an Efficient Performance Improvement Plan

Motivate Them with an Opportunity to Advance

Express More Confidence when Coaching

Help Them to Step Out of Their Comfort Zone by Coaching

Additional Methods for Effective Employee Performance

Conclusion on Coaching

Here are seven ways to help you learn how to avoid burnout

Be Organized And Use Time Efficiently

Prioritize Tasks

Avoid Multitasking

Delegate Wherever Possible

Stay Healthy

Schedule Regular Breaks

Set Work Hours And Stick To Them

Conclusion

Understanding what Executive Coaching is all about

Executive Coaching techniques

There are different levels of coaching:

Who is an executive coach?

Why you need an executive coach

The immeasurable benefits of Executive Coaching

Executive Coaching helps improve your mental capabilities.

Executive Coaching enables you to recognize talents and skills to delegate proficiently.

Executive Coaching aids in segregating priorities and taking the right decisions.

Executive Coaching improves your upwards, downwards, and lateral management skills.

Executive Coaching helps build camaraderie and trust.

Executive Coaching assists in adapting to contingencies and situational management.

Executive Coaching aids in creating direction and achieving goals efficiently

This can cause serious problems such as:

Executive Coaching makes you a great leader, not just a boss.

Who is an effective communicator?

They contribute actively to their workplace

Others trust them

They express themselves freely

They have their communication style

They can make complex topics simple

What are Communication Styles?

The Relationship Between Communication styles and Connection

Behavior Traits and How They Influence Communication Styles

The Four Main Types of Communication Styles

Passive Communication Style

Aggressive Communication Style

Passive-Aggressive Communication Style

Assertive Communication Style

Which type of communication style to use

The DISC Model

The Relationship Between Communication Style and Success

How to be an effective communicator

Know your purpose

Identify your audience

Have a plan

Listen actively

Be clear in your speech

Use appropriate body language

Be approachable

Avoid uncontrolled emotion

Avoid Interrupting others

How to Avoid Common Business Pitfalls

Example of Business Owner in the “Hero” Role

How to be a More Strategic Business Owner

Develop a team of employees with different skills than you.

Do what you love to do and delegate the rest.

Have a written plan, which includes your business vision, values mission.

as a Business owner, Meet regularly with your team.

Call us at 1-888-504-0777,