A business coach is pretty similar to a sports coach. The coach doesn’t actually play in the game, yet it’s the coach’s job to make sure that the team plays the best game they can, with the intention of winning each game they play.

The coach makes sure that all the players work together. ensuring the backs connect well with the forwards, and that the whole team understands the rules. The coach designs the teams' tactics to win the next game against varying types of opposition, keeps the team focused throughout the game, and works with the team's management to set the strategy of what the team should achieve throughout the season.

The coach needs to ensure the team is fit enough to endure the roughness of the game, that all players complete their warm-ups and there are enough quality reserves on-call when one of the team is not able to play. The coach is mentor to the captain and creates team enthusiasm through team culture, passion and loyalty.

Business Coaching is quite similar as in business there’s a team (staff), a captain (operational manager) and management (CEO/owners) in the business.

The business coach will help the business move from where it is  today, to where you want the business to be in the future. A business coach works with you and your staff to identify where support is needed in the business. The business coach will assist in designing the pathway you want the business to take, by clearly identifying the goals what you really want the business to achieve, or maybe setting a new direction for the business.

Sometimes it can be difficult to identify what we actually want or what we think we want, and often the two are quite different, as at times it can feel like we’re walking through thick fog when working out how to move the business toward the platform we want to be on.

It is not the purpose of a business coach to tell you what you want in your business, as that is your choice. The business coach helps you identify the business gaps and the direction you want to take, then assists you in achieving it.

Is Business Coaching any use to me?

Business Coaching is ideally suited for three specific stages a business may journey through, and in some cases where the business may be entrenched for various functional reasons.

1. Established businesses can experience a down-turn driven through workload, excessive orders, returned product or faulty product, high staff turnover, reduced margin or other dynamics. Its not always easy to clearly identify the cause, yet the effects are often easily seen.

2. A portion of companies reach a certain size and never seem to grow any further. The owners often have aspirations to grow the company yet it just doesn't seem to happen.

3. Sometimes as the company is growing, gaps are experienced that allow the company to falter such as, the company infrastructure can't support the growth, the supply chain doesn't meet the demand, the skill level of the operation is lacking, there is no planned growth strategy (where will it stop), plus other dynamics.

 The team at Active Business Support Services Ltd (Active BSS) www.activebss.co.nz specializes in business coaching services on the core subjects of business risk and business growth throughout the North Island. The phrase 'Two heads are better than one'  has been around for a while yet it still holds value.