Although business coaching is a relatively new to the mainstream, Fortune 500 companies have been using coaches for years to improve and grow their businesses. The concept comes from coaching athletes to find their very best within themselves to achieve peak performance. Tiger Woods, Brett Favre, and Michael Jordan would not have achieved the same level of success if it weren’t for the coaches that helped them fine-tune their skills and talents. Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison all used mentors to coach them in areas of their expertise. Presidents, statesmen, athletes, business owners and entrepreneurs are all utilizing coaches to propel them into greatness.

There is no 'industry standard' definition for coaching, however, the International Coach Federation (ICF) defines coaching as follows:

"Coaching is an interactive process that helps individuals and organizations to develop more rapidly and produce more satisfying results. Coaches work with clients in all areas including business, career, finances, health and relationships. As a result of coaching, clients set better goals, take more action, make better decisions, and more fully use their natural strengths." ~ International Coach Federation

The ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.

Coaching honors the client as the expert in his/her life and work and believes that every client is creative, resourceful, and whole.,

Standing on this foundation, the coach's responsibility is to:

Professional coaches provide an ongoing partnership designed to help clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. Coaches are trained to listen, to observe and to customize their approach to individual client needs. They seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client; they believe the client is naturally creative and resourceful. The coach's job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client already has.

Since the coaching industry is still in its early development, there might be some confusion as to how coaching differs from other professional services such as consulting, therapy, mentoring and training. The International Coach Federation help coaches to clarify their role by making the following distinctions:

Coaching versus Consulting

Coaching emphasizes the client's responsibility for the results he or she receives from coaching and focuses as much on who the client needs to be or become as what business practices need to be done differently.

A Consultant is employed to deliver an end result that meets a specific need or goal. The consultant takes responsibility for the project and is a specialist with expertise in a given situation or industry, providing content and expert knowledge.

The benefits of business coaching effect many areas of the business and include the following:

The International Coach Federation surveyed 210 coaching clients for demographic data and feedback /opinions about the value and use of coaching. Of these respondents, 197 were employed professionals. All had a formal, on-going relationship with a coach with an average duration of 9 months. Over 80% of the respondents had undergraduate degrees and over a third had Master’s degrees or higher.

Value of the coaching investment: 70% "very valuable" 28.5% "valuable"

Level of confidence in the coach: 50% confide in their coach as much as their best friend, spouse or therapist, 12% confide in their coach more than anyone else.

Main role of the coach:

Typical issues:

Outcomes attributed to coaching:

The survey was conducted by Amy Watson, Principal, PROfusion Public Relations, with survey design assistance by Jackie Rieves Watson, Ph.D., professor of Management and Statistics, Amber University.

Lighthouse Alliance Group offers Business Coaching and Executive Coaching with expertise in the area of Retail Business Coaching. With over 26 years of professional experience serving the retail business community, Brian Rinke, President of Lighthouse Alliance Group, is an expert in store operations, logistics and financial analysis.

Business coaching works with small to medium sized business owners, coaching business optimization and systemization. Business optimization is the result of the coaching process. Optimization means the business is operating with peak efficiencies in all areas including financial analysis and profitability, planning and forecasting, sales and marketing, operations, systems and technologies, organizational structure, personnel and time management. The goal is for the business to run like a well oiled machine with or without the owner being present.

Executive coaching deals with the working relationship between business objectives, team interactions and leadership behaviors. Achieving business objectives requires open and effective communication and requires an inter-relationship between these three key areas. Executive Coaching helps identify and measure the business objective, clarify the interactions necessary from team members and understand the leadership behaviors that are essential to creating a professional and successful environment.

Business coaching examines all areas of the business including money, methods and mindset. Financial analysis of the P&L, Cash Flow, Balance Sheet and Revenue Forecasts ensures the financial plan is solid. Strengthening business methods and systems include team recruitment and retention methods, sales and marketing strategies, policies, operational procedures, testing and measuring, customer service, leadership and communication. Coaching the mindset through obstacles, barriers and limiting thinking is what makes it all possible.

Regardless of your product or service, businesses have many of the same foundational building blocks including Finance, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Distribution and Customer Service. Lighthouse Alliance Group understands business. Coaching works directly with the business owner, utilizing their industry knowledge and expertise to guide strategic decision making and goal achievement.

Coachability is one of the cornerstones of any coaching relationship. If you understand the value of collaboration, if you possess good listening skills, if you tend to follow through with what you say you will do, if you can communicate your needs and counter when you don’t agree, and are willing to learn from someone else’s perspective, you are be coachable. If you are generally untrusting or think you are the only one with proper solutions, you may not be coachable.

The first step to coaching you and your business is to conduct the Alliance Consultation. The process of going through the Alliance Consultation ensures you, your business and/or life partners and your entire team are clear on your goals and align with the business objectives, before we begin to change anything. This is vitally important to ensure we are able to clearly identify what each person is striving to achieve.

The Alliance Consultation starts off with an in-depth look at your goals, both business and personal, the strategies and tactics used previously and what results were achieved. The Alliance Consultation is basically a road map for the future of your business. It will give you a complete list of strategies and ideas that you’re not currently using in your business. This information will be used to develop the strategic plan that will be followed over the coming months. A tactical plan will then be created to ensure the strategic plan is implemented. The weekly coaching sessions ensure the tactical plan is implemented and the strategic plan remains current to the business objectives.

Effective Business Coaching with an objective of business optimization takes time, effort and commitment. One should expect to the process of optimizing your business should take 12 months or longer to achieve the best results. Diligent effort on the business owner’s part is critical to the amount of time required to achieve desired results.

The appointments are generally weekly by design as this helps your goals to become realized much more rapidly. It also creates a good pace for you to make necessary changes and be accountable to those changes, strategies and tactics.

One of the key areas of coaching is Time Management. Together we will find areas that can be delegated or outsourced to give you more time to work on your business rather than in your business. One objective many business owners want is more free time away from the business. An optimized business will afford you more personal time while enjoying continued profitability.

We have several packages in a range of price points. Please schedule a time for a free strategy session to determine your needs.

Ultimately, your success depends on you. A coach can offer insight, tools, experience, motivation and guidance, but the results are earned through your efforts. If you know you are ready for change and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it, your experience with a coach can be invaluable.

Since coaching is a professional service that requires communication, we are available to coach anywhere there is a phone line and internet access.

For clients in the Dallas/Fort Worth Texas area, site visits may be appropriate from time to time.

Contact Brian Rinke at (214) 496-9966 or email brian.rinke@LighthouseAllianceGroup.com to schedule your free strategy session.