As an owner of a business, or someone in a managerial position (supervisor, manager, team leader, etc.), 1-2-1 business coaching is an essential part of any successful business. However, because you are not a coach, have not been educated and trained to be a coach, and have probably not had experience being a coach, you may not be sure how to coach your employees or subordinates in a 1-2-1 situation.

You may have some experience talking to and motivating a team or a group of employees, and this is one aspect of coaching. However, 1-2-1 business coaching is different and requires different skills.

Coaching isn’t easy. That’s why a good coach, whether a life coach, a wellness coach, a career coach, or a business coach, is in high demand. If you are a coach who gets results, clients will be flocking to your door.

But, you are not a coach. You are a business manager, a supervisor, or a business owner. How do you get results in a 1-2-1 business coaching scenario? How do you become a better 1-2-1 business coach without going through a coaching program?

Get the Most Out of Your 1-2-1 Business Coaching

• Listen to your employees. Listening is perhaps the most important skill of a good coach. Coaches employ the art of active listening with their clients. Active listening involves not only hearing the words someone is saying, but also hearing the complete message that is being conveyed. Active listening also involves “listening” with all your senses, hearing the tone of the words, and watching the body language of the speaker. Active listening also considers the response – you should be able to restate, summarize, encourage, confirm, and give feedback as necessary.
• Convey a clear objective. As a coach, you often want clients to clarify their goals and aspirations. As a business coach, you want to send a clear and concise message as to the objective and the goals, Every profitable business or successful enterprise has clear and definitive goals and objectives. When leading employees, your goal or objective was be clearly stated and easy to understand.
• Encourage them to think. Coaches don’t tell – that’s one of the fundamental principles of coaching. However, business managers are different than coaches – they need to tell their employees the goals and objectives. However, they need to allow room for the employees to come up with their own solutions on how to reach these goals. Get them to think by allowing them freedom to be creative.
• Set parameters. All coaching involves certain parameters, and 1-2-1 business coaching is no different. In fact, within a competitive business environment, parameters may even be more restrictive due to the possibility of deadlines. Parameters encourage motivation and often restore order in a chaotic business world.
• For a coach to retain a client, rapport, confidence, and trust must be built. It is no different than the relationship between an owner and an employee, or a supervisor and a subordinate. Without these three fundamental pillars of any type of relationship, there will be tension, mistrust, and uncertainty. None of those qualities make for a positive 1-2-1 coaching experience or a successful business.

Hope you took some great value out of this post today! I’d love to hear your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment with your thoughts or questions. And also, you can click on the Twitter button below to retweet this article…Thank you!

Fred Philips
Business Coach
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