Coaching has long been accepted in sports as a way to enable peak performance, but why is this less so in business?

Coaching has long been accepted in sports as a way to enable peak performance, but why is this less so in business?

Usain Bolt, Serena Williams, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer all know about coaching

In their prime, these sporting greats were the best in the world, some will argue of all time. In sport it’s long been accepted that an individual coach can help you reach your peak performance. But why is this less accepted in business? Williams power game and 23 grand slams puts her at the pinnacle. Woods was unstoppable. Federer at his peak transcended the game. Bolt, how apt a name, 9.58 and 19.19 says it all. Celebrating an Olympic gold well before a sub 10 second event was finished, pure showmanship, said even more.

Why do people get coaching in business?

When people get coached in business it is often because they are being prepared for a bigger role. Sometimes it’s because their current role is becoming more complex, and sometimes because they are struggling a bit. Sometimes it’s all three.

For one manager some years ago this was exactly the case, but he resisted. Why?

Coaching has long been accepted in sports as a way to enable peak performance, but why is this less so in business?

The classic reasons why people often resist anything.

Coaching was not his idea it was his boss’s idea. He felt that he should be able to work it out himself, without a need for a coach. But deep down we all know that the most successful, and the most happy people, just use good ideas, no matter where they come from.

He worried about what others would think about him having a coach. After all he had been hired as an expert in his field and selected as a professional manager. But successful people don’t spend time worrying about what other people think about them, they spend time thinking how to get the best outcomes and how to best work with other people.

A good reason not to resist

The term growth mindset has been used a lot, maybe even overused. One thing I do know is that people who try to truly maximise their own performance, their own potential, are open to help, no matter what the source is, no matter whose idea it was and no matter what other people think.

Sports people are measured all the time; seconds, shots, points, games, rounds, matches.
Managers are too; costs, profit, quality, customer satisfaction, successful change.

If a person is being measured, on the scoreboard, by shareholders, by their boss, by their customers, by themselves, having a coach can help.

Where can you get coaching?

Sure, a big part of our company is coaching executives and managers. But coaching can come from many places. Before writing this article we had one on a quite different theme. When asking for feedback from a colleague, it was direct. It needed to be. The original article fell as flat as a pancake. It missed the mark.

That coaching moment came from a colleague, it wasn’t expected, but it was needed.

Coaching can come from anywhere; you just have to be willing to look.

If you are preparing for a bigger role, or if your current role is becoming more complex, or you are struggling a bit, or all three, then coaching can help.

It can also help if you are right at the top of your game, to keep you there. Just ask Bolt, Williams, Woods and Federer.

Stoke Consulting

If you would like to explore how coaching can elevate your leadership Contact Us today.