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INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | SEPTEMBER 5, 2000 MANAGEMENT Vince Lombardis for Hire Entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to coaches for inspiration and insight
"He tore apart not only the business plan, but the model, our strategy, and our expectations for what we needed financially and otherwise," says Goldenberg, 23. They took his advice but, just between them, the two thought they would prove him wrong. Now, 15 months later, Goldenberg admits: "Stever was dead-on right. No one saw the future of the company as clearly as he did." Robbins is a coach, part of a fast-growing business that fits somewhere between psychotherapy and traditional consulting. To Goldenberg, he was an oracle. "You go to him, you ask a question, and 99 times out of 100 he gives you another question to think about that leads to the answer." Robbins, who has a degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard, worked in several small startups over the years that went on to become not so small. His passion for finding solutions and his antipathy to boredom led to the founding of Venture Coach, based in Cambridge, Mass., about 18 months ago. As a coach, "I get to operate in a kind of peak, problem-solving capacity all the time," he says. "...It turns out that the number of complicated situations in the world is larger than I ever anticipated." WHERE TO TURN? It used to be only major-company executives who hired coaches, but people trying to run a small business in today's do-it-now, get-it-there-yesterday, stay-on-top-of-tomorrow culture increasingly are asking for help. The employees bring their problems to the boss, but who does he take his problems to? He has good reasons for not wanting to share his fears with colleagues, competitors, staff, or financial backers. He could confide in a friend or relative, but they're likely to tell him what they think he wants to hear. Common mistakes of small-business owners are trying to do too much too fast, failing to delegate, and confusing the product with the business. Being good at writing software or making muffins or fixing engines isn't the same as being good at running an enterprise. Likewise, a good idea is not the same as a good business. "The myth is that entrepreneurs start small businesses. It's usually technicians who start small businesses," says Lisa J. Huff, founder of Coach2Success in Mendham, N.J. She advises her clients to think of their business as a franchise, even if they have no intention of ever going that route, because franchises have tight systems in place. "Everything can be a system -- the way you choose to file your papers, how you take and fulfill orders, how you get paid, how employees behave and dress," she points out. Having systems in place means customers get consistent results. It also means the owner can delegate more work, which is key. People who start small businesses tend to want to be their own boss and feel they have to be in control. Often, that need is what holds them back. GAINING INSIGHT. "Their mindset is: If I don't think about work all the time, the business will go away," says Susan Corbett, a coach in Boca Raton, Fla. "They think if they're thinking about it, they're controlling it." She asks small-business owners to pick just three projects to complete, rather than do so much that they do nothing well. Still, the greatest value of coaching, say both sides, aren't the business solutions, but the personal insight. Coaches help a player understand her strengths, weak spots, motivations, and obstacles. She may think she's hiring a coach to help increase sales, but what she gets is a big dose of self-awareness. That's what happened to Laurie Eastwood, owner of J. Christopher Prints in Alamo, Calif., which makes and sells hand-tinted black-and-white photographs. After six years, her initial excitement had given way to mundane details and drudgery. What Eastwood found, after signing on with Huff six months ago, is that she wasn't being true to herself. She had felt uneasy about a few things: One of the showrooms carrying her prints seemed perfunctory and off-putting, the printer's quality had slipped, and he was often late. Sometimes an employee wouldn't do what she said she was going to. After coaching, she no longer let the showroom with "no heart or soul" represent her work, and she got a new printer. "Once you make a statement about who you are, you have to take a stand against all the things that don't align with that," Eastwood says. Next, she started involving her employees more thoroughly. "When people feel like they make a difference, that they're part of your vision, they don't give their word and not keep it," she says. "I had never allowed them to contribute -- I had to run the show." "BEING A LEADER." Although being unable to confront someone or being a procrastinator can lead to business problems, they're personal problems, which even the most brilliant business strategy can't solve, coaches say. "People who want to change their behavior and change their life are who I'm interested in," says Robbins. "I want to get them excited and be able to communicate that to the rest of the company. That's being a leader."Most coaching is done by telephone, after the coach has gathered information about the client through questionnaires and an initial, free phone consultation. Coaching sessions are generally a half-hour to an hour, two to four times a month, with additional e-mail, fax, or phone help, if needed. Costs typically range from $400 to $600 a month, for a period of at least six months. Coaches come from a wide range of backgrounds -- no license or other credentials are required. Only a handful of people were in the business 10 years ago, while today there are roughly 30,000 coaches worldwide, estimates the International Coaching Federation, which was established eight years ago as an attempt to help organize and eventually regulate the industry. It offers certification to those who have completed training at one of the three accredited coaching schools, have worked as a student coach, have references, and agree to the federation's bylaws. More important than credentials, coaches say, is the ability to establish trust with the client and to get results. As Eastwood puts it: "Someone on the other end is holding you accountable for what you say you want and who you say you are. That's the value of coaching."  By Theresa Forsman in New York Edited by Edited by Robin J. Phillips  | | |
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