Is a Coach the right fit for your South Yorkshire business?
When it comes to growing a business, having the right support system around you is essential. As a leader in a small business or organisation, you may be wondering if hiring a coach is the right fit for your company. Whether you need help with developing a strategy, understanding your team dynamics or improving processes, working with a coach can make all the difference. If you want to grow your business or develop a new product, a coach can help you set out clear goals, keep you motivated on track and help you work through options and the inevitable challenges you hit along the way. A coach will work alongside you as a travelling companion on your journey, a confident, sounding board, helping you to navigate your course through expert listening, reflecting and questioning to support you to grow and achieve your potential.
What a coach won’t do is give you advice and support on how to reach your goal. If you are tackling something which feels well outside your comfort zone, you might need something different to help you meet your next challenge. If you feel like you need this extra level of support, then is there an alternative that can meet you where you are now?
The answer is yes! Depending on your needs, there are several alternatives to coaching that can help you reach your goals. These include mentoring, advice from experts in the field, consultancy services and even just having someone on your team who has experience in similar areas. All these options have their advantages and disadvantages so it's important to do your research before deciding which one is best for you and your business. Let’s dive into some of the options available and who they might suit:
Are prescriptive business advice options right for your business?
In the busy business world, prescriptive business advice options provide a way for companies to get tailored advice and guidance without requiring excessive amounts of time and input from themselves. Similarly, to a medical prescription, prescriptive business advice tends to include more ‘how to’ and specific steps to follow to achieve the desired result.
The need for prescriptive business advice options has grown significantly in recent years. Companies are looking for ways to create business growth with better advice and guidance, while also requiring less input from them. As business growth specialists in South Yorkshire, we regularly recommend our clients look at free support available via the South Yorkshire Growth Hub which is a great local resource for local businesses looking to grow further. At Growing Circles, we’ve signed up with the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce which has a wide variety of business tools, training and advice available to its members as well as providing access to policies, HR and Legal advice.
Will a business mentor help my business grow?
Having a business mentor can be an invaluable asset to any business. A mentor can provide one-on-one, personalised advice and guidance that is tailored to the individual needs of your business. They can help you set objectives and goals, as well as share direct experience from their own career and, if helpful, provide practical advice on how to achieve them.
Mentors have access to successful models that they’ve used in the past, which they can share with you. This means that you don't have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to growing your business - instead, you can learn from someone who has already done it before. With their help, you will be able to develop a plan for success and grow your business faster than ever before.
Can training help me meet my small business objectives?
Training can be a great way to help small businesses meet their objectives. It can provide generalised guidance and advice that is applicable to all business areas, as well as more specific, non-personalised advice from an expert in the relevant business area. Business Training can also be tailored to individual team members or given in group sessions. It can provide you with structured advice on how to achieve success in a particular area, helping small businesses reach their goals faster and more efficiently. By investing in training, small businesses can ensure that their team members are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
A great local resource for training for small businesses and social enterprises in South Yorkshire is via Business Sheffield, you can access their workshop, webinar and networking offer here. Group sessions are also a great way to get everyone on the same page and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals. Training can also help you identify areas where improvements need to be made and provide guidance on how best to achieve those goals. With the right training, your team can become more successful and reach their objectives faster.
What is the difference between a Coach and a Consultant?
Business coaches and consultants are both professionals who support businesses to grow. However, there are some key differences between the two that should be taken into consideration when deciding which one to work with.
Business coaches provide work alongside you, asking you insightful questions to enhance your thinking and help you identify the right strategies and steps to move your business forward. They focus on helping you to set effective goals and then work with you to help you achieve them.
On the other hand, business consultants focus more heavily on problem-solving to help businesses grow. They usually provide expertise in specific areas such as marketing, finance, or operations and can offer tailored solutions for a business’s needs. A consultant will usually work on a specific project or aspect of the business in a short-term capacity rather than working to develop team members or the business through learning and development. For some businesses, hiring a consultant is much more efficient than learning the skills required to meet that business need. For example, if you need to complete a one-off project, such as introducing a new IT solution, this may not be a skill you will need again in the future, so training your team to do it, will distract them from their key areas of focus rather than upskilling them.
Both coaches and consultants can be valuable resources for any business looking to achieve its goals or solve problems. It is important to understand the differences between them so that you can make an informed decision about which one is right for your individual and business needs.
There’s no right or wrong answer between the two, it often falls to an individual's preferred way of working, capacity constraints or business need.
Where does Growing Circles fit in?
At Growing Circles, we like to match our styles and methods to suit the South Yorkshire businesses we support. As Emma Clarke, a local Charity CEO has worked with Growing Circles has said "She [Kris, Growing Circles Founder] would be a huge asset to any organisation that is negotiating change, wishing to develop or is just needing a sounding board.”
We can offer solution focussed coaching for individual or teams or we can work with you to provide specific advice alongside problem-solving strategies tailored to your business-specific objectives and needs. Our goal is to work as a collaborative partner to help you achieve your desired level of success and growth in a way which works for you.
Our team of experts will work with you to identify the best ways to support your business through this period of growth. We understand that every business is unique, which is why we take a customised approach when it comes to helping our clients reach their goals. We understand that the businesses we work with have placed their trust in us and made a decision to invest in their business. As a small business ourselves, we know this is a big decision and we don’t take that obligation lightly. Founder of Artful, Vicky Hilton, has found working with Growing Circles a great resource for her business. “The support we have received over the past few months has been invaluable. It has given us the time to stop, reflect and progress our business ideas and plan for the future.”
We only take on a limited number of clients so we can provide the best business growth experience to those we work alongside. We’re proud to celebrate the successes, rally together during tougher times and muck in where needed to get your business to where it wants to be. And we are always up for a coffee!
If you own a South Yorkshire business and want to chat more about whether business coaching is right for you, why not have a free curiosity session with one of the team by clicking here? We look forward to meeting you.