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Business Coach & Executive Coach: Is Professional Development Part of Your Strategic Action Plan?Tip! If you would like to sign up for business coaching online, you can do a web search and see what sort of hits you get. Remember that it is always wise to check with the Better Business Bureau about any company that you are going to work with, and business coaches are no exception. Many individuals who invest in business coaching consider this to be part of their own professional development. Potential clients who embrace a learning attitude are a plus for business coaches or executive coaches who are selling their professional services. This makes the selling process much easier. However, if the tables were turned, is the coach investing in her or his own professional development? Professional development extends beyond formal education and training. Learning can be either informal or formal. And, professional development does not mean investing lots of money. So what does professional development look like for a business coach or executive coach? The answer to that question is the infamous that depends. The first place to start is to include professional development within your strategic plan as a critical success factor (CSF). A critical success factor is simply defined as being both necessary and sufficient to achieve the current mission. If you do not have a strategic plan, then stop and create one. Hire a business coach who specializes in helping to construct executable strategic plans along with the accompanying strategic action plan. The strategic action plan contains all the goals for all the critical success factors that need to be actively monitored during the next year.
By looking at your budget for professional development, you can begin to identify where you wish to invest your time and dollars and set the appropriate goals that will ultimately increase sales for your coaching business. For example, formal professional development goals can be:
- Attending conferences both face to face or teleconference
- Taking a formal course
- Becoming certified as a coach
Informal professional development goals could include:
- Reading books
- Reading journals
- Subscribing to online newsletters or Google alerts
- Reading newspapers
- Listening to audio books
- Joining a mastermind group
- Creating your own mastermind group
- Talking with a mentor
- Writing articles for electronic distribution such as Ezine Articles
- Writing a book
Some may think writing is not professional development. However, I beg to differ. Individuals who write become better thinkers and better thinkers become better writers. Also, writing involves research and ongoing learning. Writing is all about professional development. Tip! If done right a business coach can be a great asset to your business. They can provide the support and mentoring needed to get your business to the next level. In the next year, my professional development goals within my strategic action plan as a business coach include:
- 100 hours at 4 national conferences focusing on performance improvement
- Attending 2 teleconferences per month
- Attending 2 weekly mastermind teleconferences
- Reading one book every week
- Speaking with my mentor, coach and colleagues at least one time a week
- Writing a article a day for Internet article distribution
- Completing 2 books in 2007 for print
Bottom line an investment in your own professional development as a business coach or executive coach means being the best that you are and knowing that you have the skills supported through ongoing learning. Your clients will definitely appreciate your efforts and you will build continued loyalty with your clients, centers of influence and even prospects. Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. is a business coach who specializes in strategic planning with offices near Chicago, IL and in Indianapolis, IN. She writes, speaks and coaches businesses along with individuals to quickly double results through the creation of an executable strategic plan. One quick question,if you could secure one new client or breakthrough that one roadbloack holding you back from success, what would that mean to you? Then, take a risk and give me, Leanne, a call at 219.759.5601 to experience incredible results. Tip! A business coach will soon become one of your closest friends as you confide in them the ups and downs of your business. Your business coach will not act as a friend though, instead they will help you get right down to the problem and figure out the best solution. Visit http://www.processspecialist.com/ and explore everything from free articles to connecting with Leanne. |
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