Starting Out – Building Your Coaching Business

by Ann Orton

Starting with a story:

 At the time I first shared my views about ‘building a coaching business^1’ I told this story:

I had a long conversation this morning with a potential coaching client and, at the end of the call, agreed to meet this person in four days’ time.  (Update:  at that ‘chemistry’ meeting we agreed to work together, without the client seeing other coaches first.  The individual liked my background and was particularly comfortable with our common field of university study – physics!)  I first heard about this potential opportunity when an email arrived at The Alliance² asking me to make contact with this individual.  A bit of background:  the company that initiated the request was a long term company client of The Alliance.  In 2007, Alliance coaches were invited to a complex briefing and selection process for a team of coaches to support a strengths-based development project in a major manufacturing organisation (run by an individual in our broader network of contacts, who had trained in the same Meyler Campbell Business Coach Programme we all completed).  For those chosen as potential members of the team, a ‘speed matching’ session followed.  Several Alliance coaches, including me, were chosen to work with members of a senior leadership team.  At that ‘speed matching’ one client choose to interview me because my CV showed out-of-work interests that coincided with his.  My clients achieved their goals and felt my support was valuable.  However, I have had no personal work from the client company since 2009, and other Alliance coaches had little work in the years immediately following the project.  I was put forward for coaching assignment in early 2012 but, after a positive meeting, heard that the individual had chosen the coach from another company. This latest contact came out of the blue earlier this month, when my latest CV, provided in 2012, was passed to the potential client by the HR Director.  Since then everything has moved very quickly!

First be a coach

 I’ll assume that you really want to be a business coach – that there is something about working alongside people as they seek to become the best they can be that makes your heart sing.  If you have doubts about that (whatever your lingering questions about your level of experience and learning) stop now and do something else!  There are far too many coaches out there who do love their work and know that this passion reflects in how they are, what they do and what their clients experience and achieve.  If your commitment is there, then these coaching-related points are fundamental to successful business building:

• Be a coach ‘always’, using available opportunities both to practice, refine and demonstrate your coaching skills in every aspect of your life.  ‘Coach’ through listening, challenging, mirroring, supporting…, whatever the situation or circumstances of the people you are with.  Notice their reactions – the pause for thought, the ‘that was a great question…’, the ‘I hadn’t realised how much I use that word…’ – and recognise what you are able to bring to the conversation, however informal the coaching.
• Take every opportunity to learn about coaching, whether formally or informally, by talking to other coaches, being supervised individually or in a peer group, reading, researching, exploring related topics and taking part in CPD activities.  Learn which of these approaches best match who you are as a person and which trigger new experiences and understanding – in other words, don’t get stuck in a rut by doing all your learning in the most natural way for you, whether that is keeping your nose in a book or talking to everyone.
• Do great coaching work with your clients, whether the work is pro bono or paid, and recognise what this means about you as a coach (seek specific feedback on aspects of your skills or on the new tool you tried), your coaching interests (the people and situations that stimulate the best in you), and for your business (what they might say about the value of your coaching, who they know, what networks they are part of).
• Know where you get excited and are in flow, passionate, playing to your strengths.  Be able to describe these coaching ‘sweet spots’ and work towards refining your approach in these areas (whether with an experienced leader or a young person at the start of their career, at a defined job transition or improving in a current role, within a small entrepreneurial environment or a major corporation).

Then build your business

 While the two are intertwined (coaching and building your coaching presence as a business) my experience and personal learning suggest that there are several points to note when building your coaching business.  These apply whether you are establishing yourself as an individual coach (the way many people begin) or whether you form or join others in a coaching practice:

• Clarify your coaching offer (see above) with at least a few boundaries (sometimes it’s easier to define what assignments you would not want to accept) and don’t get distracted.  There is a tendency for any business, particularly in the early stages, to take any offers of work however vaguely related to their business intent, but ‘the grass isn’t greener …’.   Work not aligned to your offer is a distraction, may establish a view of you unrelated to your coaching skills, and may ‘trap’ you into more work of a similar kind.  For example, even if the request for training in public speaking sounds close enough to coaching and you have a good reputation in that area, you will experience competition here too, and will risk remaining tied to your past experience rather than future aspirations.  
• Take work that moves you towards your vision, is consistent with your strategy, and inspires you.  It doesn’t have to match perfectly but there should be something about the work that provides support for your future business and adds to your bank of stories, connections and recommendations
• Treat every contact (whether through previous roles, family, interests or social life) as a potential opportunity to connect, explore and learn but not to sell directly (your friends may desert you!).  Network theory suggests that immediate contacts are not necessarily a direct source of work, but that we should focus on the networks of our friends and contacts.  Remember that you are not selling but instead having interesting, enlightening conversations and planting seeds for the future. 
• Believe in yourself (as a coach you will often work with clients around self-belief – here is a chance to try it!) and be persistent and focused.  It takes time to build credibility, reposition from your previous business life and connect with people.  Your journey will parallel that of coaching clients seeking to change, so there is learning in your experience, however challenging.  The good news is that, while it may take significant time to build a fruitful relationship, relationships are often enduring. 
• Acknowledge that there will always be a balance between investment and paid days when running your own business (and the trick when successful is not to do so much of the latter that you neglect the former!).  However, this balance will be significantly towards investment at the start of your business (see my story for an example of a time consuming process to gain coaching assignments), and at times this may feel frustrating.  And your investment time will include marketing, selling, managing relationships and doing administration.  Find interim indicators of success (contacts made, discussions held) rather than measuring only on the basis of coaching assignments won.  If you are not actively making contacts, you are unconsciously expecting coaching opportunities to ‘arrive’. 
• Be generous with your coaching support.  Many coaches spend time in pro bono work, often in areas of intense personal interest.  But don’t be afraid to raise the idea of the ‘deal’ so that both sides understand this aspect of the contract.  If you want your client to promote you within their network, make this clear at the start.  Or if you want access to an event or a contribution to your favourite charity, discuss this up front.  My personal pro bono work is typically in arts organisations and with young entrepreneurs.  Clients have supported my fundraising, for example my Booby Birds skydive for Breakthrough Breast Cancer in 2011, and provided useful contacts for the future.  And remember that it is indeed a small world – the ‘six degrees of separation’ or ‘Kevin Bacon’ theory! 
• Consider ‘affiliation’ in whatever form might be helpful for you.  Depending on your personal preferences you may work extremely well alone, but for most of us (including Introverts in MBTI terms!) aspects of learning, supervision, marketing, and refining business expertise are more productive and much more fun done with others.  And there may be situations where you need to balance your strengths and weaknesses by using others or you know of a coaching assignment where it is inappropriate for you to be the coach or the ‘match’ is not the best.
• Be realistic about the time it takes to build your business.  Lead times vary from the ridiculously short to painfully long.  My story illustrates in both senses!  Research has suggested that people do not think you are ‘bugging’ them until after seven contacts so do go back to people.  And an Alliance colleague wisely says that ‘the silence is not always as quiet as you think it is!’. 
• Be professional in everything you do.  Clearly your coaching should be the focus of your efforts to demonstrate professionalism and, increasingly you will be asked about your arrangements for supervision and continuing professional development.  But whether you like it or not, or react in a similar way yourself, some people will write you off if you do not reply to a contact request within 24 hours, and others may dismiss you if your proposals are unclear, have gaps, or include typographical errors.  It is worth the effort of investment in items such as an attractive business card, coaching CV (see my story), and statement of coaching approach, as well as ‘standard’ versions of proposals, contracts and invoices which you can adjust accordingly.   Remember that something as seemingly unconnected to coaching as a VAT registration sends a message about you and creates an impression.  The same Alliance colleague says ‘prepare hard for a lucky break!’
• Learn from what doesn’t work and move on.  An aspect of coaching is to help clients build from things that go well, recognise the value of learning from ‘failure’, and be aware of limiting beliefs.  Don’t carry untrue assumptions about losing an assignment into your next business opportunity.  In my story, I asked for feedback from the L&D contact about the 2012 assignment I ‘lost’ to another coach.  I was told that the client had said that working with either coach would have been valuable.  One of the other coaches not chosen in the major project might be interested to know that the client chose me because of my interest in the arts.
• Be practical:  think through issues such as what it take to cover your costs, how cash flow will impact your ability to pay bills, what you might expect on ‘contact to sales’ conversion rates, where and how much you need to invest in priorities (for example supervision vs. premises), whether you need a website, the time and energy it takes to stay on top of your financial situation.  Remember that it takes time to receive income from the work you do, whatever your payment terms and however quickly you invoice.  You control your contractual terms, speed of invoicing and understanding of a client company’s invoicing requirements (date of submission, purchase order number), but do not control when your invoice is paid! 

 Recognise that building your coaching business is a new venture and / or transition which would be a perfect topic for coaching: use it as an opportunity to learn more about yourself and to experience the support that coaching provides!

Resources:

• Reference¹: Meyler Campbell Faculty Clinic on 27 February 2013 with Anne Scoular, part of the CPD programme available to graduates of and participants in the Meyler Campbell Business Coach Programme
• Reference²: Alliance Coaching Limited, www.alliancecoaching.co.uk
• McMahon, G & Oglethorpe, A. (2013), Coaching at Work magazine, Volume 8 Issues 1&2, articles on How to Set Up and Develop a Successful Coaching Practice
• MC Business Coach Programme materials (on flow, strengths, T8)
• MC CPD Programme,  www.meylercampbell.com/news/events.html
• Rogers, J. (2006), Developing a Coaching Business, Open University Press / McGraw Hill: Maidenhead, UK
• Scoular, P.A. (2011), Business Coaching, Financial Times Prentice Hall / Pearson: Harlow, UK

by Stephen Newton (MC2003)

You Tube is the second most widely used search medium on the Internet after Google.  Placing short videos on You Tube allows you to be visible to potential coaching clients.  It also allows those clients to “get to know you” in advance of an initial meeting.  Many coaches feel that making videos for You Tube is simply “too difficult”.  This article outlines how to make such videos relatively easily.

Three factors largely determine the success of your You Tube video:

• Content
• Sound quality and
• Lighting

The content can of course be pre-prepared.  In terms of length it should be between three and five minutes.  Anything longer than that will tend to lose the attention of viewers who will tend to come to You Tube for short, sharp, relevant bites of information.  The content will need to be of immediate relevance to your chosen audience and it should allow you to make an interesting, memorable and perhaps controversial comment or offer an insight.  The aim is to provide information and at the same time give potential clients a sense of what it will feel like to be in a session with you.  A friend of mine describes this as “seriousness of purpose but levity of approach”.

Whilst you will need to have a clear idea of what you want to say, it is in my view a mistake to script it too heavily.  A conversational delivery style tends to be more authentic and allows you to be seen to “be yourself”.

Sound quality is improved hugely by using an external microphone with your video camera rather than the in-built mic.  This means that the camera will need to offer a microphone socket.  Look for a “lavaliere” or “tie-clip” microphone.  One that is wired – i.e. has a wire connecting it to the camera – is simpler to set up and will be cheaper to buy.  A perfectly satisfactory wired lavaliere mic can be bought on Amazon or from Maplin for around £20 or less.  However, the sound quality produced by mics from well-known firms such as Sennheiser will be better although the cost will be well in excess of £100.

There is no need for a complex, professional camera to capture video in this type of situation.  A Kodak PlayTouch costing around £90 on Amazon will do a perfectly adequate job.  It has an external mic socket and is able to capture video in HD format.  It also allows editing on camera and instant uploading to You Tube via an in-built USB connector that plugs straight into your computer.

You will need to mount the camera on a tripod in order to ensure wobble-free video.  Any basic camera tripod will work.

Effective lighting is reasonably easy to achieve.  If you sit with a window to one side of you, it will tend to throw the other side of your face into shadow.  It will be better to sit facing a window or beneath a Velux-type roof light.  Avoid direct sunlight as this casts shadows and tends to cause you to squint into the strong light.

If you want to use electric light, you can get good results with a pair of ordinary Anglepoise-type lamps, one positioned to each side of your table and pointing towards you at about a 45 degree angle.  Tape a sheet of paper in front of each lamp so that the light shines through it, acting as a diffuser.

Use “daylight” bulbs in the lamps.  This means that the colour of the light is akin to daylight rather than the “warm white” of an ordinary incandescent bulb.  Avoid ordinary fluorescent bulbs; they cast a green tint on your face.  However daylight fluorescent bulbs are fine.   If possible place a further light above you (known as a “hair light” in the film industry) which will create natural shadows on your face and avoid a two-dimensional look.

Rather than simply sitting in front of a blank wall, you can stretch a black sheet behind you.  Position two lamps on the floor or on a low table behind you, shining upwards onto the cloth in such a way that the beams form an “X”.  In one, use a red “reflector” type bulb and in the other a blue one.  This creates an interesting background that looks highly professional.  It avoids the need for complex editing techniques such as “green screen”.

This type of “studio” takes less than ten minutes to set up and allows you to produce very good results.  Rehearse your content once or twice so that you minimise the likelihood of fumbling but can remain conversational.  Set the camera going, sit down at the table and talk through the content in a conversational manner.  Stop the camera and edit out the sections at the start and finish that you don’t want, using the in-built software.  Connect the camera to your computer and upload the video to You Tube.

Since 2001, Stephen has worked as a coach and consultant focusing on the implementation of corporate strategy (or its adaptation so that it can be implemented).  His work often entails leadership and operational management development.  Stephen also has expertise in business development and marketing and has written two books on the subject.  Find out more at www.dloassociates.com.  

by Stephen Newton (MC 2003)

Following the Bootcamp on Tuesday it occurred to me that many in the MC community would like to know about some of the free or low cost software available to run their business.  During the Bootcamp, I made the point that whatever Office-type software you choose should be compatible with MS Office (because that is the default choice for most organisations that are likely to be clients…).  However, that does not necessarily mean that you need to use Microsoft stuff.

In order to obtain software free of charge or for low cost, you have two choices:

• Web Apps (where the software and in many cases your data live on a web server hosted by the supplier).  An example would be Google Docs.
• Open Source software, which is developed by a community of developers working pro-bono.  An example would have been Open Office (which essentially does what MS office does but free of charge).  However the backbone of Open Office has been taken over by Oracle and the development group has moved on to create Office Libre; essentially the same thing but truly open source.

There is also a lot of “freemium” software available where a basic version is supplied free of charge but in order to get additional features you must pay a fee.  An example is AVG anti-virus protection.

I have not used most of the following myself but they all come well-recommended.  In many cases you will need a modicum of technical knowledge to make the software work effectively.

 I am not a fan of Cloud-based systems because it is not clear to me either that the security is robust or what recourse you have if the provider were to lose your data.  I suspect you would spend a long time being transferred between call centre staff in a far-away land trying to resolve the issue.

If you are looking for low-cost hardware, and are happy to use stuff that is new but not necessarily a current model, take a look at IJT Direct.  There are a great source of low-cost inkjet and laser printer cartridges and have now branched out into laptops, desktops, screens, flash drives, SD cards etc.

By Liz Gooster (MC12), Meyler Campbell Special Advisor

What exactly is Twitter? According to Twitter’s own website, it’s ‘a real-time information network that connects you to the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news about what you find interesting’. But to the novice, this twittering, chirping, messy online community can seem overwhelming. The only way to really get a sense of what it’s all about is to plunge in, join the conversation and check it out for yourself. So if you do dip a digital toe into the twittersphere, here are my top 10 tips to getting the most out of Twitter.

1)      Think carefully about your Twitter name, or handle. You can use your real name, your company name, a tag that captures your brand or personality, a nickname, whatever you want. It depends on why you’re using Twitter: make sure your purpose is congruent with your username. So, if you’re a CEO looking to build your credentials as a thought leader, maybe @bigteddybear isn’t quite right for you. Plus, it’s already taken: your Twitter name has to be unique, which is why you’ll see things like @bigteddybear41.

2)      Work on your Twitter bio. You only have 160 characters for this, but it’s important because this is your shop window. It’s what people see first and will help them decide whether or not they want to follow you and hear what you have to say. As with your username, use your profile to convey the right image, whether personal or professional. Upload a photo or an image and add a link to your website if you have one.

3)      Find people you want to follow. You’ll see the tweets of everyone you follow in your Twitter feed. You can search for people by their real name, even if that’s not their Twitter username and the beauty of Twitter is you can follow anyone you want to, even if you don’t know each other and regardless of whether they follow you back. Search for keywords that reflect topics you’re interested in to find people tweeting on these subjects. Twitter will also make suggestions for new people for you to follow, based on who you’re already following.

4)      Look at the people who are following you. Check out their profiles and tweets before you follow them back to make sure you want to read their stuff and be associated with them.

5)      Start tweeting! And remember, you only have 140 characters, so keep it pithy! Think about why you’re tweeting and check before you tweet that your message is in tune with the image you want to build.

6)      Tell, spread and interact. Don’t just broadcast news about yourself – that’s the equivalent of being the bore at the party who constantly drones on about themselves and ignores everyone else. Aim for your tweets to be a mix of new content about you; retweets (RTs) of interesting tweets you’ve read and think other people might like to see; and responses or conversation-starting messages to other tweeters. Use hashtags if you’re tweeting about popular topics (eg #wimbledon) to make it easier for people to find your tweets.

7)      Don’t get too personal. Twitter is all about engaging with people, and it’s best to be authentic. But don’t share more than you’re comfortable with, and be mindful of your own boundaries about privacy – once a tweet’s out there, you can’t get it back (see also Tip 9). For private messages, use the direct messaging (DM) facility, which is the Twitter equivalent of an email.

8)      Manage your Twitter feed. As you follow more people, your Twitter feed will start to get very full. You can’t read every tweet, so test out ways of filtering to make sure you see tweets from the people and on the topics you really want to. Create lists of groups of people that reflect your interests (eg business contacts, celebrities, cookery experts). Try out social media dashboards such as Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Seesmic to help manage your feed.

9)      Never drink and tweet! Your tweets are there for ever, and anyone can see them, so drunk or sober, make sure that you’d be happy for your mum, your boss, your best friend and your worst enemy to see what you’ve written or linked to.

10)  Have fun. Twitter is a fast-paced, energetic, real-time way of communicating about anything you want, with anyone you want, anywhere in the world. So above all, just enjoy it!

Liz Gooster is an Executive Coach with The Alliance and Editor-at-Large for leading business publisher Kogan Page. You can read her blogs at www.lizgooster.com and http://goosterontheloose.wordpress.com/ and follow her on twitter at @bizclasscoach and @publishingcynic

by Meyler Campbell

You may have noticed that at Meyler Campbell we have been avidly supporting Anne Waldron’s tandem skydive jump on behalf of Breakthrough Breast Cancer through a couple of fundraising business events in which all proceeds going towards this amazing cause.

1. Anne Scoular Fishbowl on ‘Big Five’ Coaching –14 June, 4-6pm – £85 donation
2. Coaching Cats – an exploration of coaching in the legal profession 21 June – £60 donation

Please go to the following link for details http://www.meylercampbell.com/news/giving-back.html

How your money has helped

The money you help to raise has been fundamental in the fight against breast cancer. This week, three major pieces of research have been published by Breakthrough Breast Cancer. All have been funded in part by Breakthrough, with involvement from two of key scientists, Professors Jorge Reis-Filho and Andrew Tutt.

They have helped reveal:

1. Nine new genes which drive the development of breast cancer – a huge leap forward.
2. A greater understanding of how breast cancer develops even at its very earliest stages. This means that we should, in the future, be able to detect problems earlier so that a woman can receive treatment before her cancer progresses.
3. A previously unknown process that happens to the cells in the body and which is a driver in breast cancer development. By understanding this process we hope to be able to create targeted treatments in the future which, for example, might be able to stop the cancer from developing.

The ramifications of this work in terms of how we diagnose, treat and prevent the disease are potentially huge. You can read more about these on the breakthrough breast cancer website

This work shows how far we have come since Breakthrough was founded 20 years ago. But it also shows how important it is that we carry on, and work harder and faster, until we reach a point when breast cancer is a disease which is no longer life-threatening.

Your support has been vital in helping us to get this far. It is now needed more than ever.

We’d love to see you at one of these fundraising events, it’s for a great cause and even if you are unable to make it, you can still make a donation via uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AnneWaldron.

Thank you

by Stephen Newton (MC04)

I have just read this book by Dr John Reed called ‘Pinpointing Excellence‘.  I raise this only because I feel that it may be the way that the coaching market is going and that buyers of coaching may seek to use what is proposed as a selection process, without necessarily thinking it through, which will therefore impact on MC graduates.

Reed makes the point that the Executive Coaching (his term) market is fragmented and that there is no widely agreed / common standard for admission or certification to a profession that has the power to change lives for good or ill to a tremendous degree.  As you may know, he proposes a toolkit for buyers of coaching that evaluates coaches by allocating points in four dimensions:

• Coaching expertise
• Business expertise
• Psychological expertise
• Ethics (which he seems to equate with certification by e.g. WABC, ICF etc.)

A reasonably high score would be gained by a combination of Business Coach Programme, WABC certification, Master’s degree in psychology plus some clinical practice and 20+ years of “C Suite” experience in a Fortune 500 company plus a Harvard MBA….

Whilst what he proposes is arguably better than nothing and is a way to push qualification rigour into the coaching market, it seems to miss the point that qualifications alone do not necessarily mean that an individual can coach successfully.  It seems similar to the investment management industry which has been heavily and increasingly regulated for a generation.  Has investment performance improved as a result?  No; there are still only a handful of managers that can consistently beat the relevant market index.  The difference now is that the rest can explain in agonising detail and with mathematical precision why they failed and how.

Just a view.

By Anne Scoular – Managing Director, Meyler Campbell

Hi everyone, as some of you know I am passionately keen to help our Graduates succeed post-Programme, whether internally or as freelance/portfolio-ers. People have been consistently asking for more and deeper help in building your business. So we are making some pretty big investment in this to support you even more. First biggie for 2012:  Build your Business Bootcamp on 3 July.

Bootcamp ran for the first time last year, people said it was a real boost, but the piece that scored overwhelmingly was the 2 hours with Stephen Newton – it was so hugely real-world and practical, and so clearly based on stuff that works, that he was surrounded in every possible break, poor man didn’t get coffee or lunch people were so determined to keep picking his brains. So we can take a hint, this year we’ve dropped everything else, and it’s ALL Stephen, to give him space to get through not just the practicalities (in first session in a.m.) but also get stuck right into the tough stuff of sales, marketing, how do you persuade people, how do you demonstrate value, what do you charge, what do other people charge, etc. Gold dust!!!

So I’d urge you to come and make the most of Bootcamp if you possibly can, I’ll be there too so if you want to pick my brains this is a great chance – we didn’t go into coaching to make money, it’s hugely fulfilling work, but once a year let’s do a really deep dive into the business aspects of it and come up turbo-charged for the rest of the year!

I really hope you can make it.

For details how to book click this link  http://www.meylercampbell.com/programmes/business-bootcamp.html

By Anne Scoular, Managing Director, Meyler Campbell

An absolute gem of an Economist special issue this week (more below) takes me back to an ongoing question that has vexed us in Meyler Campbell Faculty Meetings for years. On the one hand, if we believe in “pure” non-directive coaching, then there should be, strictly, no requirement for the coach to know anything about the client’s context, or background, or industry etc. This is one of the earliest battles for many people joining the Business Coach Programme – (temporarily) giving up the expertise base that has done them proud for decades. Whether they are a senior lawyer, HRD, business school Professor, international strategy consultant, private equity whizz, etc etc, their whole business success to date often seems to them to have been based on downloading information.

Indeed, for some people it has gone further than that and become a part of their very ego identity – so even harder to let go. So for the first half of the Programme, we push them hard on non-directive – NOT because we think it’s the best or only way to coach, but usually because the great people who make it onto our Programme, have usually most, ah, shall we say, upside potential, in that area! They can already tell, have been doing so for decades, but we want them to explore the furthest reaches of ask, and listen. And often they are astonished how powerfully it works – often they try it very dubiously, but then come to the next Tutorial practically blinking in amazement at how powerful it was when the client tapped into their own deep wells of insight/practical ideas/ingenuity etc.

But on the other hand it wouldn’t be the Business Coach Programme if we left them there – it would be a criminal waste of talent and a lifetime of experience if we turned people out at the end of the Programme who just sat with eyes wide open and their head cocked on one side, murmuring sympathetically, “and how do you feel about that?…!” To be a credible business coach business you need to be business-savvy. So about halfway through the Programme – once they’ve got non-directive in their bones, and can flick it on and off at will – we take the chains back off, and let the “tell” piece back in – but used judiciously, when that’s what seems to be best for the client right now, rather than as the default. It’s fun seeing all the differences emerge as each person blends what they brought into the Programme, with what they’ve learned on it. It’s the basis of their USP, whether they’re wanting the deepened coaching capability as part of their leadership toolkit, or to have coaching as part of a portfolio career. And it’s what the people they’re working with, are often initially attracted by – we go and see the boss because we think he/she has answers we respect and can use. Or the freelance coach is hired for their industry sector experience. In both cases, the real value might have nothing to do with that content, but their ability to dig the real answers out of us.

But then again it might. A coach who is familiar with the client’s sector, can challenge better – they know the jargon and the territory. So lawyers like to be coached by lawyers, and CEOs by people who’ve been there and felt what it’s like. (Or not – sometimes people seek difference! ) But this week’s Economist (April 21st) made me think about how we all need to keep up too with changes in the meta-context. Its cover story is on what they have termed “the third industrial revolution”. The big story in the 14-page Special Report (highly recommended) is that as manufacturing goes digital, it will change out of all recognition, and the business of making things will return to rich countries. So this affects not just our direct manufacturing clients but everyone around them – their financiers, their lawyers, their business coaches. It’s happening already: tools to human body parts are being built by 3D printers where the cost of individual customisation is just the cost of some computer keystrokes, not retooling an entire factory. The new means of manufacture enables unimaginable new products – as Rolls Royce’s Director of Engineering and Technology, Colin Smith, says, “you can’t make some of this modern stuff using old manual tools… the days of huge factories full of lots of people are not there any more”. That doesn’t mean mass unemployment: “factory floors today often seem deserted, whereas the office blocks nearby are full of designers, IT specialists, accountants, logistics experts, marketing staff, customer-relations managers, cooks and cleaners, all of whom contribute in some way to the factory.” This of course has knock-on implications for people we are coaching in the education sector as well. ((And charities. And for those in the property sector, private equity…) The Economist Special Report is stuffed with reference to game-changers – mass-individualisation of drugs; third-generation nanotechnology; new materials, new nickel-salt batteries, batteries made of viruses, (yup), hydrophilic glass. New – old – locations: Derby for instance – near where the first industrial revolution started, then nowhere while China was sexy, and now unheralded but at the heart of the third.

I think this is one of those rare “must-read” articles. I’m still quoting to people that amazing special issue of Legal Business in November 2006, about the psychological contract between associates and law firms being broken and the leverage model based on their extreme hard work hence endangered with it. They were right, and years ahead of anyone else. This week’s Economist I think is another wake-up call to adjust all our mental maps.

by Anne Scoular

In a macabre sense it’s a sign coaching has arrived – we’re being targeted by the Revenue, I see in this weekend’s FT: “Time is running out for tutors and coaches to alert the tax man about outstanding tax bills. HMRC’s Tax Catch Up Plan, which was launched last year, gave people employed in these professions until January 6 to own up to any irregularities and until 31 March to pay any outstanding amounts. It might be too late for the first deadline, but the terms will still be better for people who own up and pay what is owed (including any penalties), according to accountancy firm Menzies. HMRC’s approach is that it is always better for taxpayers to own up rather than being found out. Those that it catches up with later may pay stiffer penalties – up to 100 per cent of the tax owed – and a criminal investigation”. (Financial Times, 24-25 March, Money section, p. 35.)

But before we get too excited about the backhanded compliment of HMRC recognising our existence – and calling us a profession, even better – the clue is in the phrase “tutors and coaches”. I assume they’re out to get people tutoring and coaching children for exams, and being paid small sums in cash. Although some of the core skills of “life” and business coaching are similar, I’ve always felt strongly that business coaching is very different. One clear reason is, if the client is the organisation, then the contracting is immediately another order of magnitude more complex: the client is not the person sitting across the table from you, it’s the organisation – and in business coaching there are often one or two or three more stakeholders involved too – the line manager, HR, L&D, another dotted line on the matrix somewhere. Now there’s another reason: our clients are organisations, hence all monies go through proper channels, and the tax hence properly paid too. (Am not for a moment suggesting coaches working in fields other than business are fiddling their books – people are usually drawn to the field for reasons of authenticity and the chance to live a slightly less mad life, and in recent years we’ve seen other cases where the Revenue get bright ideas to go hunting for alleged malfeasance and find none when they get there.) The transparent nature of the way we need to work within organisational procedures, procurement policies, etc, means decent business coaches needn’t fear the knock on the door in the middle of the night – but for many coaches, the “admin” isn’t the most fun part of the work. Times like this though, that care in getting a complex invoice just right, the money dished out to work with decent accountants, and the hassle getting all the documentation together, etc, turns out to be time and money well spent!

By Professor Mary Watts (BC09)

Many months ago when Anne’s Scoular’s book `The FT Guide to Business Coaching’ was first published I read it, enjoyed it and wrote an excellent review of it that I’m ashamed to say I never posted on the Amazon site. Time went by, my guilt increased, but I kept returning to the book, re-reading and seeing new in what I had already read. Today, as I sit enjoying the scenery in a very southern part of France and reflect on a very dry coaching psychology article I have just read, my thoughts have turned again to Anne’s book. The magic ingredient of course, isn’t just that it’s easy to read, enjoyable, useful and a whole host of other things, but that it is authentic and REAL. It relates to real things, real life, it isn’t stuffy and it isn’t trying to be academic (although it is as skilfully written and debated as any text I know). It creates with the reader everything that a good coaching relationship should create. It communicates.

Thank you Anne