However, when stress accumulates to unhealthy levels, it can do more harm than good. Under too much stress, entrepreneurs may find it hard to focus and make decisions.

What once seemed clear all of a sudden becomes blurry. You start procrastinating and even the easiest tasks are being postponed to when you have more time. In a nutshell, you suffer and the business suffers.

There are many ways to deal with the stress that comes with entrepreneurship. One of them is coaching and my goal with this article is to show you how beneficial coaching can be in dealing with stress and reducing it to acceptable levels. So, let’s dig in.

The Role of Stress in Entrepreneurship

Before we delve into the ways coaching can help reduce stress, it’s essential to recognize the role of stress in entrepreneurship. As I mentioned, stress isn’t inherently negative; in fact, it can be beneficial in several ways:

1. Motivation and Productivity: A certain level of stress can boost motivation and productivity. The pressure to meet deadlines, exceed goals, and overcome obstacles can drive entrepreneurs to perform at their best.
2. Innovation and Problem-Solving: Stress can stimulate creative thinking and innovative problem-solving. It forces entrepreneurs to think outside the box and come up with new strategies to tackle challenges.
3. Resilience: Dealing with stress can build resilience. Successful entrepreneurs often attribute their ability to bounce back from setbacks to the stressors they’ve faced in their journey.

However, the key is to maintain stress at a manageable level. When stress accumulates, it can lead to burnout, health issues, and negatively impact both personal and professional aspects of an entrepreneur’s life.

How Coaching Reduces Stress for Entrepreneurs

Stress Awareness and Management

Coaches can greatly help entrepreneurs recognize and understand their stress triggers. Through open and judgement-free conversations, coaches create a safe space for entrepreneurs to express their worries and anxieties. This self-awareness is the first step in stress management.

Coaches then work with their clients to develop strategies for dealing with stressors effectively, whether it’s through time management, setting boundaries, or practicing mindfulness techniques.

By proactively addressing stress, entrepreneurs can prevent it from accumulating and negatively impacting their well-being.

Goal Setting and Prioritization

One common source of stress for entrepreneurs is the feeling of being overwhelmed by an endless list of tasks and goals. While there’s nothing wrong with having many goals and tasks, not having clarity on priorities can make it all seem insurmountable.

Coaches help entrepreneurs set clear and achievable objectives while prioritizing them based on their importance and impact on the business. This goal-setting process reduces stress by providing a structured roadmap for the business, enabling entrepreneurs to focus on what matters most.

When entrepreneurs have a clear path forward, they are less likely to experience the paralyzing effects of stress-induced indecision.

Accountability and Support

Entrepreneurship can often makes us feel lonely, with no one to turn to for advice or guidance. Coaches provide the necessary support and accountability that entrepreneurs need. They help entrepreneurs break down their goals into manageable tasks and hold them accountable to their progress.

This support system not only reduces the stress associated with feeling overwhelmed but also boosts the entrepreneur’s confidence in their abilities.

Knowing that there is someone to lean on and offer guidance in challenging times can significantly alleviate stress.

Work-Life Balance

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is critical for managing stress, yet it can be a significant challenge for entrepreneurs. Especially in the beginning, many entrepreneurs feel like their only focus should be on the business.

Yet, the reality is that our brains need some downtime to process the information and come up with solutions. By focusing solely on work, entrepreneurs do not allow that idle time the brain needs, thus making all their effort counterproductive.

Learning that working longer hours can negatively affect work performance is good motivation to work in moderation.

Melissa Madeson, Ph.D. 

Coaches encourage entrepreneurs to establish clear boundaries between work and personal life, helping them allocate time for relaxation, family, and personal interests. This balance prevents entrepreneurs from overworking themselves, ultimately reducing stress and promoting long-term well-being.

Coaches can also guide entrepreneurs in identifying time management techniques that maximize productivity without compromising personal time.

All Said and Done

Stress is an inherent part of entrepreneurship, and when managed well, it can be a motivating force that drives success. However, excessive stress over a longer period of time can be detrimental to an entrepreneur’s health and business.

By working with a coach, entrepreneurs can obtain the balance needed and harness the positive aspects of stress, ensuring a more rewarding and sustainable journey in the world of business.

If you want to learn more about how coaching can help entrepreneurs reduce stress, check out the video below. It is a podcast episode I did on this topic with one of my clients.

If you’re an entrepreneur looking for a coach, make sure to schedule a free call with me to chat about the opportunity to work together.

The post How Coaching Helps Entrepreneurs Reduce Stress appeared first on Snowation.

However, confidence is not something that always comes naturally; it can be nurtured and developed over time. One powerful tool for enhancing leadership confidence is coaching.

In this blog post, we will explore some benefits of coaching for leaders and provide ways in which working with a coach can help leaders boost their confidence. If you happen to be curious about this topic, sit back, relax and enjoy the read.

Benefits of Coaching for Leaders

Personalized Guidance and Support

Coaching offers leaders personalized guidance and support tailored to their unique needs and challenges. Coaches work closely with leaders to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and goals, creating a customized coaching plan. This individualized approach ensures that leaders receive the specific tools and strategies necessary to build their confidence effectively.

Enhanced Self-Awareness

Effective leadership begins with self-awareness. Coaches help leaders gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their values, and their leadership style. Through introspective exercises and feedback, leaders can identify areas where they may lack confidence and work on developing a stronger self-image. This heightened self-awareness not only boosts confidence but also fosters authenticity and emotional intelligence in leadership.

Without self-awareness, leaders can appear arrogant. If you cannot be personable, or know when you are crossing a line, how can you lead

Sean Peek

Accountability and Feedback

Coaching provides leaders with a built-in system of accountability and feedback. Coaches hold leaders responsible for their goals and actions, helping them stay on track and measure their progress. Additionally, coaches offer honest and constructive feedback, highlighting areas where leaders can improve their confidence and leadership abilities. This continuous feedback loop empowers leaders to make meaningful changes and grow their confidence over time.

Personally, I believe these three benefits are the most important ones when it comes to coaching for leaders. However, as you may assume, the list can get quite long and I’ll be happy to schedule a chat and share more about it.

Yet, for the sake of staying on the topic of the article, let’s look at some ways that coaching can help leaders boost their confidence.

Five Ways Coaching Can Help Leaders Boost Their Confidence

1. Setting Clear Goals

Coaches work with leaders to set clear, achievable goals for personal and professional development. By defining specific objectives, leaders gain a sense of purpose and direction. Achieving these goals reinforces their competence and, subsequently, their confidence.

It is important to note here that accountability plays a large part in this process. Once the goal is set and an action plan is created, coaches hold leaders accountable to follow through with their commitment. In turn, that enhances discipline that leaders can later on transfer to their team members or employees.

2. Developing Effective Communication Skills

Confidence in leadership often hinges on effective communication. Coaches help leaders refine their communication skills, teaching them how to articulate ideas, provide constructive feedback, and engage in difficult conversations. As leaders become more adept communicators, their self-assurance grows.

3. Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Up to 82% of people face feelings of impostor phenomenon, struggling with the sense they haven’t earned what they’ve achieved and are a fraud.

Bravata, D. M., et al., Journal of General Internal Medicine, Vol. 35, No. 4, 2020

So, if you ever felt this way, know that you’re definitely not alone. It’s natural to wonder how you’re doing compared to others and a bit of self-doubt can be a good reminder to reflect and adjust.

However, the constant feeling of inadequacy can lead people to push themselves beyond their limits, eventually causing a burnout or something worse. Coaches help leaders recognize and manage imposter syndrome by providing strategies to reframe negative thoughts, acknowledge achievements, and cultivate a positive self-image.

4. Embracing Resilience

Coaching encourages leaders to develop resilience in the face of adversity. Leaders learn to bounce back from setbacks, view failures as learning opportunities, and maintain a positive attitude. This resilience bolsters their confidence and ability to lead through challenging situations.

5. Building a Support Network

We become who we spend most of our time with.

Coaches can help leaders establish and nurture a support network. Having trusted mentors, peers, and advisors can provide invaluable encouragement and perspective. Knowing that they have a reliable support system can boost a leader’s confidence in their decision-making and leadership capabilities.

In a Nutshell

Confidence is an important aspect of leadership that can be developed and improved over time. One way to work on your confidence as a leader is to work with a coach. Through coaching, leaders learn essential skills such as goal setting, resilience, and effective communication (to name just a few) that help them boost their confidence and trust their ability to lead even more.

Investing in coaching can be the key that unlocks your true potential as a leader, enabling you to not only thrive personally but also inspire and empower your teams to reach new heights of success.

If you’re ready to start working with a coach on your leadership skills, get in touch and let’s talk about it.

The post How Coaching Helps Leaders Boost Their Confidence appeared first on Snowation.

I know. Many of you will say that it doesn’t work, that it’s just popular psychology mumbo-jumbo, that there is no success without work. And let me tell you: you’re right. You won’t get anywhere just by creating a vision board. That’s not how it works. Creating a vision board is just the first step on your journey to success. However, it is a valuable step because it helps you gain clarity and present your goals visually. It is a great reminder of why you do what you do.

In this article, we’ll dive into the concept of a vision board, its purpose, benefits, and how to create one to help you make your dreams come true.

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board, also known as a dream board or goal board, is a tangible representation of your goals, dreams, and desires. It’s a collage of images, quotes, and affirmations that resonate with your aspirations and create a visual reminder of the life you want to live. The idea behind a vision board is to harness the power of visualization, where you use imagery to stimulate your mind and emotions, thereby influencing your actions and decisions.

Remember, if you can see it, you can do it.

The Purpose of a Vision Board

The main purpose of a vision board is to serve as a powerful tool for visualization and goal-setting. By regularly exposing yourself to images and words that represent your goals, you’re sending a clear message to your subconscious mind about your intentions. This process helps shift your mindset and behaviors in ways that align with your values and the goals you want to achieve.

A vision board acts as a constant source of inspiration, reminding you of what you’re working towards, even when challenges arise.

Benefits of a Vision Board

Clarity and Focus

Creating a vision board helps you clarify your goals and aspirations. By selecting and arranging images that depict your desires, you bring clarity to what you truly want to achieve in different areas of your life, such as career, relationships, health, and personal growth.

Additionally, a vision board serves as a reminder of your goals and helps you set specific intentions for your future. By regularly viewing your vision board, you keep your goals in focus and are more likely to take actions aligned with those goals.

Increased Motivation

Visualizing your goals in a positive and exciting way can boost your motivation. A vision board keeps your spirits high, even when faced with setbacks.

What is more, looking at your vision board regularly can inspire and motivate you to take consistent steps toward your goals. The visual reminders can boost your determination and remind you why you’re working towards those aspirations.

Enhanced Confidence and Positivity

A vision board fosters a positive mindset by focusing on what you want to achieve rather than dwelling on what you lack or fear. It shifts your focus from potential obstacles to potential opportunities.

As you witness your goals becoming a reality over time, your self-confidence and belief in your capabilities grow.

Accountability

Sharing your vision board with others or placing it in a visible location can create a sense of accountability. It encourages you to stay committed to your goals and track your progress.

A study done in the US showed that people are 65% more likely to reach their goals if they’ve committed to someone that they will do it and 95% more likely to accomplish their goals if they have a specific accountability appointment with the person they’ve committed to. Not sure about you, but I think those are pretty high numbers to just pass the opportunity.

Your accountability buddy can be your partner, friend or even an accountability coach. Regardless of who you choose, make sure it’s someone you won’t be able to ignore.

Law of Attraction

Some people believe in the “law of attraction,” which suggests that focusing on positive thoughts and intentions can attract positive outcomes. A vision board is a tangible representation of your positive intentions and can help you align your thoughts and actions with your desired outcomes.

Here’s another way to explain that.

The brain believes anything you say. So, if you keep reminding yourself of all your failures and mistakes, the message you send to your brain is how limited you are. On the other hand, if your thoughts are geared towards learning from mistakes and trying in different ways, your brain will see that as a challenge to find solutions to potential problems and obstacles.

Whichever perspective you choose, you’ll be right. But only one of the two will help you move forward and grow. You get to decide which path you want to take.

Overall, a vision board is a tool that helps you define your goals, visualize your desired outcomes, and work toward making your dreams come true. It’s a personal and meaningful representation of your future aspirations that can have a positive impact on your mindset and actions.

How to Create a Vision Board

Creating a vision board is a creative process so let your imagination and creativity run wild. You can create it physically on a piece of paper/poster board or digitally in an online tool like Canva. I like to create my vision boards in Canva and then print them off as a poster.

Regardless of where you create your vision board, make sure you have some fun while creating it. And in case you’re not sure how to go about it, below are the steps you can take to create your vision board.

• Set Your Intentions: Clarify your goals across different areas of your life, such as career, relationships, health, and personal development.
• Gather Supplies: Collect magazines, newspapers, printed images, quotes, scissors, glue, a poster board, or any other materials you’d like to use.
• Collect Visuals: Look for images, words, and quotes that resonate with your goals and aspirations. They can be anything that sparks excitement and motivation.

Pro tip: Instead of using random images, find your own photos that reflect the goals on your vision board. This may not be possible for every goal, but give it a try for the ones where it is doable. For example, if one of your goals is to eat healthier, find a picture of yourself drinking a smoothie or eating a salad and add it to your vision board. It’ll be way more motivating to go after your goals once you see yourself achieving them rather than some random person.

• Arrange and Create: Arrange your chosen visuals on the poster board in a way that’s visually appealing to you. Get creative with the layout and design. Remember, this can be both on paper or digitally.
• Affirmations: Include positive affirmations that reinforce your beliefs and intentions. These can be handwritten or printed out.
• Place it Strategically: Put your vision board in a place where you’ll see it daily, such as your bedroom, office, or any other area you frequent.
• Regular Review: Take a few moments each day to gaze at your vision board. Imagine yourself living your dreams as you look at the images.
• Update and Evolve: As you achieve your goals or as your aspirations change, don’t hesitate to update your vision board to reflect your evolving desires.

To Sum Up

In a world filled with distractions, a vision board offers a potent way to keep your goals and dreams in focus. By creating a visual representation of your aspirations and regularly immersing yourself in it, you harness the power of visualization to manifest the life you desire. The journey of creating and nurturing a vision board is not only fulfilling but also empowers you to take charge of your future, one inspiring image at a time. Start creating your ultimate vision board today and watch your dreams come to life.

The post Visualize Your Success: Creating Your Ultimate Vision Board appeared first on Snowation.

So, let’s cover the basics and then move on to the juicy part.

What is Employee Coaching?

In a nutshell, coaching an employee means that you’re helping employees reach their full potential. You work with them on improving their skills, understanding the objectives and overcoming obstacles and challenges at work.

How do You Coach Employees?

As with any other coaching practice, it can take many different forms. Most frequently, employee coaching involves scheduling individual sessions with employees (in case of an in-house coach, these should not be mistaken for your regular one-on-ones). 

Coaching sessions should be a safe space for employees. They need to be comfortable sharing the good and the bad in order to improve their performance, productivity and solve problems. 

Even though employee coaching must be aligned with the company goals and objectives, keep in mind that your client is always the employee. So your first and foremost concern should be the employee and the challenges s/he is facing no matter how that relates to the current workplace.

What Is the Focus of Employee Coaching?

The focus of employee coaching is to celebrate wins and identify obstacles that prevent employees from performing at their best. This is achieved through working on developing and enhancing employee skills in order to improve performance and productivity. In return, investing in employee growth through coaching improves the overall employee contribution.

How Can Coaching Enhance Employee Skills?

Although beneficial, a coach doesn’t have to know how to do the work of an employee to be able to help him or her improve their performance and develop skills. Through regular meetings and continuous feedback, the coach can help employees work on their problematic areas. The more employees are aware of their weaknesses, the more they’ll be able to work on improving them. Additionally, a coach can help an employee find a mentor with a needed expertise for the skill the employee is looking to improve. Finally, the coach can encourage employees to talk to their manager openly about their professional development needs and ask for help to find the solution.

Long story short, it takes consistency and collaboration. Through partnering with employees and managers, coaches help organizations grow by working together to enhance employee skills and improve performance.

8 Tips for Employee Performance Coaching in the Workplace

Remember to Coach

It is often hard to step back and let the other person do the talking. This is especially hard if you’re an internal coach who’s also the team manager. Switching between the two roles can be challenging, but not impossible. 

For the purpose of this article, it is important to remember that as a coach, you coach – you don’t manage. What does that mean?

Coaching process is a collaboration, or partnership, between the coach and the coachee. When you’re coaching your employees, let them take the lead when it comes to the content. Ask them questions, listen, ask for clarification, guide the process but don’t give solutions because then you won’t be in the role of a coach anymore. 

Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share your thoughts and knowledge. Step back but don’t hold back. Provide feedback, share experiences, create a safe space for growth, but follow the lead of your employee and address their concerns. Remember, the focus is on the employee and them figuring things out, not you telling them what to do.

Praise Achievements and Growth

Offering constructive feedback is essential to growth. Talking about mistakes and how to fix them helps employees understand where they need to improve. However, praising employees may be even more important at some points when it comes to improving employee performance.

Giving positive feedback reinforces the expectations you have for them and assures them that you have confidence in their abilities to maintain or exceed those expectations.

Indeed

Praising your employees reminds them of the trust you’ve placed in them. It motivates your employees to feel good about themselves, which in turn motivates them to keep doing a good job. Also, it can be a good reference point when they make a mistake – it will prevent negative thinking and self-pity.

Help Identify Roadblocks

Often, when we feel stuck, we can’t see the clear picture and the direction we’re supposed to take. As a coach, it is your job to help employees identify the obstacles and create action plans to overcome them. 

Sometimes, just letting employees tell you about the problem can be beneficial and they’ll come up with the cause of the problem on their own. Other times, you’ll have to ask questions to understand the situation better in order to be able to help.

It is frequently the case that the roadblocks are hidden in employees’ perceptions or assumptions they make so make sure to ask about anything and everything. This may take some time, but the point of the process is to help employees move forward with their tasks, not to patch up an issue and move on.

Be Present

This one may be a bit more challenging, but it is so important for the coaching process. Being present means listening carefully to what employees are saying, not assuming anything. You can address their words, expressions, ask for clarification or just be quiet and give employees time to think and space to process.

You have to be there mentally, with them in that room and your thoughts should be directed to whatever the other person is saying. There will be times when you won’t know what to do next and that’s totally fine. Being open and honest with your coachee will take you a long way. 

Remember, transparency is the key in business, even when it comes to coaching. You don’t have to be a know-it-all. You just need to be there.

Build Confidence

Building confidence helps employees perform better. When they’re sure about their actions and decisions, they’ll spend less time questioning themselves and more time completing the task and moving onto the next one.

Coaching in the workplace should be highly oriented toward support and guidance. Employees who receive adequate support stand out in the process of achieving goals.

Attendance Bot Blog

Remind employees of their strengths and congratulate them every step of the way. When people know that they’re appreciated and valued, they’re more likely to invest themselves and give their very best.

Encourage Employees to Learn from Others

Over time and through experience, we tend to develop our own way of thinking and approach to tasks. Even if two people had the same education, they are different individuals so they’ll do the work differently.

Encourage your employees to interact with one another. This may go without saying when it comes to employees doing the same or a similar job, but interacting with employees who do something completely different can be beneficial, too. Communicating with their peers at work creates a collaborative environment and company culture. It also enables employees to seek help from their fellow coworkers. 

Learning on your own is great, but collaborating with others can be more efficient and effective at times; not to mention fun as well.

Build Self-Awareness and Reflection

By providing continuous feedback, you teach your employees how to approach a problem and see their own mistakes and wins. They become more self-aware and start understanding their patterns better. 

Self-reflection is important, not only when a mistake has been made, but also when a task has been completed or a problem solved. Understanding what works and what needs to be improved on a personal and team level can greatly help employees improve their performance and create better results.

Hold Employees Accountable

The coaching process starts with setting goals. Once employees commit to the goals they have set for themselves, it is your job to hold them accountable. As I’ve mentioned in my article on benefits of accountability coaching for startup founders and business owners, people are 95% more likely to reach their goals if they’re meeting regularly with the person they’ve committed to about a given goal. The more goals employees meet, the easier it’ll be for the business to scale and grow.

Peachy! Right?

Yes and no. Despite its many benefits and advantages, there are some disadvantages to coaching employees in the workplace. More often than not, coaching takes time and the results are not seen immediately.

Companies that are strict or are highly driven through results will not find coaching employees an ideal to see improvements in the short-term.

Attendance Bot Blog

Nonetheless, the benefits and perks of coaching outweigh these disadvantages by far. More and more companies are now on the lookout for a leadership style that is geared more towards coaching. The CEOs and founders tend to be more open to hiring a coach for their employees as they understand the long-term benefits of it. 

Finally, as I’ve already mentioned in my other articles, you don’t have to hire a professional coach to work with your employees. Managers can also learn coaching skills given enough time and resources. However, if you’re looking for maximum results and a more effective approach, I’d highly recommend connecting with a professional coach or a coaching organization.

The post 8 Tips for Coaching Employees to Improve Performance appeared first on Snowation.

A study done in the US showed that people are 65% more likely to reach their goals if they’ve committed to someone that they will do it and 95% more likely to accomplish their goals if they have a specific accountability appointment with the person they’ve committed to. Not sure about you, but I think those are pretty high numbers to just pass the opportunity.

What Is Business Accountability Coaching?

As the CEO, the only person to hold you accountable is you. And whether you are struggling with your new-found freedom, using ineffective productivity habits, or expecting too much from yourself, business accountability coaching can provide a layer of responsibility with a side of actionable strategy to get you unstuck.

Windy Lawson

I feel like this quote sums it up quite nicely. Having an accountability coach means that you have someone you’ve committed to when it comes to your goals, plans, etc. You’re the one who dictates the content, but the coach is the one who helps you get where you want to go by checking in, encouraging, and motivating you to follow through. The coach holds you accountable to your actions so that you and your business keep moving forward.

What are the Benefits of Accountability Coaching for Business Owners?

Having worked with several business owners so far, I can freely say that the biggest benefit really is having an additional pair of eyes and ears for your business ideas and plans. Of course, you can talk to your coworkers, family or friends about your business growth, but not all of them can be objective and they definitely don’t have the tools an accountability coach does to help you move forward.

Here are some benefits of accountability coaching for startup founders and small business owners that I find most useful. However, there are many more that we could add to the list.

Identify Problem Areas

An accountability coach helps you identify problem areas in your business. When you start working with an accountability coach, they look at your business with you: strengths, weaknesses, areas for improvement and opportunities for growth. The coach helps you analyze your business and identify which areas need immediate attention and where change would be most beneficial. In addition, they know when and what questions to ask to get the most out of you and the situation at hand.

Set and Achieve Goals

One of the first things you’ll do with your accountability coach is to set goals. They can help you set clear and measurable goals and then nudge you in the right direction to reach those goals. The benefit of working with a coach on your goals is that they’ve done it so many times already with different clients so they can provide a unique perspective which may turn out to be very beneficial.

Avoid Procrastination

Running a business is not a piece of cake. It takes a lot of time, energy and effort to keep things going. More often than not, business owners are juggling much more than what they truly can do. This can be overwhelming and lead you to postpone some activities because you just don’t know what to start with. An accountability coach will help you avoid procrastination or reduce it to a minimum. That means that you’ll be able to check items off your list and add new tasks to your schedule without feeling overwhelmed and stressed out.

Delegate Appropriately

This benefit is connected to procrastination as is the one to come. Many business owners started out as solopreneurs so you got used to doing it all by yourself. Yet, the more your business grows and the more people get on board, the more you’ll be able to assign tasks related to their job descriptions and focus on the tasks that are most important for you. 

Sadly, many founders and CEOs don’t learn to delegate soon enough and they end up micromanaging their teams, thus adding more tasks to their to-do lists and preventing the team members from learning and growing. If you want to get better at delegating tasks, check out the article I’ve written on how to delegate tasks effectively.

So, how can an accountability coach help with delegating tasks? It’s very easy, really. As you set goals and make action plans with your coach for both yourself and your business, you’ll talk about prioritizing tasks. During this process, the coach will ask questions and guide you to assign the tasks to yourself that you’d provide most value to; everything else will have to be delegated. The longer you work with the coach, the easier it will be and you’ll start doing this on your own soon enough.

Manage Your Time Well

As I’ve already mentioned, time management is closely related to procrastination and delegation. Managing your time well means that you’re establishing a good balance between various activities and don’t feel overwhelmed or stressed out. An accountability coach tracks your progress continuously and that alone requires you to complete your tasks on time. Since you’re accountable to someone for something, you’re more likely to get things done, thus learning to manage your time better to do it all in due time.

Get Clarity and Direction

An accountability coach works with you on all aspects of your business. S/he looks at the bigger picture and helps you stay focused on goals and tasks that matter the most and provide the most value to your business.

An accountability coach helps identify the most important short, medium, and long term goals; where and how much energy and focus to apply to get you in the important space of traction and momentum.

Jatinder Palaha

Develop Your Skills

Finally, an accountability coach not only helps you grow and scale your business but also grow and improve your own skills. We have already mentioned some of them in this article when talking about the benefits of coaching but there are many more skills that you will develop as you work with your coach.

Last but not least, just having a familiar face, someone to talk to that’s not family or friends, a soundboard to your ideas is of great importance and helps you as a business owner. You get all this and more from an accountability coach.

Ready to Try It Out?

Now that you know that you don’t have to do it all alone, take some time and think about how beneficial working with an accountability coach would be for you. Please, keep in mind that you can always start with an accountability partner, but if you want someone with tools, techniques and experience in working with CEOs, founders and business owners, I’d highly recommend hiring an accountability coach. 

If you have any questions about how to find an accountability coach and what to look for in a coach, you can check my article on all you need to know about accountability coaching. Or, you can always schedule a chat with me and I’ll be happy to provide more information. 

Good luck and have fun scaling your business and improving your own skills along the way.

The post 7 Benefits of Accountability Coaching for Startup Founders and Small Business Owners appeared first on Snowation.

Sometimes, talking to a friend or a person you trust can help move the needle in the right direction, but more often than not, you find yourself stuck again soon enough. I get it! Been there, done that. This doesn’t hold true for all aspects of my life, but for some of them, I just can’t seem to figure out how to get past that step 3.

Which is why I got so excited when I learned about accountability coaching. The irony is that I learned about it after I got my coaching training, but as soon as I did, I started digging into it to learn as much as I can so that I can use it in practice and help others reach their goals and get unstuck.

In this article, I will share more about accountability coaching. We’ll go over what accountability coaching is, what an accountability coach does, how to choose one, what to expect and how you can benefit from working with an accountability coach. So, without further ado, let’s dig in.

Who is an Accountability Coach?

An accountability coach is a professional who helps you reach your personal and/or professional goals by keeping you in check and focused on a previously arranged plan. These individuals are not necessarily therapists. They come from various paths of life and bring along different experiences, which is why some accountability coaches will be a better fit for you than others (just like with anything else in life, right?! ).

What does an Accountability Coach Do?

As mentioned above, accountability coaches keep you on track with your personal and/or professional goals. An accountability coach can help you in a variety of areas, some of the most common ones being health, business, physical or emotional challenges and spiritual growth.

Accountability coaches help you define priorities and create goals. Then, they work with you on breaking those goals down into smaller chunks that are easier to digest and accomplish. When needed, an accountability coach will provide motivation to keep you going and will dig deeper with you to try and understand what drives you and what slows you down.

Please, note that just like in any other type of coaching, the coach is there to guide the process, but you are the one providing the content. It is you who decides on the goals you want to reach, the plans you want to make, etc. The coach is there to help you create a roadmap and nudge you to stay on the right track along the way.

Are Accountability Coaches Worth It?

Do you find yourself juggling too many things and not finishing up any of them? Do you find it hard to get yourself started on a goal or a plan you’ve been thinking about for a long time now? Do you often start working towards a goal and then give up when you reach an obstacle?

If you answered any of those questions with a yes, then you can most definitely benefit from working with an accountability coach. In case your finances don’t allow for an accountability coach for the time being, you can always find an accountability partner; someone to just hold you accountable to an action plan you work out together.

The main difference between an accountability coach and an accountability partner is that the accountability coach has the needed experience to guide you through the process. That is to say, you are more likely to achieve your goals more efficiently with a coach. Nevertheless, something is better than nothing. So if you find yourself paralized when thinking about everything you need to do, just reach out to a friend or someone you know is reliable and ask them to be your accountability buddy.

How does an Accountability Coach Make a Difference?

There are many areas of your personal and/or professional life where an accountability coach can make a difference and s/he can do it in a variety of ways. Here are my top three choices.

Active Listening

One of the main requirements for a coach is to be present while working with a client. That means that your coach is actually listening to what you are saying during a given session without trying to have all the answers or the next question ready in advance.

How is that beneficial? When your coach is listening actively and being present during your session, he or she is actually trying to understand what’s going on. Your coach is not interested in giving you the answer to a problem you may have. S/he is genuinely interested in understanding why a given issue is important to you and how that affects you. That means that the coach will be able to give you candid feedback and ask questions which will help you understand your situation better and will eventually lead to you coming up with a solution to your problem.

Think Outside the Box

When we spend time thinking about an issue at hand, we tend to get stuck and just start going in circles without seeing a solution to the problem. An accountability coach can help you see other potential solutions. Coaches have a lot of tools and techniques at their disposal that they may use to help you get out of your box and gain different perspectives on the issues you’re trying to resolve.

Continuous Feedback

This holds true for any type of coaching, but while you’re working with a coach, you continuously get feedback not only on your progress, but also on pretty much everything you share with the coach. You don’t have to act upon it, but the coach will always be returning information your way. Sometimes they do it to make sure they understand what you’re saying and sometimes they do it to drive your attention to their observations in order to provide you with more insight. And the best thing is that it’s completely judgement-free. Your coach is there to support you, not judge you. Keep that in mind when choosing a coach!

How to Choose an Accountability Coach?

Before you start working with an accountability coach, you should ask about their experience. As I mentioned above, not every accountability coach will be the right fit for your needs. Sometimes, the fit needs to be on the experience level, but more often than not, it’s a combination of the coach’s experience, knowledge, and personality that helps you choose the right one.

So, when you’re choosing a coach, make sure you feel comfortable with the person. You will be sharing a lot of details with this person (personal and/or professional) so you need to be comfortable doing it. Otherwise, the process will not be as effective.

What to Expect from an Accountability Coach?

First of all, you can expect the coach to be willing to learn about you and understand your situation in order to be able to help you. In addition, you can expect the coach to have a certain process, a way of coaching which is quite coach-specific. However, the coach should be able to adjust his or her process to your needs. If that’s not possible, then you need to move on to the next candidate.

As for the logistics, most coaches have a standard coaching agreement they will ask you to sign. The agreement usually states how long you’ll be working together, what each side is responsible for, etc. Finally, you will learn about the rate and method of payment. When it comes to accountability coaching, more often than not, the sessions are shorter compared to other types of coaching because most sessions are check-ins really so you may be able to work out a different payment arrangement that’s good for both of you.

As a general rule of thumb, we tend to achieve more if we’re not doing it alone. This is true in all aspects of our lives. As I already mentioned, you don’t necessarily have to find a professional to help you move forward. Sometimes, that can be a friend or someone you trust. 

However, if you want faster and better results, you’re more likely to achieve that with professionals because they are trained to be there for you and guide you along the way as objectively and judgement-free as possible. If you’d like to learn more about accountability coaching or even try it out, feel free to contact me.

Until the next article, keep learning and growing.

Sneza

The post What is an Accountability Coach and Why Should You Consider Working with One? appeared first on Snowation.