Working with a Personal Business Coach

Is there value in hiring a Personal Business Coach? The short answer is YES, and a lot. If you wanted to become a better athlete, you would hire a coach.

Most of us strive to become a better person in life, whether it is from a personal, business, or sporting perspective. What holds us as an individual is the fear of being perceived weak or not knowledgeable, the fear of failure, our own pride. But if one wants to extract the best life performance you need to set these self-inflicted personal negativity aside.

A recent study done by Stanford University on coaching and leadership success showed that:

• 99% of CEOs are receptive or very receptive to making leadership style changes based on feedback from a Business Coach;
• 5% of coaching clients said their investment in a Business Coach was valuable;
• Only 1.5% said their investment in a coach was not valuable.

We all have two choices in life, go along the status quo without rocking the boat too much or change our thought processes. The outcome of doing this will be very clear, both for yourself and the people around you. I believe life is pretty simple but it can conveniently be made very difficult to give us a reason for our own failings.

Whatever we do in life comes down to three basic steps (1) an input, (2) a value add, and (3) an output. Everything is dictated by these three simple steps.

Ultimately the main goal of hiring a Business Coach is to make you successful or more successful. This is the exact same approach athletes have been using for 100s of years, they have trainers that dissect everything that they do, “a second brain” that watches their every moves from another perspective, guiding them to become a better self.

Hiring a Business Coach can be of benefit for several reasons

Today, companies engage a Business Coach to help develop the capabilities of high performers. The top three reasons business coaches are engaged are as follow:

1. Develop high potentials or facilitate transition into different executive roles;
2. Act as a sounding ‘business’ board;
3. Address a negative performance behaviour.

With a price range from $200 to $3,500 per hour, executives who get the most out of coaching have a strong desire to learn, grow, and perform — and seek to seriously invest in their career and self-performance. However, change is not instant and most engagements with a Business Coach will last between 7 to 12 months at a minimum.

There is no questions that executive leaders, business owners or managers need constant coaching. As their roles within an organisation become more and more complex, they will use their own Business Coach as a sounding board for management decisions — and to provide a different alternative in solving complex business challenges. A Business Coach will become an essential part of the leader personal and management growth, providing knowledge, expertise, challenging opinions, providing alternative solutions and risk mitigation strategies. Today, having a Business Coach by your side is no longer seen with negative stigma, now it is considered a badge of honour and signifies being or wanting to be a top business performer, like any top performing professional athlete.

The range of activities a Business Coaching undertakes range from two extremes, Business Consulting to Therapy. With Business Consulting, a consultant is paid to come up with answers to improve a business, to focus on organisational performance and to provide solutions or approach to solving problems. The other extreme is Therapy, which focuses on the past to diagnose core issues and challenges negatively impacting a behaviour. A Business Coach falls in between these two ends of the spectrum and focuses and fosters the individual performance in a business context by helping executives discover their own path. There are however a number of activities that cross-over that will be addressed such as advising individuals on business decisions or focusing on behavioural changes.

The bottom line is that a company hiring a Business Coach produces results. Figures by MetrixGlobal showed that coaching produced results as high as a 529% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to businesses non-including the benefits of employee retention — a more and more concerning areas with the new millennial generation.

In addition to CxOs receiving the benefits of having a personal Business Coach, Managers and Business Owners/Entrepreneurs complete the top three demand for coaching.

Who Needs Coaching?

Perhaps the better question is who doesn’t. Asked for a conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from the coaching they received, a Fortune Magazine study found that managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies after a 6-12 months of coaching with a Masters or Doctoral level Business Coach.

Here are some examples of how organisations provide coaching for their employees (source – Lee Hecht Harrison):

1. For leadership development – 70%
2. For skills development or style differences – 64%
3. To retain top talent – 40%
4. As part of management succession planning – 34%
5. To ensure success after promotion or with a new hire – 30%

John Russell, Managing Director of Harley Davidson Europe says “I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously through unsolvable.”

Why Getting Coaching Helps Blind Spots

Blind spots are less obvious when things are going well, this is not only true for companies that fail to prepare for a downturn or new competitors, it is true for executives as well. It is very easy for executives (and people) to become inward looking when they are being successful. These blind spots can become extremely challenging when performance moves in the other direction. A Business Coach will bring clarity and offer a reality check for executives across the business to personal performance spectrum.

CxOs should not be shy or insecure in receiving support from a Business Coach to improve their already high performance, professional athletes use coaches all the times to be at the peak of their performance, CxOs should learn from them and be open to third party outside support.

WHAT WILL YOU RECEIVE WITH CHRISTOPHE BARRIERE-VARJU AS YOUR PERSONAL BUSINESS COACH?

Business Coach & Inspirational Speaker, CHRISTOPHE BARRIERE-VARJU is an experienced business and management consultant, entrepreneur, and motorsport racer. His specialties are improving Personal Performance and/or Business Performance. He is a fascinating inspirational public speaker and trusted Business Coach.

The Business Coach program is tailored for each individual and include:

1. Free 1hr phone / video conference to assess current improvement areas / challenges, and goals;
2. Assessment of Business, Personal, Internal Capabilities (including Physical, Mental, Emotional thresholds);
3. Set up of a logical sequential flow of activities based on requirements and goals;
4. Development a self-inspiring mindset road-map based on the above assessment;
5. Implementation of the change & improvement of the Personal Performance Management journey;
6. Regular ongoing reviews and improvement opportunities via self and 360 degrees peers review.

Business Coaching will require a minimum of 1 session per week (averaging between 1-3 hours each) and a minimum commitment of 7 months.

Jack Welch, ex-Chairman and CEO of General Electric is a prime example of a top executive who worked with a Business Coach Advisor for many years.

Achievements Overview:

• Holds a triple major MBA in Finance, Supply Chain Management, and New Venture Management from the University of San Diego, California.
• 2001. Founded business and consulting company BvW Global — BvW Global advises Australian Government Agencies and large Corporations in Complex Procurement and in implementing Performance Management Frameworks. Has saved companies over $1 billion. He previously worked with Arthur Andersen (Sydney – Australia) and PwC (New York – United States).
• Has raced the Dakar Rally, the toughest and most dangerous motorsport race in the world, 4 times both in Africa and South America as a privateer representing Australia.
• Is the subject of the 10 times award winning inspirational film, Dream Racer, an internationally acclaimed film broadcast by Discovery World and Fox, now the most awarded unscripted motorcycle film in history.
• 2010. Founded Dreamracer Pty Ltd — which distributes Dream Racer (the Film) worldwide and offer a line of Dream Racer lifestyle apparels — with a current customer reach across 145 countries.
• 2016. Founded Dream Racer Television — a Netflix / iTunes type Video-on-Demand platform. Dream Racer TV hosts inspirational and true-story films. Since its launch, Dream Racer TV has a current audience spanning over 84 countries.
• 2017. Founded PS Branding in 2017. PS Branding has been set up to bring life to ideas from new and upcoming entrepreneurs.

“It’s what you learn and discover about yourself, after you think you know it all. Seeking out a Business Coach is not a sign of a fundamental problem or weakness, but a key attribute of being a superior leader willing to continuously learn, self-improve — and ultimately help with the improvement of others” says Christophe Barriere-Varju.

Contact us for an obligation-free phone or video-call to discuss your requirements.