business focus 23
People hire personal trainers to help them become fit and healthy, and apparently more and more people are now hiring business coaches to make their companies fit for the challenge of commercial life1. John Burbedge talks to a local franchisee of .....
ActionCOACH: the world’s number one business coaching franchise2
“We ask the uncomfortable questions that business people don’t want to hear, then hear the answers that they often don’t realise will lead to solutions for their business,” said Rob Pickering, one of the 1,000-plus ActionCOACH business coaches now operating worldwide in 53 countries.
Posing those awkward questions, listening and understanding the answers are key qualities for a successful business coach, Pickering believes, along with the ability to motivate clients to challenge their own stereotypical norms, to learn new business skills, and, importantly, to control their own future.
Ironically, ‘controlling his own future’ was the step Pickering took in 2010 when he became an ActionCOACH franchisee, having experienced 25 years in diverse business roles, including UK and International operations, running his own business, and being a corporate MD of a computer wholesaler.
As a franchisee, Pickering runs his own business, but has a proven ActionCOACH framework and a support structure in place to help him be successful – which is similar to his offering as a business coach. “It’s like working for yourself, but not by yourself.”
It also allows him to concentrate on his passion: “I just love working with people, helping, training and inspiring them to develop their skills and achieve their goals.”
Pickering’s career story is echoed by many of his ActionCOACH colleagues in the South Central region. The scope and depth of their career experiences – they’ve walked the walk – are major strengths as business coaches and also differentiate them from business schools that offer academic routes to qualifications, or consultants and advisers who tend to be specialists.
“Business coaches are non-directive; we don’t tell people how to run their businesses. But, we can give experienced second-questioning, be impartial sounding boards and mentors, or provide proven tools, methodologies and training programmes to help people fulfill their business dreams.
“Our skill is to make people accountable to themselves through the correct mindset and motivations. They personally achieve
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MARCH 2016
All prospective clients gain a free business alignment consultation and group coaching session. Group programmes start from £100+VAT per month, with one-on-one coaching available ranging from startup guidance through to solid-base business consolidation.
The business coaching and training doesn’t only go one way. As the franchiser, ActionCOACH ensures regular professional training and certified qualification of all its franchisees. Global franchisee performance is also benchmarked – currently the UK South Central and South East regions have six business coaches in the ActionCOACH Top 100.
Rob Pickering in his Goring-on Thames office
their results and, just like a personal trainer or sports coach, we push them to perform at their optimal business levels, while rediscovering the fun of running their own business.”
ActionCOACH franchisees offer a more holistic approach to business success. As Pickering points out: “I’ve yet to meet a business owner who has been trained to own and run a business. The chances are that they started out with a great idea, or a skill, a product, a trade or profession, and got straight down to making money.
“Pretty soon they discover the reality that the ideal business owner is some unattainable blend of born leader, financial expert, marketing guru, high-performance salesperson, and psychologist who understands how to handle staff – and they need help.
“We seem to have a mindset in this country that it’s better to try and fail, than ask for help. People need to realise that getting help is not cheating.”
From ActionCOACH that help could cover from work-life balance to profit margins, staff issues to business plans, employee engagement to strategic growth. Coaching needs will differ for each individual business, but the core ActionCOACH areas are sales, marketing, teambuilding and recruitment, systems and business development, and customer service.
Pickering is based in Goring-on-Thames on the Berkshire-Oxfordshire boundary, but his work spans all business sectors and he has close associations throughout the UK network of ActionCOACH franchisees, particularly in southern England.
Last year 40 new franchisees joined the 141-strong UK community of business coaches within the rapidly-growing global ActionCOACH organisation, created in Australia in 1993 by entrepreneur Brad Sugars.
It has taken time to get to the UK shores, but then Australia is a long way off.
Details: Rob Pickering 01491-877523
robpickering@actioncoach.com www.actioncoach.com
News: ActionCOACH UK will be sponsoring the Management Team of the Year category at this year’s Thames Valley Business Magazine Awards being held at The Royal Berkshire Conference Centre, Reading on November 19.
1 The business coaching industry is growing by 40% each year –
www.franchise-top-10.co.uk
2 Ranked number one five years running by Entrepreneur Magazine.
www.businessmag.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52