Coaching, in its broadest sense, is a method of personal empowerment. In essence, it consists of a series of tools focused on solving personal or professional problems.

Aspects such as self-esteem, self-knowledge, self-care and interpersonal relationships fall within the spectrum of action of coaching. Not so clinical problems such as anxiety, depression and other conditions of the mind, for which the help of a mental health specialist should be considered.

Now, coaching requires a facilitator or a companion throughout the entire process. This coach or trainer will be in charge of accompanying you, shoulder to shoulder, so that you achieve those changes that you have proposed at the beginning of the process.

It is nothing more than a psychology professional, with experience in personal training processes for empowerment. He is generally a person who has tested these tools on himself. To a great extent, he uses his experience to find the benefits of his own self-knowledge.

As a result of the success that coaching has had in helping people improve their lives, companies decided to implement this discipline in their organizational structure. Which brings us to the concept that we will deal with in this article: business coaching?

In essence, business coaching is a support process focused on the creativity and improvement of employee performance, with the intention of aligning their personal goals with those of the company in which they work, but without losing sight of the fact that they are individuals. With interests and affections of their own.

4 characteristics of business coaching

The essence of any coaching process is the results. Now, you can’t sacrifice the person being coached for results.

What do we mean by this? It’s simple: a coach must be attentive at all times to the emotions, thoughts and health of the person under his tutelage, to avoid being negatively affected when trying to achieve the goals that were established at the beginning of the process. .

This brings us to the first characteristic of business coaching.

1. The focus on the process

The focus of each coaching process will be different according to the type of company and the goals it seeks. These business goals must match those of the team in some way, otherwise coaching is not possible. This is the first aspect that the coach must analyze to focus his strategy.

From this point on, the coach will have to carry out different techniques to identify the behaviors, habits, reactions and other aspects of behavior that the employee in training can improve to achieve said objectives shared with the company.

2. The interaction between the coach and the team

We could say that the basis of the focus of any coaching process is the type of interaction that the coach has with the person who is under his tutelage. The exchange of information, doubts, expectations, questions, progress, failures and other aspects of the relationship are essential when talking about interaction. They make it easy for both parties (coach and student) to get involved in an endearing way. It is worth thinking about the kind of relationships that high performance athletes have with their coaches. It is at this point that specialists identify the start of coaching.

The interaction varies according to the personal style of each coach; some will be more aggressive in pursuing goals, demanding that employees and collaborators give more than 100% of their effort; others prefer communication as the basis of interaction. To a large extent this depends on the objectives that have been established at the beginning of the process and the consensus that the coach manages to establish.

3. Mutual and shared responsibility

Just as the interaction is continuous and personalized throughout the process, the responsibility for it is mutual and shared. In this regard, it is worth emphasizing that the business context can be very competitive and demanding when we talk about improving the performance of workers. For this reason, any coaching process requires the coach to assume responsibility as something shared. The failure of the mentee is the failure of the coach.

Now, this does not mean that a failure is entirely negative. There is always a lesson in defeat, and it is the responsibility of the coach to know how to recognize that lesson. Hence the responsibility is mutual.

Furthermore, sharing responsibility means that the workload is also shared. A good coach knows this and prepares in advance to demand as much or more than the team. Herein lies the difference between an efficient coach and a poor one.

4. Respect as the basis of the process

When we talk about respect, we are not only referring to the deference that should prevail in the coach’s relationship with the team. We also talk about respect for the objectives set from the beginning and the way in which they will try to optimize the behavior and customs of the worker at their work site.

This aspect is based on ethics, to which the coach must have absolute respect in his way of acting. The values ​​of the company must be respected in the same way. In other words, in this search for performance, it is neither lawful nor ethical to force an employee beyond what is humanly possible. A coaching process does not aim to train automatons, but to help workers to be more efficient in their work, without losing those characteristics that distinguish them from their peers.

These characteristics are vital for a coaching process to have optimal results in a company.

Importance of business coaching

The importance of business coaching has two aspects. On the one hand, the performance of workers, collaborators and entrepreneurs is of value; on the other, it generates value for companies. Let’s see what the importance for each of these groups is.

The importance for workers lies in the fact that this methodology focuses on learning. This consists of remaining receptive and willing to constantly train as professionals to keep up with what companies require of workers. Learning and unlearning is essential in a business context in which new technologies and tools emerge every year that make work, on the one hand, more efficient, but also more competitive.

On the business side, coaching unfolds its full potential for inspiration and training, with a view to improving performance and productivity, without losing sight of the human factor, the contact between workers and their professional and personal goals. Let us remember that guiding, instructing and accompanying is the basis of any type of coaching, regardless of its commercial designation.

To continue, under the same order of ideas, we will see the benefits that a well-executed coaching process can bring to the company and, therefore, to the worker.