11:55 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

Do you Have a Coach Yet?

The business and life coaching industry has skyrocketed in size over the past seven years. Places like Coach U and the ICF are cranking out coaches faster than business schools used to produce MBA's. According to Coach U, companies like IBM and Ernst & Young are even creating corporate coaches.

Is it snake oil or real? I'm sure, like most 'growth industries' there are legitimate players, but many more under-qualified wanna-be's that can't function, so they 'coach'. I'll never forget the time one of my employers brought in a coach for a senior executive, then later hired that coach (who knew the deepest fears and secrets of the coached exec). The coach turned VP then proceeded to alienate everyone he came in contact with -- he was abrasive, condescending and generally not nice to work with. He was let go a few months into the mistake.

I've always been curious what went on behind those closed doors in my prior corporate life when 'at risk' executives were paired with an executive coach. More often than once, I would be interviewed by these coaches regarding my boss' or my co-workers management style. And more often than once, I saw executives depart soon after these coaching assignments were completed.

So it was with great apprehension that I've just undertaken my personal search for a 'business coach' to help me regain focus and take my own business to a higher level....

As an entrepreneur building both an innovation consulting business and new venture incubator, I've had my share of ups and downs in the last two years. Some big wins, and some disappointing losses including a failed attempt to bring on a partner. But probably in balance, it's what is to be expected when trying to bring any 'big idea' to life.

Yet while I've faced a lot of challenges in my career (including some corporate business turnaround experience), this time has been different. I've personalized it, become so obsessed with it that I've become fearful of the inevitable failures along the way. I've let my perfectionism get the better of me and it's slowed me down even more. So, that's why I'm willing to give this business coaching thing a try. And besides, I'm the CEO, so if I'm not coachable, I still don't have to fire myself (but maybe the coach will have a different opinion).

First interview: a sympathetic ear, a clinical background and philosophy of purpose-driven life (vs. goal-driven life). All in all sounds like a good fit, reasonably coherent and practical. But $3600 for 3 months of weekly 45 minute phone calls?? Ouch.

Second interview: Here's a walking example of 'if you can't do, coach'. Proud of the fact he's getting coached right now, and he's just back from a coaching conference. Ready to spew out all of the buzzwords and quick-fixes he just learned. Only $500/month, but no thanks.

Third interview: Scheduled a time, then moved it. Twice. Scolded me for by email for not confirming the final time (which I had). I re-sent my response. Sent me another note claiming to have found my original, but not acknowledging my re-sent note. Now hasn't responded with the time. I haven't heard the fees yet, but perhaps I can bartar for the help she needs in client management and time management. No thanks.

I'm reminded of two images. One being the indy film "The Life Coach", which parodies all of the self-absorbed, new age worst aspects of coaching.

But I'm also reminded of a recent story I read in New Scientist, about the rising tide of cures for maladies that people didn't even know they had.

Paraphrasing from the article...
One of the most striking examples of this is the "Sisi syndrome", an alleged form of depression that came to light for the first time in 1998 in a one-page advertisement by SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline). According to the company, people with the syndrome - of whom there are said to be 3 million in Germany alone - characteristically hide their illness by pretending to be active and positive about life, while in reality they are depressed and might need treatment with psycho-pharmaceuticals.

Now that's clever. Convincing people who feel perfectly fine that their fineness is actually a set of symptoms for deeply rooted depression.

So I'm skeptical, yet desparate. The search for a coach goes on. When I get my feet back on the ground, regain my focus and my passion... I may go into coaching.