Coaching is hot. No doubt about it—coaching professionals is a booming business and one that shows little sign of cooling off. In fact, all indications are that the number of people holding themselves out as coaches for financial advisors will exponentially grow over the next few years. In a Prince Associates survey of 611 financial advisors, for example, 26.5 percent said they are working with a coach and, among 449 advisors who aren’t, 41.4 percent are considering it.
The coaching boom, however, is both good and bad for professionals. It’s good in that high-quality coaching is a way for them to become significantly more financially successful. It’s bad in that, with more and more people looking to provide coaching, it’s very likely that quite a number of them are not up to the job.
In today’s environment, with so many people providing – or at least professing to provide – valuable coaching services, there’s a great deal of fuzziness when it comes to defining just what coaching is. A good place to start is by examining how many professional coaches define their job.
There’s generally a strong personal development component to the services provided by professional coaches. In many cases, the coach will tie these personal development “objectives” to the professional’s practice. A number of coaches focus more narrowly on skill development. Finally, there are coaches who concentrate on technical knowledge.
Based on the bottom-line goals of the vast majority of professionals, the way my associates and I conceptualize coaching is very precise, straightforward and easily definable:
Success coaching is an educational process that enhances the economic achievements of professionals.
Digging a little deeper into the definition, we can break it down further:
• Success coaching is a process. It helps professionals define and achieve realistic financial goals faster and easier than would otherwise be possible.
• Success coaching is educational. Astute professionals hire coaches for their knowledge, skills and expertise as well as their ability to create further knowledge.
• Success coaching results in greater monetary success and personal wealth. Success coaching is about enhancing the professional’s ability to increase his or her personal wealth, taking into account his or her available resources—including “time.”
Under this definition, a very essential benefit to coaching emerges: The clients of coached professionals are better served. Very often, professionals choose to hire a coach to do a better job for their affluent clients. This is laudable. However, when an ethical professional achieves a greater level of financial success through the services of a coach, that financial success comes about because his or her affluent clients have been better served.
Success Coaching Defined
April 11, 2014
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Comments
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Thank you Russ for your article. I'm going to add it to my "FA Recommended Reading list" this week. Appreciate your definitions of coaching. Interestingly enough, when you look at the history on the profession of coaching, as it stands in the 20th Century, circa around 1986, you'll find the name Thomas Leonard, at it's helm. He was a CFP (died in 2003), although you don't see his CFP credential included in his list of accomplishments very often. Thomas created Coach U, Coachville, the International Coaching Federation and the International Association of Coaches. He spearheaded coaching competencies, created programs galore, etc. He was brilliant man, who often reached out for advice and guidance from the coaches he taught. (I was taught by him, and then worked for him for a few years. It was an amazing experience). Personally, I like it when a FA interviews 3 coaches prior to hiring one. They need to make sure that not only is the coach knowledgeable in the area they want to learn, but that their personalities get along, too. However, one of the main things about coaching, is that it ONLY works, when the coachee works it. Meaning that I can have the best program in the world for my clients. I can provide accountability, email coaching between sessions, resources, workbooks, online systems and "the works". I can be an expert in the field of business development and marketing strategies -- BUT if the client doesn't do the work, the coaching relationship won't work. That's why, from my standpoint, I make sure that everyone who hires me as their FA Business Development Coach knows that they'll be doing 4 hours of pre-session work the first time wee meet, then 2-4 hours of "happy homework" a week. And after a while, that "happy homework" does look like it's less because of it becomes more incorporated into their daily routine.
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I couldn't agree with you more Russ on your comment: The coaching boom, however, is both good and bad for professionals. It’s good in that high-quality coaching is a way for them to become significantly more financially successful. It’s bad in that, with more and more people looking to provide coaching, it’s very likely that quite a number of them are not up to the job. As an accountability coach, I find so many people entering the coaching area having no real life experiences to help Advisors. They may have gone to some coach school and think they are qualified to help Advisors be even more successful - personally and professionally. You will find that many Advisors who are accelerating their results have a coach who has experience and knows exactly how to help them. In my opinion, I think that many of the Advisors thinking about getting a coach would like to be eve more successful and accelerate the achievement of their goals; however, don't want to do the work required to actually get the results. They have 'like to have goals' but are okay with where they are and the progress they are currently making. I also agree with you when you said, The clients of coached professionals are better served. As the Advisor gets even more focused and productive, that translates to getting even better clients and serving them even better. Great article Russ.