When is Coaching Not the Right Solution?

This blog post endeavours to answer the question equally for a business owner, as well as an executive in a senior management or leadership role. During several business and executive diagnostic session, I have informed prospective coachees that it may not be the right time for them to take me on as their coach; rather, they need to consider something else. If you’re considering coaching for yourself or someone you know, look out for these “symptoms”, when coaching may not be the right solution.

  1. Coaching is not a surgical procedure, so, shouldn’t be used as the “last ditch” effort to save a business, whether they are not making profit, or loosing customers or team members are leaving. It’s the same for an executive, for whom getting key stakeholders onto their side or seek forgiveness for a series of major disasters is no longer an option. This is also reflected when there’s no money in the business to pay for the full coaching programme… for businesses, this might be at least 2 years; for executives, this might be 6 months.
  2. When the owner of a business or a senior executive has serious personal problems or mental health issues, that will need the attention of medial professionals or counsellors. A coach cannot help when it’s already too late. Coaching may have helped when there were initial signs of fatigue or failure, or the business had just started to decline, and could have been saved with a structured coaching programme that has worked for other businesses. Many times, their ego comes in the way, saying to themselves: “I’m ok”… Really? Alas, they struggle for far too long, and the business or executive becomes “unsavable”.
  3. The business owner or executive is full of ego and can’t get over themselves, aka “uncoachable”. It’s apparently never their fault. They will continue to blame other people for the poor results in their business or department or project. On the other hand, I have seen those who work on themselves and build humility and an appreciation for themselves, their team and everyone around them, those are the ones who begin their journey to seek a “win-win” situation for everyone. That leads to a great working environment for everyone.
  4. Sometimes the business owner or executive is a square peg in the round hole. So, in spite of coaching them to learn about the role and get better at it, they continue to fail, and feel miserable. Instead, an alternate role should be identified, where the person – business owner or executive can clearly bring results utilising their strength areas.

There are several other instances where coaching cannot help, which I have not covered here.

High-Performers have a few things in common, they are:

  1. Ambitious to Achieve their Full Potential
  2. Open Minded and Appreciate Feedback
  3. OK to be held Accountable for their Actions
  4. Want to, and are Ready to make the necessary Changes
  5. Take Responsibility of their Own Life
  6. Understand that Coaching is an Investment they are making in Themselves

Vikram Kumeria is a High-Performance Coach, and works with Business Owners, Learnership & Management Teams, Department Heads and Executives across the globe with small, mid-sized and large companies. With over 34 Years of multi-disciplinary experience, having won awards and worked with several business owners and executives, Vikram helps creates High-Performing Teams and Increased Profitability.