Types of business coaching: specialties & opportunities

Teaching can be a very rewarding career, giving you the opportunity to provide guidance to others and see them grow and improve, knowing that you had a hand in their development. Formal academics is one career path to take for this, but a career in academia isn’t for everyone. However, for those with experience and know-how, especially in business, there are other options, and among them is business coaching. If you’re considering a career in business coaching, you’re probably wondering how it’s done. Let’s look at some of the different types of business coaching and styles.

Executive Coaching

This type of business coaching focuses on providing guidance to the head leader of a business or a division or department leader within a business. You’ll focus on one-on-one training with the executive, with regular coaching sessions. If you’re a coach that prefers working with small numbers of trainees and engaging in open discussion with your clients, then this could be your preferred type.

Integrated Coaching

This type of business coaching refers to situations where the coaching is made a direct part of a business’ leadership development program. You’ll hold coaching sessions with multiple company leaders at once. This type may work best for you if you prefer to have more than one trainee per session, but still have room for discussion and personal interaction with each leader.

Team Coaching

Team coaching broadens the focus of your coaching from just one or several company leaders and includes some or all of its staff as well. Team coaching is when you’re providing guidance to a larger group in a company, such as an entire department, division, or project team. This coaching type tends to work best for coaches that like teaching effective collaboration between coworkers.

Virtual Coaching

This type of coaching can be considered an overlay to the others. Some coaches may find it’s most convenient for both themselves and their trainees to use remote technology, like virtual meetings, to bring everybody together for coaching. This is a type you may like if you have multiple trainees that are separated by long distances, or your client company had a lot of remote staff.

Coaching Styles

Having considered the types of business coaching, you should also consider your preferred style within that type. There are different ways to go about coaching. A democratic coaching style involves encouraging your trainees to discuss their challenges and brainstorm solutions, only stepping in when asked or when needed. On the flip side of the coin, an authoritarian/autocratic coaching style involves giving direct, clear-cut instruction to your trainees, with little to no discussion. There’s also a holistic style of coaching, where trainees are advised and coached not only on the way they work but also on aspects of their personal lives that may be affecting their work performance. Lastly, vision coaching is about helping trainees set long-term goals and create strategies to achieve them, with objectives along the way.

Where the Work Is

Business coaches are sought by businesses and companies of all sizes in numerous industries, providing many business coaching opportunities. Larger corporations will hire coaches for divisions or departments, or to provide training to the staff of a retail location. Smaller companies may seek a business coach if they’re struggling and think they’re in need of expert guidance. Individuals and business owners may hire a business coach to provide one-on-one tutoring for personal and career improvement. Some of these businesses may be large enough to hire you as a member of their staff. However, keep in mind that when businesses find themselves needing to cut costs, training is one of the first places they look to trim. You can also start a coaching business of your own, but that will require you to handle both the teaching and the administration yourself. If neither of those choices sounds like your cup of tea, thankfully there’s a third option.

Join a Coaching Franchise with ERA

We at Expense Reduction Analysts (ERA) are dedicated to analyzing businesses and providing them with guidance to help improve their businesses and achieve their goals. We’re a business cost reduction franchise made up of people like you and looking for more members to join us in guiding businesses to achieve their fullest potential.

By starting a franchise with us, you’ll have the full support of ERA and our team to establish and run your consulting business. If this sounds like the opportunity you’ve been looking for, you should request more info today!