Coaching the Coach by Cindy Stradling CSP, CPC

Once you become a business leader, you likely spend lots of time coaching others. This is an important part of your job as a leader, and can also help you give back to your community. But, just because you gain enough experience and wisdom to become a coach; it doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from a little coaching yourself.  

It’s likely that you had a mentor or two along the way that helped you to grow personally and professionally. As you gain maturity and experience, you begin to coach others, but you can still learn from those who have more, or different, experience, compared to yours.

If you no longer have a mentor or coach, begin looking for someone who can teach and motivate you. It could be someone with more experience in your chosen field, or it could be someone who is in a field that is totally different than yours, but who has knowledge about a different subject where you lack experience.  

One type of coach that many experienced business leaders can benefit from is one who helps you in developing and deepening relationships with others. This help can be beneficial in both your work and home life. If you don’t have access to a mentor in this area, a counselor may be of benefit.  

Another type of coaching that can benefit experienced business people is leadership coaching. Sometimes, as business people climb the ladder of success, they don’t have the opportunity to learn leadership skills from someone who knows the secrets of motivating and mentoring others. Learning to be a great leader can help you succeed at any business you choose.  

Finally, you may be interested in finding a mentor who is skilled in a particular philosophy or practice. This could mean finding a yoga practitioner or someone who will help you learn to meditate. While this might not initially seem like something that would help you be a better business leader, you might find that learning this type of “soft skill” provides relaxation and focus that helps you to be more productive and happier, too.  

It can be easy to convince ourselves that we’re too busy with our other tasks to have a mentor or coach. But, we’re never too old or too experienced. Somewhere out there is someone who can make you an even better version of yourself. Don’t you owe it to yourself to find them?