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6 coaching techniques to help build your team and business

October 4, 2023 -  By Jeffrey Scott

Early in my consulting career, I hired a coach.

The gentleman was low-cost, had skills and helped me refine my new business direction. A few years later, I hired the “real deal” coach. It was a much larger investment and helped me build my skills and scale my business to what it is today.

Jeffrey Scott’s recent run with his coach at the famous Barber motorcycle track in Birmingham. (Photo: Jeffrey Scott)

My next coach

It’s been a while since I worked with such a great coach — until this past weekend. I hired my first real-deal driver development coach at a racetrack here in New Orleans.

He and I are similar, and his coaching techniques really resonated. They may also resonate with you as you coach up your team.

Here are six coaching techniques from my coach to you:

1. Prepare and review

We prepared before we went on track and we reviewed my performance afterward. So much coaching and learning happened off the track. The same way sales coaching would happen before and after a sales call. (By this definition, how much coaching are you doing?)

2. Repeat the basics

We worked on the basics (again and again) to implement them profoundly. This was not a beginner class, but a master class on using the basics to excel as a top performer. We went deep into the why and discussed how the techniques he taught me would support me in the quest for balance, position and speed. (Is your team performing the basics as well as you need?)

3. Slow down

He slowed things down for me so that I could speed up. We varied our speed and sometimes worked at a 9/10 pace (meaning not full speed) so I could implement the new ideas. By going a bit slower, it allowed us an overall faster time.

4. Push patiently

He was calm and patient but pushed and prodded me at every opportunity. What a surprising combination of traits that every leader could emulate. A good coach is not frantic or frenetic. We guide you in a measured way that makes the big changes easy.

5. Make it about results

He never made it about me but about what I could do to implement the technique and achieve the results. This allowed me to open myself up to learn even more.

6. Show excitement

He became animated when I started sliding out my car’s back end — called drifting. We discussed good drifting versus bad drifting techniques. He explained when to do it purposefully for my advantage. That’s when the light bulb went off. I’ll add that his excitement was contagious. (Are you lighting the fire for your team?)

Your challenge

Your challenge is to reignite your learning and become a student again.

I had a realization recently. Not only do I have a business coach, but I now have a guide/teacher for each of my three favorite hobbies. Go big or stay home!

All ambitious athletes use a coach. They just do. Never a doubt. It’s the same in business.

Coaches help develop your edge, define your strategies and maintain your advantage. Good-to-great is not a journey you achieve by working in a vacuum.

P.S. I love coaching. I take on only a handful of new coaching clients each year. To learn more visit my page here.