Learning the Fundamentals

In sports as in business it is important to learn the fundamentals and become great at them. I was reminded of this recently while reading an article on the most successful athletes and their training habits. The article talked about how top performing athletes and the teams they compete on, work routinely on the fundamentals of their game. Whether it is baseball, basketball, football, soccer, a golfer, or any other sport there are basics that have to be mastered. The most successful are those who understand that and make it a habit to focus on perfecting the basic fundamentals of their game.

Take golf as an example. There are basic things that must occur in the swing of a golfer to make sure they will have solid contact with the ball and are able to control its flight. The way the golfer addresses the ball, rotates the arms, shoulders and hips and then follows through on the swing. Golfers spend hours upon hours practicing these moves. They hire coaches who can't swing the club nearly as well as they can but know the fundamentals and can point them out and correct them. The golfer can't see everything going into the swing because they are too busy executing the swing so the coach observes, teaches and corrects. The athlete is never finished working on the basics and even as they get to be the best in their field they still need to use the basic moves to be successful.

The same is true in your business. You have to learn the fundamentals of running a successful business and then use them consistently. It's not enough to be an expert on the production and delivery of the product or service you sell. You need to understand how to make a business work effectively. Coaches can do the same thing for you as they can for a professional athlete. As coaches, we are trained to teach you the fundamentals of running a business and helping you become masters of it. Everyone needs a good coach to guide them, train them and help them see things in their "swing" they can't see themselves. When you are ready to take your business to the next level send me a note. We'll get started on building the business you want to support the life you deserve.

Why Have a Coach?

I was contemplating a conversation I had the other day with a person who asked, "Why would a business owner need or want a coach? After all, they're the expert in their business..." An excellent question and one that I hear frequently.

The reality is that we have all had coaches around us through most of our lives - we just used different names. For instance, teacher, personal trainer, pastor, professor, mentor. We're just used to having coaches in certain settings but not in others - like having a sports coach or guitar teacher or university professor but not a business coach.

But there's more to it than just not being used to having a business coach. Many owners we talk to question why a successful business owner would need a coach - but guess what? Successful business owners are doing well because they have a coach! The successful owners are those who realize that in order to get better they need someone outside their normal circle of influence to make them better.

The reality of this phenomena struck me yesterday. Being a recovering golf addict I had to get more insight into the U.S. Open golf tournament that starts tomorrow (Thursday) at Oakmont near Pittsburgh. So I checked out some articles on ESPN's Golf page to get my fix.

I was intrigued by an article about two golf coaches - Butch Harmon and Hank Haney - who work with the best golfers in the world and who will leave a significant imprint on this Championship. Midway through the article the author questioned why Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson would need a coach. He wrote:

"It may seem odd that the top two players in the world would need the help of someone else. Then again, their pursuit of greatness might very well be tied to their ability to seek answers and keep improving."

Isn't that interesting? Seems the author answered his own question...

For another take on coaching in a business setting, check out this article on coaching for financial planners.

I've said it before and I'm saying it again: If the best golfers, musicians and CEO's have a coach - then why don't you...?