The coaching industry is in a state of rapid development. But even with this exponential growth, there still aren’t any official regulations or guidelines that specify exactly what kind of services each type of coach offers. Trying to decipher the different skill sets can quickly become confusing if you’re in need of coaching services.Specifically, executive coaching often gets confused with business coaching. While these coaching styles do share some similarities, they are fundamentally different in their approach.Depending on your needs and expectations, both business and executive coaching can be extremely beneficial for professionals. But before making your decision, you’ll want to know which one is the right fit for you and your business.What is Executive Coaching?
In short, the role of an executive coach is to assist with personal development that aids in the overall improvement of a company or corporation.An executive coach will help leaders create a plan for the future by setting goals and coming up with actionable steps to achieve them. They will also extend these services to potential future leaders in the company, giving them the personal development tools they need for success.A good executive coach will focus on increasing productivity and team work by helping the current executives to better understand their motivations, limitations, and strengths so they can effectively pass down these skills to all of their team members.Furthermore, unlike a mentor, an executive coach will usually encourage a self-directed journey and simply offer their assistance along the way.What is Business Coaching?Rather than working on personal development, a business coach will become directly involved with improving results across the business spectrum.Your business coach will help you tackle issues such as profit margins, organization, and efficiency, just to name a few. They will help you resolve any problems you are experiencing in these areas and help you come up with a strategy to ensure they aren’t replaced with new problems in the future.While every business is different, you might expect your business coach to help with reducing backlogs, cutting costs, and redirecting resources for example. So, if you find yourself struggling with the logistics of your business, a business coach can help you sort it all out.
When compared to executive coaching, business coaching is a much more direct approach, something that may or may not be necessary to meet your goals.Common GroundEven though business and executive coaching are fundamentally different in their approach, they still share some common ground with each other. The end goal for each style of coaching is to help you to improve your business and solve any problems you are having.Being as objective as possible, ask yourself what your business needs more than anything, personal development for its leaders or a strategic remodeling of your operations? Your answer to this question will help you determine what kind of coach is right for you.