10 reasons to have a coach on your startup team

Startups are like a long match of tennis, or a concert performance where your competitors are ready to pounce on every beat you miss, or perhaps like an ultra-marathon. And just like sports and performance arts, coaches can help you and your team shine; and do your best work ever.

Here are 10 things a coach can bring to the table:

1️⃣ Coaches guarantee an outside view– We get so involved with our work that we have a hard time looking at our work and behavior objectively. Coaches, almost by definition, keep an outside view that can really come in handy when things get too much.

2️⃣ Coaches are master facilitators– you can be an expert, a visionary, or a stickler for details, but you gotta work with other people to create your masterpiece, and coaches know how to facilitate communication so that everyone gets on the same page.

3️⃣ Coaches specialize in creative thinking– we all know brainstorming by now, and plenty of how-tos exist, but a coach has the presence of mind to pull out the right creative approach at the right moment, taking even the most creative of teams to the next level.

4️⃣ Coaches are supportive– startup world is competitive, and the pressure is high to always be at your best. Without support from a coach, all this pressure can have really adverse effects on the founder and teams’ health.

5️⃣ Coaches can easily spot personal needs and issues– We all focus so much on work performance and communication, that it’s easy to forget the personal needs, issues, the impact work and work behavior has on people. A coach can spot that and help fix it before it gets beyond repair.

6️⃣ Coaches help you take perspective– when you start to get tunnel vision, and can’t see past the immediate issues, coaches will help broaden that perspective again.

7️⃣ Coaches remind you of your goals and achievements– You’re driven, you’re passionate, you’re doing so much, and yet you feel so much is still missing, so much still needs done, that you haven’t done enough, and perhaps don’t have the capacity. It’s all too easy to discount our own efforts and achievements, and can lead to downward spirals despite valiant efforts. Coaches are a great way to counter the difficult personal moments that accompany almost every startup journey.

8️⃣ Coaches streamline interpersonal communication– Coaches not only have a great positive impact on individuals, but by supporting individuals, they indirectly enable each one of us to bring our best to our interactions, thereby actually increasing the quality of our interpersonal communication.

9️⃣ Coaches teach as they coach– All good coaches coach in such a way that you soon can operate without them. Although you end up realizong that there’s always a next level, and you can do with some more learning and growth.

🔟 Coaches realign and refocus conversations towards values– Coaches don’t just give templates, share methods, and make plans with you; they actually help you find ways to work in such a way that your work is in alignment with your values. That focus on values is where we find meaning in life, and work. It’s worth repeating that meaningful work is the best work ever.

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Roger Federer is the best Tennis player in the world and still has a coach.

Pavarotti was the best Opera singer in the world and still had a singing coach till the day he died.

Usain Bolt is the fastest man on earth and still has a coach.

At the end of the day nobody has it all figured out. Get a coach ;)