Stage 2: Exploring
Fundamental Skills used by the High Growth Enterprise Coach during the Exploring Stage of the High Growth Enterprise Coaching Cycle
Encouraging Clients to Reflect
Reflection is an essential part of the exploring stage of the High Growth Enterprise Coaching Cycle. It is not possible to move forwards with plans without reflecting on what has happened in the past and how the company and client have reached the point that they are at now.
This reflection is useful for the client as taking time for the process of reflection is likely to result in greater awareness. Reflection is part of the learning cycle and can enable the client to identify what has worked well in the past and what has not worked well and also the reasons for this.
Questioning by the Coach during the process of reflection will extend this further. Reflection is also extremely useful for the Coach, as in addition to provide a background to the current situation, it will also enable the Coach to learn about how the client thinks and perceives things.
Helping Clients to Review and Analyse Current and Past Performance
In order to review current and past performance, it can be useful to use the Business Acumen areas identified in the High Growth Enterprise Coaching Competency Framework as a checklist to ensure that all areas of the business are considered.
High Growth Enterprise Coach Business Acumen areas
| Business Acumen | Subjects |
| Understanding Finance and Accounts
This unit is about the High Growth Enterprise Coach understanding how to plan and manage an enterprise’s financial performance |
1. Profit and loss accounts and balance sheets
2. Budgets and forecasting 3. Working capital and cash flow 4. Profit and cost centres 5. Costing 6. Invoicing and credit control 7. Pricing strategies 8. Ratio analysis 9. Investment appraisal 10. Sources of finance |
| Developing People for Growth
This unit is about the High Growth Enterprise Coach understanding the need for enterprises to plan for and to develop people’s skills and competences to enable them to deliver planned levels of performance. |
1. Human resource management
2. Employment policies and practices 3. Equality of opportunity, diversity and social inclusion 4. Director responsibilities 5. Developing the Board of Directors 6. Management and leadership models and theories 7. Decision making 8. Delegation 9. Objective setting 10. Problem solving 11. Recruitment and selection 12. Team working and team development 13. Succession planning and talent management 14. Motivation 15. Performance management |
| Business Acumen | Subjects |
| Leading and Planning for GrowthThis unit is about the High Growth Enterprise Coach understanding what leaders of high growth enterprises need to know and execute to be effective and an understanding how to develop and implement plans that transform an entrepreneur’s vision into a growing, profitable and sustainable enterprise. | 1. Strategic planning
2. Managing growth 3. Business planning techniques 4. Analytical and diagnostic techniques 5. Business plans 6. Management information systems 7. Contingency planning 8. Monitoring plans 9. Resource identification 10. Assigning roles and responsibilities 11. Quality management 12. Procurement 13. Supply chain networks 14. Business process improvement techniques 15. Managing performance and control systems |
| Marketing for Growth
This unit is about the High Growth Enterprise Coach understanding the need for enterprises to have a strategy to identifying, attracting and engaging customers resulting in sales revenue.
|
1. The Marketing Plan
2. Competitive advantage 3. Market research 4. The Product Life Cycle 5. Marketing mix 6. Price sensitivity 7. Building brands 8. Competitor analysis 9. Public relations 10. The Sales Cycle |
| Business Acumen | Subjects |
| Using Digital Technologies This unit is about the High Growth Enterprise Coach understanding how enterprises can exploit digital technology to systemise processes to impact on productivity and to support growth including the use of CRM platforms and digital marketing and social media. | 1. Understanding digital technologies
2. Digital transformation in enterprises 3. Digital marketing 4. Social media tools 5. Technology and systemisation 6. CRM platforms 7. Cloud platforms |
Whilst not all High Growth Enterprise Coaches will have comprehensive knowledge in all the areas listed, it is important that they do have some understanding of them, unless they have been engaged purely to focus on an area in which they specialise.
Exploring Problems and Root Causes
There are various tools that a coach can use with clients to identify the root cause of problems in order to then be able to identify ways of solving them.
Download the following documents for more information:
- Five Whys (612 downloads )
- Ishikawa Diagram (204 downloads )
- Brainstorming (205 downloads )
- Star Bursting (261 downloads )
- Six Thinking Hats (226 downloads )
- The Charette Procedure (828 downloads )
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