My Insights and Hindsights into what a Business Coach did for me - Part 4

The word ‘competence’ was very familiar to Mark as it was used in every aspect of business, referring to his staff, himself, and his business. In his last Business Coaching session Mark’s Business Coach reminded him of his main objectives when they started their process. These were:

To increase his competency levels,
To optimise each area of his business, and
Give himself the privilege of working on his business instead of in an operational role.

Reflecting on these, Mark realised that although he had set these objectives, he had not realised that they were integrated and each one was dependant and impacted on the next.

They all revolve around the most crucial word of all: COMPETENCE

Mark’s very first objective was to improve his own levels of competence. In his coaching sessions he needed to unpack what that meant. In SA Business Coaches Executive Coaching Blog from April 2021→ the components of competence are defined. His Business Coach referred him to Dr Elana Siew’s book Competence Refined^[i]. In this book, the 5 areas are explained in detail. The components of competence are:

Behaviour

Behaviour is defined as the display of competence. Demonstrating the execution of your knowledge, skills, ability, and experience.

Experience

Experience is not the amount of time that you have spent doing something, it is the way in which your time and energy in a different environment, doing things in different ways, or learning from others, moulds a better approach to things and enables a greater level of performance.

Ability

This component of competence means that you have the inborn capacity to do something. Although some abilities can be learnt, in general, an ability is something that comes naturally to you.

Knowledge

Knowledge is not the ability to draw and find information, it is the application of your knowledge that makes this a relevant component of competence.

Skills

Skills are the learnable, adaptable, and changing services that you use to put your plan into action.

Understanding what business competence means for me as a business owner

Mark’s understanding was that he needed to improve his business knowledge and use this to enhance the performance of his business. This had been a sufficient explanation of competence for him.

Once he had these 5 areas to consider, he was able to look at himself as a technician, a manager, and as a leader. In each one of these areas he determined what Behaviour, Experience, Abilities, Knowledge, and Skills he currently possessed. Then he shifted his thoughts to what competencies he would need to posses to take his business to the level where he wanted it to be.

This was an introspective process, which his Business Coach worked on with him considering various scenarios.
Setting or re-setting my future

In SA Business Coaches Executive Coaching Blog for November 2020, the table below is presented. This describes competence for your business as “a mindset of incessant introspection of your current levels of competence, and then the honest self-assessment which provides your insight into how you can improve on each area. The action plan will differ per person, yet the principle remains the same”.

Mark’s Business Coach explained to him that understanding the components of competence was only the starting point of his journey. He had to examine his business, himself, and each staff member to consider their current levels of competence, in each segment of their job, as well as the future requirements of the business. This process was called: Competent for what? In order to make this exercise valuable to you and your business, you need to know what you need to be competent for.

Although Mark knew where he wanted his business to go, he wasn’t quite sure of the exact route he needed to take to get there.
To assist him, his Business Coach referred him to the table below to guide his thoughts:

Mark struggled to complete the table above, yet it gave him the insight into what he needed to consider for his business, and then for the people who would make his plan a reality.

It was through this table that he was able to set or when necessary, reset his future plans so that the inherent competencies would be able to create his future.
Considering what I want now

By working with him on the exercise to analyse what competencies are required for his business, Mark’s Business Coach had given him the gift of understanding how to consider what competencies exist in each person, and in the business right now, and then aligning these competencies with the required competencies for the future.

Mark’s Business Coached helped him to define what he wants now. He wanted to keep his business stable, with a future development plan which would give him a strategic competitive advantage and an in-depth understanding of his business.

To understand how Business Coaching can assist your business read SA Business Coaches’ blog from May 2022 on What I got from speaking to a Business Coach→