“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
There is a common misperception taught in the coaching world, and that is that knowledge is not necessary for professional coaching.
The enormity of this error is unimaginable. Particularly in Business Coaching.
Think about going for business coaching where your coach asks you endless thought provoking questions, that you answer, and both of you are completely oblivious to all the possible mistakes that may be lying ahead of you.
You leave the business coaching session feeling inspired and self-satisfied that the path ahead is relatively certain.
Yet, neither one of you actually knows what is or isn’t viable. And with the right amount of subject matter expertise, your business coach may have been able to increase your chances of success.
Why else would you be going for business coaching?
Business coaching is not about asking the powerful questions that your coachee has the insightful answers to.
Business coaching is about asking the right questions at the right time to evoke an awareness in the coachee that will enhance their business performance.
Business is a science based on facts, figures, knowledge and experience. The culmination of business acumen and competence facilitates making intelligent decisions to navigate the business world. It is only as a subject matter expert that a business coach would be able to construct the right questions to be asked at the right time.
Knowledge lays the foundation for identifying possible shortcoming.
Subject matter expertise is the premise on which all business decisions are made.
Without business expertise and constructive experience, a curious child might as well be running your business coaching session, with an inquisitive mind and an naïve outlook.
Business coaching is a business. And any business requires subject matter experts.
This creates sincere competence and conscientious intelligent decision making.