The Monday, April 20th, 2009 issue of The Daily Record business/legal newspaper, featured a front page story, “They’re Here to Help: In a down economy, business coaches see growth.” I find this of interest as one of my colleagues, Sharon Seal, is a professional certified coach or PCC, a profession that intrigues me as I consider business coaching a career with parallels to PR.
Back in 2006, I interviewed Sharon about her coaching business for the now dearly departed Baltimore Examiner newspaper. As she described it back then, coaching involves helping small business owners and entrepreneurs to “solve a variety of problems that include how to build a business, how to develop leadership skills, how to deal with a difficult boss, how to communicate better with teams, and how to generate more profit.” Similarly, PR people serve as their client’s advocate or counsel, providing them with insights on how to navigate communications challenges, both internal and external, to adopt strategies and tactics to best achieve their goals—including profits.
Sharon’s clients include professionals in such fields as health care, finance, advertising, and consulting. “One day I might be working with a factory foreman, and the next day with a rocket scientist,” she said.
Same in PR. If it’s a business, you can do PR for it.
Sharon’s journey to becoming an “executive coach” began at a local church where everyone “would lineup outside my door to ask my advice on team development, strategic planning, and how to develop their ministry and staff. I thought it would be really cool to help people bring more of who they are into the workplace, so I talked to people and found out about coaching.”
The most effective PR people are those who can similarly form coalitions among staff, are noted for their expertise, their ability to solve problems.
Sharon (who would do some work for an advertising/PR agency and a management consulting firm to get some experience) would enroll in “Coach U,” an online educational program, which required her to take 120 hours of “tele-classes,” learning with others by phone. The coaches-in-training would work in teams, “doing a lot of business reading, and learning how to help clients in terms of their professional growth.”
Again, similar to public relations in that to be successful, it’s a good idea to know your industry. If I’m going to financial relations, for instance, having an MBA or some background in business would likely be helpful. It is our job to help our clients grow by providing them with information about new trends and major issues that could impact their industry—this is why all good PR people are generally news junkies.
Sharon practices what she preaches as she continues to encourage her clients to learn—about themselves, their employees, their business. Sharon is a people person--an important coaching skill…not to mention a natural talent for successful PR practitioners.
“I love helping people tap into their full potential at work. I support them in understanding how their values play out in their work and how to leverage their strengths so that they become successful,” she said.
I will say, however, that PR and coaching, while sharing some similarities, are hardly the same. It’s not my job as a PR person to help my CEO become more effective in his job, to nurture his leadership skills, etc. We in PR may do that incidentally but it is not our charge, our mission. However, the better we understand our clients, their strengths and weaknesses, the better position we will be to offer sage advice.
I mention this because, as I tell my class, the skills we learn in PR have applications beyond the public relations field…perhaps for those who decide they’d like to try another avenue in the world of communications…like coaching for instance. One to grow on…
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