One-on-one coaching is ideal because it allows the coach to observe you and address your unique design and circumstances. The challenge is this can be expensive (see “How Much Should I Pay for Coaching”) and subject to scheduling issues for you and the coach.
Great First Step
An online coaching course can be a great first step for those wanting to grow before it is personally affordable or available to you within your company. Many companies offer executive coaching once someone reaches a certain level within the organization. Twenty years ago, this was reserved just for the CEO or others in the C-Suite. It is now common to groom mid-level managers for a future roll with coaching. Group development efforts tend to be offered at the lower levels.
Assessments
An online course can provide you with some of the same assessments and exercises you would get in one-on-one coaching at a much more affordable cost…roughly 10-20% of the cost of in-person coaching. This will introduce things to consider earlier in your career that will help you develop good habits before you have a chance to develop hard-to-break bad ones. You might find that the growth you experience being introduced to this virtual executive coaching could help speed your advancement as well as help you be better prepared once you reach the next level. You could spend a lot of time trying to become more self-aware by reading a number of books and watching YouTubes in an effort to figure the best plan to grow and move forward. Or you can take an online course that a specialist has put together for you that will produce much quicker results.
Convenience
The convenience of being able to take the course online at any hour of the day really makes this achievable for those with already full schedules. You can view and review lessons to get the most out of the work. Many courses have downloads that come with the lessons that help develop you for the future. One of the main advantages of any coaching is developing a plan to continue growing in the future. Many online courses help you do just that.
Take With A Group
A hybrid way to get even more out of the experience is to take the course at the same time as friends or coworkers. This will allow for discussion along the way, accountability to keep progressing and feedback to increase your self-awareness.
Virtual Mentor
Early-stage entrepreneurs have no superiors to learn from and not enough financial margin to pay for one-on-one coaching just yet. An online course provides a virtual mentor to ask good questions that lead to self-discovery and tools that to learn from and apply with subordinates.
Advertise Your Growth
Lastly, once you choose an online course you may want to mention to your boss your plans. There might be money in the budget to cover some or all of the cost. Even if that is not possible you will be doing what is called “advertising your growth.” You notice your own efforts to grow 100% of the time. Others are distracted with their own world and might pick up on it about 10% of the time. Sharing your efforts to grow causes superiors to notice it and your peers and subordinates to be inspired to do the same.
