Common Challenges Faced by Coaching Businesses

A while back, I had a Head of Talent Development tell me something that changed everything for me. She said, “If I am going to carve out 45 minutes to meet with you, then you better teach me something I didn’t know prior to our time together.” I then took her statement to another level. I told myself, “If I’m going to create content here on this platform, I better teach these individuals something the didn’t know before reading my content.” This is for my Talent, Learning & OD Connections. Or anyone that has employee development under their wing. Here is what I am seeing in our space today, some heard while speaking with hundreds of talent leaders this week at #atd24 in New Orleans but most of it is from my recent meetings and current customers stories. Skye focuses on the coaching side of our industry so that is where most of these statements will come from. 1 - Unlimited session license based pricing isn’t the model of the future. Too many CLO’s and CFO’s are backing into the utilization data and the math just isn’t mathing. Will share an example in the thread below. 2 - The Director / GM level has a deep need and desire for growth. These leaders have typically climbed the ranks from IC to Manager and now Director with little to know direction because “they know the business.” It’s not the truth and we are seeing a lot of investment into this group. 3 - C (-) 1-3 leaders are desiring coaches with context, coaches that understand where they are and can pour into them in different ways. Price points of 30-50K with no platform and data to report on are crushing some of the legacy businesses in our space. 4 - Buyers are looking for flexible coaching engagements, 6 months + workshop + capstone or rolling launches of engagements or team coaching or small pilots as a proof of concept. They are tired of being told what to do by vendors and are seeking a partner that will build and grow with them. "We can't partner with you if you have less than 30 people going through coaching with us." That was a statement from a vendor in our space... 5 - Buyers are backing into coach quality and coach pay, more than ever. How are these companies taking care of their most precious asset, their coaches? Things like prorated coach pay and coaches getting compensated the same amount while coaching an IC as a VP. The majority of our prospects and customers are coaches, they are expecting better from their partners. I could go on and on but these are the things I am hearing on a daily basis and working to solve here at Skye. Have a beautiful day, thanks for reading! Whoever guesses what coffee shop this is will get a free 1:1 coaching call with me.. Just a fun little game to spice things up.

Most businesses don’t fail because of bad ideas. They fail because of bad execution. A great offer won’t save you if you don’t have the right systems to support it. The biggest killers of coaching businesses? ❌ No clear priorities → You focus on the wrong things. ❌ No systems → You burn out doing everything manually. ❌ No data tracking → You don’t know what’s working. Here’s how to fix it: 1️⃣ Set Clear Priorities → Identify the one constraint stopping growth. → Fix that before chasing new ideas. 2️⃣ Document Everything → The goal is to remove yourself from repetitive tasks. → If you had to step away for a month, would your business still run? 3️⃣ Automate Where Possible → If you’re spending 10+ hours on admin work, you’re throwing money away. → Scheduling, email follow-ups, and client tracking should run on autopilot. 4️⃣ Track Key Metrics → Leads, conversions, retention - these numbers tell you exactly where to focus. → If you don’t track it, you can’t improve it. 5️⃣ Refine and Repeat → Systems aren’t a set-it-and-forget-it thing. → Adjust them as you scale to avoid bottlenecks. Your business doesn’t grow because you work harder. It grows because you build better systems. If you don’t know how to get started, message me, and I’ll send you some free resources you can use.

"It seems like coaching is just an expensive friend." --HR Leader, Fortune 500 Ouch. But she was right, *if* you can't show the ROI. Here's the reality check: __75% of coaching programs can't show clear business impact __ Budget scrutiny is intensifying for 2025 __ "Trust the process" isn't just weak—it's dangerous For coaching to be seen as strategic (not just "expensive friendship"), it must deliver: → Measurable behavior change → Documented performance gains → Clear business outcomes Let me show you how: Map coaching outcomes to existing KPIs → Retention rates (+22% in our programs) → Time-to-promotion (cut by 35%) → Project delivery speed (improved 28%) Build measurement into your process → Pre/post assessments → 30/60/90 day check-ins → Quarterly business impact reviews Speak the love language of Executives → Revenue impact → Cost savings → Productivity gains Insights from our 1.1M+ data points prove it: When measured right, coaching delivers ROI. Want our proven framework for measuring coaching ROI? Comment "ROI" below. #CoachingROI #LeadershipDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching

Leaders, like everyone else, are human, and, at times, they fail. Depending on what kind of leader they are, how they respond to failure tells us a lot about them and the people they lead. “Most of the time, the failure of any business is attributed to a bad business idea, undercapitalization, poor marketing strategies, or unfavorable market environment. However, I believe that the real reason for the failure of any business is a lack of leadership, which is driven by a purpose and vision,” according to Amit Marwah, Leadership and Executive Search Consultant. Marwah believes a “majority of people generally perform to a minimum acceptable standard. These standards could be perceived standards in their heads or generally accepted standards in the organization”. Leaders must be aware of what makes them fallible to avoid failure. Here are seven major business challenges tied to failure, according to Mark Moses, CEO of Coaching International: 1)     Failure to Communicate-Where there is no commitment to consistent and effective communication, there is a lack of personal connection and minimal translation of important information like organizational strategy. 2)     Lack of Accountability- Knowing where your people stand in relation to your goals and key initiatives takes discipline and the ability to monitor and measure DAILY performance. 3)     Fear of Firing Non-Productive Employees - the inability to remove or change an employee who has been an impediment to success; however, because of their loyalty to the organization, they won't remove them. 4)     Lack of Alignment-When not much gets accomplished because people aren't aligned with company strategy, or they lack the ability to align and work cross-functionally with others. 5)     Lack of Clear Vision- An organization can lack direction without vision. When no one can articulate where the organization is going, there are feelings of being uninspired and unmotivated to achieve. 6)      Poor Execution-Failing to have a plan for your strategy to act upon and lead from. When this is absent, the organization can become aimless in its efforts from day to day and week to week. 7)     Default Company Culture- no active, conscious effort to establish and adhere to standards, behavioral lapses happen, and everything begins to be tolerated, signaling the end is near. Leaders carry much responsibility. Not only do they own their roles and responsibilities, but they also own everything related to those within their charge. The good news is that the leader who knows their team well also knows what’s happening inside of it. Working to remove any of these challenges will free up the time for leaders to support, properly train, and develop other team members.   Still, as leaders, we need to develop the courage to recognize and effectively deal with any challenge. We cannot fear failure. #ceos #leadership #failure #execution

Based on my conversations with leadership development professionals who use SLII® in their programs, here are the 4 most common challenges they face: Challenge 1️⃣ - You struggle to measure behavior change and impact. How do you best measure and show the impact of SLII® training? Challenge 2️⃣ - You overload your leaders with models, models, models. Leaders find themselves overwhelmed by overlapping models (i.e., critical conversations, SLII®, and GROW coaching all apply to an upcoming feedback conversation). Challenge 3️⃣ - It’s built to be an intensive workshop (learning reinforcement is “yours”). The end goal is for leaders to adopt the model as second nature. But how do you find the time, $$$, and expertise needed to map out and create a long-term behavior change plan for your leaders? Challenge 4️⃣ - It’s too expensive. This shows up in a few ways, including: 1) It's too expensive to roll out the workshop. 2) It's too expensive to properly reinforce learning. 3) It takes up too significant a portion of your overall leadership development program's budget. --- In the full article, I get into an in-depth breakdown of each challenge and offer strategies and examples to modernize your approach and overcome these challenges. Enjoy 🤓 ☕️