Why Women Are Better Business Coaches

Aug 11, 2021. Harry Welby-Cooke

Do women really make better business coaches?  What’s their secret?

As we celebrate Women’s Month it’s been interesting reflecting on our team’s performance over the past 14 years in South Africa.  Whilst women make up only 30% of the total business coaching team of ActionCOACHes they comprise 50% of our Top 10 coaches.  The average revenue of a female ActionCOACH Business Coach is also 19% higher than the total average of all the coaches and a whopping 36% higher than that of their male counterparts.  

So why is that?  Do women really make better business coaches?  What’s their secret?

Let’s unpack the 7 realities of why that is:

(Disclaimer:  Yes, these are generalisations, for which there are always the exceptions, but generalisations have become generalisations because they tend to appear more often than not.  Don’t shoot the messenger.  Let it really sink in as you reflect long and hard on the following areas).

1. Multi-tasking

Whilst I know science is starting to prove that the brain, whether male or female, is actually not that good at multi-tasking; we all know women are better at it.  We might not want to admit it but women just seem to be able to hold more together.  Maybe it’s because they’ve had more practice and maybe less of a choice.  Like it or not, women still carry more of the overall burden of running a household, managing the kids AND must do everything else.  They don’t have the luxury of juggling just one ball at a time. Women business coaches are therefore masters at compartmentalising the areas that make them successful, as well as doing the same for their clients.  They switch seamlessly between the variety of roles they play and can in an instant move from one task or conversation to the next. 

2. Less talk, more action

You may have heard the jokes highlighting where women have more words to use up in any given day than men do.  Whilst that ‘may’ sometimes be true in a social setting, or between spouses at home, generally speaking we’ve not found that to be true.  Whilst the men are still talking about getting going the women have already done it. As business coaches women therefore also have the amazing gift of not allowing the talking to distract from the tasks at hand.  Irrespective of what’s being said there is still the need to decide on a course of action and commit to it.  “Don’t tell me, show me!” is the mantra that comes to mind and reflects the approach best.

3. Specialist Generalists

As business coaches we wear a lot of hats.  We coach our clients across sales, marketing, finance, HR, systems, planning, execution, life, and many other areas.  We play the ‘Head Coach’ role that a coach of a sports team would play or the ‘Manager’ as in the case of an English Football team.  There may well be many specialists still utilized in the business but we, together with the business owner, hold it all together as we collectively move towards the goal. Women generally speaking have more on their plates and therefore tend to be ‘Jack of all trades, Master of Many’.  They tend to have quite a varied skills set and a wider range of experience as a result.  They know enough on a lot of topics and can play that overarching high-level role with ease.

4. Discipline and Focus

Again, like it or not, women generally speaking have more discipline and focus.  They stick with something until they get it right.  They get up earlier and over a longer period.  They remain focused on the end goal and aren’t as easily distracted.  Women tend to pick a lane and stick to it.  Whilst men get distracted with every bright shiny object that comes a long; women don’t! As business coaches, we get paid for results.  We succeed when our clients consistently hit their goals.  As a business coach, both in one’s own business as well as whilst working with clients, discipline and focus are crucial.  If women are already better at that discipline and focus for themselves, the writing is already clearly on the wall.

5. Follow the System

Franchising is about having a good recipe and then following that recipe to ensure replicate able success.  One buys into a system that has been designed and perfected over, often decades, of experience because you want that proven recipe.  

It’s therefore often so funny to see how the men generally come in trying to change the recipe, tweak it, supposedly make it more relevant, more of them, more current and so on.  They waste hours, days, and easily weeks and months before realising the recipe works for a reason and needs to be followed to-the-T.  Whilst the ‘boys’ are faffing the women just get on with it.  The recipe gets applied from the beginning and delivers results repeatedly.  Using the recipe consistently also ensures it’s easier to be present and listen to the client.  The application of the recipe frees up time to be creative in finding the right solutions to unique situations.

6. Perseverance

If you’ve ever watched ‘Defending the Caveman’, maybe the excuse for men is that, as hunters, we needed to conserve our energy.  We therefore started chasing after many wild animals only to give up the chase prematurely to conserve our energy for anything that seemed too strenuous.  Male lions do it all the time on the Discovery Channel specials.  They even have a name for it - a mock charge.

Women don’t mock charge.  They keep at it, even if it appears slower at first, and don’t stop until they get there.  Women regularly prove the ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ concept to be right and end up beating the ‘hare’ more often than not.  Success is after all a combination of sweat and sacrifice.

7. Ask for help

How many jokes have you heard about men not asking for directions?  It’s often a not-so-funny reference in my house.  Whether it be ego, independence, self-sufficiency or any other excuse we can dream up; it doesn’t matter.  Women ask for directions.  If they’re not sure, they raise their hand and ask.  If they need something, they ask.  As business coaches a big part of what we do is asking the right questions and women are masters at this. Now whilst in my house this may not always ring true when it comes to the kids or the running of the home; in business it’s different.  Questions rule the coaching world.   Asking for help is just the start of that questioning process.

To the men reading this – take some notes and learn from the phenomenal strengths that women bring to the world of business coaching.

To all the existing women who dominate in our business coaching team, we salute you.  Thank you for teaching us a thing or two about what it takes to be truly great.  Our worlds are far better off with you in them.  Thank you!

To every other women reading this – know this:  Women are better business coaches!

PS:  I am a man so even more reason to pay attention to the above points.

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