(reading time 4 mins)

So, you are either considering getting some business coaching, or you’ve started coaching, and you’re already wondering how long this is going to last. I don’t blame you! When we get coached, there is work involved. Learning, reading, and training. Stepping out of our comfort zone. Committing to attending the coaching and planning sessions. Doing our homework every week.

It’s only natural to want to know how long we’ll be committing for.

If you are currently “shopping around” for a coach or a program, you will likely find various options with regards to duration; some will have a fixed timeframe, say 6 or 12 months, and those are likely to be group or online coaching programs. Others will be open-ended; they last until you decide you don’t want to continue.

There is no one-or-the-other right answer here, as different options will suit different people. But I take a fairly black-and-white view on this: If you are getting the results you were looking for through coaching, and your business and life continue to improve, why would you stop? If you were making more money and growing your business, without working harder doing it, why would you stop?

Well, actually there might be a few reasons why you would stop anyway:

  1. Your coach is not the right fit for you.
  2. You don’t like your coach (or your coach doesn’t like you).
  3. You’re not enjoying the coaching sessions.
  4. You don’t like being held accountable. (I once had a client tell me this when they stopped coaching, despite seeing amazing results!)
  5. You’ve achieved some interim-term results and you’re content with that; you don’t want any more from your business.

Reasons 1 or 2 would naturally be a good reason to stop a coaching program or relationship, then again you would want to be looking for your next coach, somebody who better fits your needs and personality style.

Reason 3 is a simple one: talk to your coach about it. A good coach will do their very best to make sure you are enjoying the coaching sessions and the overall experience. Personally, my aim is that my clients’ coaching sessions are the highlight of their week!

Reason 4: you don’t like being held accountable. Well, this is an interesting one. Accountability is one of the most important aspects of coaching, yet nobody really enjoys being held accountable, do they? But if you didn’t need somebody holding you accountable, then you would already be getting the results you want and wouldn’t be looking for a coach in the first place, would you?

Reason 5 likely is the most common reason why you would want your coaching to come to an end. You’ve put in some work, learned a few things, and seen some improvements. You’ve resolved your most immediate or pressing issues, or seen some short-term growth. You don’t see any need to continue to “put yourself through this” any longer. This really is a topic for another day, but suffice it to say I take the view that your business journey – and therefore your growth journey – never ends. At least, not until you have fully exited the business and retired!

In truth, we should always be striving to be better, to learn more, to continue growing. Because if our business isn’t growing, it’s dying. The world around us is changing constantly, and very rapidly. Our marketplace is constantly changing, our customers are smarter than ever before, and our competitors are continuously improving and developing new ways to take our customers from us. So we must keep growing.

With the exception of very specific skills-based coaching – such as sales coaching, leadership training, etc – your coach should always be helping you to see into the future, always getting you to ask, “What’s next? Where do we go from here?” If you are continuing to see results and improvements, regardless of whether you achieve your specific goals and targets within their respective timeframes, then aside from the exceptions listed above, why would you stop?

Find out more about what ActionCOACH can do for your business. Or if you simply have a question about something you’ve read here, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Email me at andrewgoldberg@actioncoach.com.