Are you coachable?

The ability to listen to questions and respond to input is a critical life and business skill.

Last Friday we were excited to celebrate eight new student/alumni businesses. These companies have completed the Entrepreneur Development Centre training at the college and now join the business community of southeast Alberta.

There has been an impressive transformation in each of these businesses in the last few months. But they didn’t not get there by chance. Hard work and dedication were important factors. The other factor that makes a big impact is the willingness to be coached.

Thanks to support from our partners, our program is able to bring in experts from across the province to work with our aspiring entrepreneurs. From market research to accounting expertise, even a person who won a million dollar pitch competition, we try to bring in the best to speak to our students. It should be no surprise that the ones that take in the most sessions and implement what they learn usually do the best in our program.

There is not a year that goes by that I too do not learn from the sessions and their presenters, and from the students themselves for that matter. Sometimes the advice can be hard to hear, but in the end, it makes our program stronger and more effective because of it. It also has lead me to seek out mentors, and look for the learning opportunity in every situation. I may not like the outcome, but I can always learn from it.

Being coachable is really being open to learning something new, and something that could make your business better. The mentors in our program have often told me they want to save young business owners from making the same mistakes they did. For those students that hear that message it makes a big difference, usually to their bottom line.

I encourage all start-ups to find those coachable moments and take advantage of the expertise that is offered in our community. We have inspirational business owners and subject matter experts across the region that want to pay it forward.

If you’re not sure where to start a few places to look are through your local Chamber, sign up for an APEX Regional Innovation Network event, or take advantage of the numerous course offerings at Medicine Hat College. As the Voltaire quote goes, “Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experiences of others.”

Tracy Stroud is manager of business development at Medicine Hat College.