Thursday, October 29, 2026
A lot of owners try the wrong format, see no shift, and decide coaching doesn't work for them. Here's what a peer room is actually good for, what 1:1 coaching is actually good for, and a 3-check way to pick.
You took two days off last month. You spent one of them on your phone anyway, answering questions that, if you're honest, your team could have answered themselves — if they'd been allowed to. You know the feeling of walking back in on day three to a pile of decisions waiting, each one too small to justify having been bothered, and large enough, stacked together, that you wonder what you're actually paying people for. You can build a business that runs without you in the room. The fix isn't a better team. It's figuring out whose problem you've been quietly carrying.
In a 1974 Harvard Business Review article still taught today, William Oncken Jr. and Donald Wass described every unresolved problem as a monkey sitting on someone's back. The villain isn't your team's ability. It's the moment someone walks in with a problem and, without either of you quite noticing, the monkey jumps from their back to yours. You say, reasonably, leave it with me, I'll have a think — and congratulate yourself on being a supportive boss. What actually happened is you took on their work, and they walked out lighter while you walked around carrying one more thing nobody else can finish without you.
You don't fix this by working harder at saying yes faster. You fix it by changing what happens in the thirty seconds after someone brings you a problem.
I've had to learn this one the hard way myself. For years I struggled to say no — every yes to someone else's request was a yes to their goal and a no to mine, and I didn't notice how many monkeys I was collecting until my own week was full of other people's problems and none of my own priorities. These days I block my diary until midday Monday and mid-morning Tuesday, every week, for nothing but my own thinking. It's the single change that's protected more of my time than any productivity app ever has.
"Kevin had a no-nonsense approach and tackled the issues head on. Accountability was the key."
— Ashley Berrysmith, Icehouse Coaching Programme
Here's the real obstacle: handing a problem back feels, in the moment, like being unhelpful. It isn't. It's the only thing that actually builds a team capable of solving its own problems instead of forwarding them to you. Most owners know this. Almost none hold the line on day one of trying it, because the first time someone looks stuck, instinct says rescue them. That's exactly where an outside accountability partner earns their keep — not doing the thinking for you, but holding you to the handback when your instinct says take it back.
This isn't for you if being needed for every decision feels like proof you're essential. It's for you if you're ready to build a business that can run a Friday afternoon without a single call to you.
If you can't remember your last real day off, that's usually the first thing we fix together.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
When you are surrounded by your industry, it is hard to see the wood for the trees. Here is why an outside perspective finds growth moves insiders miss, and how US owners can use it.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Small businesses grow at half the rate of big ones, and it is not about budget. Techaisle's 2026 global survey reveals why depth of relationships beats contact count, and how to build your own Dream 10 this week.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Rising revenue feels like proof the business is winning. If your margin is quietly shrinking at the same time, you are growing broke. Here is the three-line check that catches it.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
January feels like the obvious month to commit to a coach. It is actually the worst one. Here is why the owners who get the most out of coaching start in November instead.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Wrong hires are now costing Australian SMEs an estimated 7.3 billion dollars a year. The mistake almost never happens in the interview room. Here is where it actually happens.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Somewhere in your pipeline right now is a buyer whose budget has to be spent before their financial year ends. Here is how to find them before a competitor does.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Most SME marketing budget goes to whichever channel the owner already knows, never the one that would actually work best. Here is the simple test that finds it.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Most strategic plans fail quietly, from an optimism nobody questioned out loud. Here is the 20-minute pre-mortem that finds the weak spot before you commit a dollar to it.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
What a business coach for an NZ food, beverage or FMCG brand should do: price waterfall, real constraint, velocity story and a 90-day plan.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
73% of small business owners feel more confident than ever, yet 57% have flat or falling revenue. Here is the real constraint behind the gap, and the 15-minute test that exposes it.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Most SME owners know their cost per click. Almost none know their true cost to win a customer, because the real costs live in four different spreadsheets nobody has ever combined.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
A pleasant weekly chat and a structured coaching session can look identical from the outside. Here's exactly what should be happening in the room if the second one is real.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Most SME task lists have no visible connection to the goal on the whiteboard. OKRs fix that gap in three simple steps, without turning your week into a spreadsheet exercise.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Giving away a free sample, audit or pilot feels like it removes risk for the prospect. Mostly it just removes their reason to commit. Here's the structure that converts instead.
Monday, October 05, 2026
There is no single best business coach in the USA. Here are five criteria for choosing one, a fair look at the main formats, and why an outside perspective can change what you see in your own business.