The Value of a Coach
I can work out on my own. I can workout with a trainer. I can follow a plan given to me by a coach I have trusted for close to a decade now. In the first one, I can be successful but the plan and workout are only as good as I make them. In the second, I probably get the best output but it isn’t mine. Sure, I go harder if someone is right there pushing me but it isn’t mine. The third option combines the best of all worlds for me. The workout and effort are mine but the plan is professional and tested. My results. My effort. My initiative. But I have someone to push me and be accountable to.
That pretty much sums up the learning community in Great Harvest. You can go on your own as long as you use approved wheat. You can follow a path laid out for you in the home office. You can take the best practices from the system, put your personal stamp on them and be off to the races. Choose your path, determine your destiny and execute. With as much or as little help as you need. And, like with exercise, you can change your mind at different stages in the development of your bakery. Early on you can rely on collective wisdom of all that has been accumulated in Great Harvest over the years and as you settle into ownership of your business, put more and more of your personality into the business. As time goes on, peer interaction becomes more important to our bakeries. Learning from each other expands the knowledge of us all.
Something else a coach does is deliver the tough news. They 
challenge us to look at our performance with a critical eye with the goal of let’s keep getting better by identifying weaknesses and fixing them. No one is perfect. Having a coach around to help us is the learning community’s way. The coach can be peer to peer, electronic or from the office. But it is always available.
All of that said, at the end of the day, like working out with or without a trainer, how well a business functions is largely determined by the effort and vision of the owner or leader. Your efforts and your performance are yours. A coach can help but you have to do the work and earn the payoff. That is what owning a Great Harvest is all about.
Who is your coach?
Thanks for reading.
