An expert from Edinburgh has been named one of the country’s top business coaches after helping owners survive lockdown.

By Stephen Wilkie
Wednesday, 17th February 2021, 7:00 am
Alan Smith named ActionCOACH coach of the year

Alan Smith named ActionCOACH coach of the year

Alan Smith has been voted ActionCOACH’s Coach of the Year for Scotland by his peers, after he saw his client base increase by 30 per cent during the pandemic.

Smith who started coaching seven years ago provides support to small to medium-sized businesses with revenue of £1.5m – £20m, and executive teams.

He said: “I’m passionate about what I do. I put in the hard graft and it is great to get the recognition.
“The awards are nice but it is a great feeling knowing I’m helping business owners, and that’s particularly the case during these extremely difficult times in lockdown.
“It’s also important to me as it was voted for by my colleagues. They are good people doing good things within their client communities. Every day our desire is to go out and genuinely help business owners and their teams to perform so their businesses can thrive.”

Prior to moving into business coaching, Smith held various senior roles in PepsiCo, Cadbury and Mondelez International over a period spanning nearly 20 years. His business has gone from strength to strength.

“I am lucky because I love what I do. I think increasingly people are starting to understand what business coaching actually is and Covid also prompted people to look at their situation and realise that it’s hard on your own. Outside perspective can help.

“Business failure rate is high. From 100 that start out, there will be just four surviving by their tenth year. That’s only survival so we need to look at how to help them thrive and make the impact they want to.

“Helping owners with their mindsets has been a major part of my coaching during lockdown. We have had a massive shock to the system and people need to be thinking the right way to deal with these situations. It’s about building up resilience and lifting people back up.

“The client community has been a big thing, too; the need for others to have people around them. Business ownership is a really lonely place and if the people at the top don’t have the support around them then there is a hell of a pressure on these individuals.”