Our culture has seen a significant increase in the use of coaches. In addition, there has been a significant increase in the different types of coaches. When people use the term coach, we typically think of a sports coach. This entry will discuss the essential characteristics that are necessary for the coach and the “coachee” to achieve the desired goals.
Many people would like to be a coach. Everyone thinks they have the skills to be a coach. Unfortunately many individuals that find themselves in the coaching role or desire to be a coach will never be successful in that role. There are four key areas that a successful coach must have:
• Knowledge
• Experience
• Ability to inspire
• Ability to teach
When it comes to coaching knowledge, there are two types of knowledge that can be addressed: 1) learned or book knowledge, 2) practical knowledge (which is typically gained through experience.) To adequately coach another individual, practical knowledge is more essential. The coach must be versed with techniques and formal knowledge which typically comes from the educational/learning environment. If a coach only possesses learned knowledge, he may be accused of the ivory tower syndrome.
A coach that does not have the experience will have difficulty providing the key wisdom and counsel along with the practical application to the student. Do you remember the Charlie Brown cartoon where Charlie Brown is teaching someone how to stand on their head? Linus comes up to Charlie brown and questions him saying, “Charlie Brown, how can you teach someone to stand on their head when you can’t do it yourself?” Charlie Brown replies, “Those who can’t do, teach.” Now I realize that this is an offensive statement, but in all forms of humor there's some underlying truth. A coach without the experience will not be as successful. It is important to note that some successful coaches can replace other types of experience for the task that they are coaching and be just as successful. This is one of the reasons that major corporations will hire a CEO from outside of their specific industry.
The ability to inspire other individuals is essential. A coach that cannot inspire other people to action is at a severe disadvantage. About the only individual that will work well with this type of coach is the person that is 100% self motivated. The vast majority of people do not have the skill set to continually motivate themselves all the time.
A coach must have the skill to transfer their knowledge and their experience to the person that they are coaching. In essence they must be an outstanding teacher. If a coach cannot teach, they will fail miserably. This ability to teach others also means the ability to understand that each individual has different learning styles. A one dimensional coach that continually uses the same approach will eventually fail.
As we consider these four attributes, all of them are essential for the coach to be successful. However the last two characteristics: inspiration and teaching ability are an absolute necessity. The next characteristic is experience. The last item is knowledge. Remember that practical knowledge is more important than formal knowledge. One caveat needs to be mentioned. There are certain professions like Physicians, Attorneys, or Tax CPAs, where the formal knowledge is an absolute necessity. Otherwise most non technical positions can be coached with experience or practical knowledge.
Now we will consider the person that is to be coached. There are also a set of characteristics that are essential for this individual to be successful. The four characteristics are:
• Desire
• Practice
• Ability
• Coachability
Any student that does not have the desire to accomplish the goal will most likely fail. Each student must understand that the accomplishment of a goal begins with one thing and one thing only - their decision to make a change. Without desire, a goal just remains a dream.
The next characteristic is practice. Whether it is a student doing their homework, an athlete preparing for a game or a match, or an executive preparing for a board meeting or a negotiation process, practice is a must. It is important to note that each person chooses to practice in a variety of ways dependent on their individual style. It is rare that a person can achieve a specific goal without spending the time practicing.
The student must have the ability to accomplish the goal. This is not to put a limit on the individual. However there are times when individuals are placed in positions that the only logical outcome is failure. They fail because the task or the goal is so far beyond their ability. Therefore it is essential for the student and the coach to recognize the ability as well as the untapped ability to make sure that any goal selected is within the reach of the individual.
The last characteristic is the student’s coachability. If the student is not willing to listen to other individuals, to take advice from other individuals, to listen to criticism from other individuals, he will have a difficult time being successful. Anyone who invests time coaching other people knows the pleasure of a student or an athlete that is coachable. It is very typical that when the coach describes this individual to other people he will state that the student, the athlete or the executive is wonderful because they are coachable.
If you would like to make a self assessment of your coaching skills or your ability to be coached, take the four key characteristics under either section, and rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 would indicate excellence in the particular characteristic; a 1 would indicate very bad performance. Also imagine how another individual of your choice would rate you on the same characteristics. Many times when we put ourselves in the shoes of someone else and envision their rating of us, we will see a natural difference. Sometimes it's more important to understand what we believe are the perceptions of others as opposed to our own self assessment. For any item that you wish to improve upon, I recommend that you take the following three steps:
1) list one thing that you will do to improve this area over the next 30 days,
2) list one thing that you will do to improve this area over the next 60 days,
3) and finally list one thing that you will do to improve this area over the next 90 days.
As a result your coaching skills or your ability to be coached should improve in the very near future.
© 2010 - Jim Lindell