Co-authored by:
Mark Gmach, president and owner of MG-Insights
Kent
Stolt, freelance writer
“A good coach can change a game; a great coach can change a life.”
– John Wooden
How motivated
are you to change your life? How clear are you with your vision of success and
the steps you need to take to get there? What does success look like to you
four weeks from now? Six months from now? In a year?
If you’re
absolutely confident with your answers to these questions – congratulations!
If, however, you’re not so sure, then maybe you should think about connecting
with a professional coach.
Few
will serve you better as a catalyst for change and making your vision a reality
than a good coach, someone with the skill, insight and tools to help you live
the change you desire.
Too
often people look to leaders for inspiring change in themselves when maybe what
they really need is a coach or mentor.
If
you are thinking about getting a coach, here are some more things to consider
Coaching and
Leadership are not necessarily the same thing.
Certainly,
there is room for overlap here – good coaches often have the natural-born
instincts of leadership, but even the best of leaders are not necessarily good
coaches. Therein lies a subtle but
critical distinction.
Leaders,
by definition, stand at the forefront of success. Possessed of vision, insight
and a wealth of life lessons learned, they yearn to cast a vision and inspire
others to reach a common goal.
Coaches
fill a critical but different role at a hands-on level. They ask the right
questions and often unearth the answers found within yourself. They guide. They
teach, as well as inspire. Whether working one-on-one or with a team, they have
the instinctive desire and capability to be a catalyst for enhancing
professional growth and development in others. They are able to channel and
focus an individual’s desire to grow.
Once
thought of only in the context of organized sports, professional coaches are
today found in almost every corner of life: from business, careers and finance
to diet, exercise and relationships. Where there used to be a stigma of
weakness, of remedial learning, attached to being coached, nowadays it’s practically
a badge of honor—you’d be hard-pressed to find a top performer in athletics or
business today who doesn’t employ a coach of some kind.
There are no easy fixes to professional growth and development.
According
to a survey of 140 leading coaches published in the Harvard Business Review in
2009, here are the top three reasons why coaches are engaged:
1.
To develop high
potentials or facilitate transitions.
2.
To act as a
sounding board for ideas
3.
To address
derailing behavior.
The
Harvard report goes on to say, “Executives who get the most out of coaches have
a fierce
desire to learn and grow.” Before engaging with a coach, it has to be
understood that coaches don’t do the work for you; they create a framework for
the work that lies ahead. Coaches don’t get results; they prompt you to get the
results you want. Stated another way, coaches help others find the answers that
were in them all along.
In
the words of legendary basketball coach John Wooden, “Nothing will work unless
you do.”
Good coaching borrows from the disciplines of consulting and
therapy.
Like
choosing any partner, success or failure with a coach depends on the two of you
being a good fit. Reputation, experience and charged rates don’t mean much if
trust and accountability are lacking.
Good
coaches are not necessarily subject matter experts, but they are human behavior
experts. As stated in the Harvard Business Review report, “It (coaching) starts
out with a business bias and inevitably migrates to ‘bigger issues’ such as
life purpose, work/life balance, and becoming a better leader.”
Like
any therapist or consultant, the best coaches strive to understand their
client’s needs and personality. Again, they ask the right questions about who
the client is and what they desire from a coaching relationship. From there
they collaborate with the client to create a game plan, an incremental strategy,
that will help them reach their goals.
Above
all, a coach always puts the client’s vision and best interests first.
The
key to implementing effective behavioral change lies in focusing on the head
and heart, which reveals the how and why behind achieving winning
results. That’s why coaches matter, and that’s why the right coach can change a life.
