By Michael Heah
“Coaching” is just not another word you be so used to hearing of in recent times. In fact, coaches and coaching have been with us for as long as humans have had the desire to improve themselves.
It started with sports, ever since serious-minded sports people found the need to engage sports coaches whom they believed could help them boost their performance for extraordinary results.
In the late 90s, the sports arena was no longer the only domain of coaching. It has entered the non-sports world as well: corporate boardrooms of executives; homes of parents and children as well as private lives of individuals. World-class organizations like Microsoft, International Business Machines Corp, Dell, Kodak and many others have relied on coaching to grow into world-class professionals.
Famous individuals like Peter Drucker and Ken Blanchard have had private coaches too. No wonder all of them have made extraordinary gains in their lives!
In modern days, people need coaches for many reasons; corporations in the 21st century are increasingly competing for higher growth and profits; families are finding it difficult to cope with the demand of modern homes; and individuals are increasingly being exerted with the complexities of professional and social life.
All of them have something in common; they all want richer fulfillment, higher satisfaction, and greater happiness, including achieving their fullest potential in life.
People have found a perfect place for coaches to be in their lives. Depending on their goals, people can have coaches in various fields; business coaches for corporate executives, parental coaches for family members, career coaches for ambitious people, and life skill coaches for people in all walks of life, and so on.
Coaches have one common objective; to break people out of their mindsets and self-limiting beliefs to enjoy the fullest of life in the way they really and always want to be.
People perform well when they receive individualized instead of mass attention. It is highly effective because coaching goes beyond “general information” for improvement.
It is a learning relationship over a period of time. Although you can compare them to tuition teachers or counselors, coaches are many more times what other can do.
In gist, coaches are focused on three key principles when they work with people:
1. See. Either it is a problem or an issue the individual does not see or does not want to see it, a coach uses observation, questioning and listening skills to uncover it, identify it and “confront” the individual with it.
2. Say. The coach uses a high degree of inspiration, motivation and persuasion to get the individual to admit and acknowledge the problem.
3. Do. Instead of intervening, the coach helps “enlighten” the individual to formulate his or her own personal section programme. Then the coach monitors, aligns, motivates and bring back into focus what needs to be done until the result is achieved.
Unlike counseling or training, coaching takes place in a real situation, addressing real issues based on real-time results, without “delaying” the action to a later date and time.
It is a focused relationship with the coach and protégé entering into a mutually healthy relationship to address an agreed issue (or issues) together.
The results are long term as it is the protégé who holds total accountability for improvement.
The coach plays many roles when he or she watches from the sidelines: a facilitator when things get entangled; the conscience when performance slides; a motivator to push for performance; and a friend who celebrates achievement.
People in leadership position ought to be coaches to their constituents. Be it parents to their children, managers to their subordinates, politicians to their electorates or teachers to their students, they can help make a positive difference to people’s lives when they understand and know how powerful coaches can be.