Posts tagged coaching qualities
The make up of a modern day coach
Jan 26th
Qualities of a good coach?
Nov 16th
What do you need to consider when looking for a coach to help you, your employees or your business?
Coaching is a popular concept in the business world and in house and external coaches are used extensively across many different industries. As a result one of the most common questions asked is what qualities should we look for in a coach. There is no simple answer to this question as much depends on the chemistry between the coach and the “coachee”.
Having said that there are a number of qualities that help a great coach stand apart from the rest, that are consistently mentioned when people discuss what are the the qualities of a good coach.
I think the following sums it up for me:
“A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.”
Ara Parasheghian
Coaching is about having the ability to help people find solutions for themselves for the situations they face. In order to be successful with this, the qualities most often mentioned are;
- Listen effectively to both verbal and non verbal communication
- Help the individual identify specifically what it is they want to achieve
- Ask the questions which help them devise the plan to help them achieve the goal
- Ask the challenging questions which will help stretch the individuals comfort zone
- Display honesty and integrity. You need to be able tell your client what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear.
- Have a passion for what you do.
- Emotional intelligence – an understanding of the impact you can have on others, and how to adapt your style to best suit the individual you are working with.
Two other quotes which I think are relevant to successful coaching outcomes are:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou
Charles R Swindoll said;
“I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
Everyone can benefit from coaching, it’s just a question of finding the coach that will provide the help and support that will best suit your specific needs.
What are the qualities you value?
What are the qualities of a good coach?
Feb 13th
Was looking at a site (squarewheels.com) today whose author was inviting people to send in some “stupidly simple” coaching ideas. The premise being that many coaching companies like to make a fairly simple process complicated in order to build value in their coaching models.
I find myself agreeing with much of this argument, yes it’s important to listen, yes it’s important to realise what people say often isn’t what they mean and so on; but isn’t the role of a coach to help people understand themselves and the options they have in life/work? We achieve this by asking questions. The more questions we ask, the more the coachee will have to think and come up with answers for themselves.
Is it really that simple?
Anyway, one of the posters came up with a list of 10 qualities that define a “good coach”:
Key descriptors of an IDEAL, SUCCESSFUL coach:
1. Self-Aware – knows their own style/approach well enough to filter their own responses and keep focused on their coachee’s needs.
2. A passion to help others learn, grow, and perform.
3. Competent (versus necessarily expert) on the work content.
4. Exercises and encourages a disciplined approach to the work.
5. Trustworthy – has integrity and can be trusted with the vulnerabilities of the coachee.
6. Motivator/Inspirer – can evoke commitment and energy in others.
7. Persistence – able to persist with questions that move the coachee to discover their own inherent capabilities.
8. Patience. Although closely related to persistence, patience is different in that the coach has to be willing to and has to create the necessary space to let the person being coached develop at his/her capabilities and motivational level.
9. Willing to take a ‘back seat’ on the coachee’s accomplishments.
10. Vision Driven- able to be guided by vision on two levels: the long-term view, based on an assessment of capabilities, of who the coachee can become and the short-term view of the right next steps/challenges to move them forward today.
What do you think?
