Skillset

Coaching

Help people gain clarity, progress and mastery in their lives through the identification of challenges, self-development potential and difficult decisions.

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I know what is meany by coaching

Coaching is a supportive relationship that helps people resolve challenges that they are experiencing in their lives.

"Coaching isn't therapy. It's product development, with you as the product." - Pete Carroll

I know what a coach is

A coach is a dedicated partner who assists you in clarifying your desired destinations, uncovering the hurdles that stand in your path, and collaboratively develop a strategic approach to accelerate your progress, extend your horizons, and cultivate a more enriching and satisfying existence.

I know what a coach does

At a high level, a coach is focused on:

  1. Understanding the current intentions and priorities of the coachee
  2. Identifying and analyzing what's keeping them from making progress
  3. Offerering input on priorities and ways of thinking based on how they understand the coachee and their intentions
I know when people hire a coach

When people hire a coach, they are looking to improve their own ability to solve their own problems and make progress.

This is a very different mindset from just wanting to have an expert solution applied on their behalf (in which case they would hire a consultant) or I to increase effort and improve operationalization of solving a problem (in which case they would hire an employee or an assistant).

When people are considering hiring a coach, they are usually motivated by one or more of the following intentions:

Ambition

  • Performance: They want to perform at the top of their game.
  • Potential: They want to explore what they're capable of accomplishing.

Purpose

  • Direction: They lack a sense of meaning and direction in their life or work.
  • Strategy: It's unclear to them what success looks like and what they should be optimizing for.

Navigation

  • Transition: They are transitioning into an unfamiliar role or situation with which they would like help to navigate.
  • Clarity: They want to see themselves, their situation, their goals and challenges more clearly.
  • Perspective: They would like to get an outside perspective on themselves and their situation.

Progress

  • Get unstuck: They feel stuck or suspect that they are progressing in a suboptimal manner and want to become more effective and efficient.
  • Focus: They want to make sure they are and remain focused on the right things.
  • Accountability: They want to be held accountable to their own priorities, progress, behaviour and development.

Self development

  • Role/domain mastery: The want to improve their sense of mastery and confidence within a certain role or domain.
  • Gap awareness: They want to be aware of and mindful of their blind spots, competence gaps and knowing-doing gaps.
  • Self development obstacles: They want help from someone from the outside to identify their cognitive and emotional blockers for self development.

Support

  • Sparring: They would like to have their ideas, concerns and approaches battle tested in order to have them validated or rejected.
  • Decision-making: They would like help analyzing and making a complicated or impactful decision. 
  • Loneliness: They would like to be seen, heard and understood for their thoughts, ideas and efforts.
  • Confidant: They are looking for an unbiased party they can share and discuss confidential information with.

Self-relationship

  • Self-knowledge: They want to better understand themselves.
  • Self-awareness: They want to better understand themselves and their own triggers, tendencies, behaviours and priorities (or lack thereof).
  • Permission: The want validation or permission to prioritize self-care and themselves.

Learning

  • Time-sensitive learning: They are busy and don't have the time to attend long and generic educational programs.
  • Relevant learning: They are impatient and want to quickly gain insight particularly relevant to them and their situation.
I know how coaching impacts the coachee

When done right, coaching should have the following impact on the coachee:

Learning

Learn concepts and skills relevant for your situation relevant to better master your domain.

Development

Reflect on and identify your own blind spots and development potential. Be held accountable to your personal development.

Clarity and confidence

Gain clarity into your situation and confidence in what are the approriate approaches, processes and tools for adddressing specific issues.

Progress on obstacles

Systematically break down and address the obstacles that are keeping you from reaching your goals.

I know the different types of coaches

The term "coach" is not a protected title. As a result, the title is used in a multitude of contexts:

Sports coach

Coaches who coach a sports team or individual athletes.

Purist coach

Coaches who consider coaching a profession, and typically hold different types of coaching accreditations or certifications.

Life coach

Coaches who identify aspirations, challenges, and areas for growth, and then provide guidance, support, and accountability to help make positive life changes.

Transition coach

Coaches who coach people through a certain/difficult transition in their lives.

Role coach

Coaches who coach people in mastering or improving within a certain role.

Self help coach

Coaches who help people improve quality and mastery of life.

Leader coach

A leader with a coaching approach to their team.

Domain coach

Subject matter experts who use the coaching approach to help people in solving problems within a certain domain, i.e. agile coaches.

Performance coach

Coaches aimed at helping you realize and unleash your full potential.

Career coach

Coaches who listen to the questions, doubts, and ideas you have about your current role or your future career path.

I know what makes a person more an less coachable

How coachable someone is has direct correlation with flexibility, level of openness and perception.

Here are some of the dimensions which makes a person more and less coachable:

Dimension More coachable Less coachable
Emotional Emotionally secure and robust Emotionally volatile and lack of self regulation
Learning perception Growth mindset Fixed mindset
Problem-solving perception Warrior mindset Victim mindset
Mental conditioning Willingness and ability to explore their blindspots Cognitive and emotional exhaustion when getting into unchartered mental territory
Belief-holding Open to changing their mind (intellectually held beliefs) Belive what they want to belive (emotionally held beliefs)
People-perception Humble (everyone has something to offer me) Arrogant (most people are idiots)
Self-perception Work in progress Identity tied to intellect or performance
Self-reliance Open to receiving support Wanting and valuing to solve their own problems

 

I can coach others 5

Ask: What's on your mind?

  • What's provoking anxiety?
  • What's waking you up at 4 AM?

If you suspect people are holding back, ask "What else?"

  • What's the real challenge here for you?
    • What would provide you with the greatest sense of relief?
    • What are you avoiding the most?

Situation assessment

  • What are you currently focused on?
  • What do you wish you could spend more of your focus on?
  • What's keeping you from focusing on that?

Obstacle reflection

  • What are you looking to do here?
  • What's going on with this? Be specific.
  • What did you try before in a similar situation to this?
  • Why do you think this is happening?
  • What do you feel you should do next?
  • What is the first thing you will do?
  • How will you measure success?
  • What resources will you need?
  • How can I support you?
  • When shall we check in together to monitor progress?

Empowering people

Instead of saying "Do this", say "What if".

Telling people what to do is raising your status, and lowering theirs, by saying "Hey, I have all the answers, and you don't".

When you lower people's status, you strip them of the confidence they need to make their own decisions.

Ask: "If you're saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?"

In other words: If you're deciding to focus on this challenge, how are you going to make space to focus on that challenge?

"The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do."

Being able to analyze the gaps in people's lives means being able to identify and break down in which ways people are not where they want or need to be.

Life gaps can be broken down into:

  • Vision gap: The gap between where they want to be and where they are.
  • Outcome gap: The gap between the quality of outcomes they want to achive and the outcomes they are achieving.
  • Awareness gap: The gap between the mental models, concepts, self knowledge and areas of responsibility they should be aware of and their actual awareness.
  • Mastery gap: The gap between what they should be capable of and what they actually master.
  • Behaviour gap: The gap between what they should be doing and what they are actually doing.
  • Priorities gap: The gap between what they should be prioritizing and what they are actually prioritizing.