Coaching tips

One of my regrets in life is not pursuing leadership coaching more. I kind of liked it, as opposed to mentoring or counseling or pastoring. 

Anyway, I found these tips from this newsletter (courtesy of Josh Spector at For The Interested) and thought they were worth remembering. Plus, they're just good ideas for anyone who deals with people...

How to be a more effective coach:

1. Don't tell clients what to do. Help them figure out what they want and how to get it.

2. Create a framework and take clients through it - don't treat coaching like improv.

3. The answer to your client's problems is in the words they say - but they need you to point it out to them because they can't see it.

4. If you don't aim for a clear destination, you and your client will both get lost along the way.

5. Part of what your client is paying for is your confidence on their behalf.

6. The easiest mistake to make with a client is to take on the wrong one.

7. If you feel your value will be judged based on the amount of time you spend with a client, you're doing it wrong.

8. The more you coach people on problems you've solved for yourself, the stronger a coach you'll be.

9. Start a coaching session with a review of what was implemented from the previous session.

10. End a session with an assignment of something to implement before the next session.

 

Hmm... as I read through that again, I wondered what it might be like if instead of "client" you substituted "child," or "coworker," or "spouse," or "friend," or "student," or "teammate," or...