Common Traits of a Coach

by Byron and , © 2004 You may find yourself asking what are the common traits of a Coach as you are taking over a Manager position. Here are a list of a few that we have found to be the common ones.

Be future focused
You must be able to paint a picture of what the future looks like. Create a vision that everyone strives for. Your vision helps set the direction for the team.
"Vision is the art of seeing things invisible."
Wisdom from Jonathan Swift

Believe in yourself
Self-confidence and a belief in yourself is a must. To instill confidence in others, you first must have confidence in yourself. In order to admit mistakes, you first have to have confidence in yourself.
?I think there is something, more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision.?
Wisdom from W. Clement Stone

Develop leadership skills in everyone you work with
You need to have an understand that everyone you work with needs some level of leadership skills, and, you need to work to develop and enhance those skills in people. Tomorrows world will dictate faster decisions, and more competition. You need everyone to use their leadership skills with the customers they are working with. The days of one leader are gone!
"Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it?s amazing what they can accomplish."
Wisdom from Sam Walton




Communication skills
You may say that communication skills have always been critical. As a coach, however, your communication skills have to be superior. Your verbal communications skills have to be mastered so that your messages are clear, to the point, and allows no confusion. Even at the best of times, our messages can be misunderstood. The art of story telling is an excellent way to communicate change and the reasons why change is necesary. People need to hear your message and understand the impact it has on them as an individual, to the team, and to the overall corporation. In a coaching role, perhaps the most critical skill you require to effectively coach your team is listening skills. Unfortunately we do not get a lot of training on listening skills. You must learn to listen. Let your staff express ideas and challenges they face. You need to facilitate the discussion helping them explore ideas and work on solutions to meet their challenges. Often times, we are tempted to solve their problems for them (it is faster). People will not learn, however, if they do not work through the process.

Understanding of change and how people react to it
Change affects people in different ways. Some grab on to it and others hang on to old ways, resisting change. You need to have an appreciation of this to help individuals move through change.

"To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what they have already achieved, but at what they aspire to do."
Wisdom from Kahlil Gibran

Motivation
As we all know, every team faces its challenges, there are times when things just don?t go the way we have planned. You must be able to motivate people by helping them see where they went wrong, yet allowing them to learn from their mistakes. It is important to understand that motivation comes from within a person, it is not something you can develop in people. So how can a coach be a motivator? First, you yourself must be motivated. How do you react to change, how do you react when things do not go as planned, how do you react when mistakes happen? Your motivation will help your team stay motivated.
"Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement."
Wisdom from Henry Ford

At times, we all become overwhelmed. An effective coach, however, has to be able to help people see the end goal, to take one step at a time, rather than being overwhelmed by the issues. It is your responsibility, as a coach, to ensure people have the skills and tools to excel. You can teach people technical information, you can provide training, but if people are not motivated then you will not achieve success. Motivated staff can not be duplicated by your business competition!


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