Coaching is NOT about teaching others.
It IS about helping others to learn

Coaching takes skill, energy, patience and time.
What should we expect in return?

What we should expect, I believe, is the release and realisation of potential to achieve and the building of capacity to learn.

That is, just as our definition of learning goes way beyond acquiring skills or knowledge, so this expectation goes way beyond showing or teaching someone something.

There are basically 3 key steps in coaching if you see it as a gap-filling process that relates to any content you may wish to address in your self improvement.

The 3 steps are:

1. where are you right now regarding the content?

The first thing a coach will do is some joint diagnosis based on questions such as:

* what can you do? (show me)

* what do you know? (tell me)

* what do you understand? (explain or teach me the crunch bits)

This step gives us a reference point from which we can assess or measure progress and success.

2. where do you want to be?

This will involve questions such as:

* what are you dissatisfied with and want to improve? (move away from)

* why? (what are the risks and benefits and how motivated are you?)

* what is your vision of future success? (what do you need to achieve? - move towards)

3. what is needed to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be?

This often involves questions such as:

* what have you tried so far?

* why didn't it work? (what have you learned from that experience?)

* what other options should you consider?

* what other resources might you use? (e.g. other people's brains and experiences)

* what are you planning to do now? (how might we close the gap? what are the first practical steps we might take that will move you from where you are to where you want to be?)

3 steps and 3 others

The three steps described above need supporting with 3 others that emerge naturally in the process:

* define the coaching content and plan the learning methods.

That is, what new tools and techniques (or knowledge and skills) need to be learned and in what way that bests matches the learners thinking style?.

* DO IT

That is, take the actions needed to close the gap, monitor how well they work (or not), change things in light of the feedback gained, and keep on with determination until it works and new habits have been developed (if at first you don't succeed, try another method).

* help the learner to be in the best state to learn

That is, pay attention to motivation, receptivity, beliefs and values, ownership and thinking.

Be sure to help the learner use all situations as learning opportunities and to ensure double loop learning in all cases.

Be sure to use effective communication skills (including your non verbal communication skills).

Show inspiring leadership and encourage the learner to programme themselves for success (including the use of visualisation techniques).

Coaching is a means to release and realise potential and build learning capacity, both of which are critical success factors in self improvement.
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