On being coachable

I have a new sport. Outrigger canoe paddling. I'm on a team. We have a coach. I'm a beginner, which means I do things wrong. I get coached. (Our coach, who can be quite direct in her feedback, likes to joke, "I'm not yelling. I'm coaching!"). I'm enjoying learning something new - which means, being humble and open, and hearing what will make me better.

A big part of being coachable is separating your personal feelings from the feedback. It's not about me, it's about whatever technique I'm trying to learn. Same thing at work - feedback isn't an indictment of my personal value, it's just something I can do better next time.

The Buddhists have a term, Shoshin, which means "Beginner's Mind" - doing things with a humble and open mind, as if you have never done or seen something before. But this frame of mind isn't just for beginners. Here is the coach of Shell Va'a, the Tahitian outrigger canoe team that wins the Molokai Hoe, an 40 mile canoe race across open ocean, from Molokai to Oahu, most every year. These are the best outrigger canoe paddlers IN THE WORLD. Notice what he says about picking his team (at 4:55 in the video), the emphasis on humbleness and willingness to learn.

Being humble and hungry, as he puts it, will take you a long way. Again, this is not just for beginners. Some of the best leaders I know have personal coaches. It can be hard to get outside yourself and get direct feedback, especially if you are in a senior position where nobody wants to challenge you. Find a way to get that feedback, and take it with an open mind.

It's not just about personal performance either - this attitude about work product leads to great products. Jim Fell, who led design for goby, where I was CEO, is a master at this. It always amazed me to see how utterly ego-less he was when getting design feedback, and how aggressively he sought out points of view different than his own. Being open and humble doesn't mean you don't have a point of view - it means you can hear different points of view and integrate what makes sense.

Are you coachable?