How Coaching Applies to Every Conversation- From the Perspective of a 16 Year Old

Although it’s usually associated with just sports and business, coaching can apply to many areas of a person’s life. Essentially any time you talk to other people, you can apply coaching to the interaction. In doing so, your communication will become much more effective, and you’re likely to get what you’re hoping for out of a conversation more often - not just with work colleagues, but with nearly anyone you come across.

Coaching teaches you to convey your ideas clearly and to make sure you understand what the person on the other end of the conversation is saying. When basketball coaches explain a play to their teams, they have to do so with clarity in order to ensure the players do it right. In order to get an employee to improve, managers must be clear about what they expect. For these people, the benefits of effective communication are obvious, but they aren’t the only people who should try to get better at these skills. Everyone should.

Being an expert communicator is one of the most valuable skills a person can have. It can prevent misunderstandings, allow you to win more arguments, and show people how intelligent you are. By learning to coach, you can simultaneously develop these skills without even realizing it.

Coaching also can improve one’s ability to deal with conflict. Inevitably, an employee or a parent of a player will disagree with the decisions made by the person coaching them, and a coach has to be prepared to handle that. Conflicts must be smoothed over without opening another wound, so anger and raised voices are not the solution. The coach’s viewpoints must be calmly and clearly laid out for the dissenter to avoid further argument. Honing this skill can prevent a person from dealing with a conflict anywhere, not just on the basketball court or football field.

While what you learn from coaching may only seem like small lessons in how to improve your business, you get much more out of it incidentally. The communication expertise coaching instills in a person can improve their ability to tackle any conversation, which is why coaching is such an important skill to possess.

Interested in learning more about how to hone your coaching skills? Check out our upcoming, free webinars to get the skills you need:

1. Why Conflict Kills The Workplace and What to Do About It
2. 7 Strategies to Becoming a Great Coach
3. Five Strategies to Time Sensitive Coaching