MCP #1: Art of Coaching

Random comment battles disinterest me. Often the threads are filled with excessive, impulsive replies where the parties end up no longer hearing (accurately reading) each other. Instead of learning from each other they mutate into text attacks. Devolution. Ruins the spirit of debate.?

But….I have seen enough of the recruiters in the digital square over the past few months to become interested in healthy debate.?

In this article, my sleeves are rolled; I’m available to debate-war with the recruiters who look down upon the coaching art as inferior to their profession.?

My suspicion is these recruiters have only encountered fraudulent or sub-par coaches, or developed some coach caricature independently.?

Their position is coaches are useless because they never recruited (most don’t recruit but that’s not required to be a solid coach). I propose based on the commentary they never experienced the coaching art or studied exactly what it entails and this partly leads to the misconception.

So I will offer insight to the contrary. As someone who coached people in organizational life, as a private practice, in the dojang and experience on the HR-screening side, ask questions or feel free to comment on this series that focuses on the pure art of coaching. I’ll respond in good faith.

Beware: if you decide to attack, please prepare a thorough case or I’m going to destroy your position.

This series won’t totally focus on recruiters but I think it’s important to initially demystify the art and present some of what it is, isn’t and its skill set for anyone interested in exploring coaching as a profession.?

Point 1 - Coaching isn’t recruiting. They’re two different professions with differing skill sets.?

They can work in unison within a single individual but don’t have to. Some recruiters have been inspired to want to work with people on a deeper, less transactional level so they venture into coaching. Vice versa.?

Because they have different aims, a client could work with a recruiter and a coach simultaneously towards a goal.

Point 2 - Coaching is about discovery. In a coaching relationship, the coach and client discover while the coach uses skills to help the client uncover.

Uncover what? Their goals, interests, barriers, the foundational reason for wanting to do what they hired the coach for.?

Many people don’t know how to articulate exactly what they want, why they want it or develop a plan to go after it. Remember I said “articulate,” not even the stage of actually taking action yet. They need support to discover these aspects whether from a course, a coach, independent introspection or some other avenue. With better clarity they’re better positioned to take action.

Point 3 - The coach’s art is a mirror to help the client see what the coach may already see.

The coach could see plenty, an abundance, but if the client doesn’t see there’s no progress.?

See what exactly? Their own strength and convictions. Their ability to break through the barriers holding them back.?

When you have a client who is afraid to apply for a role, it’s the coaching skill that infuses the appropriate communication and energy so the client realizes why the fear is there and sources their own confidence to do it. A deep dive inside to extract it, because it’s there.?

Attempts to circumvent this process and do it for them robs the client of the necessary journey to their strength.

When they do it, that accomplishment marks a ceiling destroyed. The client viscerally gains a sense of their inner power. Now they can handle bigger obstacles. On to the next.?

This may take 1 meeting or several. I have a pre-client right now with an assignment to answer a few self-discovery questions. She needs up to 3 weeks to work them through, per her request. The coach’s art is patient, remembering it’s not about the coach’s imperative but the client’s readiness.

Point 4 - Coaching isn’t sourcing. It’s about empowerment.

Using tools and techniques, well-articulated questions a coach is able to help a client equip themselves with what they had all along internally but couldn’t recognize it. Resource-wise, they can guide, provide but never do the total work for the client.?

Point 5 - Coaching is about challenge.

You don’t hire a coach to do the work for you. That’s a personal assistant. You hire a coach because they have a certain insight to perceive angles you’re missing and can challenge you to step up to breaking through comfort zones.

You have the volition to choose to take on the challenge or not. The client owns the results and this is one of the areas where I think people have angst against coaches.?

The assumption is the coach is to make the client do something when that’s incorrect. In reality no coach, consultant, counselor or recruiter can make a client do anything. The client’s responsibility in the relationship is to take action and be accountable.?

Imagine: Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant at a press conference blaming Phil Jackson for not winning a championship because he’s the coach. When they lost, they invested time and effort to discover how to further improve with him.

Point 6 - Coaching is diverse and warrants knowledge expansion.

A well-versed coach will become a student of their industry. Coaching’s versatility enables someone to become a coach in many industries. Skilled coaches can take on a mentor role, consultancy, teaching, counseling and know how to fuse elements of those different professions into their work.?

My training cohort involved universal coaching skills; some of my peers went into their private practices immediately full-time, some focused in the finance industry and sales, others workshopped their coaching skills as facilitators. I combined mine with teaching experiences from martial arts training and applied them in the career-education realm.?

The coaching art is so diverse that it spans beyond the professional and into personal life. Skills gained can make you a better listener, less self-absorbed and a more effective communicator.?

Think of the last time you had an enlivened, energized conversation where you could talk for hours. Coaching skills can make that a regularity. ?

Some coaches have niches based on their strengths. Some focus on helping to increase confidence. Some on presentation skills. Some on career development. Some want you to be at a certain level before working with them.?

Some coaches will fire you, the client, if you don’t step up to your responsibility in the relationship.?They'll tell you this directly and build it into the coaching contract.

Point 7 - Coaching isn’t primarily about the coach.

That means governing one’s ego and meeting the client where they are, intuiting how to proceed, striking a harmony between taking action and exploration. Curiosity in a coach is a must.

For the skillful coach, detachment from the outcome is paramount; the experience isn’t about what the coach wants to happen but what the client signals they want and the need underneath in the moment. The coach works to uncover true motivations and reflects them to the client.?

Each person arrives to a coaching experience with their individual palette. Includes skills, abilities, desires and barriers.?

Uncovering is so important because you can take all the action on behalf of a client and they still won’t make a move unless they’ve conquered that level 1 hesitation holding them back. The process is part of the journey.?

Through listening and focusing on the client, the coach learns how to deliver challenges where action is needed.?

Apply to those jobs. Use that networking technique. Check out these events. Coaching skill reveals right timing for these.

Point 8 - Coaching involves many skills.

There are some 50+ skills a coach develops in their profession with training organizations concentrating on less or more depending on their niche.?

This series will give attention to these skills.

Trent Rhodes is an autodidact, career development leader, polymath writer & educator. With a passion for martial arts, tea and tech, he's an avid reader and writes on topics bridging futuristic career education and self-directed learning. Discover more of his work on his blog,?Crown of Mind?and?MasterLearn.