No thanks, I have no use for a coach!

It is now more than 20 years since I embarked on my professional adventure as a business coach, and I still feel a certain diffidence towards this profession.?Probably, too many pseudo-professional drifts, more or less supported by adequate preparation and experience, have contributed to making the figure of the coach opaque and his role not very credible.?

The most widespread and, in some ways, natural reasoning is the following: "If I can do something, I don't need a coach. If I can't do it, I need someone to teach me. So what's the point of a coach?" For the more discerning, the misunderstanding between coaching, mentoring, consultancy and training immediately jumps out at you, but the issue goes beyond that. Despite what is not proclaimed in meetings, events and self-referential articles, our corporate culture is strongly linked to the concept of "technical knowledge" and "manual knowledge". In a nutshell, the most common reasoning is: 'he has learnt, therefore he knows how to do. Therefore, it follows that he will do'.

The motivational and implementation component is wholly excluded from any reasoning. Knowledge changes nothing if it is not channelled into a series of behaviours aimed at performance. The relationship between knowing what to do and doing it is anything but immediate and requires a profound modification of oneself. It involves working on one's determination and willpower. It means changing one's behavioural patterns and subjecting them to constant verification. As Marshall Goldsmith reminds us, it requires courage, humility and discipline. It requires a methodological approach of continuous fine-tuning of one's behaviour. It is no longer a question of (just) learning how to do something; it is a question of taking charge of oneself and starting a process of developing skills that can only be developed inwardly. They cannot be acquired just by reading a manual. It quickly becomes apparent that this is not an easy task and that it is almost impossible to do it alone.

A coach is to offer professional support to the coachee in their growth and transformation phase. The coach acts as an external stimulus and keeps the route alive. He works on the coachee's potential and offers a methodological reference that guarantees their client's success. From the initial identification of objectives to all subsequent follow-up phases, the coach constantly monitors the coherence of the path initiated by the client and ensures that the client achieves the set goals. It is this fundamental support that leads to the success of the coachee. So, are you sure you don't need a coach?