What Makes a Good Coach?

What is a coach, anyway?

Before you can understand what makes a good coach, you have to understand what the hell a coach even does. To me,  it's really simple. A coach is someone that helps you acquire a new skill. That's it. That is the game of coaching. What’s funny is that most of us who identify as coaches aren’t actually coaches. Most of the ‘coaches’ I come across are actually teachers. 

Coach versus teacher

I want to paint this picture through a story. Back in the day, when I was in high school, I had this math teacher named Mr. Castle. Mr. Castle was also my wrestling coach. I remember he was teaching us the Pythagorean theorem (or something like that), and I'm struggling to figure out what in the hell I'm doing.  I don't understand how to get the right answer, so I go to him and I say, “Coach, I'm really struggling. I don't know how to get this answer.” He looked me in the eyes and said, “I don't know either, I'm not a math teacher. I'm a history teacher.”

First of all, that was a bald-faced lie. He absolutely was a math teacher. So what did I do?  I went back to my desk, I went over my notes, and for the next 45 minutes, I tried to figure out that problem. I finally came to and I figured it out, and I was never more excited in my life. So how does the story tie into what makes a good coach? 

A teacher would have shown me exactly how to do it, again. Luckily, my coach was a coach and he realized that I already had the skillset. His job was to put me in the right position so that I could discover the answer for myself. That's exactly what he did. 

Combining skillsets

Let's come back to you and your coaching business. What makes a great coach is learning how to ask the right questions so that your people come to the idea themselves. That's number one. Number two,  you have to have the ability to give someone your skillset. If someone works for me, for example, I give them the skills of marketing, sales funnel building, all of these things. If they can't do it without my team after working with us, then we did not do our job. so at the end of the day, you are not just a teacher you are a coach. 

On the flip side of that coin, you need to be a great teacher. Being a great teacher is highlighting certain knowledge that your clients don't already have.  For example, there are people who come to us and have no idea what a funnel is. There are others who come to us and have no idea what marketing or branding consists of. As teachers, we educate them on these concepts. After the education piece is done, we have to put on our coaching hat to ensure that they leave with that skillset and are able to repeat it. 

Remember, coaches, the goal is for your clients to understand the skills and perform the skills without you. That is what makes a great coach. Sound complicated? Let me change your life.

Stay motivated. 

Stay elevated.

Coach