The student must be coachable
I’ve coached a lot of people in my lifetime. I’ve conducted in excess of 20,000 coaching sessions and probably given over one million pieces of feedback. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt as a coach, it’s that little can be achieved unless the student is coachable.
I’ve coached everyday people, sports people and business owners. I’ve coached coaches and leaders. Many have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. A few have achieved nothing at all.
I often reflect on how the same piece of advice can send one person shooting towards success while another person remains in the same place they started. Some people can take one coaching session and multiply their results exponentially, while another person can work for hours, days, weeks on end and never move forward at all.
A good coach will always be determined to help the student create success. A good coach knows how to read the student and how to relate to them to extract the best result. A big part of it is about the coach getting the delivery right for the student, but an even bigger part is about the student being coachable.
A coach will never be able to help the student achieve unless the student is coachable.
A coach can:
- show you where you’re going wrong, but nothing will change unless you’re coachable.
- point out to you how and what needs to change, but nothing will change unless you’re coachable.
- steer you in the right direction, but you will not find your way unless you’re coachable.
You don’t know what you don’t know. A coach’s job is to help you see what you can’t and to guide you to find the solutions you need. A coach’s job is to point you in the right direction and guide you on the right path, but ultimately it’s you who has to take the action and do the work.
And the work will not get done… unless you’re coachable.