In today’s extremely demanding workplace, we need more coaches that ever before. If your goal is to assist others improve their ability to accomplish a specific task, then your role is to coach. Coaches will pass along knowledge, but that isn’t really the main thrust of a coach. The coach’s real mission is to help the person they are coaching become more talented at performing. In short, coaches inspire people and teams to higher levels of excellence. They are great observers of behaviour and have gained knowledge & skill in a particular subject matter.

The WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) in Coaching.

1. Coaching is a time honoured and highly respected activity.
2. When coaching, the coach draws upon his or her own potential, experience and knowledge. By doing so they gain additional insights.
3. Coaching is (typically) done during the activity, hence it is much like managing in real time.
4. Coaching builds confidence in the person being coached, and in the coach.
5. Coaching activities set up an expectation of being successful.
6. Coaching helps people become competent at what they do. It is competence that leads to higher levels of performance.
7. Coaches and the people being coached establish very strong bonds.
8. Coaching transforms the way people think and work together.
9. Coaches earn a tremendous amount of personal pride when one of their people achieves great things.
10. You owe it to all of the coaches in your life that helped you, now it is your turn.

There are also benefits for the organization. First of all, there can be a reduction in turnover. When people are learning, growing and being challenged, it is less likely that they will become dissatisfied and leave. Second, effective coaching results in a more skilled and competence workforce.

One of my great coaches in life, Allan Hobson, used to tell me that in order to be successful in business you needed three things: money, ideas, and good people. Then he’d go on to say, "actually you don’t need money, because if you have good ideas you’ll get the money you need". Then he’d say, "frankly you don’t need good ideas either, because if you have good people you get good ideas. So, it comes down to having good people". Coaching then, can help you develop good people, the essential ingredient to being successful.

Coaching is a personal skill and a very powerful tool in developing people. Coaching is, however, a process that you need to learn and practice. Here are the essential steps in coaching:

1. Set goals and expectations. For yourself and the person you are coaching. It truly is powerful to all parties involved in a coaching situation to have a "picture of success".
2. Contract for learning. Having a candid conversation between you, as the coach, and the person involved is an important step in the process. This is the step that both of you come to terms with how you will work with one another.
3. Observe performance. Using your observation skills make notes as to the person’s knowledge and skill, including their willingness and confidence. Identify the barriers that may be limiting performance.
4. Constructive feedback. Feedback is both a process and an art. Great coaches focus their feedback on specific behaviours not on the personality of the individual.
5. Coaching. This is the telling, showing and demonstrating part of the process. When coaching those who may actually be better than the coach at a particular activity, then this coaching step focuses on providing recommendations that move the person to higher levels of proficiency.
6. Measure and evaluate results. Verification and validation that the person is performing at a higher level is how coaches truly determine if they have been successful.
7. Reward and recognize. Actually rewarding and recognizing improvements should be occurring throughout the coaching process. None-the-less, rewarding and recognizing i.e., celebrating that success has been achieved helps both parties "move on" to the next challenge.

Do you really have a choice not to coach? I don’t think so. The WIIFM is simple, higher skill and proficiency for you and higher skill, proficiency and competence in those that you coach.

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Copyright 2000 © Sid Ridgley