Elements of a Great Coach
Posted on December 12, 2012 by Edward Rice, One of Thousands of Performance Coaches on Noomii.
Whether you are a sports, business, or public speaking coach, you can follow these principles to become an amazing coach. Austin TX silverpodium.com
Great coaches create great teams and great performers. Unfortunately, most only see the effect of coaches. It would be boring for ESPN to cover a team’s practice drills for two hours. From personal trainers to music teachers to managers (and maybe even public speaking coaches), there are a few traits that stand out the most. Here is the philosophy I follow for what makes a great coach:
Accountability:
The coach cares about your progress by setting goals and setting the expectation that you will be at each session, rehearsal, or workout. The coach follows through on what she promises to you, but then expects you to do the same. Keeping each other accountable builds trust.
Belief in your growth:
Good coaches won’t have a limited mindset. They’ll know that you will keep growing as an athlete or performer. They will set goals to get you there. The coach will be up front with you about where you are, but will also know the path you have to take to meet your long term goals.
Specific Feedback:
“Great job” or “awesome” should be sparingly used by the coach when wanting to improve your performance. They are great words for celebrating a goal, but they don’t work when giving specific feedback. A coach needs to give you objective, non-judgmental, feedback. I lift kettlebells (think of a cannonball with a handle) and my coach will say, “breathe here twice” or “widen your stance.” The feedback tells me exactly what to do rather than a generic “change it” or “that wasn’t good, do it better.”
Modeling:
The coach can show you how to do something the right way during training—the trainer can show you the right posture or the music teacher can play the melody with ease.
Goal Setting and Practice:
Similar to keeping you accountable, your coach shouldn’t plan random practices. Goals should be set and tracked each week. Each practice should begin where the last one ended in order for you to make the most gains possible.
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© Edward Rice, Silver Podium LLC
