Tom Landry once said "A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who gets you to see what you don't want to see so that you can become the person you always wanted to be."

There are close parallels between the work of coaches hired by elite athletes and those hired by men and women wanting to achieve 'gold' in their own lives. The olympic coach does not, and often is not, able to do her clients' work on their behalf but nevertheless draws from them much more then they can achieve alone. In the same way, working with the right coach, the client is able to achieve more, go further and get there faster.

As coaches we often say that coaching is not something which can be described in words, it must be experienced. On one occasion when I was asked to speak on the subject unexpectedly, I followed a few headlines hastily scribbled in the 'little black book' I always carry. Afterwards, some of my audience shared with me that this was the first time they had ever understood exactly what coaching was. To the best of my recollection, this is what I said.

To get a handle on what we mean by 'coaching' let's look at four of its aspects:

i) Who comes to be coached,

ii) Who is the right coach?

iii) What is the process and

iv) What is the coach's role?

Who Comes To Be Coached?

Typically the coaching client is someone with something inside them, something strongly desired, struggling to get out: some significant advance in their business, career or personal life, a new skill to be mastered. Sometimes clients recognise the seeds of greatness within but don't know how to make them germinate, become strong plants, flourish and bear good fruit. Nearly always the coaching client has huge goals. With executive and business clients we may be working on creating a corporate culture which honours our clients' values and produces the bottom line results which were always wanted. Another focus might be increased sales, productivity or profitability, to improve interpersonal skills, be a better manager,to reduce staff turnover or increase customer loyalty.

Very often the personal client is seeking more of something - perhaps life balance, a more fulfilling life, more peace, better relationships at work and beyond and yes, we do address money too!

Most importantly, regardless of the focus of the relationship, the client recognises that with this catalyst called coach, he or she can go further and get there faster.

Who Is The Right Coach?

For you to dare to recognise, name, achieve, meet and exceed the goals which are uniquely right for you, it is crucial that your relationship with your coach includes a special synergy. There must be mutual respect. I would even say that coach and client must like each other. Coaching involves posing the tough questions that no-one else around you would dare to ask. Your coach must be fearless in doing that and able to do so in a way which you are able to accept. The quality of the match is equally important for coach and client; it is so vital that many coaches offer an initial session without charge to evaluate whether the partnership has the interpersonal ingredients necessary for success.

What Is The Process?

The coach client relationship is a partnership. Coaches meet with their clients either individually or in groups, face-to-face or remotely via telephone. Many people ask "But does telephone coaching work?" and my answer is unequivocally affirmative. In my experience the nuances of meaning expressed by characteristics of speech such as voice quality, rythmn, pitch, tone, pause etc more than compensate for body language unseen.

Typically coaching meetings are regularly scheduled, typically three per month for 30, 45 or 60 minutes at a specific time. Some executive clients hire their coaches simply to be available when they have a challenge to discuss and there is no predetermined timetable.

Pure coaching is a process of questioning. But those questions will enable you to see life and work as you've never seen them before. My intuition is incredibly important. I have learned that when a question comes to mind during a coaching session it must be asked. I have found too that my intuition is never wrong ...........and must quickly add that when it is, there's a small pause before the client replies, "No, Martin, that's not it" but then exclaims "But I'll tell you what it is!" The wrong question is close enough to the right one to draw out the insight or revelation needed.

Many coaches have a 'welcome package' including assessments for the client to complete before the first call to ensure that the relationship is accurately focussed from the very start. Following the meeting the coach will usually set fieldwork which the client is free to accept, reject or negotiate. Much rejection will typically lead to the firing of the client by the coach because the required synergy is absent.

The Role of Coach:

Your coach's task is not to elicit a continuing state of euphoria, it is to question, empathise, encourage, support, challenge, share messages, and sometimes provoke. Your coach might work with you and support you while you build a successful corporation, quadruple sales, introduce a new corporate culture, solve some interdepartmental personality clashes, enrich existing relationships, stop smoking, build a healthier eating regime, start an exercise program, develop new friendships, decide which horizons you are comfortable to maintain, which habits to abandon and which new worlds to explore and what it takes to get there. Your coach walks beside you as you develop your plans and implement them, perhaps suggesting specialists to consult along the way. Your coach is someone whose sole objective is to assist you to be the best person you possibly can be, living the life which at the end of the day will leave no regrets about things undone, contributions unmade or people unmet. Why not talk to one today?

(c) MHSawdon May, 2002