What is the DNA of a Coach? This has been in my head for last few days. Here is an attempt to shift from head to here!
C : It has to be ‘Coaching’. Not training, telling, advising, mentoring, counseling, delegating, instructing, or any variant thereof. Coaching starts with the awareness the coachee is complete. He has solutions to all problems, clarity for all situations. The coach is just there to co-create with the coachee a future that s/he wants to manifest. For the coach, it is coaching from a state of Being, beyond the science and art of the
O : Outcome is integral to the coaching process. The goal (GROW model) is both for overall engagement over a period of time and also for every individual sessions. Session-outcome makes coaching different from a ‘coffee-table discussion’ (transactional) vis-a-vis a transformational shift. Why settle for anything less? Goal clarification is one of most important part of a coaching conversation. As Sir John Whitmore would add, the goal has to be not only SMART, but also CLEAR & PURE. I always love to add it has to move from #Head2Heart! Head/mind comes with its ego, whereas at heart-level, it is unconditional love.
A : Like a goal or outcome, Action is another unique, powerful feature of coaching. It is the way forward to a state of customer’s choice. Based on where client wants to go, at a pace of his/her choice. The destination & the journey are the client’s choice, still outside comfort zone. Challenging is a key competency at this stage. ‘Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader’
C : Second ‘C’ has to be ‘client-specific’. I have spent a lifetime trying to discover the beautiful space of being client centric. Here the coach has no choice to be focused on the client, in totality. That alone guarantees the purest form of coaching.
H : My first thought for this stage was the shift from ‘What to Who’. Perhaps that came from my analytical mind! Reflecting deeper, felt it has to be ‘Head2Heart’. This is the journey for the client. From everything that head is, to heart. At a powerful confluence of IQ, EQ and SQ.
Be a Coach… Coach from a state of Being! Bliss guaranteed, for Coachee