Oh Gosh… what happened? Here I am 30 minutes down the start of the event and already bored… Coaching myself, I open my mind, looking for new learning and make it another 60 minutes and you know what? I am still bored, bored to sleep now. Did I misread the title of this one day seminar on coaching as being “one day of poor motivational speaking”? Did I miss an announcement and find myself in the first hour of the latest reality TV show “Coach me till I sleep”? Oh yes, I am hypnotized… hypnotized for not coming back soon.
It’s a fact; the success of coaching could become its downfall and it would not be the first –and last time- that a similar course of event takes place where a great idea is being misused and misinterpreted to the point of only being known for its downfall. Recently again I met someone going through a period of soul searching -you know that classic walk: feeling trapped at work, regular headaches, lack of motivation, decrease of energy, and on and on- and as this person goes through a few coaching sessions with a big WOW moment, headaches disappearing, energy climbing back up… suddenly all that person can think about is about becoming a coach. To be honest, becoming a coach means more than a few WOW moments and unless your objective is truly to help people becoming invisible in doing so, it’s better to pass on. Yes you read it right, invisible! Simple, a great coach facilitates magic and “fades” in the process. This step, of “fading” in the process, is actually really important since it does help the coachee to take ownership and strengthen the confidence in one-self being built.
Now, we know everything had a starting point, and by going back to starting points we can stream the information of any man-made or fashion-like interpretation to find back initial facts. One initial fact about coaching is the fact that the concept comes from the world of sports. And in the world of sports, when your trainer spends its times telling you “this is how I used to do my kick” and “this is where I will be playing next season”, and “Gosh I am good” while you are the one spinning on the ice… there is no hesitation, you will be changing trainer before counting one, two, three. A good sports coach may not be a winner of top competitions but is extremely good at listening, seeing, challenging, finding best tips, exercises or pieces of information, and providing an extremely strong support to the athlete. If in addition the coach is a recognized athlete, the better, he or she can also become a great role model. But the one creating the magic, using mind, body and muscle, is you, the athlete.
As a mind coach, similar to a sport coach, I am an agent of change and an agent of growth and I am happy when I find myself facilitating magic. Now I will put a lot of work into facilitating that magic, the same way that I will put a lot of work in ensuring that coaching is about creating spiral of growth, and that is my magic.
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