So You Want To BE a Great Coach?

 What makes a human great?

What are the qualities of a successful man?

What are the outstanding characteristics of amazing women?

What are the habits of extremely successful people?

What are the qualities of a great coach?

Aah, these are questions planted deeply in the belief that humans have the potential to be great beings if they acquire, develop and consistently practice certain qualities, characteristics and habits (Steven Covey’s 7 Habits comes to mind). And where are the answers to these questions to be found? The three usual suspects are men and women, past and present, whom we deem great and successful (imitate them), great philosophies and schools of thought (understand and live by the key thoughts propounded) and religious books (obey divine guidance on the subject). I find answers vary, the principles and characteristics suggested abundant and the underlying basis is the belief that when certain values are embraced, we become better people.

Now, with this in mind, where do we find the answer to this question: What are the principles practiced and promoted by great coaches?

We need not wonder far or fear failing to discover the answer. Web-Torial #3 gave us a head start – Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success and Coach Mel’s 7 Principles of a Great Coach.

 

Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success

Who is Coach Wooden and what is the Pyramid of Success?

I first heard of Coach Wooden a few years ago from one of my earliest stranger-mentors (people who indirectly mentored me via their books, videos, podcast etc. without me having an opportunity to develop a personal relationship with them), John Maxwell, who just raved about Coach Wooden, who incidentally was one of his most influential mentors. I then read up a bit about Coach Wooden and his Pyramid and binged on Maxwell’s videos related to Coach John Wooden.

Coach John Wooden is one of America’s greatest basketball coach (if not the greatest) who led his teams to countless record-setting championships but as we saw in a video during our online tutorial, he is remembered not only as a sports coach but a teacher who transformed the lives of his players and countless others who knew him directly or indirectly. He identified characteristics and traits that helped define a successful person (Wooden’s definition of success in itself is a transformative idea: Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming), narrowing the list to 25 common behaviors that he used to create his iconic Pyramid of Success.

This Pyramid serves as a roadmap for individual and team excellence, a collection of life principles to being a better person. These timeless principles provides a guided approach to living a meaningful and fruitful life, powerful enough to create champions and change lives. The characteristics presented in the form of a pyramid highlight the basic qualities one must have that serve as a solid foundation for other traits to stand on, finally narrowing it down at the top with Competitive Greatness – being your best when your best is called for. The formation and strengthening of each trait, block by block helps create a person with a champion mindset and a life that supports such a lofty purpose.

In our online tutorial, Coach Colin did his best to introduce the Pyramid and explain each trait succinctly, ending with a question (I am paraphrasing his words here) – “What one word from the Pyramid will you start with to anchor yourself as a coach?”

Industriousness. Not only is it the first trait in Wooden’s list, it also serves as a vital cornerstone, a must have. I believe in beginning at the beginning, so the obvious character to anchor me as a coach is Industriousness.

But that is not the ‘right from the heart’ reason. It goes deeper. In a conversation with a former colleague, she accidentally revealed that a complaint about me in where I worked then was that I was lazy. There are so many emotional reactions bursting out even now wanting to explain and/or defend myself but that’s for another day. For now let’s say may the intentional selection of Industriousness address this accusation, giving it no place in my new page in life as a coach.

I must say that the definition provide by coach Wooden is also a great help. Yes, the word means hard work but its work based on careful planning. Hard work in itself is not what coach Wooden was advocating but Smart Work. Looking forward to learning all that is necessary in this accreditation course so that I will not only work hard as a coach but work smart, guided by careful planning based on what I have learnt.

Lastly, while we are on this subject, here is a list of questions I have for me to ponder in the coming days and I would like to invite my fellow course mates to consider them too:

• How is a coach who is living/guided by the Pyramid looks like?
• What does he do (daily, habitually) to develop these traits?
• During a coaching session, how are these traits manifested?
• What are some habit-creating practices to I could download and run in my life?

 

Coach Mel’s 7 Principles of a Great Coach

Who is Coach Mel and what is the 7 Principles of a Great Coach?

I found Coach Mel recently on LinkedIn, where he had posted an invitation for those interested in coaching to book a 30 minute Zoom talk with him on the matter. I was at a stage in my life where I was wondering if coaching was the next chapter in my life and so I set up a date with him. I was surprised and delighted to discover he was a fellow Malaysian and living in my dream city, Melbourne. Our conversation sparked a series of events that eventually led me to sign up for the Catalyst Coach Certification program.

Coach Mel is the founder of Catalyst Coach, a movement that seeks to ‘equip 10,000 Coaches over the next 20 years – who will in turn Ignite 10 Million to reach their full potential.’ Indeed, the very essence of a catalyst is to be a person who precipitates change, who functions as a conduit of transformation. It is then no surprise that Coach Mel, drawing for his many years of experience as a coach, identified and listed 7 Principles he believes every great coach will need to have, what every coach will need to believe and practice to become one of the 10,000 coaches he intends to equip as precipitators of change. I believe only when one is clear what is required to produce the desired result can one consciously and effectively create ones dream. With Coach Mel’s 7 Principles as a guide, the creation of great coaches who will spearhead the transformation of lives is now a possibility.

Coach Colin rose up to the occasion to introduce the 7 Principles and took time to explain each principle in detail ending with a question (again I paraphrase his words) – Which of these principles will you use as an anchor in your coaching journey?

My answer without a doubt would be Principle #7 BE the coach. This was a no-brainer for me as I am a strong believer and proponent of the idea who you believe you are determines what you do. Only when you believe you are a coach you will begin to act as a coach. To BE the coach is to manifest all the other six principles (that represent what a great coach believes and does) but to BE a coach, you must see yourself as a coach, believing and acting in sync with this new identity to have selected for yourself.

Several years ago I was stuck in my business as an English tutor. I fail to extend my performance beyond what I had been offering my students and there was a slow drop in number of students signing up. I then came across some articles about super tutors in England and Singapore and I saw myself as one of them – I was doing much of what these super tutors were doing and having the same results too. I wondered if I could be a super tutor too, failing to realize I was potentially one! My coach challenged me to BE a super tutor and to introduce myself as one. It was so difficult and awkward to say, “Hi, I am an English super tutor.” It felt so wrong, I felt like I was lying, I felt like an impostor. But I persisted. Guess what? I became comfortable with my identity, began to change how I dressed, taught my students . . . I transformed into who I potentially could be.

So it is with coaching. Hi, I am a coach. When I sit with you I am a coach and will be all a coach is to you.  It is my selected identity, who I am today. It is only in the being are we able to excel in the doing. As a coach, I naturally find myself asking, “What does a coach do” and the answer is obvious – the other 6 principles.

So, while we are on this subject, here is a list of questions I have for me to ponder in the coming days and I would like to invite my fellow course mates to consider them too:

• How is a coach who is living/guided by the 7 Principles looks like?
• What does she do (daily, habitually) to develop these traits?
• During a coaching session, how are these traits manifested?
• What are some habit-creating practices to I could download and run in my life?