Are You Ready to Use a Coach?

Determining your readiness is absolutely personal. Only you can know if you are going to be fully engaged in the work you and your coach set out to accomplish. Here are a few things to think about and ask yourself as you weigh your options.

1. What do I want to accomplish?

You may not have pinpoint accuracy on the goal, but you have to be clear enough about the outcome to focus your efforts and resources. Be realistic in your expectations. The greater clarity you have the sooner you get started on making it happen. .

2. How would you describe your commitment to achieving this goal?

Making a change requires resiliency. In a perfect world every goal is met but in our world you have to face and overcome obstacles to attain your goal. Your coach is there to offer support and guide you but you have to climb up or around the barrier. If you’re not ready to persist through the difficulties then you may need to re-evaluate your goal.

3. What is your motivation for taking on this initiative?

If the desire to achieve your goal is fulfilling a lifelong dream or based in a belief that these changes are meaningful and necessary to you there is a far greater likelihood that you will persevere when it gets tough then if you are in this to ‘check the box’. Ultimately if you are not personally invested in the results then no amount of coaching is going to make a significant impact.

4. How much time are you going to set aside for this work? How will you free up additional time if you need to?

You are going to need time to devote to your coach for your coaching conversations. Most of these conclude with your next steps, so you’ll need time to address those as well. If you can’t find the time to shop for groceries or put gas in the car then you need to think about how you will clear time for your coach.

5. Where is the bulk of your attention focused?

We are all juggling busy lives and multi-tasking is the norm. Here’s the thing about coaching, it’s all about you. If you can’t shut off those distractions and dedicate all of your energy to your coaching conversation you won’t get much out of it.

It’s more then just shutting off the BlackBerry and the cell phone. It’s clearing your mind of all the distractions to focus on the conversation at hand. Your attention is a hot commodity that is vital to your own success. You may no think its an issue for you. Have you checked e-mail or been interrupted while reading this article? Have you been skimming because you want the highlights but don’t have time to read it all?

You can’t gloss over the highlights when you are working to build your own insight. You have to dig in.

6. How do you handle honest feedback?

Before you answer take a minute and really consider this. Part of the power of coaching is your coach’s only agenda is yours. That means you get honest feedback, which can be encouraging or hard to handle. Your coach is trying to hurt your feelings or disturb you, but delivering the tough message or asking the tricky questions is part of making a break through. If you feel too fragile to hear the real deal then you may want to reconsider your starting point.

7. How prepared are you to deal with the implications of your insights?

The outcome you are looking for is obviously not what you have now. Reaching that outcome means you need to do things differently. Maybe it’s adding a new step to an old process, or breaking a habit or altering something. Whatever it is, it takes effort on your part to make that change happen. Your coach is there to help you actualize the shift but you must be willing to do the work. Insight alone won’t get you to your goal; you have to put your action plan to work to see results.

8. What resources are available to you?

Your coach is probably one of many resources you’ll need to achieve your goal. Budget and time are a part of the equation but you may also need reinforcing support. This can be anything from temporary staff to assistance from your family and friends. The type of resources depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Without other resources be prepared to take on the brunt of the resistance you’ll encounter.

These are just a few questions to get you thinking. Once you’ve spent a little time considering your own readiness you’ll know if a coach is a good alternative for you. That’s when you can get going on the real work.



Are You Ready to Use a Coach? - To learn more about this author, visit Chris Dawson's Website.

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