Straight from the heart, here’s what you need to be a coach. Just three things: competence, caring and capability. Do you have them? Can you get them? If not, set down the study guide from that online program “ become a master coach in 36 hours for $397,” and be glad you did.
Coaching Demands Competence
Of all the strengths you would like to have in the surgeon who is about to perform open-heart surgery on YOU, wouldn’t competence be right up there at the top of your list? You bet your sweet heart it would. It’s the same with coaching. If you don’t have a mastery of accountability, strategy and assessment coaching, don’t you dare call yourself a Master Coach. And if you haven’t a mastery of your primary area of coaching application – startup businesses, executive leadership, relationships, health, et cetera, then don’t dare to call yourself a Master Coach. Because what you need to be a coach comes down to knowing what the hell you are doing.
Caring that Goes beyond “Feeling Good” Is also what You Need To Be a Coach
The second requirement of coaching is caring. Caring that goes beyond feeling good. Tough caring, as in tough love. Caring that drives your motivation. And the sincerity which makes your tough message irresistible. It is easy to let your client off the hook. It is also, perhaps, the worst thing that you can possibly do for them. Coaching is based on the idea that each human being is capable of greatness, with an equally great impact on those around them and on the rest of the world, as well.
Finally, There Is the Element of Capability
So finally what you need to be a coach comes down to your capability to combine your competence with your caring to embrace your client’s aspirations. You must believe in them when they do not believe in themselves and you must help them step beyond their own needs and self-limiting beliefs to achieve their dreams. Now if you don’t have this capability, don’t bother to become a coach, because you might just do far more harm than good.
Dave Iuppa
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach
Hi Dave,
Great post and I’m a life transformation coach and can attest to all the qualities you have listed as must have! I find that there are alot of people jumping into the coaching business without these qualities and giving the industry a bad name because of it.