Being a good coach and leadership expert is both an art and a science. The science part of being a coaching and leadership expert can be taught in programs and classes. Learning theories, skills, techniques, and exercises are all part of the science of coaching and can be absorbed intellectually by almost everyone. However, there is more to coaching than theories, skills, techniques, and exercises.

The Art of Coaching

If you give two people the same number of guitar lessons with the same teacher and the same content, you will not produce two guitar players who are the same, or even at the same proficiency level. One of the students will get better more quickly because there is an art to music. The same can be said for coach and leadership skills. Art is intuitive, skill is mechanical. Art is something innate that is nurtured, skill is something learned that is developed. Skill is the execution of a theory while art is the execution of a theory using instinctive and intrinsic traits causing a positive result. In coaching, skill would be designing a session with a client that involves techniques and theories you have learned and then executing that plan in the actual session. The art would be in communicating the plan to a client and helping the client absorb, believe, and see the value of what you have designed.

Coach and Leadership Science and Art

Combining the science of coaching with the art of coaching is what makes a truly phenomenal coach. Just as most anyone could learn to play a guitar and even be proficient enough to play in a band if they worked diligently enough, not everyone would become a guitar virtuoso. There are countless numbers of three-chord teenage garage band guitarists, but very few who play with the innate and interpretive ability of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, or B.B. King.

Though the ultimate goal in coaching programs and schools is to not create or discover the next Jimi Hendrix, it is to create the best coach by combining the art and science of coaching. This is done by developing the innate and intuitive talents of each student and then providing them with the tools of the trade. Likewise, leadership programs seek to nurture the innate ability of each individual to become a leader and merge this with powerful leadership techniques and skills.

Science – teaching coach and leadership skills. Art – nurturing and cultivating the instinctive talents deep inside each individual.

Where to get Coach and Leadership Skills

The first place to find these skills is in the real world, every-day events which we all experience. Whether it is in our personal or professional lives, opportunities to lead and coach ourselves and others appear with regularity. We just need to learn to recognize them and then analyze them so we can them utilize them in our coaching practices.

The second place to learn coach and leadership skills is in the classroom. The class can be brick and mortar or it can be virtual, but becoming involved in a coaching program will enhance your skills and hopefully, bring out innate abilities that were buried deep inside.

Lastly, for experienced coaches, skills can be learned in your practice and from your clients. Coaches must always seek to continue their education, but education does not just mean classrooms, seminars, or workbooks – it also refers to your practice. Learning from your clients may not seem like education, but it many ways, it is the best education you can get!

Hope you took some great value out of this post today! I’d love to hear your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment with your thoughts or questions. And also, you can click on the Twitter button below to retweet this article…Thank you!

Fred Philips
Business Coach
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