How to Coach Others to Greater Success

By Gary Lockwood

What having a personal trainer is to your body, having a coach can be to your mind. People at all stages of professional development need coaches to help them. Chief executives use coaches to bounce ideas around, entrepreneurs use their coach to help them think strategically about the business, and coaches help others sort out career decisions.

You can be a coach to the people around you and help them to achieve their goals faster and easier.

People seek coaches for two basic reasons:

Some people seek coaches to help them find a balance between their personal and professional lives.
Others want coaches to help them become more productive in their business or help increase their business.

People aren't looking for quick answers anymore. They're looking for ways to produce permanent change. A coach is a type of consultant who works with clients to come up with their own changes that are permanent.

Coaches are sounding boards, support systems, cheerleaders and teammates all rolled into one. Bottom line; the task of a coach is helping others realize their full potential.

You need a coach if:

Your business is not performing as well as you want.
You feel you're working harder and are less satisfied.
Your business is doing well and you're getting tired of working so hard.

A coach provides you with a place to get some perspective. A coach is someone who isn't caught up in all the day-to-day stuff and who can see the big picture.

Here are some specific skills required to be an effective coach. As we examine each of them, take stock of your own aptitude in each of these areas.

Questioning skills -- In your role as a coach, one of your most important tasks is to ask questions that cause others to consider possibilities they have not yet explored. Asking relevant questions is like holding up a mirror to their actions and decisions so they can see for themselves whether it is the right thing to do. Ask OPEN questions when you want to engage the other person in conversation. Open questions require more than a word or two to answer. Open questions generally begin with "What" "How" "Who" "When" "Why".

Harmony skills -- verbal and nonverbal behaviors you use to establish rapport and get on the same wavelength as the other person. Harmony skills include:

consciously using and reading body language (theirs and your own)
avoiding jargon that could confuse or alienate others
being open about your feelings enough to seem like a real person
observing behaviors with an open mind, instead of just reacting

Understanding skills -- these are the behaviors you use to help you listen to and understand the other person. Understanding skills include listening without interruption and your ability to use paraphrasing to test your grasp of the message the other person is trying to relay.

Across the board, people are looking to be in touch with what they truly want in life. People are looking for the tools and skills that will help them achieve both a balanced home life and a successful work life.

Personal coaches help people find success in life. Coach someone today.

Gary Lockwood is a business coach who helps business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals to grow their business, make more money and "have more fun." He can be reached at: Office: (800) 272-1575 (USA) ; Fax: (760) 770-0868 ; E-mail: Gary@BizSuccess.com ; Web: http://www.bizsuccess.com

Last updated on June 4, 2002