Coaching is not telling your employees what to do or providing simple answers to their questions. Coaching is helping your employees discover the answers themselves. It is unlocking an employee's potential to maximize their own performance, helping them to learn rather than teaching them. Coaching is much more time-consuming than giving orders, but is also much more satisfying to both the employee and the manager. 

WHAT MAKES A GOOD COACH?

A good coach is someone: 

• Whose expertise is in working closely with you to help identify the intersection that joins your inner world of fulfillment and your outer world of results.
  
  
• Who does this in such a way as to optimize your ability to merge those elements to create your entire life's experience. 
  
  
• Who will establish a relationship in which there is mutual trust and respect.
  
  
• Who will empower you to become the real difference in your life. 
  
  
• Who has the required expertise in coaching to make the distinctions that give you the new perspectives from which to view and participate in your world in a more satisfying and effective way.
  
  
• Who is able to structure a clear and effective path of practice as a solid framework that will lead to your ongoing growth and success. 

REMEMBER: Commitment to walking this path is a mutual commitment on both our parts. When the initial stated outcomes are not achieved, this may not be the result of my efforts. Realizing your own responsibility for not initially reaching the intended result is what can lead to your most significant breakthroughs. To that end, an effective coach is open to making shifts in his or her approach to support the your growth over any preconceived notions of what you need to make these breakthroughs or what your success "may" look like. You are a unique individual with unique needs so, when necessary, my approach must grow and change to fulfill those specific needs. What makes you unique and special must always be at the front of all my considerations. That you are unique and special must always be at the front of yours.

WHAT METHODS DOES A GOOD COACH USE

The methods for achieving such optimization are many and varied and rely on a deep understanding of what it means to be human. This requires finely honed observation skills, and a facility for clear communication. The methods used are different than those used by a Mentor or a Consultant. 

• The mentor acts as your counselor, providing advice on career paths, development opportunities, and an overview of what it takes to become a leader in the company. Typically, the mentor is a senior manager, at least two levels above you in the organization. The mentor must have broader experience in the company and the ability to place you into assignments that will help with your development. A critical element in the mentoring relationship is a mutual respect between you and your mentor. 
  
• A consultant is someone who acts as an advisor usually within the parameters of embodying some specific expertise which the client feels they are lacking. Often an organization will hire a consultant to perform a specific task or project with the idea or belief that they are essentially "outsourcing" for the required expertise. Consultants often train, facilitate, advise and may even on rare occasions, coach.