If you have heard about any type of coaching or know someone who has benefitted from a coaching partnership and are wondering if you should seek out a coach, then pause and ask yourself an essential, underlying question: are you ready for COACHABILITY?
In this BLOG I've outlined five critical factors that will help you - or any other potential candidate – as well as, help me as a Coach to determine your readiness for COACHABILITY.
First and foremost, Coaching requires a willingness to do inner work and examine your current “operating system” with its potentials and limitations. I encourage you to review the considerations below with a keen eye, dig deep, and answer genuinely.
1- You are willing to change: You must want something, a goal, a shift, a change, enough to be willing to leave your comfort zone, risk some new behaviors, and make the personal changes needed to achieve the outcomes you’re seeking. This will occur if you’re willing to accept that your current operating system needs “upgrading.” People who undergo the coaching path become typically more self-aware and changed for the better. If you are comfortable with the idea of positive, long-lasting changes, you're on the right track.
2- You’re willing to do the inner work: As a coach, I work with my clients to help them see the mental models, patterns, assumptions, and beliefs that run them - their current operating system - yet they are the ones who do all the heavy lifting. Shifts in perspective, new approaches to challenges, courageously stepping up, and the like must come from within you. To be coachable, you need to be willing to dig deep and explore facets of yourself that may be getting in the way of achieving the outcomes you want. Ask yourself honestly if you can commit mentally and emotionally to introspection, reflection, action and responsibility.
3- You are willing to look at the part you are playing in your current situation: As an example, if you're an executive struggling to connect with and lead your team or build peer relationships, a coach will likely ask you to consider your role in the relationship breakdown. Coaching will help you learn how to build authentic relationships, yet you have to be willing to see and accept your part in any challenging relationship.
4- You understand that a coach isn’t going to give you all the answers: As a coach, I support my clients every step of the way, acting as a partner in their personal development, yet my role - and the role of any coach - is to help clients tap into their own wisdom for the answers. Sure, there are tools, frameworks, and information I may share from time to time, yet when it comes to inner change, there is no simple download or quick fix. If you're willing to put in the effort, we'll create a plan together to help you accomplish your goals.
5- You are willing to invest the time: Chances are, you have little white space in your calendar. However, the positive benefits of coaching cannot be accomplished entirely from a one-time, quick-fix session. To be coachable, you shall be willing to carve out the needed time for coaching sessions in your schedule, then consciously practice new behavior, notice your impact, and make adjustments as needed. This developmental process is why coaching engagements typically last few months up to a full year.
If you've read the five critical factors above and the prospect of working with a coach has you excited and optimistic, then you are likely an excellent candidate for coaching. Having said that, it’s okay to find it a bit scary and daunting, too. If so, embrace your feelings and step forward to a life changing experience - as the mind, once stretched by a new learning, never regains its original dimension. From there onward, coaching is a fascinating & fulfilling journey, on both the personal and professional levels!