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Why Coaching?Home > Why Full Circle? > Why Coaching?
Life is a journey, and sometimes you get lost along the way to those twin destinations of performance and success. You wander aimlessly, without purpose or direction. You wind up in a dead end-perhaps in a career that's going nowhere, or in a business that's stuck in first gear. So you try to navigate your way back onto that main road you hoped to travel, but after more wandering you find yourself right back where you started. What you need is someone who can help get you back onto the right path-someone who's familiar with the terrain, who understands why you keep ending up in that same dead end, and who can guide you out of it. Most important, you need someone who can help you understand how you wound up in that dead end in the first place and what it will take for you to stay out of it and other dead ends in the future. A coach can help with all of this-it's what we do. People get stuck. Why do people keep doing the same thing over and over if it's not working for them? Most likely because it's easy, and it's comfortable. Easier than changing, anyway. So much easier, in fact, that they're willing to put up with the same unsatisfactory results, time after time. A coach can help you manage change, and offer you support, encouragement, and specific advice as you set out into uncharted territory. A coach can help you feel safer about taking that risk, and about trying a different approach that will bring you different results. Closest is not always best, and sometimes it takes an outside, objective, no-hidden-agenda opinion to help put things in their proper perspective. For example, you may be an executive with employees who are unproductive, unmotivated, and unhappy. You know they're capable of much better - you're just not sure of the best way to reach them. Do you have a sit-down with them? If so, do you do it individually or as a group? Do you work on team building or emphasize individual contribution? Do you use the carrot or the stick? Or both? Perhaps you're too close to the problem to see solutions other than those you've already tried. A business coach can help you define the key issues, identify the range of possible solutions, and evaluate the feasibility and likely outcomes of specific alternatives. Several years ago, our then 7-year-old daughter, Katelyn, played softball in a community league. She struck out consistently. She and her teammates were unfocused and lackadaisical in the outfield, often dropping the ball. Kate was feeling badly about her ability to play. Her team was losing. As you might expect, these girls finished in last place that year. The next year things were dramatically different. Katelyn learned how to hit the ball and did so consistently. The girls were excited and confident, their energy high, and they cheered each other on as they won games. Kate's team ended the year in first place. Why the difference? Same girls. Same community. Even the same field. The difference was the coaching! The team's first coach was quiet and laid back during games, did little cheering, as well as little teaching. The next year's coach was dynamic and powerful. He showed his caring by cheering the girls on. He taught them how to hit, catch, and throw. He believed in them. He was patient and empathic. He developed strategies to help the girls win. That's the difference executive coaching can make in your life and your business. Great athletes like Tiger Woods and Michelle Kwan know this. They know they need someone else, a trained someone else, to help them achieve results. So they hire a coach. No serious athlete would expect to progress very far without one. Why should you? |
