To become an outstanding conversation coach, you need to constantly refine your essential training skills: Train with empathy, review your prejudices and don't judge, communicate in an encouraging and respectful manner, and focus on people's talents and potential. Continuing your personal education, finding resources, and discovering what works (and what doesn't) in other programs will help you improve your game, and that will only benefit the athletes you train. As a coach, it's your job to define the roles and expectations of each player and guide them so that they know that they are a valuable asset to the team. If your coaching conversations focus entirely on what isn't working and what the employee needs to do to change, that's not motivating, but rather demoralizing. Training helps to onboard and retain employees, to improve performance, to improve skills and to transfer knowledge.
When you train employees to improve performance and engagement, approaching things from their perspective, rather than your own, will greatly help you to see the changes and results you want. In addition to these benefits, training others is an effective method for reinforcing and transferring learning. Whether you're a new coach or if you've been training for 10 years or more, it never hurts to go back to basics to be a good coach. The players who always underperform are often the players who have the most to give when they receive the right support and training. Guiding, open-ended questions lead to more detailed and thoughtful answers, leading to more productive coaching conversations.
Every person has different strengths, weaknesses and limits, and learning them will help you become a reliable coach. Teaching young athletes to set and achieve goals is one of the most important skills you can provide as a coach. While there are many important leadership skills and competencies, coaching is critical to improving the performance of entire teams.
