Surgeon Atul Gawande once asked the question, “How do professionals get better at what they do?” He observes two views. The first one is the traditional pedagogical view. You go to school, study, practice, learn, and graduate. A professional is someone who is capable of making their own improvement. And this method works.
The second view comes out of sports. It says that everyone needs a coach — everyone. Even the greatest professionals in the world need a coach. But expertise means not needing to be coached, doesn’t it?
Everyone Needs a Coach
Gawande says there are numerous problems in trying to make it on your own. You often can’t see the issues that are getting in your way, and you may not know how to fix them. And somewhere along the way, you stop improving.
The best athletes in the world rely on their coaches. Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, Muhammed Ali, Simone Biles. They do this because they want to continually become better, and they can’t observe how they’re playing the game. So they have someone to help push them and point out observations to improve.
Discover how I coach leadership teams
What Does a Business Coach Do?
In business, the role of a coach is to open you up to possibility thinking and to pull more out of you than you ever thought possible. They meet you where you’re at in real-time to help you process the real-life challenges you’re experiencing today. This helps you to adjust your mindset to take those challenges and turn them into opportunities, so that you can move forward with a higher energy and better frame of mind.
For this to work, you have to be open-minded and willing to be vulnerable. It’s absolutely necessary to be vulnerable to your coach. This will help you to grow exponentially — both personally and professionally.
Coaching is different from consulting or therapy. A coach doesn’t give advice — they don’t tell you what to do or what not to do. Instead, you bring the content, and the coach brings out the language that you’re using to trace back to the thoughts you’re thinking.
This helps you uncover your beliefs. Once you realize and acknowledge those beliefs, you can decide whether they’re actually serving you at this point in life or not.
Coaches ask great questions so that you discover for yourself the answers that make the most sense for you. And that makes your actions more powerful — because they come internally, from within you.
A great coach makes it safe to share, so you can be vulnerable without the fear of being judged. They help you to slow down and become aware of your thought language. This also helps you to tap into your inner wisdom.
And almost incredibly, you’ll experience progress, insights, and transformations instantaneously. When you open up, things in life start to get better and better, and you become more present in the moment.
Your Team Can Perform at an Elite Level Too!
This is what I help leadership teams to do with the Entrepreneurial Operating System® and through one-on-one coaching engagements. I help them to slow down and tap into their own individual Unique Abilities® — where they can add the most value to the business, have fun, and love what they’re doing.
As a result, they come from a place of happiness, excitement, and energy. The business then starts to take on that personality and energy as well. Soon, leadership teams start to generate better results with less effort. Everyone throughout the organization becomes engaged and really connected at a much deeper level.
Related reading: Few Teams Have the #1 Thing to Be Truly Great—Do You?
I’ve seen EOS® help tremendously good teams who want to be truly great, taking their team and company to the next level. You can see this kind of change and take your business to an elite level, too!
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