A couple weeks ago I wrote about the difference between a coach and a critic. A question came up about “What are the traits of a great coach?” I spent a few weeks pondering this question and reflecting on my own career over the past 25 years. I’ve found there are 5 key characteristics that differentiate the great coaches.

The best coaches always…

1. See the potential you can’t see in yourself

Either through their own experience of success and failure or though coaching many others down a similar path, coaches have vision. They can see the potential we have in ourselves, even when we can’t see it ourself. They can see the building blocks of so much more than what you are today. They see your current foundation and they have a vision for how you can leverage those strengths into a much stronger tomorrow.

2. See your next step as a set of options, not rules

The best coaches are not all about rules. “Do this but don’t do this!” The best  coaches include you in the decision process. They provide several options for your next steps toward improvement, but they don’t make the decision for you. They include you in the decision. They empower you to make the choice. It’s called autonomy and every human on planet earth craves it. Anyone can criticize but it takes a special type of person to see the options for improvement.

3. Teach instead of scold

The best coaches are teachers at heart. This means they do what they do for one main reason… to see the student learn! Never forget… the heart of the teacher beats for the mind of the student! The best coaches will patiently teach by offering tools, models, and methods to apply immediately. Learning the theory is great, but if you can’t practically apply the theory to your world, it’s worthless.

As a speech coach, if I hear someone using too many filler words (e.g. like, um, okay) I could tell them to stop it! But… if I can’t tell them HOW to stop, then I’m nothing more than a critic.

4. Encourage you to achieve more

When I think back on my athletic career in high school, there was an assistant coach who seemed to be the meanest and toughest coach on staff. He always pushed us harder and further by telling us his expectations were much higher than our own. When I was a senior, I realized he was just trying to bring out the best in each of us. What seemed to upset him the most is when we couldn’t see our own potential and we failed to try. We failed to give him everything we had.

If you’ve ever seen the movie “Facing the Giants” you probably remember the scene with Coach Taylor pushing Brock to give everything he had on the field. The best coaches will encourage you to give your all and to be your best. If you haven’t seen this movie or this scene… do yourself a favor and take 5 minutes right now to watch this inspirational scene!

5. Hold you accountable

Setting expectations, making a commitment, meeting or beating those expectations… that’s what a coach expects. Accountability is the most important characteristic of a coach. I’m serious. Think about it. If a coach does everything else on this list but fails to hold you accountable for your commitments… then nothing will change. If that’s the case… you need to find a new coach.

One of the best lines I’ve heard from a coach following up on the actions/inaction he noticed from someone who made a commitment to achieve a goal was this question, “How does this action align with the goals you said you’ve set for yourself?”

I’m grateful for the coaches in my life. I’ve had some amazing coaches and some awful coaches in my professional career. I can learn from each one, but I can honestly say, my personal goal as a coach is to be one of the better coaches to everyone I’m privileged to serve.

Eagerly awaiting my next opportunity to get coached!
Russ