Excellence is not a skill, it’s a habit we repeatedly do especially when it comes to the field of coaching. It’s a habit that coaches practice every day, the way they behave, take decisions, and guide others, that makes them well suited to their professions. It’s the habits of successful coaches that they assess the situation and find the best path to move forward.
Every coach has a unique coaching style to work with that no one can replicate. They have that realization that it’s not always about the resources to transform a vision into reality; they have to maximize the resources by putting in their best efforts, energy, creativity, courage, faith, and determination. Nevertheless, some traits are common to all great coaches:
- Understanding the sport
- Sharing knowledge
- Always ready to learn
- Discipline
- Communication
- Leading by example
- Commitment and passion
Undoubtedly, coaching is a way of developing a feeling of self-belief and transforming the human potential for high performance. If you’re considering a career in coaching or looking for ways to improve your skills then keep reading because we have curated 10 habits of successful coaches for you.
Exceptional Communication Skills
One of the most crucial aspects is communication. Being able to communicate openly and honestly while being respectful toward the people around you. The most successful coaches work hard at developing their communication skills. Having exceptional communication skills works on multiple levels. If you’re talented enough to have good communication with your team, you’ll be able to give them clear direction and instructions on what they should do to achieve their goals.
Monitor Your Progress
Evaluating the results and progress of how your team is doing can be a challenging task. Keeping track of your strengths and weaknesses as a mentor should be one of your priorities. Measuring your team’s progress is important because how else would the coach know if all the sessions and tricks are working? Evaluating the progress can make you aware of how effective the coaching is going and if there are any changes needed in the action plan. Regularly check the facts and figures, stick to the plan, have a proper checklist and record, pre-session questionnaires, and have weekly reviews.
Lead With Empathy
Empathy isn’t a task that you can ask your team to complete or a data point to pull from a spreadsheet. It’s a skill that allows you to understand the thought process of those around you. Leading with empathy is a necessary skill every successful coach should have. An empathetic approach to coaching gives you a chance to sit with your team and safely explore their current situations and future goals. Through this work you can show your team, they’re not alone and that they should keep putting all their efforts to achieve the goal. As you work on your empathy model, consider how you can improve your training and connect with your team.
Never Stop Learning
Every coach focuses on developing their skills constantly and learning from their mistakes. To build the habits of successful coaches you will give it your best shot but the result will be less than what you expected. Despite your best efforts and intention, you can get sidetracked. The one permanent solution to this is to keep on learning and tweaking your approach to coaching. Sometimes you can take help from other coaches online or in person, there are plenty of resources available. There will always be ups and downs, what you must never do is let your mistakes influence your team. Through this, you can learn new things and keep improving the performance of every team member.
Stay Positive & Passionate
Constant complaining, negative self-talk, and belittling yourself? No way! Coaches are the ones who should inspire and motivate people with the right attitude. Effective coaches are the ones who look up to positive results and offer up encouraging words to the team. Being passionate and forward-looking in your professional and personal life is one of the prerequisites for being a successful coach. If your team could sense any negativity or apathy from you, it could hinder their progress. By being their coach, a passionate coach you hold the ability to motivate your team so that they give their best. Once your team will see how passionate you are about coaching them and helping them succeed they will start reciprocating the energy.
Accept Ideas from Others
Developing habits of successful coaches it’s not just about your ideas but also being able to spot the best solution and use it. Even if it’s not suggested by you in the first place. To become a great coach you must let go of the feeling of the I and position yourself in doing what’s best for your team. Almost everyone on your team could have ideas and opinions, and hearing them out will boost the much-needed confidence of your team members. Whether it’s a healthier environment or better opportunities ultimately it’s about your team and having them achieve their goals. If the goals are met your role as a coach will be a sure success.
Active Listening
Another great habit of successful coaches is attentive listening. This could commonly get better results when both the listener and speaker are active and involved. Active listening requires you to be watchful of your team while focusing on understanding and reflecting on what they’re saying. As you brush up on your listening skills, six techniques you should practice:
- Paying attention
- Withholding judgment
- Clarifying
- Reflecting
- Sharing
- Summarizing
Active listening skills can also help you reduce interruptions and give your team more space to explore their mindsets.
Be a Role Model
If you want your team to fall in line behind you and maximize the benefits of having a professional coach to guide them, you should show off your best qualities, to help them see a role model in you. Set an example and demonstrate your best skills for success. For instance, if you’re asked to improve your team’s productivity, you should set an example by pushing off your limits and using the best of your time. Have the patience to understand your team, take time and develop a positive culture, and always try to stay authentic and supportive.
Create a Judgement-Free Space
It will be no shock to you that many people look to coaches to share their vulnerable thoughts and feelings. The posture of a coach is to lovingly hold the space and make your team feel accepted. This means withholding judgment. Sharing unfair perceptions can break the bond of trust you’ve built with your team. It’s a psychological fact that to create a healthy and high-yielding space you should be aware of your team’s conditioning, emotions, and triggers.
Bonus Tip
To have all the habits of successful coaches you have to be curious as a cat. Ask questions and focus on personal development. For you and the growth of your team, we would like to introduce an inventive tool, Picktime. Picktime is a free cloud-based coaching scheduling software. Using Picktime you get easy appointment scheduling with SMS & email reminders at multiple locations. Using Picktime you’ll get a personalized booking page with a unique URL and a book now widget. With its integrated smart calendar you can handle all your staff and services, just integrate your favorite calendar (Outlook, Google, Apple) and can maintain all your contact records in one place within a few clicks.
There could be one on one or group sessions, attendance & waitlist, and 24×7 email support. Not only this, sign up for free today and integrate with your other favorite apps PayPal, Square, Google Maps, Mailchimp, Google Meet, Zoom, Jisti Meet, Drupal, Wix, Weebly, and many others.
A successful coach is a profound thinker with a vision and long-term goals for their team. Ultimately, it’ll be your team and clients and your ideas that will help you establish a safe and supportive safe.
