Are you Being Coachable?

Want to have a breakthrough? Breakthroughs happen when we let them - which for most of us, rarely occurs. Our habits, hang-ups, assumptions, and lack of self-confidence get in the way. I call this collection of internal mental responses coachability.

Coachability is the extent that we hear and utilize outside input and influences. To produce breakthroughs, we need to be coachable.

Here's what it looks like when we are coachable:

We do not get defensive when people offer alternatives or disagree.
We invite and appreciate feedback.
We ask peers, team members, managers and others to offer coaching - yes, we think being coached is a GOOD thing!
We think about, process, consider, and occasionally use ideas we get from others.
We stay on a learning curve - keep challenging ourselves.
We know and can openly discuss our strengths and weaknesses.
We handle failures well (hostestly, constructively, quickly getting into action to solve).

And when we are being uncoachable..

We don't listen and an invisible barrier goes up when others offer ideas.
We get defensive - we need to be right!
We do all our own thinking - only the weak ask for input!
We are not interested in being coached.
We are neither aware of nor willing to talk about our weaknesses.
We intrpret suggestions as criticism - we take everything personally.
We dismiss the ideas and assistance of others.

We can improve our coachability by:

Adopting a belief that to achieve our goals, we need to be highly coachable. When we are coachable, success comes easily and quickly.

Change how we define “looking good” or “doing a good job.”

Reverse our belief that we need to be right to be a success. We will create more success if we focus on getting results and utilizing many ideas and perspectives.

Recognize that there are times when we are more coachable than others. For me, 3pm to 5pm is the time I find toughest to concentrate unless I consume vast quantities of chocolate. This would be a bad time to seek input or coaching (unless the aforementioned chocolate had hit my bloodstream, then it would be fine).

Ask for coaching. Ask for ideas. Ask for input. Get into dialogue about the things that matter to you.

A few things to consider about coachability:

We are all coachable some of the time and uncoachable some of the time.

Some of us are uncoachable most of the time - yikes! (and a joy to work with, I am sure).

You can go from being uncoachable to being coachable in an instant. Breakthroughs can occur in a moment.

How coachable are you - I mean right now?

Comments

[Jeannie]

Great insight to coachability and breakthroughs. The technology I use to get breakthroughs provides me access in the context of possibility...does this sound familiar?

I have it that being uncoachable is neither good or bad, rather just what's so...and as you wrote it shifts from moment to moment.

When dealing with the work place and management you must be very clear in setting up a coaching context. As a coach, if you are not clear in being a commitment for the coachee, this could cause the uncoachability. Agree - disagree?

If in fact you are writing regarding coachability within transformation, there is also the distinction of being in the community's listening...background of relatedness and hence coachability.

Thanks so much for putting this out there...I look forward to more opporunities to contribute and I am coachable at this moment. Thank you for being open to my comments. Looking for feedback...

[Heather Smith]

I love being able to build on my teaching skills by observing other teachers. I have only taught for 3 years now and each year I have improved by looking at the strengths and weaknesses of others. I love the positive skills and techniques of my collegues to build upon my own. When I first became a teacher I made mistakes, but through those times it allowed me to grow. It took a lot of coaching and coachability to improve my career. Being able to look at what others did best allowed me to develope a greater passion for teaching. I wanted to make education the best for my students and help them create a thirst for learning. I love being able to use collaboration to enhance my working environment and I am glad we can all work as a team.

[Mike Ritter]

Thank you for a clear explanation of coachability from the bottom up.

I am one of those guys that finds my own opinion more valuable than others'. It leads to hypercriticism. Blech!

Points that stuck:
1) remain open to ideas
2) constantly learning
3) comes in waves (plan around weak times)
4) a good coach is up front about this expectation and takes care of his/her team

Note:

-> "success comes easily and quickly"? not necessarily
-> "in an instant"? sometimes with an epiphany, but does require discipline to break down self determination and bad habits (i.e. boot camp, two-a-days, spring training).