Monday, September 22, 2008

Correcting A Coaching Misconception

Over the weekend, we officially launched 3Keys Coaching - a coaching service powered by Harry Rieckelman.

I still remember my first sit down meeting with Harry. He explained to me that he was a life coach. I have to admit, I didn't get it. I thought only the rich and famous had life coaches, but normal folks? Why would they need one?

Then he told me this one success story that changed my entire point of view. To paraphrase (in extremely vaguely terms - I don't want to share any details of the story that I'm not supposed to), he explained:

So, I was hired by this executive to help him figure out why one of his team members wasn't performing. The executive had tried everything he could think of, but regardless, the team member just wasn't clicking with the rest of the team.

After meeting with the executive, I was able to point out to him what the cause of his team member's problems were: the manager himself.
The manager changed how he acted, and the team member came around.

I thought, holy crap - this is what a coach does?! Why didn't anyone ever tell me this? At my previous jobs we should have had Harry on speed dial - as whenever you get enough people in a company, there's always conflict to be had. (I should mention, Harry does more than executive coaching like this. He'll help you work through any life change that you feel like you've hit a wall on, just like this executive did.)

What I appreciated is that a coach provides that outside perspective that you, yourself, simply can't get. It's not that the coach is some sort of spiritual master - he or she can just see things you can't, and can help you take the action you need to.

You can learn more about what Harry does at his website. Personally, I went out of my way to add some coaches to my virtual mob.

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