The idea of being “coachable” is a question that tends to confuse most people.  The word “coachable” means nothing to the average person, so here’s what it means in a nutshell.  Coachability has several factors that go into it including honesty with your coach, honesty with yourself, openness, and willingness to make a change.  These distinctions are very important, possibly the most important, when figuring out if you’re ready for coaching.  Here’s what they mean:

Honesty with your coach

Seems self-explanatory, and it is.  You have to be willing to be honest with your coach.  Sometimes he/she will ask you uncomfortable, personal, or challenging questions, and that is their job to do so (if they aren’t, they likely aren’t doing their job as effectively as they could be).  By no means does this mean that a coach should be invasive, offensive, or rude, but it means that they will challenge and push you to face things you might not want to face. You’ll need to be ready to be honest with your coach about when you’re feeling uncomfortable, if you’re feeling offended, and why or how that feels, even if you choose not to answer their question at the end of the day.

Honesty with yourself

Whether you choose to answer the coach’s question overtly or not, you have to be prepared to be honest with yourself and to accept whatever answer comes up for you.  The coach doesn’t always need the answer, but you do.  You have to be ready to look yourself in the mirror, strip away the pretense and the colored lenses that you normally use to look at the world, and see yourself for who you are.  That’s the quickest way to make progress and grow into the person you want to become.  If you’re not ready to do this, even a little, then you probably aren’t ready for coaching.

Openness

This one might seem like it aligns with honesty, but it’s different.  Openness refers to your willingness to try new approaches and tools that your coach might suggest or introduce.  This does’t mean you are required to try anything your coach suggests, but it does mean that you have an open mind about doing things differently than you have in the past.  After all, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.  This little statement is cute and very true.  To add another, the definition of insanity is taking the same action repeatedly and expecting a different result.  Your coach is there to help break you out of your old habits, actions, and thinking so you can attain new results.  Your job is to be open to hearing them and trying at least some of them.

Willingness to make a change

This one goes along with openness but deserves to be distinguished because it’s more about action than mental openness.  Being open to hearing and learning something is great, but taking no action on it is just as useless as if you hadn’t heard it at all.  Your willingness to take an action is going to be the difference between a successful coaching engagement and an unsuccessful one.

Conclusion

Overall, these concepts can appear very nebulous so it certainly helps to be able to discuss them with prospective coaches.  Any good coach would be willing to have that conversation, particularly as it relates to working effectively with them.  Once again, the concept of “Fit” that was discussed in the blog post “How To Choose The Best Coach For You” is one that certainly comes into play here as you talk with different ones.

If you’re interested in coaching or want to find out more, schedule a consult with Nayan Leadership to find out how we can help you on your leadership journey.

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