Consider any athletic endeavor: a faster mile, longer golf drive, heavier squat, higher swimming stamina, harder kick/throw/punch, etc…
On the journey to achieve any goal there is obviously value in hard work: intentional focus, dedicating time and energy, practicing and practicing more. Yet, have you ever set out to do something, put in the time, and still come up short? Or maybe you didn’t see the progress as quickly as you’d like and you’re left wondering what all that work was for. You may ask: did I leave everything out on the ‘field’? What held me back or caused my coming up short?
Hard work is certainly a key to achieving a goal; however, if you have faults in your technique you’re unaware of, you’ll spend time and energy reenforcing a broken pattern: leaking efficiency and building on an incomplete foundation. You likely aren’t receiving feedback to highlight what you’re missing or what you’re nailing. You need someone to encourage the right things you’re doing and help you reprogram your muscle memory.
Encouragement, direction, and gentle reminders through feedback are all ingredients in the recipe for improving performance.
Repetitively hitting the golf ball or running as hard as you can, while your form is inefficient, will leave you exhausted and missing your goal. Going to work hoping to manage time better, while you have rhythms disrupting your productivity, will end with little progress or hope. Trying to connect with your coworkers, without any idea of how to foster connection, may make the relationships more awkward instead of healthier.
Whether trying to improve your golf score or workplace relationships–doing it alone will only get you so far. If you want to see visible progress in your life, you need someone in your corner. Someone who will identify the missing pieces in your form or approach and show you how to adjust them. Athletically, you can likely do less work better–with more efficiency–to achieve the result you’re looking for. Personally, you can make more of your time or show up better for the people that matter most. The chances of you finding out how to do that good work on your own are slim, and you’ll need someone to help you on the journey.
That someone is a coach! You need a coach to help you find what you’re missing. Someone who gets to know you and your goals, knows their craft well, and helps you achieve greater success. They can help you “watch game film” and uncover your motivations, as well as habits that impact your performance in sport and life.
At the WinShape Foundation and in my own life, I’ve worked with coaches on emotional intelligence, personal identity awareness, strengths, fitness, and nutrition. In a conversation with my identity awareness coach, we identified how my preference for privacy can derail me when I am expected to be spontaneously open. We crafted strategies to help me respond with grace and open the door for a later conversation, where I can prepare to be open: improving relationships and allowing me time to prepare.
In each coaching relationship, I have grown beyond what I was capable of doing alone, and have found value in their specific expertise. Their thought provoking questions and patient listening aided me in improving self-awareness; and self-awareness made room for ideating action steps, which led to growth and progress.
Leadership experts hail the idea of seeking feedback: they recognize the value of feedback on our performance and leadership. Forbes reported the positive impact coaching has on self-leadership and relationships with others. Gaining a clearer perspective about ourselves, by working with a coach that asks good questions, helps us understand how we can leverage our strengths to show up better.
When we know ourselves better, we can interact with others in a more healthy and productive way.
You can get feedback from anyone, but feedback from your coach is better than sporadic feedback from others. Your coach will get to know you and help discover your needs, then tailor feedback to the specific changes you’re striving for. By making small adjustments over time–adjustments identified with your coach–your work will yield great progress.
Outside of the athletic world and in regular life, a coach is just as valuable, if not more! A coach can help you discover your strengths and unlock your potential, as well as help you discover actionable strategies to make your life goals a reality. As you pay attention to how you’re showing up and communicate that to your coach, they help you discover how to close any gaps or give more to relationships you want to invest in. They help you identify things you do well (things you should do more of), and develop strategies for avoiding pitfalls.
Our coaches at WinShape Teams help clients grow to be better leaders at home and work. At Chick-fil-A of Lake Charles, LA, their leadership received coaching and grew to understand the value of developing their team members. This led them to integrate coaching into everyone’s development plan.
Coaches help you discover your strengths that add value to others, and how to compensate for growth areas.
They understand the journey you are on, and do everything they can to help. They help leaders determine what’s next and reach greater heights than initially thought possible.
Are you tapping into your full potential? What is one area that needs specific attention? How could a coach help take you to the next level? If you are struggling to make progress on a goal or have identified an area of growth, maybe it’s time to enlist a coach. Reach out to WinShape Teams for a consultation about coaching: your growth is at stake! You can do more than you think, if you unlock your potential with the help of a coach!
