Evaluated Experience

Last week I received a response from the post titled "It's not just about experience". This particular coach made the comment that after having coached for the past eight years, he believes he has dramatically improved without having anybody else evaluate him because he has tried to create multiple experiences for himself.

While I am sure some improvement has happened, it is a fact that individuals cannot effectively evaluate their own competencies. Why is this? Well, because our own incompetencies prevent us from identifying our own incompetencies.

In fact, we all (me included) have a bias towards overestimating our own abilities. Maybe it's becuase our friends don't tell us what they truly think. Or better yet, we all too often take credit for our success but point fingers for our failures.

The right kind of feedback is important if you want to continually evolve. Here are a few suggestions for having a friend or colleague evaluate your coaching:

1. Know Yourself- Identify your strengths and areas of weakness using a tool such as the InnerTactics Profile
2. Focus on the individual's actions not their character
3. Do you make it easy for your athlete's/client's to feel bad? Or do you make it easy for them to feel good by the end of the workout?
4. Are there clear objectives for each particular training session?
5. Is the workout a task-oriented environment?
6. How do you start and end each training session? What do you have them do? How do you want them to feel?
7. What is your communication style? (feeling, doing, or thinking biased)

These are just a few questions to help get you started. Get with a colleague this week and each of you evaluate the other. You will be amazed how this simple exercise can take your coaching to a completely different level!