Hello and welcome to the last milestone for this course, where we're really going to be addressing your competency as a coach. One of the challenges with doing soft skills learning through online, is the lack of immediate feedback. We really do recognize that, so your participation in this milestone is really going to be essential for your own success and also the success of your cohorts. But coaching is both an art and a science, right? We've talked a lot about science of coaching in the specialization because it's much more measurable, right? We can look at your coaching philosophy, we can look and teach you the thought model, so you understand where people's thinking is coming from and how it's influencing their performance results. We can use coaching algebra to diagnose performance. We can talk about the difference between a developmental conversation and a tactical conversation. We can demonstrate for you the thought model and action through the videos that we've provided. So, science are all these data points. So, are all these tools that are available to you, that are very clear, that are measurable, that you can look at and reference, but maybe not know how well you're using, and that's the art piece, right? The art is essential. So, coaching is both a science and an art. The art is the part that needs development, the part that needs nurturing to improve. So, I want you to think about this in the same way you were to learn a musical instrument for example. There are a lot of people who play the piano, right? But there are some people who are masters at playing the piano, and what is the difference? What is it that makes that one person playing the piano so much more exceptional than the other? When the music is the same, the notes on the paper are the same, right. So, coaching to me reflects that same concept, it's recognizing that there are tools that are available. I say this to people all the time. I mean, whether you've taken this course or you've taken another one, coaching tools can be very powerful. I think you find a philosophy that aligns for you and you make it your practice. So, I have shared with you mine, but there are others, right? Just like there would be multiple ways to learn how to play the piano using that example, but ultimately the piano sits there and it gets played, right. So, what makes it art, what makes someone different and exceptional at something versus just being tactically effective? I think there's a couple of keys. First of all, there's interest and passion. People who are exceptional coaches like to coach, they're interested in it. They're interested in it because they're attracted to coaching just for their own sake or because they've actually experienced and really understand the benefit of an effective coach. So, maybe through their own modeling or working with someone, they've really created their own passion for something. So, passion is essential. Having a consistent practice is essential, right? Which is what I certainly have hoped to provide for you through the exercises within this program. The last thing is having consistency of development. Are you building your scales? Are you in the process of on a regular basis, tapping into the tools and using them? If we think about a piano player reference again, I could have three people say sit down and play the scale, and the scales are consistent, right. It's a science, the nodes A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. But then one person might sit down and play that scale and it's beautiful, versus someone else just playing it technically accurate, right. The reason that person who can sit down and play that scale and it's beautiful, is because they've practiced and they know those notes, and they know how their hands lay on that piano like nobody's business. They're connected to that piano and the sound that it makes, and that's what I believe makes a difference between a good coach and an exceptional coach. An exceptional coach knows and understands their instrument, and uses it all the time. Through that process, that's how we develop skill. We can't expect to learn something and then not use it and be good at it. Coaching is the same thing, right? You can't just buy golf clubs and be a great golfer. You can't just buy a piano and be a great pianist. You can't just buy a tennis racket and become an exceptional tennis player. You have to be willing to learn the skill and then practice it to the point where you are ridiculously uncomfortable, that you experience things that are hard and painful and you make mistakes and fail, that's where your expertise is developed. It's through those exercises of failure, trying again, and then repeating. Okay. So, when we delineate the difference between the science of coaching and the art of coaching, we're really talking about willingness to try and practice and gain feedback. So, when I first learned a lot of the tools I've taught you, which was a long time ago, more than a decade ago really, I just started coaching everybody. Probably to the point where people got sick of it, but it's how I developed my skill. Now, it's so innate for me, I don't think about it too much. In fact, even developing this course has been fascinating for me, to slow this down enough, for me to really think about what is it that I do. I have key tools, I know how to use, but how do you teach the art? You teach that through feedback. So, this milestone is really about you practicing, and I really want you to think about who are the people that you're going to be coaching? How can you prepare for those conversations? What are the questions that you want to have prepared to ask them? How comfortable are you with the thought model? We've given you a lot of tools in this program. Another quote that came from my new favorite book, The Practicing Mind, that I referenced in Milestone two, is "Analyzed, don't judge". Which I think is so powerful. So, for people's performance, people's thinking, all of that is up for analysis. But don't ever get into judgment. As soon as you start to judge what other people are thinking, you evoke your own emotion which interferes with your behavior, right? So, we want to make sure that we can hear people's thoughts without judging them or believing them, and that's the power of a coach. That's what we are able to do. Is we're able to say, have someone say, "I hate this, I don't love this, I don't want to do this anymore, I don't like this job, I don't like this company," and not experienced judgment from when you're in your coaching role. But just have someone say, okay, you just don't like your job anymore. How do you feel when you think that, and when you feel that way, how do you behave at work, and when you behave that way, what results are you getting? So, we can really create that personal responsibility for other people. So, we want you to think about those conversations that you need to have. Then as a part of this milestone, this is going to be all about you recording those conversations and giving one another feedback. This is where it's time for you to take everything that you've done, and put it into conversations and get feedback on those conversations. There's a few things we should all be looking for in one another's conversations. For starters, are you able to help people understand their own thinking and how it's influencing their performance? For those people that just need skills transfer, can you help them with that? Because those are the two reasons that people do or don't perform, mindset and skillset, right. So, at the end of the day as a coach, these are the two things we have to become masters at if we want to drive high performing teams. It's that simple. All the other stuff is extremely important, but those are the two things that if I met you on the street and you said, "Chris, I took your class," I would say, "Okay. Let's talk about skillset and mindset," because that's how you drive a team. You've got to get into their thinking and you've got to know what their skillset is, right. So, how can you conduct those conversations? How well do you do those? That's what we're going to be looking at in this milestone. So, I'm excited for you to start to put yourself, your work, your thinking, and your practice into the world of coaching and get some feedback. We're going to give you some parameters for how to do that with one another. This is a supportive, uplifting, positive environment for feedback, and I want to stress that. That everybody here is learning, nobody here is an expert, and everybody gets the benefit of having positive feedback through this exercise. There is no place for tearing people down or insulting or being trite with feedback. If we can't give substantive feedback, then we don't give feedback. Feedback is always about the other person and their development, not about making ourselves feel better, right? So, we'll make sure that we have those guidelines for feedback also included in this milestone. Because it's essential that we remember, why we're giving feedback and the feedback should be based on the tools that we provide. So, I always want to make sure that positive supportive feedback is understood when I invite people to participate in feedback, because everybody feels vulnerable when we go through these exercises. But this is truly where the learning happens, it is truly where you have the ability to learn and try again and the best way I can think about that. Again, using a sports analogy, is if you've ever played golf, right, you will get feedback on how you're holding the club, and how you pull the club back, and what you're doing with your shoulders, and your elbows, and your hips when you're doing that, that's how you fix your performance when you're playing golf, and that's also how we fix ourselves when we're learning how to coach, is we have to have that feedback. So, I'm excited for all of you to share with one another and learn from one another as we go through milestone together.
