What is a Coach? - Part I
As the adage goes, it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him one - it is better to give someone knowledge and tools of learning than to simply give them the thing that they are in need of. This understanding is the basis of the most excellent teachers, goodwill organizations and do-gooders. Not so excellent, perhaps, for business. Fish sells, but fisherman do not buy fish.
As coaches, we are teachers. We are the ones who build a life around inspiring and encouraging that of others. If you disagree, this message (and career) are not for you. The wealth of a teacher is not first monetary. What a coach becomes rich in is human relationship.
Providing cues and points of memorization are easy, lazy and selfish, even. A coach, a true teacher, has the ability and experience to teach not just the ‘what’ but the ‘how’ and better so, the ‘why’. The regurgitation of facts and points of information can be done by quite literally anyone who has been passed along that same information and cared just enough to take it to memory. Being proficient in the thing itself is also not enough to validate a “coach” as much as having the ability to speak does not make one a public speaker. Neither is a coach made by offering shouts of praise and motivational phrases any more than the cheer squad with pom-poms is the coach of the football team.
True coaching transcends textbooks above and beyond. Being a coach requires a fundamental understanding of human nature and its thirst to have more and be more. A coach understands the inner wirings of those they are teaching and the things that they are driven by. A coach is aware of the outside factors that affect the individual in front of them and how they have reached the place they are in and the person they have become. A coach can teach complex concepts in manners that are simple and that anyone can understand. A coach provides the resource to lead others to their own discoveries and rejoices when their own input becomes less of a necessity. A coach empowers others with the ‘how’ and ‘why’ in a way that the ‘what’ becomes simply apparent.
Knowledge is not a thing to hide, if we should even be proud enough to believe we can possess it. It is not our own and should not be locked away and labeled with price tags. Truth by its nature is to be shared and freely given.
Our role as coaches is not that of keep away, it is to give and make others better. Our role is to make fishermen.
Strong to Serve
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