Coaching Stories No 23 - The Three Levels of Coaching

 What are the different levels of coaching? What if we do not benefit from coaching at all?

Vetal Tekdi, Pune. Pic courtesy Mansi

The three levels of coaching are

1) The student does not know she does not know

Here the student/coachee does not know what is going wrong and is clueless. The coachee cannot even figure what is going wrong. But if the coachee approaches the coach and asks what the problem is, the coach can diagnose the problem and suggest how to correct it. 

2)  The student knows the problem but does not know how to correct it

Here the student can identify the problem but does not know how to correct it. Here the coachee comes to the coach with a specific issue and the coach corrects it. Clearly there is some amount of process orientation here and the coachee is thinking on what the problem is and how to solve it.

3) The coachee has learnt enough of the process to correct herself

Here the coachee has learned enough of the process to know what is going wrong and how to fix it and can fix it on the fly. The coach has taught the coachee well and the coachee has learned well. In such cases the coachee only needs to check once in a while as in a maintenance mode to check if all is well and no minor problems are showing.

The entire process of learning and improving only works when the coachee has a learning mindset. The coachee knows that there is a problem, wants to improve and asks questions which can be coached. But if the coachee feels that there is no problem and behaves like everything is fine, then no one can help her. Learning happens only when the theory is put into practice and any gaps discussed and covered.

Learning happens when there are questions.

So many people with talent and the wrong mindset waste their talents because of their mindset. But if they can get into a learning mindset, they can do justice to their talents.