Do you ever wonder if you’re spending too much time with the whiners, and ignoring the winners? Coaching doesn’t always work, and here are a few times when it doesn’t:
- When coaching is an alternative to punishment: If a person agrees to get “coached or else” it’s not going to work. Sure, sometimes C players turn into A players, and one time it snowed in July too, but I wouldn’t count on it personally.
- When the person isn’t eager to start: Coaching isn’t magic, and if a person doesn’t want to make progress really badly, it’s going to be a waste of time. Have you ever tried making a grown up do something they don’t want to do?
- When the coachee has a past performance history of being flat or in decline: You’re just going to get more of same. The best indicator of future performance is past performance. Find someone on an upward trajectory and your coaching is going to help them get there a lot faster.
Your time is limited. Who are you going to pour your time into? I would suggest taking your brightest prospect and coaching that person to move from star to superstar. Coaching is like fertilizer; put it on a dead plant and it’s not going to help. But put it on a young plant in growth, and the results will amaze you (and them).
