• A deep understanding of the coachee’s level within the organization
and the associated pressures, responsibilities and relationships.
• A keen knowledge of where his or her expertise starts and stops, and
how that will match the client’s needs.
• The insight to judge whether the client is serious about working toward
the kind of change, development, or direction the coach is able to drive.
• The ability and resolve to assess personal fit and to go forward, or part
ways accordingly.
• The structure and discipline to manage the coaching relationship for
the needs of the individual, whether the individual fully recognizes
those needs or not.
• The ability to distill a great deal of information while recognizing im-
portant patterns and uncovering key nuggets.
• The ability to distinguish between matters of short-term urgency and
long-term significance.
• The ethics to maintain strict personal and business confidentiality.
Coaching Attributes
A best practice coach is able to:
• Put the coachee’s needs ahead of his or her own ego.
• Listen with nuance and sensitivity.
• Establish the highest levels of trust, openness, and personal connection.
• Ask probing questions that draw forth information the coachee could
never have arrived at independently, despite superior knowledge and
experience.
• Understand the coachee’s relationships with the insight of a participant-
observer.
• Make intuitive leaps that will lead the coachee to new levels of
performance.
• Judge actions or words to determine whether development is occurring
at the appropriate rate and in the correct direction.
• Manage the coaching dynamic to the ever-shifting
mood, attitude, and
will of the coachee.
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