Coaches with real experience listen intentionally
There are many people who call themselves coaches and maybe not everyone deserves that title, but that is something for an entirely different conversation. What we want to focus on today is the difference between coaches with generic knowledge on one or more topics, and coaches with real experience in what they are coaching their coachees on.
In many years of coaching and being coached, and collaborating with dozens of coaches, I noticed a very interesting difference between the coaches who know what they talk about without having the actual experience, and those who talk the talk and have walked the walk themselves. Coaches with real experience listen much more intentionally than the other group who lack experience. It is also noticeable that coaches who lack experience in the field they are coaching on tend to have a default flow of answers as if there is a standard recipe to solve issues. The experienced coaches on the other hand tend to be much more in the moment and share their experiences and thoughts in relation to the challenges.
This reminds me of an expression: “people who always have the same answers hardly listen to the question”.
Dr. ir Johannes Drooghaag – CEO Spearhead Management