Feel. Think. Act. Talk. like a Coach

Feel. Think. Act. Talk. like a Coach

You’ve noticed, I’m sure, that in many ways, people act out the roles they play as professionals. At the risk of encouraging stereotypes, I think it’s safe to say that ballet dancers act like ballet dancers. Plumbers have a way about them. So do doctors and brand managers. Firefighters, too, have jargon all their own, a firefighter walk, a firefighter attitude.

To do anything well, you have to do it the way other effective people do it. So it goes with leadership. Effective leaders share a number of traits. For one, they are all great coaches.

To become a more effective leader, manager, or employee means becoming a better coach. And to do that, you have to feel, think, act, and talk like a coach. You’ll do this naturally as you begin to incorporate into your management style the Feel. Think. Act. Talk. techniques. The diagram below illustrates how the way you feel, deep below the surface of your actions, affects the way you think, act, and talk.

You can use this visual to remind yourself of this fact.

Once they align the way they feel, think, act, and talk, all great coaches:

• Focus on the critical areas of coaching
• Gain insight in how to provide feedback constructively
• Learn to receive feedback receptively
• Receive a set of coaching questions to maximize benefits
• Exercise the emotional de-trigger muscle
• Balance pressure and support to achieve action
• Steer beyond predictable responses that attempt to avoid accountability
• Use strategies when the coaching session derails
• Master the cornerstones of human motivation
• Use templates and tools for managing through any coaching situation

 
These ten quick tips will help you understand how to Feel. Think. Act. Talk. like a Coach. But to really get up to speed, you should consider equipping all of your people with the powerful Feel. Think. Act. Talk. Tools. To learn more, download our Feel. Think. Act. Talk. paper or look into the entire CoachQuest Cycle.

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