How We Think About Coaching

Take a moment to make some observations about the photo below. Beyond what is happening on the field—the guy in the white uniform seemingly seemingly in the open field and headed toward the end zone—you may have noticed the men on the sideline, in the background.

If you did, you may have noticed that they are wearing bright red shirts and blue hats that match the colors in the uniform of the guy with the ball. You may have also noticed that two of them have their arms raised in celebration, seemingly anticipating the touchdown their team is about to score.

If know anything about sports, you likely recognized without much thought that the men on the sidelines are the team's coaches. And it almost certainly wouldn't have surprised you to note that none of the coaches are wearing a football uniform. For all sorts of reasons, we can assume that none of the coaches actually scored or physically prevented even one point during this game.

Coaches today will not step onto the field to throw a game-winning touchdown pass. They won't lace up their Air Jordans, walk onto a basketball court, and take the last-second shot. And their days of scoring the sudden-death overtime goal in soccer or hockey have almost certainly passed.

That's okay. That's not their job.

A great coach's job is not to do it for the coachee, but rather to help the coachee be in the best possible position to do it himself or herself.

In some ways, the photo above is a great picture of what we do for our clients. In some ways, it is not.

Why This Photo Works

The coaches in the photo are literally in the background. And blurry. The guy with the ball is in perfect focus. In the same way, we stay in the background, prepare our clients for success, celebrate victories when they occur, and ask significant questions afterward—win or lose—to help ensure that they grow and continually move forward.

We never lose sight of the fact that our clients are the ones in the arena.

At every level, and in many different arenas, the highest achievers are made even better by their coaches. Basketball fans will remember that Michael Jordan played for Dean Smith and then Phil Jackson. Football fans will remember that Tom Brady played for Bill Belichick.

Whatever you think of these players, they were the ones who had to actually make the plays, and they often did. But their coaches played a tremendously important role in their on-court or on-field success. Today, coaching extends far beyond just the realm of sports. Many professionals have found great value in hiring coaches to help them take important next steps—whatever those next steps may be.

Attempts to quantify that value have been fascinating. A widely-cited survey of Fortune 100 executives, by Manchester Consulting Group, reported that "coaching resulted in a ROI of almost six times the program cost." A study on the effectiveness of an executive coaching program, conducted by Metrix Global, reported that "coaching produced a 529% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business."

Over the last ten to fifteen years, there has been an incredible rise in companies engaging the services of certified coaches, both through retainer agreements and by hiring coaches on a full-time basis. Business experts have recognized the value of professional coaching for years. In a 2005 paper from the Harvard Business School website, Paul Michelman, the then-editor of the Harvard Management Update, wrote, "whereas coaching was once viewed by many as a tool to help correct underperformance, today it is becoming much more widely used in supporting top producers."

This is even more true today.

And this is why we launched Surgent Coaching. Our goal is to help great people—who are passionate about doing great things—find their more.

Why This Photo Does Not Work

When considering coaching and the photo above, however, it should also be noted that there are ways in which it is not at all a perfect picture of what we do.

Football coaches call plays for their teams to run. Essentially, they tell every player where to go, what to do, and how to do it, on nearly every play. This is not what we do.

We believe that our clients are best equipped to call their own plays, whether in their careers, their organizations, their personal pursuits, or in their relationships. Our job is to come alongside them as they process which plays to call. Our job is to listen and to ask thoughtful questions that will lead to the best possible next steps and—ultimately—to measurable progress.

Sometimes our clients come to us wanting to grow in different areas of life. Sometimes, they simply appreciate having a sounding board with whom they can meet regularly; someone who will listen and be fully engaged in their success. Sometimes, they want help sorting through different ways they might solve a problem. Sometimes, they don't even know quite what the problem is.

Whatever the case, coaching can help. We can help.

How Does this Process Work?

A coaching session (or a series of sessions) is typically designed to help a client work through some issue they find to be important or urgent. This may be an issue at work, at home, or in a particular relationship.

By employing a time-tested and proven coaching model, we help our clients explore whatever issue or issues they bring to the table. By walking through these issues thoughtfully—and by using a disciplined model—these sessions encourage discovery. The goal is to provide a space in which we can help the client uncover and explore new insights, ideas, perspectives, and growth.

Perhaps more importantly, these sessions lead to clarity and action.

We walk clients through a process that helps them define specific and measurable action steps that they will be able to reasonably accomplish. Deadlines are set for these action steps. Then, in the next coaching session, we will follow up to see what progress was made.

This sort of model enables a leader, an individual, or any other type of person to invite us into their world as people who will listen carefully and be committed to helping them wrestle with—and grow in the midst of—issues that they've defined as important.

The Surgent Test Drive

If you've never seriously looked at engaging a coach to help you in some area of your work or life, please consider our offer of one risk-free coaching session. This session will show you how the process works.

If, at the end, you do not believe the time was valuable, we will fully refund your money.