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What’s the point of coaching? I don’t get what coaching is about.

How can you coach me in my business when you haven’t run a multi-million pound business yourself?

Why does coaching matter?

Being in the middle of the World Cup and the beginning of Wimbledon has just highlighted how crucial coaching is. Before anyone becomes a top footballer or top tennis player there are layers and layers of coaching. In fact no one becomes a top sports performer without coaching.

In the early years there will be skills coaching. As a player improves there is career coaching to help elevate the player through the different leagues and junior tournaments. Through the years there may be disappointments to deal with and a coach will help build resilience. In addition with success comes money and fame and adapting to a new way of living. Again a coach will help them to adapt to the pressure.

Finally the player is at the top of their game but they don’t stop being coached. In fact it never stops. Even when they stop playing, coaching is crucial to help them move on to the next phase of their lives. The sports world is completely centred on coaching for performance.

So in a sportsperson’s career there is a mixture of technical and non-technical coaching…This can be referred to as outer game coaching and inner game coaching. Possibly early on in a career there will be lots of outer game coaching and a smaller amount of inner game coaching. By the time the player becomes a top player playing at the World Cup or at Wimbledon there will be less emphasis on learning skills and a bigger emphasis on the inner mental game. The players have the technical skills to play but need to be able to stay mentally strong, focussed, confident, able to concentrate and control any negative self-talk. So all top sportspeople engage a range of coaches but crucially an inner game coach for the mind.

So what’s the point of my blog?

The sporting world is a great analogy for the business world. If you are in business or wanting to get to and stay at the top of your game then coaching will really help. You may need be able to learn some of the technical skills / know how (the outer game) but the inner game of self-awareness, resilience, handling stress, confidence, handling self-doubt and negative self-talk is the real benefit of coaching and the key to success.

So how could coaching help you? What would help you get to the top of your game and stay there?

 

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