Training and coaching are more than just a fundamental shift, not just in skills, but also in the whole mind-set behind interacting with staff and peers. When someone truly becomes a trainer and coach, they learn to see the possibilities within individuals that those individuals cannot see in themselves.

• This is whole new concept is about helping people fulfill their potential at work and as human beings.
• What sets the great trainers and coaches apart is their genuine concern for wanting to bring out the best in each player and the team as a whole.

A coach does not try to control or force performance the way a manager might. A coach tries to influence performance and to make it possible. Ultimately, it’s always the employee who performs.

Sports and business coaches both strive to motivate, inspire, and get the best performance from their players. Both demand commitment, action, and results for and from the team, while building trusting relationships. Both need focus and vision…both play to win.

In sports, the coach is considered competent to coach simply by virtue of being hired. In traditionally styled business models, a manager is not expected to be a coach and is usually not trained as one. A manager has to work with the talent he or she is given, not people they choose.

Of course, winning in business usually translates into success on the bottom line, not necessarily into personal accomplishment or growth. However, research indicates that today’s workers want to be trained and coached, not managed. The pace of modern business has everyone under pressure to perform at all times. Companies are always searching for new and better ways to compete.

• The soft, friendly, easy-going manager, who everyone likes, fails as a manager. They can offer support, but can’t communicate the “critical message” when it is needed.
• Conversely, the blunt, hard-driving manager can deliver the message, usually with a hammer, but also fails.

A successful business trainer and coach needs to be both sensitive and direct. The trainer and coach helps the employee see the performance shortfall and approach it more effectively. If today’s manager just pretends to be a coach, but continues to act like a boss, it creates distance and mistrust in the relationship.

A trainer and coach also must to be willing to listen to feedback from others. That person must understand what others have to say about their ability to be a good coach.

The easy-going manager, who enjoys relationships with people, is often surprised to learn that others see him or her as wishy-washy and prone to wilting under the pressure.

Meanwhile, the well-organized, highly knowledgeable, take-charge manager is often seen as a no-nonsense person who takes care of business. But, where they have trouble is in accepting the feedback that they lack sufficient interpersonal skills to coach with flexibility and friendliness. The line between being a manager and being a trainer and coach may seem quite thin. The ability and willingness to cross over from one to the other, however, may well decide how thin the bottom line really is.

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