Sustainable peak performance rests on a foundation of pretty basic principles. Once those are nailed—simple, not easy—there is lots of luck, uncertainty, and changing tides. Most of a coach's job becomes walking the path with the person.

(Short thread on coaching.)

First and foremost, you want to help the person develop both knowing and, more important, CONSISTENT DOING of key skills and principles. The knowing part is easy, the consistent doing part is hard. Coaching is about teaching and then providing gentle nudges to keep executing.

A good coach also helps the person see what they don't otherwise see. Lots of highly driven people are so focused on what is ahead that they can miss important things on the side of the road. A coach points out those things, and then discusses which of them should be addressed.

Coaching is not therapy (something I get asked about often). Therapy helps someone who is non-functioning because of mental illness or a lesser psych disorder get to a normal level of functioning. Coaching is about taking someone from normal functioning to peak performance.

The most important attribute in a coach is that they care. A good coach ought to be fully invested in a person's success—not just at their chosen craft or profession, but in accomplishing their human aspirations and living in alignment with their values.

Another important job of a good coach is providing gravity. When someone is soaring the job is keeping them grounded, on earth. When someone is sinking the job is to pull them back up. Over the course of a career, this is really important. Because highs are high and lows are low.

An insecure coach will coach toward dependence. They will want the person to rely on them for everything.

A secure coach will coach toward independence.

I know I've done my job when I feel like my clients don't really need me anymore. It still feels weird, after years!

A great paradox: Once you coach someone to independence, the relationship deepens, often to extraordinary levels. When this occurs, you can truly walk WITH someone on their path. The hardest thing for a coach is to shut up and just be there. It's also peak coaching. (End.)