LISTEN TO EPISODE 33

SCOTT DOW: 

"You need to create the right coaching environment. And there are three ways to do that -

1. You want to make people feel safe,
2. You want to coach to their strengths, and
3. You want to teach them how to practice

When you do these three things together, people become very coachable.

• When you make people feel safe, they'll be more willing to speak up, ask for help, and try new things.
• When you coach to their strengths, they'll be more confident and motivated.
• And when you teach them how to practice, they can improve on their own and they'll improve faster.

So how do you make people feel safe? Well, let me tell you what you don't do.

When things don't go well, you don't overreact, because when you respond emotionally, people don't feel safe. You want to encourage their feedback and show an interest in what they have to say. You want to empathize and be realistic about the challenges they're facing, and you want to show a genuine interest in their success.

Another way to make people feel safe is to coach to their strengths. People tend to worry about their weaknesses and discount their strengths, but a good coach is going to flip that dynamic around. You don't want to ignore their weaknesses, but you want to leverage their strengths to develop their weaknesses. And that's where practice comes in. Coaching without practices like planting seeds and not watering them, all the fruit dies on the vine.

A good coach sets practice plans and goals, and they teach simple ways for their people to practice. Not just to practice, but to put the fundamentals they're coaching into practice.

Three things I want you to keep in mind -

1. When people feel insecure, they'll resist your coaching.
2. When you focus on someone's weaknesses, they'll try to hide them.
3. And if people don't know how to practice, your coaching won't stick.

That's why you need to make them feel safe, coach to their strengths, and teach them how to practice. Get the coaching environment right and your coaching will flourish. And your coaches, the people you're working with, they will flourish, too."

OUTRO: 

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