In one of my lectures to sports coaches a few years ago one of them asked me an intriguing question: “What is the difference between a mediocre and a great coach in your opinion?” To tell you the truth I really didn’t have a good answer back then but the question stayed with me for the past couple of years. Perhaps my answer will change in the future but this is what my thoughts are on it today. A great coach is unique. He is also successful in his uniqueness. And thirdly he knows exactly what his mission is. Now let’s explain all three.
Uniqueness is one of the most important traits of a person in general. But if we are focusing only on professions then a simple law implies. The longer you are doing something the more unique you should become in it. We of course begin with some ground knowledge that we usually gather through books or lectures. Then we go through some kind of apprenticeship phase. And finally we begin a slow grind towards mastery ourselves. Through experimentation, we slowly change the methods that we have mimic or have been taught with the ones we have designed ourselves. These methods fit our unique way of doing things. If a person lacks the courage he or she will sadly never try anything new but always repeat the same old patterns. A coach will never try new exercises, a cook will never try new ingredients and a teacher for instance will never try new teaching approaches. If you have been doing something for twenty years and not develop even a single unique thing that works then I am sorry but you are still an apprentice. You’ve never made a step forward to the next phase.
Creativity, innovation and uniqueness sound like wonderful traits but in many professions if they don’t work they are worthless. If a unique new system of training doesn’t bring results it is worthless. If a creative new dish tastes bad it’s worthless. If an innovative new teaching approach isn’t able to teach more, faster or with more enjoyment it is worthless. Uniquely worthless things are usually created by people who seriously lack experience in their field. The people who try to force to be the best instead of simply become the best through years of single-minded focus and work. And that brings us to our third trait.
Most of the people that are in the coaching business are here by default rather than design. Someday out of the blue the thought that they would be great as a coach stroke them. Perhaps they lost a job or didn’t have one in the first place so they just somehow began to do the work of a coach. Or they wanted to help or motivate people somehow and hey calling yourself a coach is the easiest way I guess. The fact is you don’t need anything to call yourself a coach but you need everything to be a coach. It’s a big big difference. People who truly are coaches are on a mission to change something for the better. They are focused exclusively on their work – their mission. When they don’t have successes right from the start they don’t quit because they are on a mission. When they have a bad financial year they don’t quit because they are on a mission. When they don’t find people that would appreciate their unique way of doing things they don’t because they are on a mission. They preserve no matter what because their mission is too big and too important to be abandoned because of a few minor slip-ups.
If you are a unique coach with years of education, experiences and successes it means you have laid a solid groundwork and nobody can take that away. On the other hand people who call themselves a coach instead of being a coach are like balloons full of hot air. Every balloon has to come down eventually and this kind always comes down with a crash. Coaches in words don’t last long or go far anyway. The question is how much suffering they cause or will cause in the meantime. If you want greatness set your course on the long way to the top. Because it’s the way that gives you greatness not the peak.
