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When my friend Katie Gaughan suggested I write something about an upcoming event for an organization called the Kentucky Coaches Alliance, my first reaction was to simply blow her off and ridicule the whole business coaching concept.
But I like Katie, so I read about the upcoming event. After warning her that she might not like what I would write, she offered up a complimentary coaching session, in which she offered to help me with whatever I might be struggling with. I could see for myself, she said, if there is any value.
My skepticism comes from the fact that I'm not that much of a touchy-feely guy, and the idea of paying someone to help you figure out a plan is a foreign concept to me. I'm much more of a "get 'er done" guy, sort of an act-first, plan-later type.
Those people who offer professional coaching services, I figured, existed as a outlet for big corporations to send employees who need a boost, or lost souls who can't figure out what to do with their lives. I figured it would be a waste of time and money, just like all those team-building and self-discovery retreats I endured as a corporate employee.
Gaughan, whose business is called PointB, focuses on business coaching, and as far as I can tell, she does pretty well and has plenty of clients. One of them, Dick Wilson, is a respected mentor and phenomenally successful business leader. So reluctantly I took Katie up her offer to give me a coaching session.
We talked about how my view of the connotation of the word coaching is different than what she does. You don't hire a business coach to tell you what to do. I wasn't going to do push-ups or run laps, which is what a lot of my past coaches made me do. She agreed that the industry could use a better label, and explained that her services help individuals set goals, think strategically, etc. Yada, Yada Yada, I'm thinking.
I was dealing with a difficult decision that I had to make quickly, so I had a good one for my coach. It's a time-management problem. I have a full-time job here at Mojo, and teach a class two nights a week at Brown Mackie College. I like to play racquetball a couple nights a week, and I bowl once a week, try to be an ever-present Dad and occasionally like to socialize.
A full schedule, for sure. No room, really, for any other regular activities.
When I signed my (almost) 12-year-old son Luke up for what is probably his last season in the Jeffersontown Little League, I hadn't even considered coaching his team, though I've coached teams he's played on in the past. It's always been fun and rewarding, but this time I wasn't even considering doing it again. I'm too busy, right?
As soon as I walked in the door at sign-ups, though, a league official said they really, really needed one more coach. It's a minimum two-nights, one-weekend-day commitment of time. From mid-March to June.
So Katie came by and she started listening to the story, nodding along at what, in retrospect, seems like an easy call. She asked me how I'd feel about things in June, when the season ends. Would I regret making the time, for two months, to hang around with a bunch of 12-year-olds?
She wanted to know about my thoughts on the experience -- all the good things involved in coaching Luke's team -- of getting closer to Luke, for one. I started thinking about how it might be "doing something good" for the kids. That it's such a small fraction of time in the big picture of things to accomplish in life.
I tried to come up with some valid reasons not to do it -- the time involved, the other stuff I want to do, the inevitable politics of Little League, dealing with critical parents.
As you might have guessed, the ledger was tilting toward coaching. Katie never told me what I should do, but she made the decision an easy one. I posted my dilemma on Facebook, and it elicited more than a dozen encouraging comments from friends. Well, most were encouraging. A few told me how stupid it would be to pass up this opportunity.
Katie's coaching, really, consisted of making me stop and think about what's important to me and asking obvious questions.
I'm still not going to hire myself a coach to help me make decisions or motivate me to do the right thing, but the experience opened my eyes to how Katie's business might really do some good. In short, she helped me think about what I should do.
And yes, I was there for tryouts Saturday, and thanks to Katie I've got a great attitude about the season ahead. I just hope we can win a few games and have a great experience.
So I can feel good about encouraging you to take advantage of a free coaching session this week. From a news release:
The members of the Kentucky Coaches Alliance of the International Coach Federation (ICF) will offer complimentary 30-minute coaching sessions on Tuesday, February 9, 2010, to help individuals in the greater Louisville area and to celebrate International Coaching Week, February 7–13, 2010.
Coaches partner with clients in a professional, thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential in order to achieve their goals. Coaches work with clients in many areas, including business, career, finance, health and relationships.
The event is from 5:30 to 7:30 at La Vida Java, in the Westport Village Shopping Center, on Tuesday. Here's a link to the Kentucky Coaches Alliance website.
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Rick Redding