Why it’s hard for professional teachers, trainers, coaches, counsellors and psychologists to find a coach that fits.

All these people work with people and techniques. They are the toughest type of person to coach for two main reasons.

The first one is about professional curiosity.

They want to see through the smoke and mirrors of a coaching session. Their attention is not on themselves, but upon the process itself. Their minds are grappling with understanding, identifying and analysing.

They have no attention on themselves, what they really, really want and what it’s going to take to get what they want.

Their intellect is searching to pull the curtains aside so they can see the levers and the processes of the coaching session. They are not interested in anything to do with improving their situation.

They get what I call the “Booby Prize” – that is, they get to be detatched, analytical and theoretical about the process.

The second reason these people are hard to coach is that they are arrogant.

Why should they allow a coach to coach them, when they are so good at coaching, training, counselling, teaching, psychotherapying their own clients, day in, day out.

For a professional to submit themselves to be coached or mentored by another professional, it’s a loss of power, a loss of control and an act of humility that most of us professionals are wary of surrendering to.

I know I’m a tough person to coach. If I recognise I’m in a process, my mind races ahead to figure it all out, instantly decimating my focus and quality of attention on what is at hand for me to deal with.

If I’m around other professionals, I have to maintain my hubris, my sense of control and expertise. That’s the price I have to pay to be coached – to let go all of thatl

So, if you are in the game, if you work with people every day, if you are great at what you do and are the catalyst for others to transform their life – be careful of the obstacles you put in the way of you being coached to have things work exceptionally well for you.

I’ve coached a lot of professionals.

Once they get past these two obstacles, they are the most satisfying of all to coach. After all, you always know that for every people professional you coach, you are improving the lives of thousands of people indirectly.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...