Coaching 101: The Difference Between Coaching and Teaching
My take on Coaching, Course Creators, and more
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a post by a “guru” criticizing people for not having enough “qualifications” to teach or coach.
I am biased against these “gurus” or coaches who tend to call out people.
Especially when they claim to be 6-figure earners or have big-ticket clients.
Because the whales don’t mind the smaller fish in the pond.
And when the so-called industry leaders call these people out, it makes them look petty.
Of course, it’s a different story when people rip off your course or products.
That’s outright stealing and should not be tolerated.
Anyway, that particular incident got me thinking about “coaching.”
A lot of people nowadays call themselves coaches.
And that’s totally fine — for me at least.
Because, hey, it’s the internet.
You call yourself or brand yourself whatever you want to be.
Just make sure you can back it up when push comes to shove.
So anyway, here’s the question: What makes you a coach? How do you become a coach? What qualifies you to be a coach?
Coaching ≠ Teaching
There’s a big difference between coaching and teaching.
Just because you have a course, you don’t automatically become a coach.
But before I tell you why, let me just lay down a few reasons why I think I’m qualified to answer this question.
As someone who’s worked in the corporate structure for more than a decade, 12 years as part of the management team, I think I know a lot about coaching.
I mean, coaching was actually the main role that I was hired for.
And I guess I could say I had more skin in the game.
Because if people do not get better from my coaching, they could lose their jobs.
Unlike course creator coaches, the only consequence of people not following them would be lost time and money.
Which is also a lot. But not that heavy compared to the immediate consequence that I had.
Another thing that might differentiate me from the Course Creator Coach is authority.
Of course, in a corporate setup, people would be required to follow their boss — or else they would get fired.
But then again, they also have the freedom to go to a different workplace if they don’t like their boss.
One of the things I’m proud of is, for the time being, that I was leading people; I had very low attrition.
Now on to the topic at hand.
The reason why coaching and teaching are not the same is because they have two different goals.
When you teach, your goal is to transfer knowledge and skills.
When you coach, your goal is to help the person get to a level where they need to be.
Teaching requires that you know the fundamentals of presentation, demonstration, and learning how the learners learn effectively.
While coaching requires several things:
- Data Analysis
- Root Cause Analysis
- Formulating Action Plans
- Holding accountability
- Follow up
If you’re not doing any of that, how are you coaching the other person?
How would you know that it was your coaching that made it get the result?
Can anybody just coach?
Okay, let’s be clear about this.
Obviously, not anybody can just coach.
Especially if you haven’t earned your wings yet. Or at least have done any work; you’re not going to be effective in coaching people.
There are certain things that you need to go through to be able to have that level of knowledge, skill, experience, and maturity to teach and coach another person.
However, I do believe that you don’t have to be the best person out there to start coaching.
Any person who says otherwise probably has not watched sports.
Steve Kerr, Phil Jackson, Pat Riley — they weren’t basketball superstars.
They were role players in a championship team.
But they have had successful coaching careers.
Do we think that Steve Kerr is better than Steph Curry at shooting the ball?
Percentage-wise, yes, he holds the record. But in terms of career averages and accomplishments as a player, Steve wouldn’t be able to compare to Steph.
The same could be said about MJ and Phil, or Pat Riley and Magic.
They’re not the best basketball players; they were not MVP’s, much less the best players on their own team when they were playing.
But they were excellent coaches.
Why?
Because they see the game through a different lens.
Because coaching is a different skill altogether.
They know their numbers and their people. They hold them accountable and follow up with them.
Those are some things that you need to take note of, especially when you are coaching.
Can you be a coach?
Of course, the answer to this is up to you.
Whether you choose to be a coach or course creator is always up to you.
Just make sure that you deliver value, keep your promises, and continue learning.
Because at the end of the day, we’re all just trying to figure things out.
Your unique knowledge, skills, and experience might be able to help someone going through some rough patches today.
And if we want to be the “good kind” of coaches that we want to be, then we have to let good people with good intentions get started.
But remember that good intentions are not enough. You have to keep learning, keep growing, and pass on what you have learned.
That’s how you’ll become a good coach.
