by Mike Davenport, CoachingSportsToday.com
There are four kinds of coaching experiences. Unfortunately most of us end up with the bad kind.
The four flavors
The place we dream of being is that coveted upper-right hand corner. That is where things are positive and you’ve been constructive.
That’s where you want to be — but that’s not where most coaches end up.
Many coaches, all too often, find themselves having experiences in the negative-and-destructive zones. Even finding themselves dwelling in the cellar — that terrible lower-left hand corner.
There the lights are dim, the work hard, the rewards few, and the price of admission steep.
You have to know this
You will have an experience as a coach. You cannot NOT have one.
The big question is, which quadrant will your experience reside in? The power lies with you in determining the quality of your experience. There are many ways to disagree, but it’s true. Your experience is up to you.
Expect to have a great experience
Seth Godin, a wise fellow, wrote, “Human beings have better experiences when they expect to have a better experience.” Expect to be in that upper-right hand corner, but you will have to make it happen. Positive-and-constructive experiences take work to create.
As you must work to create a positive-and-constructive experience, and you must work equally as hard to fend off the negative-and-destructive experiences — which are a result of decay.
- A decay of interest
- A decay of effort
- A decay of intent
- A decay of caring
- A decay of attention
The image of treading water in the middle of the ocean comes to mind …
Your Choice
So what will it be, positive-and-constructive? Negative-and-destructive? Or somewhere between?
There are steps you can take to successfully land in the positive-and-constructive corner. I’ll write more about those in upcoming blasts, but you know many of them already. (Yes — you do.)
Action you can (and should) take
Want to get insight into the quality of your coaching experiences? (Hint, you do.) Click here for a simple worksheet.
More soon and may a great coaching experience be awaiting you,
– Mike
PS. If you have a moment to share this post, it might help another coach expect to have a better experience — and then have one. And for that, we all thank you.