Matters of Coaching and Coaching Matters

Coaching as a profession has many dimensions. There are the tangibles, those things relating directly to coaching a training session, organizing a team and there are the intangibles, the “squishy” feeling type of things. The former I call the Matters of Coaching, the later is the Coaching Matters. Both are important, without Coaching Matters the Matters of Coaching have less meaning.

Matters of Coaching (Not in any rank order)

Organization

Communication

Technical/Tactical Expertise

Innovation

Respect

Learning

Planning

Structure

Budget

Evaluation

Management

Teaching

Availability

Quality Control

Discipline

Feedback

Leadership

Coaching Matters

Passion

Responsibility

Commitment

Belief

Integrity

Love

Initiative

Consistency

Emotion

Winning/Losing

Sportsmanship/Fair Play

Leadership

Change

Responsibility

Flexibility

Wisdom

Humility

Patience

Tolerance

Understanding

Managing

Feeling

Vision

Audacity

Self Discipline

Innovation

Wonder

Amazement

Respect

The list under Coaching Matters is longer the Matters of Coaching. If I would have compiled this 40 years ago the Matters of Coaching would have been much longer and Coaching Matters much, much shorter. I think this speaks volumes about coaching, at least from my perspective. I have always prided myself on being more knowledgeable and being ahead of the game in terms of technical knowledge, but I would say it took me around thirty years to understand that it is not what you know, but it how you get across what you know that is most important. Hopefully this will stimulate some thought if you are beginning your coaching career or if well into your career. Play with this list, see what you value, even rank them as to their importance for you. Just some brain cramps from an “old coach” who loves coaching and wants to share.