The Power In Observation

As a Coach, we are perceived as individuals who instruct, direct, guide, encourage, and often yell to project our vision and knowledge. But what many miss in coaches is our ability to observe. Our ability is not only to understand what or who we are looking at but its to teach ourselves in the process. The power in this is so vital that it embodies everything within coaching. To be open minded of all possibilities allows us as coaches to receive information, habits, behaviors etc., fairly. Believing that you can learn from any and everyone is masterful. In a coaches observation using all senses is also a key. True observation is a multi-sensory experience. Watching how things are said, receive, and delivered in an exchange requires eyes, ears, and many times intuition. Being still in a particular moment is a rare practice in this world of fast results, fast information, and fast gratification. As a coach stillness in our observation allows us to study at a pace where we have time to let digestion of our thoughts process organically. When we move fast we tend to get the gist of something but miss the underlying gems that may show us deeper meaning. Observation is a powerful trait to possess for us all, but for leaders it's essential. We have to understand verbal and non verbal gestures, energy in a gym, dynamics of members of a team, etc. Today we have analytical professionals who do assessments on everything. They put their test into numbers and percentages and gives us a shortcut to observations and outcome. But there are somethings that can not be measure through tests and number crunching. Coaches observation is still tremendously important.

-Coach Lou-