How to get the most from your Coach or Mentor
By Dale Maxwell, CHT, Personal Coach
© 2002, 2023 Dale Maxwell dale@dalemaxwell.com www.yourhealthwiz.com www.dalemaxwell.com
About Dale Maxwell
Dale has coached hundreds of people for over 30 years. The insights you will receive in this book will assist you in getting the most from your coach, mentor, teacher, boss and subordinates. Dale has helped businesses grow, people grow and heal in his years of coaching.
Dale has worked with Fortune 500 companies and prefers to work with entrepreneurs because the levels of decision-making are many times a frustration to making improvements.
How to get the most from your Coach or Mentor
By Dale Maxwell, CHT, Personal Coach
Pre-study
Any materials assigned
Your coach or mentor will have some material to reduce the time it takes to bring you up to speed. This is a common and acceptable procedure. You may also be asked to take some pre-tests on the subject matter and some ask you to take behavioral style assessments. Ask for copies of the reports generated and to “go over” them. These assessments are not to grade or buttonhole you, but to allow the coach to better understand what style you are most comfortable with and how you prefer to be addressed in communications.
Fully Study and Apply
Take the time to fully study and understand the material provided, your coach will be happy to elaborate on a specific area of the material and less than thrilled if you ask questions that he/she has fully explained and you have not taken the time to study. How would you feel?
Research as needed
You will find ideas and questions in the material you are given to study, this is a normal part of education. Do some research and additional study as needed, your coach will be happy you have been motivated to expand your horizons.
Prepare for session
Submit Questions in advance
You will have questions about the material and questions not mentioned in the material. Write your questions down to clarify them and first see if you can generate the answer yourself instead of asking your coach. Write the answer down and send it with your question, ask your coach for expansion or direction, this leverages the knowledge you are gaining dramatically.
Your answers may come back by email - this can allow additional questions or clarification
When you pre-submit in advance your coach may answer prior to your telephone coaching session. This is a benefit to you because you can drill-down on your question or move to another. This is a benefit to your coach because you are making him/her work, and coaches are students too, your coach is learning more each day and will appreciate not repeating the same stuff over and over.
Written Goals and Action to achieve
Get a planner and learn to use it
I have used the Franklin/Covey planner for some time now and it is flexible enough for just about anyone. Now, don’t take my word for it, check out all options and decide for yourself. Most important though is that everyone you must trade information or assignments with should be on the same size planner. If you use a eight one half by eleven inch format and your team is using the more common five and one half by eight and one half, receiving and delegating becomes less than efficient. The three topics below are all needed. You will want to master each.
Time Management
Time management is the art and science of taking long-term dreams and converting them to goals and action steps. Learning this one skill and using it daily can move you toward your desired results faster than any other skill you can master. It leverages everything else.
Process Management
Process management takes the time management skills and applies these skills to encompass and extend to managing others, contract service providers, employees or contractors.
Activity Management
Learning how to document and measure activities will allow you to delegate successfully. If you ask someone to do an activity they are not fully aware of and/or they may have a different vision of what the results should be you will become frustrated. Suppose you were going to fight a house fire with a team of people who have not been trained. Could be a problem. If you have a clearly written plan and everyone studies and practices, your success in saving lives and property will be much more likely. Are your business or health plans any less important than firefighting? I don’t think so. Learn this skill.
Timing
Avoid a tight time table (weekly at 2:00pm)
Please don’t disappoint yourself or your coach by agreeing to a timetable you cannot successfully achieve. Be reasonable, use your time management skills and plug in your assignments.
If you cannot move through the process, spread out the sessions
Be up front with your coach and he/she will support you in adjusting the “schedule” to meet your needs.
Assignments
If given verbally, write down and send to Coach for verification
This is especially important, if you do the work and the expectation is “A” but the assignment is “B” no one is happy. So write down your assignment and send it back to your coach, request acknowledgement that you are correct in your understanding of your assignment.
Respect
On time
Always be on time with your assignments and phone calls.
Do not miss
Your coach is as busy as you and missing an appointment will not show the respect you want to show.
Do not allow interruptions
Don't put your coach on hold
When you are calling your coach, turn off call waiting and any other phones in the room. Focus on your time together.
Arrange not to be interrupted
Put a sign on your door – do not let your time be discounted by allowing interruptions.
Map your thoughts
Learn and Use every tool you can acquire
Learn tools to assist you in learning and communicating. www.mindjet.com delivers a quality computer program. A sample is included in the appendix of this book.
Coach Someone Else
There is no better way to know you know the material
Arrange to share your knowledge with another person; you will master the material by teaching it to another person.
Lifelong Student
Philosophical Necessary
We live in a time that change happens faster than any other time in the history of man. You must be learning and growing or you will shrivel and die.
Constant Change
This constant change can be an advantage if you embrace it. It can be a challenge if you resist it.
Learn to learn
Your assignment is to research and obtain skills to compress the time needed to master a task. One common skill you have heard of is “speed reading” others include masterminding, the Einstein factor, accelerated learning and many more. Find some and learn them.
Choosing Your Coach
You will have many coaches during your new “Lifelong Student” life model; the very best leverage you can have in selecting your coach will be to define your challenge in writing. Ask your prospective coach for his/her approach to addressing your needs.