Ten Ways To Be A Better Coach - Part # 3

Recognize Deficits And Correct Them

Building on these two different forms of coaching, we need to help those who participate in coaching to understanding that coaching is a structured dialogue, often covering such topics as mission and core values, strategy, operational choices, and relationships. It involves questions, analysis, action planning, and follow through. It is something that  happens with people, not to people. In short, we as coaches may not always be able to solve all the problems that surface during a coaching session, but we can explore the pros and cons of various choices. 

As we do this work, we, as coaches, need to understand the difference between a knowledge deficit and a connection deficit. Both are present during every coaching session and both are impacting performance. 

Using a medical example, a connection deficit happens when a doctor can see all the symptoms, and to a degree can describe the problem. However, they are not able to connect the problem to the knowledge they already have received in medical school about how to solve the problem. This happens in part because they are siloing up the knowledge and separating it from the problem and the symptoms. Therefore, there is a connection deficit.

For example, a patient comes into the clinic in a northern city suffering from high fever, headache, vomiting, joint pain and a skin rash. The young doctor notes all the symptoms, but can not diagnose the cause. The person coaching the doctor asks them if the patient has traveled in the southern hemisphere recently. The doctor says “yes.” The coach then explains that the patient is suffering from dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease that is common in tropical and subtropical areas. The young doctor missed the connection, but now can proceed with an effective treatment plan. 

On the other hand, a knowledge deficit happens when a doctor is missing critical knowledge. Thus, they are unable to solve the problem. Referencing the previous example, the actual problem is that the young doctor never had any classes on tropical and subtropical diseases in medical school. Therefore, the missing piece is not the connection between the symptoms and the cause. The missing piece is the actual core knowledge about this particular disease. 

Coaching people routinely involves the discovery of knowledge deficits and connection deficits. And the role of the coach is to help people to overcome these normal challenges. It is not to judge them because they have these challenges. Instead, the role of the coach is to support them so that they can gain the knowledge and make the connections, and thus become more competent and effective as an employee over time. 

To be continued next Monday. 

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change