Tino’s Corner: Top 10 Benefits of a Coach

Tino Mantella By Tino Mantella CEO & President Turknett Leadership Group

Everyone Can Benefit from a Coach (Tino’s Top 10 Gleanings from five months at TLG):

I feel fortunate to have had an array of diverse job opportunities over the years. I love learning and the TLG environment has provided more than I imagined when I took the job. Even though, like all of you, I have had many coaches over the years….parents, teachers, and sports coaches, for example; I have never had a formal coach. So, I thought sharing the below observations about formal coaching may be of some benefit to you:
  1. Many of the top CEOs in the USA have coaches.
  2. There used to be a perception that coaching was primarily for people who had “blind-spots”, and if they don’t embrace and execute a course correction, they wouldn’t be able to optimize their career. Although “Coaching for Personal Change” is an extremely valuable program (and TLG is one of the best in the nation in this area), most coaching is for people looking to achieve personal growth.
  3. Even though most companies/people select coaches to advance business growth, as you might expect, all quality coaches are life coaches, exploring all aspects of the client’s life. In fact TLG’s Founder, Bob Turknett, often recommends that his clients ask their spouse and/or closest partner if what is being revealed by assessments and conversations is an accurate depiction.
  4. Although some coaching assignments have a targeted beginning and end date, often CEOs and other clients extend formal relationship longer periods; even for decades. A coach may become a confident and a touchstone for major life decisions.
  5. Many astute young leaders seek a formal coach. And, the program is not just for CEOs and Csuite leaders. The experience can benefit anyone.
  6. If you are considering a coach, do your homework. Treat the process as a major life decision. I suggest that it’s as important as buying a house or maybe picking a mate. There are many great coaches and there are many not-so-great coaches who have hung their shingle out for various reasons. I am proud to be on a team where the average time in the “field” is over 20years, and nearly all are coaches are Industrial Psychologists and PhDs.
  7. When thinking about companies, we believe that coaching, culture, and strategy, when in alignment, optimize a company’s potential to achieve quantum growth.
  8. Many of you have taken some type of assessment over the years. I have learned various assessments reveal different findings, so it’s good to know what you are trying to find before you decide what assessments are best for you.
  9. 360-degree feedback can provide invaluable information to participants. Fasten your seatbelts because everyone has areas where they can improve. Here again, it’s important to have a professional coach take teams through the process. Think of “bedside manner” – a quality doctor knows how to feed information to their patients. This analogy is not to say that 360s reveal narrow “bad news” result. Often, quality coaches focus on strengths and how individuals can fortify their quality points as viewed by others.
  10. TLG is beginning to incorporate neuroscience into their coaching as they learn more about how the brain is central to attitude, personality, and performance.
Hope you have found my learnings helpful to you and your personal journey. If you want to learn more about TLG’s offerings, please don’t hesitate to contact me or any of our team members. -Tino