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Carl Welte is the principal of Welte Associates, a consulting firm whose purpose is to help organizational leaders and teams gain greater clarity, confidence, and skill to head in desired directions. If you would like to send a response to Carl Welte personally, then write him at carl@welte.com

Coaching for Commitment and Results, Part 5

Insight Is Great - But It Is Not Enough

Helping one to develop insight on a priority one is working on is a tremendous gift a coach can give a client. But intellectual discovery may not enough. So even if a coaching client gains clarity regarding the essence of an issue, and is willing to do something about it, the coach's job in most instances is not yet complete.

Masterful coaching involves not only helping the coaching client to gain greater clarity and insight relative to an issue, but to also actively work with the client to develop and implement a suitable pathway to action.

Depending upon the nature of the issue, such pathways may involve gathering information, developing competence, or implementing a course of action.

Helping Coaching Clients Develop Appropriate Pathways to Action

The chart below delineates the types of strategies that are appropriate for a coaching client to engage in, depending on what is needed to help her or him forward the action.

Need	Pathway to Action Strategy
Information	Perform an exercise or activity (or series of such). For example: Gather some data. Talk to some people. Reflect on some key questions. Apply a specific structure or framework to help sort things out. etc.
Competence	Engage in practices and self-observation. We learn by doing. A practice involves engaging in repeated behavior with a standard in mind. "Practice makes perfect" is an incorrect popular statement. A more accurate statement is: "Practice with a standard in mind leads to improvement". Self-observation involves developing questions to help one reflect on how the competency building is going and, as necessary, make course adjustments. Examples: We develop a proficiency in math by working many problems. A good golf swing is more than knowing what one looks like. Many hours at the driving range and out on the links are required before the vision becomes part of one's motor memory.
Implementation	Craft an action plan to implement a desired course of action.

Through ongoing coaching conversations, the coach can provide both challenge and support to the coaching client to help him or her learn and grow in desired directions.

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