It wasn’t my intention with this platform to start coaching coaches, heck I didn’t even know that was a thing until about a year ago. But if you write about coaching on the internet for 3.5 years, someone might inquire about this new industry of ‘coaching coaches’.
I honestly think I have Cody Royle to thank for the 2 coaches that have reached out and and future coaches who inquire because of his fine work in this new field. The 2 coaches I work with are familiar with his new line of work and have probably reached out to me because of the seeds he has planted with his platform.
I didn’t advertise it until 6 months into working with my first client on the ‘down-low.’ I didn’t advertise it until this post…
I wanted to make sure what I was doing was providing value, and I wanted a few people to ask about it on their own first.
So now the secret is out, I’m coaching coaches… and if I get a few more clients, I can stop Uber and DoorDashing…
Uh-oh, Drew is doing something without a credibility stamp again…
“I don’t need a mentor, and especially not a 31-year-old who has only been coaching garbage junior hockey for 3 years.” Your ego says to yourself.
I hear your ego, but I’d also like to attempt to open your mind to a mastermind, which is really what ‘coaching coaches’ is to me… It’s not mentorship:
Don’t think mentorship, think mastermind group.
The Master Mind 1+1=3
Have you ever heard of a fella named Napolean Hill? Here are his words on his failure to use ‘mastermind’ soon enough in his life. Hill writes in Outwitting the Devil:
In the interview with the Devil, the exact nature of the power by which I had been deprived of my initiative and courage has been described. It is the same power with which millions of others were bound during the Great Depression. It is the chief weapon with which the Devil ensnares and controls human beings.
The sum and substance of this thought which came to me was this: Despite the fact that I had learned from Andrew Carnegie and more than five hundred others of equal business and professional achievements that noteworthy achievements in all walks of life come through the application of the Master Mind (the harmonious coordination of two or more minds working to a definite end), I had failed to make such an alliance for the purpose of carrying out my plan to rake the philosophy of individual achievement to the world.
Despite the fact I had understood the power of the Master Mind, I had neglected to appropriate and use this power. I had been laboring as a "lone wolf” instead of allying myself with other and superior minds.
When a coach does individual training with me, we form a mastermind in which we help each other to a better result than we could get on our own. Let’s talk about just 2 examples of how we might do that today…
In my work with my current 2 coaching partners (I struggle to use clients but more people will understand that word) I am most often using 2 principles to help them be their best selves:
Offering another perspective or 2
Building on top of their idea with a take that unlocks more on their side
1. Offering Perspective
Everyone sees the world through their own level of perception. They have current belief systems about the world and those beliefs lead to their day-to-day actions, coaching interventions with players, messaging, and bleed into their personal lives with family and kids… Perception influences and touches all of life.
If you work with a coach who is adept at observation and witnessing, they can see things from different levels and offer multiple perspectives of the reality you see. The reality you see and the reality that is there oftentimes don’t match which leads to internal conflict that gets projected externally onto players, family, etc.
Offering different perspectives from a more ‘neutral’ observer can help the leader make less emotional, less fear-based, and less destructive (below 200) decisions. Less destructive decisions lead to better outcomes over time. Keep it 200.
2. Building on Top
My job is to make ‘your ideas’ percentage points better. To unlock a 2nd and 3rd draft of a message to the team that will resonate more with players. To unlock a better way of approaching whatever it is you need help with.
How can we make this team talk 5% better?
How can we make this practice activity 5% more transferable?
How can we make you 5% more confident is ‘who you are’ as a coach?
These are just a sample of questions a ‘coach of coaches’ might be looking to accomplish through either:
Thoughtful question asking
Offering his take on the situation may unlock more ideas from the coach
We already gave a few examples of number 1, let’s talk more about number 2…
One of the coaches I help will send me his take on something he is thinking about doing, I’ll break my response into 2 parts. One will be questions, one will be how I see it from my perception and perspective (more non-attached).
Often when the coach listens to the 2nd message with my take, it can take him to thoughts that he wouldn’t have thought without a ‘push’ from my words.
My take is a handoff and nudge to run with the ball further.
This is often the unlock to make a message or idea 5-10% better than it would have been being what Hill refers to as the ‘lone wolf’ in the coaching office.
So What?
In closing…
Don’t view this as “Drew is trying to sell me something.”
Make the mindset shift to an offer, if you’d like to try this out and form a coaching mastermind or ‘get coached by a coach’, reach out to me in the Twitter DMs or email me at drewcarlson9@gmail.com
Let’s cook something better up together. Every coach gets a custom program. Some coaches want help with their own workout/training/nutrition regimen. Other coaches want mind training, other coaches want what we talked about in this post. Other coaches want help changing their self-concept. I believe in holistic approaches to everything and have the range to provide. Let’s talk about your wants and needs if you’re interested!