So, what’s the difference between coaching and training anyway? That was the topic of our conversation with Master Coach, CEO and entrepreneur Terri Levine, The Guru of Coaching and owner of The Coach Institute. And what was the answer?
According to Terri, coaching has the intent of inspiring and improving the recipient, as opposed to training, which in Terri’s mind is an activity that involves teaching and instructing (in other words, telling). And Terri contends that sales coaching can take place in a group environment just as effectively as in a one-on-one setting.
When coaching in a group, Terri has found the interaction to be more inpsiring and energizing; she also observes better interaction and even mentoring between team members. And when team members begin coaching each other, synergy happens. Team members naturally begin to cooperate and make up for each other deficiencies, as well as to hold each other accountable. This, of course, leads to bigger and better results for the team as a whole.
Terri talks about the seven facets of effective coaching: the art of coaching, inspiration, energizing, facilitating, performance, learning and development. Each of these facets contributes to the overall effectiveness of the coaching effort. For example, how do you help a coach develop the ability to energize their teams? First off, you have to look at what’s working now. This creates positive thinking that is focused on solutions, not problems. This kind of examination makes us think differently and creates huge results.
If you want to be an effective coach, you have to coach your team on a regular basis and help the people you are coaching to be able to find solutions on their own. That, coupled with great communication and bonding, makes for lasting improvement on a team. Coaching, when it works, makes for great sales teams.
Thanks to Terri for joining us, and thanks to you for listening! Don’t forget to email Terri (coachingguru@gmail.com) and tell her you listened to the podcast to receive your free gifts (a copy of one of Terri’s books and a free coaching session).
Brad and Jerry
P.S. After a brief hiatus, we’re back! It’s been one crazy summer, but things have quieted down and we’ll be resuming our regular schedule of at least one new episode per week. Thanks for your patience while we’ve been sorting things out, and we look forward to being a regular part of your week again!
Is It Coaching, or Is It Training? - Episode 23 with Terry Levine [26:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
