How Coaching Works

Impacting the physics of human behavior.

Coaching operates and impacts the physics of human behavior.

Think about the metaphor of building a bridge and the difference between physics and engineering for a moment. Imagine you come into a coaching session and say, “I want to build a bridge; how do I build it?”

A coach might say, “I can’t tell you exactly how you should build this bridge, but I know all bridges need to respect gravity, are there are certain principles of how weight distribution and suspension work. Before you start building, you’ll need to make sure that you have an understanding of those things–that is if you want your bridge to stand.” Questions like these are all related to the physics of bridge-building.

The engineering is still completely up to you. If you respect the laws of physics, you can build a bridge that looks like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Bay Bridge, or the London Bridge. There is a huge amount of freedom in how you build that bridge, and it’s your bridge to build.

The coach’s job is not to engineer the bridge for you. The coach’s job is to help you become aware of the laws of physics and ensure that your co-created engineering solutions are respecting those laws.

For example, say you’re a CEO who’s struggling to run effective executive team meetings. Your coach’s starting point is going to be on the level of physics–for example, exploring the way power (particularly yours) is working in the room, assessing the quality of dialogue and relational dynamics, exploring the trade-offs between preparedness and spontaneity, etc. Understanding the underlying physics will then better position you to engineer a solution that works for you and your team. If we simply started with a blueprint for exec team meetings (engineering), even a good one that’s worked in other contexts, we wouldn’t be solving for the uniqueness of your situation. And it’s likely the “solution” would be sub-optimal.