In your experience, what makes a good coach? What skills/personality traits have you seen good coaches have?
This is somewhat similar to this old post Test Coach Skills but for this time, I’m interested in your experiences of being coached. What are things that make a great coach for you on your journey?
Kind of depends on what kind of coach you are talking about (content coach, grow path coach, … )
But all in a nutshell:
For me it’s someone who puts your interests on the same level as your companies. Someone who aids you in clearing out your grow path and doesn’t push you towards specific paths.
I also think a good relationship between you and your coach is necessary, what I mean by this is that you also talk a bit about some private chatter. The better this relation is, the more you trust each other.
Coaches have to keep the head cool of course, even if you have a moment of frustration.
Weekly or Bi-Weekly meetings, keeping up to date is really important. Who is going to coach someone when they are only going to talk to you once a year of twice a year.
Be chill and don’t always make it formal. If we are having a 1-2-1 meeting, it doesn’t always need to be formal. We can go out and have a drink together and talk about the future. (pre/after-corona :D)
They need to have some understanding of what you are doing on your projects. More like the same background? I know this doesn’t need to be the case all the time but I find it important.
Being able to explain things on a plain level where everyone understands it.
Good points from @kristof . Realised when I started to type, almost all has been covered.
In essence, I see a coach to be a sponsor (not in the financial sense) for you; a person who introduces and supports you.
And in that capacity I expect from them, they steer me away from the bad things / decisions that are not in my interest (in a non-obtrusive way), and challenge me to things that will aid to the purpose