After my five “introductory” lessons, I was a golfer.
I could “slap” the ball down the fairway accurately enough to shoot in the mid-90’s. Yes, it was all arms and shoulders. And, yes, by the end of the round, I was worn out.
A couple of years later, feeling the urge to improve, I signed up for group lessons with Chuck Campbell (a 70-year old American playing professionally on the senior circuit in Japan).
As Chuck began changing my swing, my scores went from the mid-90’s to a high of 127. I remember my boss’s comment one day, “You have no idea what’s going to happen when you hit that ball, do you?” And, he was right. Later that day, I accidently hit the ball directly at him. By the way, he was standing about 40 yards away, 90 degrees off my line of aim, and directly behind me – the ball went between my legs.
But, I stuck with it. (Heck, I couldn’t get much worse.)
Shortly afterwards, my scores began to change. Within a couple of weeks of my 127-stroke “high” score, my game began to change dramatically – my average dropped into the mid-80’s.
I was hitting the ball further, straighter, and with less effort.
The difference was group lessons.
When Chuck was standing next to me, watching my swing, I forced myself to do all the things I knew were right. So, what he saw was NOT what I normally did. When he walked away to work with someone else, I’d relax and do what I normally did.
Chuck watched me when he was “working” with someone else. So, he was able to correct what I was actually doing.
When you coach your people, are you coaching their “best” behavior or do you catch them unawares so you can correct what they are really doing?
Tags: action, change, coach, coaching, growth, leadership, motivation, performance, sales, taking action