Blog

Honesty in coaching & other related thoughts

2

Sometimes I think I have the tendency to be too honest. I say what I think on most occasions and if I don’t – I have to bite tongue pretty hard…

But is being ‘too honest’ always a bad thing? In personal life – very likely. In a work situation? I am learning that the answer is no.

I got some pretty good advice earlier this week. In fact, it is the best coaching advice I have received in a while: “Can’t be too honest in high performance sport… We have to be honest to help every athlete realize their potential” (Wayne Goldsmith of the Sports Coaching Brain).

What I have come to realize a while ago, based on recent year’s coaching experiences, is that ‘high performance’ is not only an ability level. It is also an attitude. A way of life, if you will. I work with some very competitive and ambitious age group athletes who have pretty much the same attitude towards training, racing & life as some of the development/elite athletes I work with. Actually, I have worked with development athletes who were not as hard working and/or dedicated as some of my age group athletes, which is pretty sad.

So, being too honest isn’t always a bad thing and I will no longer look at it as some sort of a flaw. But when work and play blend into one, as is often the case with me, my fairly standard answer of ‘it depends‘ applies yet again. Just because you can’t be too honest in high performance coaching doesn’t mean that the same applies for coaching in general, it really does depend on who you are working with and what their goals are, right?

Noa

PS. I am taking on a few new athletes for the 2011-2012 season (and beyond). Interested in working with me? Then get in touch!

  • Carllowe

    Honesty is great, but much of the time it is how you say it, how you give advice and feedback, that determines how it is received and whether or not it helps the recipient. You especially have to demonstrate how that honesty is going to help the athlete.

    • http://ptperformancetraining.com Noa Deutsch

      Agreed. That’s where the art of coaching comes into play, right? The level of development, athletes goals and so many other factors come into play here… I think it’s also about knowing the athletes very well and know how to approach certain situations. That’s why ‘it depends’ :)