The Coach
Teach to understand, Coach to learn why it matters.
The best person to help you overcome an obstacle is someone who has recently overcome it themselves. Due to AI the future of work will be fluid. Everyone and anyone can compliment AI learning to assist others to overcome obstacles dependent on the subject matter and relative zone of proximal development.
| Attribute | Teacher | Coach |
|---|---|---|
| Expertise | Talking to subjects to establish a baseline understanding | Working with subjects to increase their abilities |
| Atmosphere | More formal; in school, by appointment. Planned | Less formal, wide-ranging. Reactionary and spontaneous |
| Subject | Usually no prior knowledge of what is being taught | Usually has foundational knowledge and skill |
| Primary Activity | Disseminating information | Molding and adjusting |
| Style | General, by the book | Hands-on; personalized |
| Advancement | Triggered by time or other benchmarks | Based on real-time proficiency |
| Testing | Recall of facts. Formal levelling up process | Real-world applications |
Civilisation is in a race between education and catastrophe - HG Wells
AI backed games will teach any subject better than any person can, eventually it will be your best possible coach too. Social glue is the gap that needs to be filled.
You know the subject when you can teach it, you can coach when you make people understand how the knowledge is valuable to them.
Teaching
Don't follow a teacher that can't think for themselves.
Teaching is more of a straight line, step-by-step approach with mostly one-way communication, with the goal of presenting brand new information.
A good teacher can explain a concept and make it stick. A good coach helps you understand why that knowledge is useful to you and how to apply it. Help others make better decisions by providing tools that bring clarity of thought.
Engage the imagination to be successful
Coaching
Coaches help others apply knowledge to take better decisions that lead to growth. People need to trust you have expertise and have their best interests at heart. Place yourself in another persons shoes, recognise their biases and use optimism to help them see better options.
- Ask questions instead of giving instructions
- Focus on developing strengths
- Intensify the environment
- The team must own the challenge
Coaching is a multi-dimensional, cyclical activity that aims to provide clarity on when and why to use that knowledge and prepare skill in applying that knowledge.
A coach also imparts knowledge and introduces learnings, but also makes adjustments and provides feedback based on real-time information.
Compared to teaching, those being coached generally have knowledge and an idea of how to go about the particular activity. The coach helps to unlock capabilities to navigate challenges and progress to new levels of performance.
Leaders must have the ability to extract the best from people around them. This does not mean they have superior knowledge of the domain problem.
Gaming
Ask questions that transfer the benefits of gaming to facets of life:
- What is their favourite game right now?
- What does it take to be good at the game? What skills does it require?
- What personality or temperament does it require?
- What have you got a better at playing this game?
- What is the hardest thing you have accomplished playing the game?
- How did they manage to accomplish this goal? What steps did they take?