The Importance of Continuous Learning as a Coach

There are always a few bumps in the road to becoming a CEO coach. Once former executives settle into their new reality, they often find there are some lessons from previous roles that they now have to relearn.

Vistage Chairs Kurt Graves and Steve Johnson both went through the transition from company leadership to mentoring practices. Both emerged on the other side at the helm of thriving (and growing) CEO advisory groups. Here are lessons they gleaned about continuing to learn as a coach.

• What Is Continuous Learning?
• Why Is Continuous Learning Important for Coaches?
• How Can You Continue to Learn as a Coach?
• Key Takeaways: How Do Coaches Learn New Skills?

What Is Continuous Learning?

Continuous learning is the process of expanding your knowledge and skill set to gain new expertise. The idea of continuous learning includes developing new skills and knowledge as well as strengthening the ones you already have. It’s sometimes called continual learning or constant learning. It’s similar to lifelong learning, although continuous learning more often refers to the business world, while lifelong learning places a greater emphasis on skills in your personal life.

Why Is Continuous Learning Important for Coaches?

The benefits of continuous learning are as significant for coaching as for any other role and perhaps more so. Coaching is a leverage position. As coaches grow their skill sets, they mentor more effectively, and their mentees, in turn, become more effective. Not only that, but coaches lead by example when they deliberately and continuously learn.

Here are some specific reasons continuous learning is vital for coaches.

1. Implement new leadership models

Coaches who transitioned from management positions are familiar with most or all of the leadership models that were in existence when they were managers. However, the business world doesn’t stand still. New leadership theories and leadership models are constantly being developed.

To be effective, a coach needs to be familiar with all the leadership models that a business might advantageously use. There’s no way to do that without continuously learning about what’s new in leadership thinking.

2. Meet diverse client needs

Every organization in which a coach mentors is different. A coach who formerly managed in only one or two organizations will not be familiar with the culture and with the customers across a variety of organizations.

An executive coach has to work with diverse individuals in diverse companies. Not all people think and learn the way the coach does, and not all companies operate in a familiar way. A coach has to keep learning to gain an understanding of new types of people and organizations. A coach must constantly learn to effectively relate to people who have different backgrounds and experiences.

3. Enhance problem-solving skills

A coach, in dealing with many kinds of people, will encounter problem-solving and decision-making scenarios different from what they saw in a previous role. There will be problems and decisions in hard and soft arenas, including technical problems, communication issues, and relationship problems. There will be issues unique to the industry of the mentee. Constant learning sharpens general analytical skills and may also address a specific problem that a coach comes across.

4. Maintain relevance

It’s easy to fall behind in today’s business environment. There are new technologies, new best practices, and new developments within each industry. It takes continuous learning to keep pace. Through continuous learning, you can ensure your skills are up to par and relevant with the latest innovations. In fact, the half-life of a new skill is only 5 years, meaning new advances are making older skills obsolete quicker than previous generations. Through continuous learning, you can keep your skills up to speed.

Another significant factor is the way that personalities and attitudes are changing as the employee demographic becomes younger. Whenever change comes to a company or industry, whether internally or from the outside, the coach who keeps learning is less likely to be caught on the wrong side of what’s relevant.

5. Grow personally and professionally

The day you stop learning is the day your personal development and career development come to a halt. No one is certain what the future of any business is, but those who are continuously learning will be in a position to take advantage of new kinds of opportunities. Whether that opportunity is a new coaching role or a return to management, the person will have an extensive skill set and will be prepared to step into new roles or improve in the current role.

6. Ensure innovation in the workplace

A coach should be a leader, not only by example but also through the people being mentored. When it’s supported by continuous learning, both the coach’s own behavior and the behavior the coach encourages in others promote employee engagement and job satisfaction. Engaged employees show improved performance and are more likely to be innovative.

Constantly learning coaches develop knowledge and insight about how to be innovative, and they pass this on through their mentees in the employee population.

How Can You Continue to Learn as a Coach?

How do coaches learn new skills? They practice the right behaviors. Continuous learning behaviors are the actual daily and weekly practices that lay the groundwork for continuous learning. Here are some examples of continuous learning behaviors.

1. Renovating Your Ego

One major stumbling block CEOs might face in the transition to executive coaching is the shift to a service-oriented mindset. As a coach, they are no longer the boss; instead, they’re advising others on how to be better bosses.

Doing that requires a certain degree of humility and a need to check one’s ego — or at least, as Graves puts it, to renovate it. “You can’t ask people to ruthlessly challenge the assumptions in their lives if you haven’t done it yourself,” he says.

Honesty, vulnerability, and trust are all key to building a thriving mentor-mentee relationship, which can be impossible to achieve if ego takes up too much space in the room.

Part of submerging one’s ego is never violating a trust, says Johnson. “You know when you are truly a ‘trusted advisor’ when your member tells you something no one else knows. I’ve learned about sickness, divorce, addictions, and family troubles before anyone else because I was the only person they trusted to tell their story to.”

Johnson notes that trust is precious and can never be violated. “While I always encourage them to bring the issue to the group, sometimes it takes months for them to develop the vulnerability necessary to do that. Until that time, I have to keep the confidence sacred, or else I lose all credibility forever.”

“Another thing that I had to learn was that I was not ultimately responsible for the success of my members’ companies,” Johnson adds. Though his advice frequently proves invaluable, the wins that result belong to the members themselves.

Without ego in the way, both Johnson and Graves find pride and fulfillment in taking a backseat while still recognizing when they are needed. “I get joy out of sitting back and watching my groups as they’re working through issues,” Graves says. “Then, if they get off track, I’ll insert my personality at the table.”

2. Keeping A Routine

Another big change as one shifts to coaching is the size of the operation. Former executives go from having teams of people to get the work done to running a whole coaching group (often more than one) single-handedly.

When unbound from the built-in structure of a large organization, the best way to keep from getting overwhelmed is to rebuild a routine.

As a former naval officer, Johnson is familiar with the benefits of a regimented schedule. Graves, too, keeps meticulous spreadsheets and recommends setting aside certain days each month for certain tasks, whether that be administrative work, financial bookkeeping, or anything else that needs doing.

“Every month has a rhythm, and the rhythm has to be followed,” Graves says. And, while sometimes that means carrying over the organizational systems from jobs past, it can also mean adapting old practices to fit the unique demands of a coaching gig.

3. Actively listen

Learning opportunities present themselves every day, and coaches have to be attuned to them. They come not only as formal learning but also as social learning. Social learning is the learning that comes from observing other people and interacting with them. Sometimes you can learn a lot by the simple act of active listening.

Coaches who have been managers are used to speaking up and taking charge, so listening is something they may have to discipline themselves to do. Coaches will be involved in one-on-one sessions, which can be anything from strategic conversations to a discussion of the mentee’s personal issues. They must recognize that their role is not to dictate to the other person but to be a mirror for that person to reach their own conclusions.

4. Embrace a holistic mindset

Finally, one of the most significant characteristics of an outstanding executive coach is a willingness to move beyond a business-oriented mindset. For Graves and Johnson, it has proven more effective to approach their mentees’ problems with a holistic strategy focused on personal development.

“The transition for me probably came when I stopped focusing on growing the business and started focusing on doing everything I could, one conversation at a time, to make it valuable for the person,” Graves says.

That means addressing emotional and personal roadblocks alongside occupational ones. This can represent new ground for former executives who were used to expecting work-life separation while pursuing the bottom line.

Learning how to connect on a deeper level with mentees, however, fosters growth on both sides. “I became much more sensitive and empathetic and much less judgmental,” Johnson says. His statement is another proof point that, although the relearning process can be difficult, the personal growth that ensues can also offer great rewards.

5. Attend workshops

Wise coaches understand the limitations of what they know. They realize that they might not even be aware of entire areas where they don’t have the knowledge they need. One of the best ways to increase knowledge and close this gap is by attending workshops.

The benefits are multiple, and learning something new is only the first one. There are opportunities to develop connections with professionals who are experiencing similar issues. There are speakers who can inspire and provoke new ways of thinking. There is the clearing of the mind that comes from being out of the work environment and into a different one.

6. Read widely

You never know what you’re going to learn when you pick up something to read, even something only tangentially connected to your business. When you get into coaching, the scope of materials relevant to your professional development expands. You can gain something not only from business writing but also from writing about any aspect of human behavior.

Today, there are more reading opportunities than ever. Books, magazines, and other print publications are only the start. There are online articles, blogs, podcasts, and even YouTube videos. Just as the healthy eater selects something from each food group, the healthy reader has a breadth of interests that edify.

7. Enroll in training programs

Although a training course may seem like time away from the “real work” that you face every day, learning new skills is also an essential part of the job. The perspective gained from time spent in a class can help you come back to your coaching sessions with a new attitude.

Training doesn’t have to be the classroom type where you sit at a desk. There are online courses, seminars, webinars, and various self-directed programs. It’s worthwhile to deliberately plot out a course of training for yourself for six months or a year at a time.

8. Seek feedback

As a coach, you’re constantly providing your mentees with feedback about how they’re doing. You should insist that they, in turn, provide feedback about how you’re doing. After all, providing feedback is an important skill, and when they effectively do so, it benefits them as well as you.

A feedback culture is one of the strongest ways to ensure that you’re not getting started on the wrong path or, worse yet, persisting in executive coaching mistakes. There are few things as valuable as knowing what people perceive as your weaknesses as well as what they see as your strengths.

9. Explore different coaching models

One continuous learning in the workplace example is understanding various coaching models. A few people can coach successfully simply by following their instincts, but most coaches will be wise in developing new skills and knowledge by studying and adopting models. There are quite a few of them out there with names such as GROW, CLEAR, Innovation, Bigger Thinking, and Shift, and all have their pros and cons.

Take some time to study them and identify the ones that best align with your style and your coaching goals.

10. Reflect on your practices

From the day you start coaching, consider establishing some milestones where you’ll stop and take time to evaluate how well your coaching is going and what you might do to improve it. Not everything you do will be successful, and every setback is a fresh opportunity for long-term learning and development.

Getting better at anything, including coaching, is an iterative process. The self-awareness that comes from reflection is an excellent tool to ensure that each iteration is an improvement on the previous one.

Key Takeaways: How Do Coaches Learn New Skills?

The best coaches take care to immerse themselves in a continuous learning environment. As you can see, there are quite a few ways to learn new skills, and it can be hard for a new executive coach to prioritize those and fit them into a schedule. Some, such as active listening, integrate into day-to-day activities. Others, such as formal training, need to be selected and scheduled.

So, how do you ensure that you’re doing the right things to continue to learn as a coach? That’s where Vistage can help. We’re the world’s most trusted executive coaching provider, and our executive coaching program will provide the foundation for you to continually learn as a coach.

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