EP 41 : Don’t be a Cookie-Cutter Coach

What is a cookie cutter coach?

It is a coach who follows a very strict formula, a recipe, a template. Just like making cookies, the result will look somewhat familiar.

In this podcast, I share some easy ways how beginner Leader Coaches can take their coaching to a new level with ease, by contextualising.

What does cookie-cutter coaching look like?

When will easily notice a cookie cutter Leader Coach. They keep using the same questions.

Your team member approaches you with a question and you predictably ask back: ‘So what would YOU think? What would YOU do?’ It becomes old fast and is the simplest possible way to get started with the coaching mindset.

Using the same style again and again will also make people acute aware that a certain technique is used ONTO them. And no one likes that. As great coaches, we want to make sure that our team member is busy figuring out their own problem and not becomes super aware about the coaching process.

One example that comes to mind for me is the popular ‘miracle questions’, when you basically ask: ‘Imagine a miracle happens and your probably has gone away. How do you notice?’. The question is asked more than once…people will notice and it feels weird.

So what can we do instead?

Contextualize your questions and building your questions on what you just heard.

Curious? Listen to the podcast for further detail and plenty of examples!

Cheers, Maik