Study text

Coach should be able to notice errors, mistakes and gaps in knowledge. In order to do this – you need to learn to listen and ask questions. It is important to notice when student makes a mistake – but far more valuable is their reasoning for the mistakes. Noticing so called “root causes” for the mistakes and eliminating those will help coaching to be a success.

Whilst noticing flaws is important even more important is regular feedback – giving feedback, especially positive feedback is essential in the early stages of studying new things. It is simple to focus on mistakes – but also acknowledge what was done well, what was better than last time and what has been great overall.

You do not know everything – nor do you have to and the way you were thought might not have been the best way – each student is different and giving them active feedback is important. It also important to acknowledge your own flaws. Student does not know that you have never done this and with active feedback from the student anything can be thought. If student asks a question you do not know answer to – it is okay to admit it – you can direct them towards someone who knows, say that you’ll answer later (once you’ve figured it out on your own) or simply say that you do not know and this has never come up during your work. In that case, it is essential to explain what your order of thinking would be, should this question ever come up in your work. What would you do if similar thing would happen.

“Current affairs” and ask more than you speak: A lot of conversations revolve around recent news and issues. Trying to keep up with some of them so you can participate in conversations.

By asking open-ended questions and using active listening (by responding and reflecting to the answers) it is possible to develop the other parties communication skills (and give yourself a room to breathe and assess the situation and prepare for the next step in conversation as well as continue the conversation overall).