4 Creative Ways to Explain Coaching

Executive coaching is becoming a more commonly understood practice and topic of conversation in the financial services industry, but this doesn’t make it any easier to explain.

Below we’ve listed some fun analogies we like to use when explaining coaching to our financial advisor clients who are less familiar. Try one out the next time you’re on the phone with someone you think would benefit from coaching.

1. The Duckpin Bowling Analogy: The coaching partnership is like duckpin bowling in that the coach (like the bumpers in the gutters) serve as a guide to steer the coachee (or the bowling ball) back on track toward his or her goals (the pins at the end of the lane) when he or she starts to go off track.

2.  The Scaffolding Metaphor: The scaffolding of a house is similar to coaching in that it simply provides a framework for the house. The final build and decor are determined by the vision of the homeowner. In the same way, an advisor has every opportunity to determine the goals he or she wants to achieve in the coaching partnership, the coach simply provides the structure around which to build, shape, and manage those goals.

3. The Stagecoach: The word for stagecoach originated from a Hungarian word kosci,, which means to get from one place to another. The destination was obviously not determined by the stagecoach itself, but the ability to get from one place to the other was entirely dependent upon it. In the same way, the coach does not determine the goal or destination for the advisor, but rather helps the advisor create a plan of action to get from where they are now to where they want to end up, and stay on course throughout that process.

4. The Sports Analogy: Even the best athletes require a coach to keep their heads in the game, and simultaneously aware of the bigger picture in the context of each win or loss. Coaches are there to listen, assess the athlete’s situation, push their potential, and keep them on track to their performance goals. In the same way, ClientWise coaches unlock advisors’ potential by harnessing their skills to maximize their performance, achieve growth, and eventually enable them to maintain that growth on their own.