Thanks to my old friend Tom Bohinc for a great conversation this weekend on coaching. From it emerged the awareness that before coaching helps people work on things that matter, it helps when people know what to work on in the first place.
People know what's wrong or what's desired, but by virtue of their knowledge level, they can't actually know what to work on to make things better. The coach provides this prime value and focus that makes all manner of learning possible. We get better at things because we're working on the right things at the right time, not just because we're working on things.