Below you will find an early draft of my coaching manifesto. Calling it a first draft was sort of strange because I had been working on these ideas for several years. But this was the first time they were described in this way! As you read your way through the CV site, you will see that the ideas have been refined quite a bit since then. This will give you an idea of what it was like in the early days. Enjoy.

09/01/2005

Hey there! Coach Dave Buck here.
 

The Purpose: To establish coaching as a mainstream profession - ie. EVERYONE knows about coaching and MANY people have a professional coach

The Theory: Coaching will gain popular understanding and demand only when it establishes it's true purpose: Helping people play a game better and win the game on their own terms.

The Theme: Winning the coaching game

This letter to you: I share a few of my initial thoughts about this major initiative - in RAW form - to give you an idea.  Keep reading!  (Some of these thoughts may already be half-baked LOL)

Introduction to the Theory

There is only ONE true purpose of coaching:
Help your player play the game better
AND win the game on their own terms

Focus on winning
The only thing that is truly unique about coaching as compared to the myriad other helping professions is the focus on winning.  True, winning means different things to different people. In life, business, executive coaching the player defines the game.  But be sure of this one thing: YOUR ONLY JOB is to HELP THEM WIN

The purpose vs. the byproducts
I think one of the reasons coaches struggle in talking about coaching is because they are describing the byproducts of coaching rather than the REAL product.  The byproducts include LOTS of wonderful things: life balance, personal growth, insights, transformation, creativity, self-expression, having the life you want and reaching goals.  But the REAL product of coaching is: consistently winning the game you are playing.

What coaches do vs. What coaches don't do
This protracted debate is completely useless- it's time for us to move on.  Mostly because the people who matter- the players - REALLY DON'T CARE.  Whether or not coaches give advice, or only ask questions or get involved or don't get involved or have an agenda or don't have an agenda - FORGET IT! This is what coaches do: whatever it takes within the context of fair play to help the player win the game.

Having coaching skills vs. knowing how to coach
Here is a BIG point.  In my experience lots of folks who call themselves coaches have reasonable coaching skills; And they know a lot ABOUT coaching.  THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAVING COACHING SKILLS AND KNOWING HOW TO COACH!Knowing how to coach means you know how to win.  You know how to help your players define the game they are playing and then have a reliable strategy to help them win the game.

To  attract clients YOU MUST BE WINNING!
A player WILL NOT / CAN NOT hire a coach who has less certainty in the game than they do.  This is the ultimate truth about marketing and selling coaching.  So, your #1 mission as a coach is to continually expand your certainty in the game.  You must be winning in order to get clients.  It doesn't matter how nice your website looks if you are not winning in the games that matter to you.

Winning vs. Losing
Talk about a highly charged conversation.  I'm just going to give a few points here, but be prepared for a major exploration.  It's not a true game unless you can win or lose.  There is no joy in winning a game that you can't lose.  Losing is one of the best growth experiences you will ever have.  You don't get the growth from losing unless you gave your heart and soul to playing to win.  As a coach you must have a powerful desire for winning AND a healthy regard for losing.

Most people want to win but they are afraid to play to win
In my 10 years as a college soccer coach and 9 years as a life and business coach, I learned A LOT about winning and losing.  One thing I know for sure is that MOST people want to win.  And they yearn to play a game that truly matters.  They yearn to put heart and soul into something and "leave it all out on the field" so to speak.  But most don't do it.  Even most coaches I know shy away from truly playing full out to win.  Why not? Not because they are afraid, but because they don't know how. 

Very few people have truly learned how to win.  If you truly want to coach, you MUST learn this.

 What you need to learn about winning...

Winning is a function of knowing what game you are playing
You've got to know the rules of the game.  You've got to know who the other players are. 

 A Winning season is only possible if the game and season are defined
Applying the law of periodization is critical for high-performance AND the key to sustainability in your work as a coach. (if the game is always on, you are probably burning out) To win you must know when the game is over; when the season is over; celebrate wins and debrief wins and losses.
Note: Periodization is the quality of recurring at intervals. 

 Winning requires that you are ALWAYS keeping score
but NEVER looking at the scoreboard while the game is on.  You will craft a scorecard for your work that will challenge you and inspire you every day.  Then you begin to create a winning game plan on game day. When you start using this technique with clients... WOW!  You will be amazed.

 Winning is a function of your environments
It's VERY hard to win in a hostile environment.  Most people play in an environment that is hostile to the games they are trying to win.  When you build support from the world around you your game will come alive and so will you.   

 Winning is a function of your mental and emotional frameworks
Awareness is everything!!  Your physical and mental attitude confine and refine what you do and don't do.  You will only select strategies and make plays that fit within your current framework.  Is your framework serving you?  Is it big enough for your game?

 Winning is a function of energy
The truth about playing to win is that you win some and you lose some.  As you learn to honor the natural flow from chaos to order you will avoid losing streaks and your winning percentage will increase.

 Winning is a function of playing to your strengths
To win consistently you have to "Get real" about your talents and abilities and learn to become masterfully yourself.  When you do you will play better and win more games.

 Winning is a function of improving your skills through practices
An interesting truth to consider is that most of the highest paid people in the world practice WAY more than they play.  Do you practice?  As you challenge yourself to improve as a player through regular practice, your joy of playing will increase and you will win more games.  

 Winning always has a price
Are you willing to pay it?

The primary purpose of playing the game
is to end every day feeling fulfilled.

Coach Dave Buck