5 Skills of Effective Teachers and Coaches

The other day, this Tweet from Tiago Forte popped into my notifications:

One of the strangest paradoxes in the education field I’ve ever encountered:

Just because someone is good at teaching something, that doesn’t mean they’re actually good at the thing itself.

The Myth of Teaching vs Doing

The observation he makes is a variation on the myth that

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.

Life is rarely that binary. Some people are masterful at doing and teaching.

It is often true that some of the best teachers of skills are not the best at doing those skills.

It is also often true that sometimes the people who are the best at doing something are not the best teachers of that thing.

This isn’t really a paradox. It’s the natural outcome of an obvious truth:

Teaching a skill and doing a skill are two different skills.

Teaching a skill and doing a skill are two different skills.

Mastery of a skill or area of knowledge is one thing. Teaching someone else that skill or area of knowledge is a separate skill entirely.

If the skill comes easily to you, you likely don’t think about how you are doing it. You don’t break it down to figure it out; you just do it. Even if you struggled at the start of learning how to do something, once you’ve become masterful at it you might not remember the steps you took to get there.

Teaching or coaching a skill is more complicated. It requires several skills and areas of knowledge beyond the skill or subject that you’re teaching.

An obvious skill is communication: the ability to convey to someone else how to do the thing.

Beyond communication, here are 5 skills that the most effective coaches and teachers have:

5 Skills of Effective Teachers and Coaches

(1) Breaking Down a Skill or Topic

To teach or coach effectively requires the ability to break the topic or skill into its discrete steps.

I didn’t always appreciate the difficulty of this until I did my yoga teacher training and started teaching yoga. I had come to teacher training after having practiced yoga for 20 years. I’d learned from dozens of different teachers.

But there’s a huge difference between being able to get into a yoga pose myself and cueing other people to get into the pose.

Especially if someone is new to yoga, I must tell them exactly where to put their feet and hands without relying on the shortcut of pose names. This is a skill separate from the skill of getting into the pose myself.

Some yoga teachers move fluently on the mat and can contort themselves into many shapes, but can’t direct students how to get into a simple pose. I can guide a student into poses even when I cannot personally reach the archetype of the pose.

(2) Finding Different Pathways to the Same Outcome

To do something well, you only need to find the technique that works best for you.

The challenge with teaching a skill or topic is that everyone learns differently and has different skills and abilities they bring to learning.

To teach something well, you must be able to find different pathways or techniques to accomplishing the end goal.

The best coaches and teachers have multiple techniques to accomplish the same result, so that they can teach effectively to people with a wide range of learning styles and abilities.

The best coaches and teachers have multiple techniques to accomplish the same result, so that they can teach effectively to people with a wide range of learning styles and abilities.

As my coaching mentor Joanna Lindenbaum always says: you must coach the “what” based on the “who.”

My trampoline coach is an example of masterful coach and teacher. My friend and I work on many of the same skills, but we are very different in terms of our body types, learning styles, physical coordination, and patterns of holding fear in our bodies.

Our coach works with each of us based on how we learn best and our progressions through the various skills have been different.

(3) Understanding Human Behavior and Psychology

Effective teaching and coaching also requires an understanding of human behavior, psychology, and how people learn.

Only a small part of effective teaching and coaching is about understanding the topic or skill that you’re teaching.

Effective teaching and coaching is more about understanding the psychology of the doer than the nuance of the doing.

Effective teaching and coaching is more about understanding the psychology of the doer than the nuance of the doing.

For example, in my role as a real estate agent (one of the examples Tiago offered), my focus is on helping my clients get clear on their values and what they want, and to reflect to them how different options align with their stated value.

Another key focus of my role as a real estate agent is to understand where people get stuck and what holds them back from taking action.

What causes a buyer to back away when they find a home that checks all the boxes? What causes a seller to become stubborn when negotiating an offer?

I’ve effectively coached clients through buying or selling homes in markets far beyond my own. I didn’t need knowledge of the local market because I understood my clients and could see their pattern.

The same is true in coaching any other topic. I’ve coached CEOs and entrepreneurs who run businesses that I don’t fully understand.

As a coach, I’m focused on my client, the things getting in their way and what is getting in their way. I don’t need to be an expert in their business to coach them effectively.

(4) Seeing Patterns

Perhaps the primary skill involved in teaching and coaching effectively is the ability to see patterns, both within the skill or topic itself and between the skill you’re teaching and other skills.

The ability to see patterns allows a teacher to break down a skill into discrete steps and create multiple pathways to the same outcome.

The ability to see patterns allows a teacher to break down a skill into discrete steps and create multiple pathways to the same outcome.

It also allows a teacher use metaphor to teach and coach more effectively.

One of the best flying trapeze coaches I had was a master at this. He would ask students about their background and prior athletic experience. My coach would explain tricks and skills differently to students based on their background, drawing parallels to movements that were familiar to them already.

This sets up the student to make faster progress.

One of the skills I love to use in teaching and coaching is metaphor. By using metaphor, I can help a student draw parallels between what they already know and the unfamiliar skill or topic they are learning.

(5) Seeing Blind Spots and Offering Perspective

When you do something well, you have unconscious competence. You don’t even know what you know, or how you are doing what you’re doing. You’re too close to it.

Similarly, in places where you get stuck, you have unconscious incompetence.

The gap between knowing how to do something and actually doing it is often an abyss that many people fall into.

The value of a good teacher or coach is in their ability to see your unconscious patterns and help you become aware of them so you can change them.

The value of a good teacher or coach is in their ability to see your unconscious patterns and help you become aware of them so you can change them.

As Pedro Castenada noted in the conversation on X,

Your personal investment in the problem is the same thing that can inhibit you from seeing the solution.

As Nevine Michaan, the creator of Katonah Yoga, says, you can’t see your own blind spots. In Katonah Yoga, this is why we rely on the formality of techniques over feelings.

What we “feel” to be “correct” in physical alignment is often just what feels “normal” to us, because it’s our habit.

The same is true in a non-physical practice—whether it’s productivity, real estate, growing a business, or raising kids.

A coach or teacher can more effectively see when we are out of alignment because they aren’t in the situation with us. They have an outsider perspective.

Summary: The Difference Between Doing and Teaching

Just because someone is great at a skill doesn’t make them the best teacher of that skill. And the opposite is also true: often the best teachers are not the best doers.

Ultimately, doing and teaching are different skill sets.

Effective teaching and coaching is about:

• seeing patterns
• breaking things down into discrete steps
• understanding psychology, human behavior, and how people learn
• finding different pathways to the same outcome
• communicating effectively in a way that resonates with the student
• seeing patterns and blind spots
• creating awareness

Get new perspective

If you’re stuck in a problem or seeing things from only one angle, it’s time to seek a broader perspective. As a coach, I help my clients get unstuck by helping them see their blind spots and come into better alignment with their values and purpose.

Get in touch to learn more.