Personalized Teaching

At a fundamental level coaching IS personalized teaching. Most people hire a coach to get access to a person with expertise in achieving a specific objective AND they want personal attention.

Personalized teaching implies that the coach can assist the coachee in a way that is tailored to his/her specific situation and learning style.

The coach begins the conversation by exploring the coachee's situation in great detail: where are they on the path? what have they tried so far? what has worked? not worked? What strengths are underutilized?

Then the coach and coachee collaborate to figure out the answer to the all important question: What do I do now (next)?
Knowing what to do now (next) is the fastest antidote to overwhelm.

In this part of the conversation the coach must discern wether to challenge to coachee to find his/her own answer, take the client by the hand (metaphorically) and tell them what they need to do OR something in between like exploring a short list of possible options. The coachee's level of overwhelm is always an important clue.
In the face of overwhelm, most people welcome the informed advice of an expert in the situation. In the absence of overwhelm, most folks enjoy the challenge of figuring out what to do.

Permission to learn
One of the biggest challenges faced by adults in every area of life is the persistent thought that we should know how to do this already! Being in the situation of "learner" is a very delicate one and the coach must focus on building trust and establishing credibility - and must be careful not to push the relationship beyond the current level of rapport.