“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” 
Albert Schweitzer

Articles on coaching seem to be multiplying, and a competition appears to have emerged to provide definitions of what a coach should and shouldn’t do, what coaching is and isn’t, which techniques should and shouldn’t be used, what the optimal training path is and isn’t, which is and isn’t the best federation, and so on.

Results Matter More Than Credentials

I won’t add my voice to this chorus, especially since I’ve reread my articles from last year and can only confirm—with even greater conviction, if you will—what I’ve already written: “A coach is first and foremost a personal trainer who enables you to reach a level of performance that would be impossible to achieve on your own, and the focus on performance and concrete results are what define the work of a coach as I understand it.”
Based on this definition, I can’t help but remain very skeptical when I see how much attention is paid to formal aspects (federations, backgrounds, procedures, training hours, etc.) and how little to what truly matters—namely, the actual results achieved by the clients who turn to us.

Why Formal Qualifications Are Not Enough

I mean, forgive me for harping on this point, but when I read that the most important thing in choosing a coach is knowing which federation they belong to and how many hours of training they’ve completed, it’s like choosing a song by checking which association the composer belongs to and how long it took them to write it: this criterion seems to me to be as far removed as possible from my concept of quality, and it doesn’t convince me at all. Once again, the only things that interest me are the concrete results that are achieved; the rest is just hot air. Naturally, this is strictly my personal opinion.

That being said, I’m often asked, “In your opinion, what is the most important personal quality a coach must possess if they want to be successful in their work and—precisely—achieve results for their clients?”
On this point, I have not the slightest doubt, and the answer is, for many people, quite unsettling: the “sine qua non” condition for being a good coach is consistency between what you say and what you do!

The Most Important Quality of a Coach

“Do as the priest says, not as the priest does” seems to be a very widespread attitude at every level, and perhaps that explains why so many people want to get into consulting, training, coaching, counseling, mentoring, and who knows what else. Maybe we find it much more convenient to tell others what to do than to do it ourselves.
It’s true—you can be a very good doctor and still be sick yourself; you can be an extraordinary couples therapist and still have a personal life that’s a disaster; you can be a basketball coach and still be in a wheelchair.
But these are, after all, somewhat of exceptions, and in other fields, this approach simply doesn’t work at all: would you accept financial guidance from someone starving to death? Would you accept dietary advice from an obese person?

Why Personal Example Matters

So, given the nature of coaching, the inconsistency between what a coach tells clients and what they do seems to me devastating for the client relationship and, above all, for achieving high-performance results.

In my view, a coach is, first and foremost, a role model for others—not just for clients; they’re someone who inspires you to be your best self, sometimes simply by their presence (and I think we all know people who have this effect on us, even if they’ve never heard the word “coaching”).

And the only way to achieve this is to demonstrate through our own actions that certain traits—success, health, balance, self-esteem, results—the traits of a winner, if you will—can indeed be attained by following the path we propose to others. People should realize, through our personal example, that “it really is possible to live a better life.”

Credibility and Performance

On the other hand, if all we offer is a lack of integrity, neglect, indifference, and inconsistency, our work will not have even the slightest positive effect.

So let’s try to apply the “Walk the Talk” approach in our work as coaches: perhaps we’ll discover that it yields better results—and looks better on our résumés—than 12 certifications and 500 hours of intercontinental phone training…