So, you want to be a coach. You think there is a better way to help people achieve what they want to achieve. You believe if you learned coaching skills, you’d help unlock people’s potential. There’s great appetite to become more coach-like and the hunger has only increased in recent years. If you are hungry, you are not alone.

If you’re currently convinced by the power of coaching, you might be asking yourself a very important question: how do I share coaching’s impact with others? One of the greatest challenges we’ve experienced over the years is that the proof is in the pudding. And, unfortunately, the pudding is often subjective. For colleagues who need more than your transformative personal anecdotes to be convinced by coaching, research can help your plight.

If you haven’t read our post about defining The Waterfall Effect, start there for context. These ideas were inspired by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant who wrote Option B.

Adversity comes in all shapes and sizes. The death of a loved one, divorce, unemployment, homelessness, disease – not only is the magnitude radically unique, but the impact on the person experiencing the adversity is significantly different.

It’s likely you had a few notable growth spurts as a young person. You may have been one of the lucky ones who woke up one day four inches taller. Or, you may have had a slightly prolonged experience, feeling the growth occur little by little.

The phrase ‘growing pains’ means “neuralgic pains which occur in the limbs of some young children” and the important word here is ‘some’. Not everyone will experience the same sort of pains, or any pains at all.

In 2017, one of our cofounders, Quinn Simpson, wrote a blog for the 74 Million that articulated how transformational teachers are when they use coaching skills. The blog focused on the teacher and their relationships with students, but it didn’t explore in great enough detail how the classroom would transform when guided by a coach.

When was the last time you saw a waterfall in real life? If you’re like us, it’s sadly been a few years. So, let’s take a moment to remember their immense capacity.

A waterfall gushes down the side of a rock with unexplainable force. A waterfall carries momentum into the water below and trickles onwards. A waterfall has grace and strength. A waterfall is powerful.

The idea of ‘The Waterfall Effect’ has been contemplated by many. In Paul H Burton’s book, The Waterfall Effect: Six Principles for Productive Leadership, he describes the effect as the benefits that cascade down through an organisation, into the community and out to the client base. For us, the effect is seen in nearly every school we’ve worked with and seen in spades!