If you're a coach, you're a teacher. Okay, so you didn't necessarily get a degree in education or get certified by the state, but you are a teacher nonetheless. You've been entrusted with the job of managing people who produce results for you — or you're walking the unemployment line. Let's explore some of the specific skills that you might be asked to teach at some in time in your coaching tenure.

Technical Skills

Technical skills refer to the indispensable knowledge and precise skills that are required to perform a given job. If you hope to maximize employee performance in today's ultra-competitive business environment, you've got to make certain that these skills remain razor sharp and cutting edge.

This is definitely the most intricate and diverse area of teaching that you'll be responsible for. Technical, job-related skills run the gamut from engineering to human resources, whatever the job requires. If you work in a financial area, the skills, obviously, will revolve around interpreting and processing numbers. If customer relations are what the job entails, then people skills are the most important skills required for the job.

Whatever the necessary job skills, you've got to know your stuff inside and out. You've got to be eminently prepared to impart your wisdom to others. You've got to know how to pass on your know-how, too.

Computer Skills

This, of course, is tied in with technical skills. Today's job reality is that there are very few white-collar jobs that don't use computers in their daily grind. Computers are not luxuries anymore, but a necessity in conducting business. And regardless of what position an employee holds, use of computers, even if it's merely inputting data, is more likely than not likely. As a coach, you're responsible for making certain that all your employees are not only computer literate, but also competent in exactly the computer applications you need to get the job done. This could entail lessons in word processing, data entry, graphics, and so on. It seems that software advancements are making new demands on employees with each tick of the clock.

Reading and Writing Skills

Bet you never thought that you'd have to concern yourself with teaching reading and writing in a corporate setting. Well, surprise — you do. Courtesy of a sometimes wanting educational system, many students wind their way through higher education without mastering some of the most rudimentary reading and writing skills. If you have any doubt about this, check out some of the financial discussion boards on the Web. Presumably, most of these investors are college graduates. Read some of their posts. It's downright scary.

Believe it or not, written communication is a must in business circles. There are constant memos bandied back and forth and lots of reports that have to be written. Because communication is one of the pillars of coaching and mentoring, you cannot ignore this aspect of the job. An employee of yours who cannot read and write at the level of an adult in the business world will be unable to communicate with the clarity necessary to perform at a peak level. And — we've said it before — so much of business today is teamwork. This makes each individual's performance, or lack thereof, all the more important to others.

Behavior Skills

You've no doubt heard the stories of infants raised by wolves who grew up to behave like wolves and not human beings. And so it is with many people in today's workforce who were, in effect, raised by MTV, Jerry Springer, and crude sitcoms. Couple all that with minimum educational standards and you've got men and women in the workplace who, in some instances, do not know how to behave in such a setting. They lack even the most basic skills to deal with coworkers and customers in a professional manner. (Check out Chapter 10 for a full discussion on what constitutes professionalism in the workplace.)