Most of us know what great coaching looks like: the person being coached learns, develops, and performs at a higher level. But what do great coaches look like? Here are the top 10 qualities of great coaches.

They have a spirit of generosity.

They see their leadership role as primarily facilitating the high performance, learning, and development of others and liberally share their attention, time, and energy.

They see the best in others.

They choose to look past the shortcomings of others to focus on their positive qualities, even if deeply hidden.

They have a healthy degree of self-esteem.

They continue to develop themselves so they do not use the coaching relationship to feed their egos.

They have a high degree of emotional maturity.

They are very self-aware, understand how to master their emotions, and are able to connect with others at a deeply personal level.

They are interpersonally courageous.

They boldly confront those they coach, say what needs to be said, and always seek the path to the truth, wherever it might lead.

They have uncommon compassion.

They are truly empathetic and understand the struggle and pain that often accompany personal learning and change.

They are lifelong learners.

They have an explorer’s mindset and voracious appetites for new knowledge, learning, and self-development.

They are strong enough to bend.

They have a unique blend of flexibility and resilience that allows them to weather the disappointments, setbacks, and conflicts inherent in the coaching process.

They have an extraordinarily accepting nature.

They recognize, accept, and silence their judgmental voices that are a natural part of the human condition.

They have a perpetual optimistic bias.

They are driven by the idea that we all have the power to create a tomorrow that is better than today.

The challenging question for all of us who seek to coach is this: Would others use the statements above to describe me?