A Goal Isn't a Coaching Plan

As coaches, we spend a lot of time talking about goals.

Members tell us they want a faster Hyrox time, to finally feel confident with double-unders or to become stronger. These conversations are valuable because they tell us what matters to the person standing in front of us. What they don't do is tell us what to coach.

That might sound obvious, but I think it's something we overlook surprisingly often. We hear a goal and immediately start thinking about the destination rather than the journey. Yet the real work of coaching begins when we bridge the gap between where someone wants to be and what they need to develop today.

A goal tells you where someone wants to go. A coaching plan tells you what they need to practise next.

A coaching plan translates a long-term goal into the specific skills, behaviours and decisions a person needs to develop next. While goals provide direction, a coaching plan identifies the next meaningful opportunity for improvement.

Effective coaching starts by identifying the gap between a person's goal and their current performance. Rather than focusing on the outcome itself, coaches identify the next behaviour, skill or decision that will move the person closer to achieving that goal.

Goals provide direction. Coaching identifies the next step.

Imagine a member tells you they want to improve their Hyrox time.

As a coach, that's useful information. It gives you a clear picture of what success might look like in six months' time. What it doesn't tell you is what that member needs from today's class.

Are they losing time because they pace the opening run poorly? Is their rowing leaving them too fatigued to maintain their running pace afterwards? Are transitions between stations costing valuable seconds? Are repeated no-reps on the wall balls adding unnecessary time? Or do they simply need to train more consistently?

Until you've answered those questions, you don't really have a coaching plan. You have a destination without a route. This is where effective coaching begins. Rather than asking, "How do I help them achieve a faster Hyrox time?", we start asking, "What's the next meaningful opportunity for improvement?"

Great coaching identifies the next meaningful opportunity

One of the biggest challenges for coaches is translating a long-term aspiration into something meaningful for today's session. Imagine you've identified that your member isn't actually losing time on the row. Their split is perfectly respectable. The problem is what happens afterwards. They step off the rower so fatigued that their running pace drops significantly over the next kilometre.

The coaching plan isn't simply to "row faster" or even to "improve at rowing". It might be about developing a more efficient stroke, reducing unnecessary upper-body fatigue or learning to row at an intensity that allows them to run at their target pace immediately afterwards. Once that improvement appears, it then needs to be recognised and reinforced.

The goal hasn't changed. The coaching has become more specific because effective coaching begins with identifying the factor that is currently limiting progress.

The same principle applies regardless of the goal. A member wants to become stronger. Another wants to move more confidently overhead. Someone else wants to enjoy training enough that they keep coming three times a week. The destination tells us where they want to go. Our job as coaches is to identify the next behaviour, skill or decision that is most likely to move them in that direction.

Great coaching rarely tries to improve everything at once. It identifies the next meaningful opportunity for improvement and starts there.

The same applies to developing coaches

This way of thinking doesn't just apply to athletes.

A coach might tell you they want to become better at seeing movement faults. That's a worthwhile ambition, but it still isn't a coaching plan.

Are they struggling because they don't know where to look? Because they try to watch everything at once? Because they haven't yet developed a triage system for deciding what matters most? Or because they can recognise a fault but struggle to identify its underlying cause?

Once you've identified the real limiting factor, today's coaching becomes much clearer. Perhaps you co-coach a class together, pausing briefly after each movement to compare what you both observed. Perhaps you film a member performing a lift and analyse it together afterwards, giving the coach time to separate symptoms from causes before discussing what they would prioritise.

The long-term goal hasn't changed. The coaching has become more specific.

Looking at goals differently

The next time a member shares a goal with you, resist the temptation to jump straight to the destination. Instead, ask yourself one question.

What's the next meaningful opportunity for improvement?

That question changes the conversation. It shifts your attention away from the outcome and towards the decisions, behaviours and skills that will actually move the member forward.

Goals will always matter because they give coaching direction. But the quality of our coaching is rarely determined by how well we understand the goal. It's determined by how well we identify the next meaningful step towards it.

Members rarely achieve their goals because they keep thinking about them. They achieve them because coaches help them practise the right things at the right time.

Continue the conversation

If this way of thinking resonates, it is worth paying closer attention to how your coaching is landing across different members in your classes. Small shifts in how you respond can make a significant difference over time.

If you would like to explore this further, you can find more insights on coaching, communication, and coach development through the weekly Inspire Elevate Transform newsletter.

Find out more about coach, team and leadership development at Virtuous Coach Development.