Behaviours of the best coaches

They can:

Listen fully and with real interest and concern for the learner
Communicate a genuine empathy and understanding
Adjust to another environment, terminology and work habits
Set challenging yet realistically high expectations
Diagnose accurately ?what is going on’ and see ways forward
Develop a shared interest in the learner and their issues
Experiment and explore, suspending judgements
Find patterns in information and processes

From: Paul Pohlman