Mostly known from sports
The term training is familiar to us from the sport. It stands for all processes that cause a changing effect. Systematic training aims to achieve long-term stable adaptation phenomena, i.e. training effects. With humans, these are created by processing stimuli. In sports, it is about making optimized movement sequences into a new habit through multiple repetitions. Also in coaching, the same principle applies with regard to the behavior of clients in certain situations. We humans acquire habits because they make our everyday life easier. But they can prevent us from mastering challenges for which a different behavior would be necessary. If we want to change behavior, we have to recognize the need to do so and develop optimized behavior. This is the task of coaching. However, a long-term change of habits can only be achieved through consistent training. By repeated application the adapted behavior can develop into a new habit.
Training in emotion management
Let’s look at training using the example of emotion management. This is a frequent coaching topic. If, for example, someone reacts inappropriately angry in certain situations, this strains the relationships with others. In coaching, the person can recognize that the reaction is inappropriate and becomes aware of the situations in which he tends to behave like that. And he recognizes his reaction as a behavioral habit triggered by certain stimuli. In order to behave differently in the future, he will work out a strategy with the coach. He prepares himself to react differently. Initially, he must do this consciously in order to break through the well-established stimulus-response mechanism. With sufficient training, he can easily recall the new behavior. Unfortunately, many people give up when they sometimes fall back into old behavior. This is practically impossible to prevent. As with sport, the only things that help are perseverance and discipline.