What is Coaching?
What is Coaching?
Professional development coaching is defined as a series of guided conversations that enable the “coachee” to discover and implement professional and personal solutions to move towards their goals. These solutions, because they are intrinsic to the “coachee,” are more likely to succeed and endure than solutions imposed externally.
COACHING IS...
- Confidential
- Active listening
- Asking open ended questions
- A place where people can think out loud
- Solution focused
- Space for people to change how they relate to something
- Thought provoking
- Supportive and relationship building
- A place to come up with creative solutions
COACHING IS NOT...
- Conflict Resolution
- Giving advice, being the expert or having the answers
- Counseling
- Fixing people
- Doing it for them
- Policing or getting people to work harder
- A replacement for supervision or management
Coaching in the Workplace
Coaching is a beneficial method to improve the performance of employees and increase productivity. The best leaders are able to coach team members to help them adapt to new situations, develop skills and increase their efficiency. Below are some highlighted benefits to coaching employees and scenarios when coaching may be helpful.
Why is coaching important in the workplace?
Coaching is important in the workplace because of how it benefits employees. Having a mentor to coach employees can improve their performance and increase job satisfaction. Coaching employees can help with:
- Employee Performanceː Having a manager that is a coach can make you more approachable and help build stronger relationships with your team.
- Achieving Goalsː A coach can help create personal goals for each employee. Goal setting can lead to greater success if the goals are considered attainable and measurable.
- Promotes Teamworkː Coaching encourages collaboration between employees and promotes and strengthens teamwork.
- Establishes Open Communicationː Coaching can help build relationships between employees, which improves the work environment and makes the workplace more enjoyable for everyone.
- Teaches Employees Problem-Solving Skillsː Coaching can help employees develop problem-solving skills by introducing processes and strategies to find a resolution.
Scenarios When Coaching May Be Beneficial
Not all workplace one-on-ones or group meetings will benefit from a coaching session. Below are a few examples of when coaching may be beneficial.
Adapting Behaviorː An employee may require coaching to adapt their behaviour if their behaviour is affecting their or others' work. Providing one-on-one training when company policy changes to help employees change their behaviour and adapt to innovations. This eases transitions and can make employees more comfortable.
Changing Careersː Coaching can help a new team member learn their job tasks quickly, which helps the team reach its goals more efficiently. During a career change, there can be skills that an employee needs to develop.
Developing Skillsː Coaching can help staff develop necessary skills for their current or future roles, such as communication and technical skills.
Improve Job Performanceː Coaching can help improve job performance by monitoring progress and providing the employee with self-monitoring tools.
Increasing Positivityː Coaching can encourage and promote positivity in the workplace. A workshop with the whole team could promote positivity for all employees and support team building.
Setting Goalsː Coaching employees on setting goals may teach employees to use a goal-setting method that works for them to set personal goals and in turn help accomplish team goals.
Problem-solving techniquesː Coaching employees on how to solve problems with proven techniques to support growth and development.
Consider trying:
Brainstorming: Involves a group of people and helps a team collaborate and take part in the decision-making process.
Mind mapping: This allows you to visualize the problem by drawing and connecting it to potential solutions including details of how to implement the resolution.
Storyboarding: Helps visualize a process and potential outcomes by drawing a story of the problem and resolutions.
Group/Team Goal and Priority Settingː Coaching doesn’t always need to be one-on-one. Having a group coaching session to come up key priorities, initiatives and goals as a team can build team cohesion and bring out some ideas that may have not been thought of before.
Reducing Fearː Coaching could help an employee to identify and come up with techniques to overcome their fears.
Returning to the Officeː Coaching may be useful in educating employees on company policy, workflows, and other relevant information. This helps to equip employees with skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
Coaching Topics
A coaching topic can be focused on a challenge, a dream, a desire for change or a curiosity. It can be broad in scope, or very specific in nature. Through coaching a general or specific topic can be turned into something concrete and actionable.
Questions to ask yourself when exploring a potential coaching topic.
What do I want more of?
what is holding me back?
What am I tolerating?
What is my dream?
What do I want to be different in my life?
Where is my life out of balance?
Here is a list of coaching topic suggestions and ways that they may help you move through career blocks and reach your goals.
Work/life Balanceː Help to reframe the relationship between work and home.
Career Growthː Uncover what your next step is, define your career path, identify gaps in your current skill set, and set goals.
Setting Boundaries at Workː Identify boundaries you need to set to improve job satisfaction and strategies to communicate these boundaries.
Communication Skillsː Develop your interpersonal skills and have an influence on your ability to collaborate and lead.
Performance Managementː Identify how to create systems and routines that enhance your productivity. Gaining insight into your strengths and areas for improvement.
Public Speakingː Uncover why you’re afraid of public speaking and come up with strategies to overcome it.
New Manager Coachingː Help build confidence to step into the next career move.
Limiting Beliefsː Identify past experiences or ways of thinking that are holding you back. Spot patterns or hidden talents.
Upskillingː Gain clarity about your career goals and pinpoint the skills needed to master to get there.
Career Changeː Explore what you want from a career change and how to best go about achieving it.
Performance Reviewsː Prepare for upcoming performance reviews by reviewing your self-evaluation and uncover areas you aren’t giving yourself enough credit for.
Giving and Receiving Feedbackː Become a pro at both giving and receiving feedback. This skill could singlehandedly transform both your effectiveness and your workplace culture.
Networking and Developing a Personal Brandː Help to build your personal brand — on and offline — build your professional network and open the way for more opportunities.
The Coaching Conversation
The coaching conversation is a dance and as you learn the dance, the following is a guide to help you navigate the coaching discussion.
Awareness -->Establishing goals, purpose and define goals. Helping them to uncover what they really want and the root cause of their challenge(s).
Ask
- What would you like to be coached on?
- What do you want, need or desire?
- What do you want to achieve?
- What targets are you aiming at?
- What does success look like to you?
- Why do you want to reach this goal?
Motivation --> Help them to explore why achieving this goal/outcome is important to them. Discover the energy within them that will drive them to reach their goal.
Ask
- Tell me a bit more about why achieving this goal is important to you…
- Why is that important to you?
- What is ultimately motivating you?
- What do you find meaningful about this topic or goal?
- What does achieving your goal look and feel like?
- How will you feel when you achieve your goal?
Creative Planning --> Help them to lay out the plan to achieve their goal by exploring opportunities, possibilities, solutions and ways to overcome obstacles
Ask
- What action steps would you need to take?
- How do you see yourself achieving this goal?
- What is one thing you can do differently?
- What else would you like to try?
- What obstacles could get in the way?
- How could you overcome them?
- What could be a plan B if plan A doesn't work out?
- What is another way of achieving this?
- If you could change ONE thing right now, what would it be?
- What is the FIRST or EASIEST step you could take?
- How will you do that?
- Who can help you get there?
Focus --> Help them to identify ways that they will stay focused on working towards their goals and how to stay on track.
Ask
- How do you normally sabotage yourself and progress?
- How will you make sure you don't do that this time?
- How will you focus on achieving the goal?
- How will you track your progress?
- How do you feel about your plan?
The GROW Model
The GROW Model is a simple four-step process that can help you structure coaching and mentoring sessions with team members. GROW is an acronym that stands for:
Goal: Helping the coachee to identify their goals and aspirations.
Reality: Exploring the coachee's inner and outer realities, identifying the barriers that exist between their current state and their desire future state. Explore the coachee's awareness of their values, limiting beliefs and what their feelings and energy levels are in relation to their topic.
Options: Identify possible options and explore new perspectives that can help them move closer to meeting their goal.
Will and way forward: Identify what the coachee will do, when they will do it and how they will stay accountable
Questions to ask using the GROW Modelː
GOAL
What do you want to achieve?
What does success look like?
What is important about that?
How will this serve you?
What is your level of commitment?
REALITY
What is the current situation?
What obstacles are you facing?
What resources do you have?
How do you feel about this?
What impact is this having on you?
What are your motivations to change?
OPTIONS
What are your options?
What else could you do?
What can you count on yourself for?
What aren't you considering?
Which option energizes you the most?
WILL
What is the first step you can take?
What will you do?
When will you do it?
How committed are you to this goal?
How will you hold yourself accountable?
How do you feel about you plans?
