Coaching;
How to Help People Take
Commitment for their Development
Copyright
© 2006 The National Learning Institute
This
article may be freely published electronically. It may be
reprinted for individual use in hard copy but may not be reprinted
in hard copy for commercial purposes.
Used
with permission of the author:
Author: Bob Selden
Managing Director
The National Learning Institute www.nationallearning.com.au
19 November 2007
I
recently conducted a coaching session on “How
to be an effective coach” for a group of very senior financial
service advisors responsible for the management and leadership of
project teams that have clients of the mega rich variety.
When I asked them what they thought an ideal coach should be, I
expected to get terms that describe what I would call a
traditional view of a coach – i.e. someone who advises and shows
others how to improve in a particular field. The image of
the traditional coach is that of a sports coach who is intent on
imparting his or her knowledge to help athletes and teams improve
their performance. Now, I know that there is a wide variety
of types and styles of coaches (see “Are
you positive or negative?”). However, my belief is
that the commonly accepted view of a coach is more of the
traditional view such as:
To
my amazement, my group of senior financial advisors came up with
quite a different list from what I expected, i.e. they suggested an
ideal coach is someone who:
-
Does
not give advice, rather helps the person find out what they should
do
-
Is
a good listener
-
Has
a calming affect on the person being coached (the “coachee”)
-
“Lives”
with the coachee’s issues, i.e. suspends judgment and really
gets involved
-
Displays
a positive attitude toward the coachee
-
Is
always positive about finding a solution or helping the person
develop
-
Is
proud of the coachee’s achievements
-
Rarely
shows emotions such as anger and annoyance
-
Helps
the coachee talk things through, particularly when the coachee is
depressed
-
Has
a caring attitude toward the coachee
-
Provides
the coachee with a “comfort zone” where the person is free to
say what he/she thinks and feels
Could
I come up with a better list? Probably not. They then
proceeded to develop a mission for a coach which they suggested
should be:
“Asks
questions to help the person find answers”
By
this stage as the facilitator of the session, I was feeling quite
redundant, but tremendously elated about the views this group had
on what can sometimes be seen as a mundane chore of coaching.
Their enlightened view of a coach made it very easy for me to
introduce them to the GROW model of coaching (first developed by
John Whitmore).
The
GROW model, embodies all the attributes that my financial advisors
used to describe a coach. The aim of the model is to help
the coachee arrive at some resolution to their issue, problem,
knowledge or skill deficit, not give them advice or direction on
what they should do. GROW stands for Goal,
Reality,
Options,
Wrap-up
(or Will).
It is a sequential model, ideally working from Goal through to
Wrap-up. However in practice, it is often found that coach
and coachee will vacillate between the first three stages as they
work through the issue.
Stage
1: Goal.
The coach and coachee identify and agree on clear and
achievable goals for the discussion. This goal is not the
longer-term objective that the coachee might have regarding his or
her issue. Rather it is the definition of what can be
achieved within the time set for this discussion session. For example,
the coach might ask “What
would you like to achieve from this session?” or “What would
you like to walk away with from our discussion today?”
Stage
2: Reality.
The aim of this stage is for the coach to help the
coachee clearly define the current situation as seen by both
coachee and others. If the coach has knowledge of the
situation, he / she may add their perceptions to assist the
coachee to build as accurate a picture of reality as possible. For
example the coach might ask “What’s happening now?” or
“What’s working/what’s not working for you at the moment?”
or “Who else has seen this or given you feedback?”
Stage
3: Options.
In the options stage, the coach’s intention is to
draw out all the possible alternatives or options the coachee
might have (or be able to acquire) to deal successfully with the
situation. This is done without judgment or evaluation by
the coach. As was once said to me “One should develop an
opinion, not have an opinion”. The coach (through
effective questioning) helps the coachee narrow the options to
arrive at the best possible alternatives by asking “What could
you do to change the situation?” or “What alternatives are
there to that approach?”.
Stage
4: Wrap-up.
In this stage the coach’s intention is to gain
commitment (or will) to take action. The coach and coachee select
the most appropriate options, commit to action, define the action
plan, the next steps and a timeframe for their objectives, then
identify how to overcome any possible obstacles. For example
“What are the next steps for you?” and “When will this
happen?” and “What support do you need?”
Coaching
of this type, can be a fantastic tool for helping someone develop.
However, to be successful:
-
The
coach must have a real and genuine interest in helping the coachee
-
The
coach must believe that the coachee can improve
-
The
coachee must be willing to be “coached”
The
challenge as a coach in applying a technique such as the GROW
model, is to remain non-directional - merely asking questions,
summarising and listening and only giving advice when it is asked
for and then only during the Options and Wrap-up stages. For
many of us this is quite a major challenge as our normal directive
style is the polar opposite. The payoff in mastering this
challenge is to see the coachee take real ownership for their
development knowing that you were the catalyst.
Bob
Selden writes a lot of articles about motivating people. It
is his hope that managers will start to debate the issue a lot
more. Bob would like
to think there are some enlightened managers out there who
understand what motivates people. Please
let Bob know what you think via www.nationallearning.com.au
Short summary
Coaching requires the coach to be non-judgmental and
unconditionally supportive, allowing the person who is coached to
find his or her own solutions. Keywords
and relevant phrases
Accountability, achievement, action plan, anger, annoyance,
catalyst, coaching, commitment, communication, development,
emotion, goal, interest, leadership, listening, management,
mission, non-judgment, objective, obstacles, options, ownership, problem solving,
responsibility, questioning, safety, summarising, support, talent
management, trust, unconditional support.
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