Few Coaching Tips from TrainingReference.co.uk
Aug 31st, 2009 by admin
I am looking some tips for coaching, and I have found it at TrainingReference.co.uk. I found it very useful & would like to share it with you. Here are few coaching tips from the site:
- Arrive in good time – Coaching is important. Don’t give the impression you’re cramming it in between other urgent appointments. Arrive a few minutes before you’re due, with an air of “This time’s for you.”
- Don’t plan too much – When coaching works well, the coachee develops a good plan. It defeats the purpose if you come in with a plan of your own. Only have a broad outline view of the sort of direction they might take. Let them decide the details.
- Work through the stages – Some sessions may be free-ranging in the topics they cover, but you need a basic structure to make progress. (Establish rapport; Listen and observe; Assess the situation; Discuss with coachee; Establish specific goals)
- Match your style – Be yourself, but adapt to the style of the coachee. Don’t be brash with an introvert, or coy with an extravert.
- Value the differences – The aim of coaching is not to get everyone to a level of sameness, but to enable everyone to contribute their differing talents to the best advantage. Value the coachee’s own abilities
- Think development – not correction – Coaching is often seen as a method of correcting defects. This is discouragement in itself. Instead, present coaching as part of a development plan that could benefit anyone, including the brilliant.
- Watch your body language – The coachee might make decisions that definitely wouldn’t be right for you. Even when you inwardly acknowledge their right to do this, you might ooze disapproval through your body language.
- Examine resistance positively – If the coachee doesn’t do what they said they’d do, they probably felt it wasn’t valuable. Asking them why they didn’t value it is likely to get a more honest and helpful response than asking why they didn’t do it.
- Don’t be afraid of silence – When people are thinking things through, they tend to pause a lot. It might seem like a long empty silence to you, but if you leap in with a comment, it could block their train of thought. Give them time to be silent.
- Look for steps beyond – If the coachee is to be stretched, they need to think beyond what they can easily gain. Discuss the next step after the next one, and further, to what they can eventually achieve.
- Coachable moments – Formal coaching isn’t the only way to bring people forward. The day is full of coachable moments when something happens that gives an opportunity for learning. Watch out for these, and use them for a quick bit of coaching
- Value coaching – Sometimes it may seem as though there really isn’t time to pause to bring somebody on. If you give the impression that this is something you’re rushing through to get it done, the person may feel debased. If you want them to feel enthused and give of their best, recognise that coaching is a valuable use of time. Arrive in good time, proceed in a relaxed way, and make it clear that this time is for them.
- Value the person – The purpose of coaching is to enhance the person’s abilities. If you think in terms of correcting deficits, you can only hope for minor adjustments. If you think in terms of bringing out the best of person’s potential, the sky’s the limit.
- Ask what they want – The best starting point for successful development is what the person hopes to achieve. Find that out first, then help them to strive towards that.
- Steer clear of negatives – Avoid saying “you can’t…” “I don’t think…” etc. This closes off the options and puts the coachee in a position where they have to co-operate or resist. Instead, say “What could you do about that?” “Do you think…?” etc. That puts the ball back in their court.
- Encourage self-evaluation, including self-praise – People can’t improve unhelpful or inappropriate behaviour unless they recognise them for what they are. Encourage them to look for areas where they might improve. But don’t let them belittle their efforts. Encourage them to recognise the things they do well.
- Have high expectations – To some extent, expectations are self-fulfilling prophecies. If you think you can’t, you probably can’t. If you’re sure you can, you’re well on the way. When coaching, Stretch them. They need to think beyond what they can easily gain. Discuss the next step after the next one, and further, to what they can eventually achieve.
- Keep the vision in mind – The organisation will not reap the benefit of the person’s enhanced capability if they are using it to pursue goals out of step with organisational objectives.
- Know your limits – Coaching is not psychotherapy, a help line or specialist training. If you feel the coachee needs something you can’t provide, refer them to someone who can, or encourage them to seek appropriate help for themselves.
- Get feedback – You are developing human being just like the coachee. You need to know how you’re doing to know how to progress. Ask the coachee how they thought the session went, and how you did.
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