MENTORING AND

COACHING SKILLS FOR

PSYCHIATRISTS

Faculty of Old Age Psychiatry Annual Residential Meeting

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Alan SwannConsultant Old Age Psychiatrist/

Associate Medical Director for Training & Development

Steve BladesGP and Executive Coach

Intended Learning Outcomes

Understand nature of coaching

Recognise coaching skills

Learn a simple coaching framework

Skills practice and feedback on your

skills

Overview of workshop

Definitions and principles

Overview of coaching skills

Outline of a model

Live demo

Skills practice with real issues

Definition of Coaching (1)

Unlocking a person‟s potential to

maximise their performance

(Whitmore)

Definition of Coaching (2)

The coach works with clients to achieve

speedy, increased and sustainable

effectiveness in their lives and careers

through focused learning. The coach‟s

sole aim is to work with the client to

achieve all of the client‟s potential – as

defined by the client (Rogers)

Definition of Coaching (3)

Coaching is the art of facilitating the

performance, learning and development

of another (Downey)

Relationship to other disciplines

Mentoring

Counselling

Neurolinguistic programming

Cognitive therapy

Positive psychology

Solutions focused brief therapy

Mentoring v Coaching

Same profession

More experienced professional

Patronage – career development

Long term

More informal

More general agenda

BUT very similar skill set

Psychiatrists‟ relevant skills

and experience

Listening skills

Solution focus therapy

„Socratic‟ questions from CBT

Systemic therapy approaches

Other psychological therapies

Types of Coaching

Sports

Life

Executive

Career

Relationship

Key Principles of Coaching After Rodgers

1. The client is resourceful

2. The coach‟s role is to spring loose the

client‟s resourcefulness

3. Coaching addresses the whole person

4. The client sets the agenda

5. The coach and the client are equals

6. Coaching is about change and action

GIVING ADVICE

Exercise in pairs

Advice giving doesn‟t work -

Suggests coach is wise and sensible and coachee

is weak and needy

Undermines partnership

„Why don‟t you …? …Yes, but …?

It discourages person taking responsibility for

themselves

If advice is taken, goes wrong – it‟s your fault!

Unlikely you tell them anything they didn‟t know

Other Traps …

Tendency to read our own biography into what

coachee describes

Advice in disguise “Have you thought of …”?

May give information but seek their reflections

on its use or not

-“How do these strike you”

-“What seems useful”?

-“Which parts, if any could you apply”?

Applications

Coaching v use of coaching skills

In your current role when might you

use coaching skills?

What are the advantages of this

approach?

What are the potential

disadvantages?

Situational Leadership

Capable but cautious

Mod/high competence

Variable commitment

Disillusioned learner

Low/some

competence

Low commitment

High achiever

High competence

High commitment

Enthusiastic beginner

Low competence

High commitment

Low direction High direction

High

support

Low

support

Leadership Styles

Supporting Coaching

Delegating Directing

Low direction High direction

High

support

Low

support

Coaching Skills

What skills do you need for coaching?

Core coaching skills

Building rapport

Active listening

Asking „powerful‟ or useful questions

Moving the person forward

Qualities of a helper

(from Carl Rogers)

Respect…

suspending

judgement and

evaluation

Empathy…

understanding

„with‟

not „about‟

Genuineness…

being yourself

Creating rapport

Ability to be on the same wavelength

and to connect mentally and

emotionally with others, building

mutual trust and respect i.e. to have

the skills to meet people where they

are

How do you know when you are

in rapport?

Eye contact

Mirroring: matching postures

Simultaneous non verbal communication

Matching movements and gestures

Picking up and using same words as each other

Using same type of language: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic. (Fitting into the person‟s map of the world)

RAPPORT

Short exercise

PUSH

PULL

solving

someone‟s

problem for

them helping

someone

solve their own

problem

NON-DIRECTIVE

DIRECTIVE

LISTENING TO UNDERSTAND

ASKING QUESTIONS THAT

RAISE AWARENESS

MAKING SUGGESTIONS

GIVING FEEDBACK

OFFERING GUIDANCE

GIVING ADVICE

INSTRUCTING

TELLING

REFLECTING

PARAPHRASING

SUMMARISING

The Coaching Spectrum

M Downey, Effective Coaching 2003

(relevant - irrelevant,

yes - no, right - wrong,

accept - reject, agree

- disagree, so what next)

filtered hearing

responding

Exploring, finding out more,

trying to understand, being

credulous, being open

active listening

hearing

checking understanding

responding

Julia Pokora

Helping me to help you Helping you to help you

Active

Listening

Diagnostic

Listening

Active Listening

Allow

silence

Reflect

feelings Echo

key words

Non

verbal

attention

Paraphrase

Following

not leading

Summarising

Good „powerful‟ questions will….

Stop evasion,

confusion and

circular thinking

Gain clarity,

insights and

perspectives

Are „open‟

rather than

„closed‟

Ask “what”

and “how”

rather than

“why?”

Move a person

forward towards

„action‟

The kind of question

you ask will

determine the kind of

answer you get!

Asking Questions

Open or closed

“What” or “How”

“Why?”

Too much detail or context

Using 1-10 scales

The sound of silence

Outcome focused

The Miracle Question

Suppose that you leave here today, go home, finish your day and go to bed

While you‟re asleep a miracle happens, and the problems that brought you here have vanished. But you‟re asleep so you don‟t know the miracle has happened

When you wake up tomorrow, what will be the first signs that let you know that the miracle has happened?

What else? Details? How will you know? How will others know? Focus on what IS wanted not what isn‟t.

Solutions Focused Questions

Scales and the Miracle Question

Exceptions

What would be happening if n+1?

Small steps

COACHING FRAMEWORK

GROW

Goal – aim, purpose and objective

Reality – information available

Options – possibilities

What – action – what, when

Really useful questions

The GROW Model. Effective Coaching 2nd Ed (2003), Myles Downey

LIVE DEMO

Problem or Opportunity

Real

Current

Related to working life

“Medium weight”

Able to be kept confidential

3rd parties are anonymous

SKILLS PRACTICE

Choosing an Issue

Coaching Practice

Groups of three

A – coachee with real issue

B – coach

C – observer and timekeeper

15 minutes coaching conversation

5 minutes review of process

Coachee chooses issue.

Focus is on Coach

Observer keeps time / notes

Feedback on Coaching skills not

content

“Pause” button

Content confidential

Skills Practice

Managing the feedback

Coach reflects on how they think they

did

Coachee feeds back on their

experience

Finally, the observer adds what they

observed – any particularly skilful

approaches?

Feedback to whole group

What did you learn?

Did anything surprise you?

How can you build on this?

Finish & Close

Contact details

Steve Blades Executive Coaching

steve@stevebladescoaching.co.uk

07764196398

Alan Swann

Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation

Trust

alan.swann@ntw.nhs.uk

0191 2468620