Download - The 20 Minute Course in Coaching
-
7/28/2019 The 20 Minute Course in Coaching...
1/4
Fastlane
The 20 minute course in... coaching
If the daily task of managing people at work is starting to feel like Groundhog
Day, it is probably a good time to add coaching to your repertoire of business
management skills
Managing staff in the traditional way means your team are bound to come to you
with the same old problems, inevitably taking up a lot of your time and energy.
Managing staff using coaching enables your team to take ownership of their own
problems and to reach their full potential in doing so, leaving you free of those
Groundhog Day conversations, says Mike Amos, head of coaching at HR
consultancy Chiumento.
Sound too good to be true? Its not, insists Amos. Thats why coaching is
becoming prevalent across all types of business.
Why coaching
The watershed moment usually comes when managers have formal coaching
sessions themselves, says Amos. Typically, when high-level people are offered
their own coach often from outside the business they like it so much that they
decide to put it into action for the people that work for them.
The alternative is when companies such as Chiumento come in and provide
coaching training programmes for managers. The aim of these courses is not to
turn managers into coaches, but to allow them to use coaching as one of their
many management tools.
Theres a third way too reading articles like this. It doesnt have to cost theearth to start using coaching, says David Heath, managing director of McCanns
Human Resource Consultants. Some people simply read about how to do it and
get on with it.
But before you pour yourself a drink, put your feet up and read on in the hope of
a life-changing moment, be warned that coaching isnt easy to define and is even
harder to practise.
At its most basic, business coaching is about helping individuals to achieve their
goals by accessing and developing their own abilities, says Simon Foster, senior
client director at the Centre for High Performance Development. We all talk
about improving things getting fitter, losing weight, working less. We also knowthat, however much we talk about these things, they only become a reality if we
set ourselves targets to map the way to our goals. The same is true with
coaching.
Its up to the coach to help the individual identify these goals and targets and its
also up to them to encourage the individual to find ways to achieve them. Thats
not easy for todays managers, who are paid to get results and so typically do a
lot of telling and instructing. In coaching, you need to take a step back and allow
the coachee to learn from their own mistakes and to find their own answers.
What youre doing is allowing them to develop and display their individual talents.
The theory is that in the end, although you may have invested a good deal of
time with them upfront, the net result is far superior.
Adrian King, an executive coach at Praesta Executive Coaching and author of
Business Coaching, likens the process to giving someone a fishing rod instead of
a fish. If you always give people the answers yourself, the business will only
ever grow as big as you. With coaching, you can take the business to new
Dos and donts
Do be consistent.
Coaching needs to be
made part of your
management style on a
daily basis, rather than
switching on and off.
Do get supervision.
Check in with a coaching
expert to find ways to
improve your coaching
style.
Do stay neutral and
objective. Observe, listen
and ask questions to
understand the
coachees situation.
Do think of coaching likeraising children. If you
tell them what to do,
theyll do it adequately,
but if you let them learn
for themselves, theyre
more likely to excel.
Do be afraid to use
specific coaching
models. Theres plenty to
choose from, ranging
from the GROW modelto neuro-linguistic
programming, but get to
grips with the basics
first.
Don't break
confidentiality. Coaching
must be based on 100
per cent trust.
Don't expect coaching to
solve every problem.
Coaching is a very
useful tool, but its not
the answer to everything
and there are occasions
when it isnt appropriate
20 minute course in... coaching - The Marketer magazine http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/professional-development/fast-la...
4 15/7/2009 1:41
-
7/28/2019 The 20 Minute Course in Coaching...
2/4
levels, he says.
Not surprisingly, people dont always like being coached at first. Being given a
fishing rod would take many of us out of our comfort zone. But once theyve
landed that first catch, youve usually got them hooked.
The marketing environment
Coaching is essentially about bringing out the best in each and every person.
Marketing is about bringing out the best in a brand. In terms of alignment, thatsnot a bad start.
There are other reasons why coaching works for marketers. Standards in the
industry are increasingly high, with leaders always on the lookout for ways to
improve. Marketing is often the first area to be cut in a budget, leaving
marketers under pressure to achieve results with fewer people. Moving away
from a problem-solving culture to one in which people find their own answers is
understandably popular.
Marketers, however, may find coaching particularly challenging. Stuart Duff,
partner and head of development at the business psychologists Pearn Kandola,
explains: The marketing environment naturally attracts people who are intuitiveand instinctive and so make quick decisions and give quick instructions. Coaching
encourages them to slow down on their assumptions and genuinely listen. Thats
not easy. Interestingly, we have the opposite problem when we train people in
coaching at organisations like PricewaterhouseCoopers, where they can get too
involved in the detail and arent able to stand back and see the bigger picture.
Outcomes
Alexia Leachman, global marketing manager at the tanning company St Tropez,
says that in the past, when she gave a member of her team a new challenge,
theyd often try to get out of it. They wouldnt say outright that they couldnt do
it, but theyd create excuses. I tended to be directional, telling them what to do.That was quite time consuming because I needed to be heavily involved. But now
I use coaching by asking them questions to help them find the answers
questions like What do you want to achieve with this project?, What do you
think are the steps you should take to get there?, Which one do you want to
start with? and What could you do if you come up against a problem?.
Because Leachmans coachees come up with their own solutions, they own
them and are far less likely to approach her for help. They are also far more
likely to relish a new challenge, she says.
Like many managers, Leachman doesnt tell her team that shes coaching them.
Theres a lot of cynicism around business coaching, as well as a lot of
misunderstanding for example, that its the same as mentoring. I just dont thinkits necessary or even helpful to explain every technique you use as a manager
to your team.
Leachman says that as a result of coaching each member of her team for at
least one hour a week, they now feel they have the authority and confidence to
run with each project independently.
She has no doubt that coaching impacts the bottom line, but is there proof that
coaching really does accelerate capability? Experts admit that this is still very
much a matter for debate. There are a variety of measurement tools, but some
are quite complex. You may do better to simply look back to the goals set up in
the initial coaching sessions and assess whether theyve been reached, thenevaluate their relationship with the wider business goals. You could also take a
look at the retention and progression rates since coaching was introduced.
David Heath of McCanns Human Resource Consultants adds that an interesting
for example if the
market has taken a
sudden dive, says Lisa
Cann, a chartered
marketer and coach for
Lane4, the global
performance
development
consultancy.
Don't coach if youre not
up to it. Some
personalities are simply
not suited to coaching.
Tips from the top
Stuart Duff, head of
development at the
business psychology
consulting company
Pearn Kandola, advises
on what makes coaching
work
Think about
motivation. Motivation
underpins pretty much
20 minute course in... coaching - The Marketer magazine http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/professional-development/fast-la...
4 15/7/2009 1:41
-
7/28/2019 The 20 Minute Course in Coaching...
3/4
thing happens when managers crack coaching. They dont just see other
peoples motivation rise their own motivation increases, too. After all, its
incredibly satisfying to help people develop and to have more time to yourself.
What makes a good coach?
If youre not a good listener, forget coaching, says Rebekah Fensome, a
business coach within the marketing sector. Giving full attention to what the
other person is saying is the cornerstone of good coaching. That requires a lot of
patience, as well as the ability to cast aside your own assumptions so that youcan take on board the other persons agenda. Youll need to leave your
judgmental head at the door.
Youll need to be energising, encouraging and empathetic, as well as able to
build a rapport with others and to give unconditional regard to a persons
development, she adds. With your face, cues, body language and words, youll
need to show that you have 100 per cent confidence in them. If they sense fear
in you, they will never believe in themselves. Thats crucial because coaching is
ultimately a confidence building exercise.
Youll need to encourage the coachee to leave their comfort zone and stretch
themselves and, once you get to know their objectives, youll need to work onchampioning these through your coaching. Remember that the best coaches are
people who can do some very creative lateral thinking its about opening up
options so that peoples horizons are broadened.
Coaching is certainly not for control freaks. The whole ethos behind coaching is
that people must learn through their own mistakes, so be prepared for a few
hiccoughs in the short term. But rest assured that it will pay off in the end.
Common mistakes
A big mistake is trying to give the coachee answers rather than supporting them
to find their own solutions, says Jonathan Perks, head of leadershipdevelopment at Penna.
A coach may feel they need to be an expert in the subject they are discussing
when in fact this is not necessary. Once an individual knows the structure of a
coaching conversation, they can help the coachee to talk through any issue and
provide options where necessary.
Carla Cotterell, European key accounts director at Advertising.com, adds:
Coaches often spend too much time providing examples from their own career.
While personal anecdotes can help build rapport, it is important that the coach
remains focused on the needs of the member of staff they are working with.
But cut yourself some slack. Just as coaching means allowing your team to learn
by their mistakes, allow yourself to get it wrong sometimes too. Fear not if youdont feel like the worlds best coach within a couple of weeks, says Stuart Duff.
While many people take to it instinctively, Ive had others tell me it takes them a
good couple of years before they get out of telling mode when coaching.
Are you ready to coach your team?
When showing members of your team how to approach a new area of
work, you:
a) Tell them how you would do it;
b) Talk them through some potential challenges and options to overcome them;
c) Ask them open-ended questions about how they might play to their strengths
and overcome their weaknesses.
every aspect of our
behaviour at work.
Consider why this person
is here and what they
want to achieve each
day.
Ask open questions.
Under pressure to be
the expert managersoften ask closed
questions or look for
confirmation of their own
views. This can hinder
their teams creativity,
ownership and
accountability. Open
questions give them
more latitude to find their
own answers.
Know yourself. Beingaware of your own
personality preferences
gives you
more scope to develop
tactics and adapt your
approach to suit the
personalities of the
people you are
coaching.
Have a framework in
mind. Coaching is all
about asking the right
questions at the right
time. Keeping the
structure of the
discussion simple will
help the manager to stay
on track and keep an
eye on progress.
It can take minutes,
not hours. Coaching is
a fluid, practical way to
get others to makebetter choices and take
more responsibility a
skilled manager will use
coaching as and when
opportunities arise.
20 minute course in... coaching - The Marketer magazine http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/professional-development/fast-la...
4 15/7/2009 1:41
-
7/28/2019 The 20 Minute Course in Coaching...
4/4
If a member of your team comes to you with a work-related problem, you:
a) Offer a solution;
b) Invite them to come up with a solution and then guide them through achieving
it;
c) Ask them what they think the best end result would be and help them work
out the steps they would take to achieve it, bearing in mind their individual
personality and working style.
A member of your team makes a mistake. You:
a) Tell them you never made any such mistakes and to buck their ideas up;
b) Give them some options on how to rectify the situation;
c) Invite them to work out what caused the error and what they have learned
from it, reassuring them that it was probably a good learning curve.
Your team has been achieving good results with very little management
input. You:
a) Decide to let them get on with it. If it aint broke, why fix it?;
b) Reassure them that youre happy with what theyre doing and that they can
come to you if they have any queries;
c) Think about ways you can help them to stay at the top or do even better such
as learning how each individual in the team operates or by ensuring they dont
become victims of their own success and burning out too quickly.
If you answer:
Mostly (a) Coaching is nowhere to be seen in your management toolbox. If you
want to embrace coaching, go on a comprehensive course, but even then
recognise if its not for you.
Mostly (b) Youre halfway there, with some coaching techniques beginning to
rear their heads.
Mostly (c) Youre obviously a natural. Coaching already helps you to unleash
peoples potential.
Kate Hilpern writes on coaching and management for Coaching at Work
20 minute course in... coaching - The Marketer magazine http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/professional-development/fast-la...
4 15/7/2009 1 41