Coaching Skills

John Oughton

Centennial College

Today’s Learning Outcomes

• Recognize what coaching is, and is, not

• Understand foundations of coaching skills

• Reflect on and observe some principles

• Observe and analyze coaching demo

• Practice and observe mini coaching sessions

Coaching is Not the Same as:

• Teaching

• Advising

• Facilitating

• Counselling

• Mentoring

“Coaching is

..not telling people what to do; it’s giving them a chance to examine what they are doing in the light of their intentions.” – James Flaherty

Coaching• Uses listening, questions, reflection of

coachee’s statements/feelings, and intuition to help coachee find own answers

• Assumes coachee already

has the knowledge and skills

necessary to solve own

problems, make decisions

and answer questions

Special types include• Sports • Career• Life coaching• Personal/professional development

This is a general approach useful for many situations/relationships -- between peers,

manager/staff, teacher-student relationships May be done effectively over phone or F2F

Benefits of Coaching

• Increases self-awareness

● Makes people more self-directed• Promotes accountability and commitment• Overcomes “dump and run” syndrome• Increases organization morale, quality of

communication

Coaching Traps

• Believing coaching is remedial• Feeling need to be expert• Being too directive• Staying in problem-solving mode• Pursuing your own agenda• Lacking awareness of own beliefs/biases• Not setting agenda and boundaries

COACHING FOUNDATIONS

1. Empathy: being able to communicate authentically what you hear and feel of another’s experience. Putting empathy into action: Reflect what you’ve heard, then ask question, empowering speaker to clarify

Coaching Foundation 2

Coachee has the answers• Can find them even when convinced

he/she can’t

• Coach asks questions to illuminate answers that may be hidden

• People are more satisfied/ compelled/ resourceful when using own answers

Foundation 3

Listening: being present with what other is saying without passing judgment

Listening Levels:• 1. Attention is on me (own goals are primary)• 2. Attention is on coachee: no internal chatter,

aware of other’s every word and nuance• 3. Global listening: Attention is on space/energy

around and between people, underlying moods and tones as well as words, gestures, body language, etc.

Foundation 4

Intuition: learn to recognize when own intuition is working (what does it feel like?)

• When you have a hunch about other’s feeling, perception, etc., blurt it out and then ask if that echoes anything for the coachee

• Even if not accurate, this may trigger a honest response about where

coachee is

Foundation 5: CuriosityA way of discovering, focusing attention on a

specific directionHelps others discover who they are, what’s

important to themUse open or general questions, rather than specific,

for self-explorationSpecific question: what courses will you take?General question: what would you like to learn more about?

Foundation 6: Powerful Questions

These put curiosity into actionUsually no more than 7-8 words: “What’s stopping you?”Special types:Intruding: head off an-overly detailed answer or excursion

with:What’s the payoff for you in that?What’s another way of looking at this?What value are you (not) honouring here?

Inquiry: get the coachee thinking for a while (e.g. until next session): Could you look up some options and choose three to discuss next time?

Foundation 7: Acknowledgement & Championing

Acknowledgement: recognizing (not judging) someone for who they are or who they are becoming, not only their actions

-shows sincere interest in/respect for other; validates their experience

Championing: expressing belief that people can overcome self-doubts or fears and accomplish something; articulates their full potential

Foundation 8: Accountability and Commitment

Accountability: Asking coachee to account for achieving plans/intentions. Uses three questions:

• What are you going to do?

• By when will you do this?

• How will I know?

Commitment: asking coachee’s agreement to follow through on action/reflection

The Saboteur

Inner critic that stops us when we are thinking big and wanting to move forward

Protects us and the status quo

Some favourite sayings:

“You can’t…

You shouldn’t, mustn’t…

This is the way it’s always been”

Career and Life Wheels

• Activity 1

In the Immortal Words of Coach..

• Yogi Berra (New York Yankees):“You can observe a lot by just watching”

Coaching Demos

Activity 1:

5-10 min. coaching demo

Observers use feedback sheet

Coach and coachee debrief

Coaching Practice

Activity 2:in groups of three, take five-minute turns

playing these roles:● Coach● Coachee● ObserverAfter each mini-coaching session, observer

describes what he/she saw, then all switch roles

Coaching Certification

Available through many organizations in Toronto, including:

• YWCA: Life Skills Coaching 1 and 2• OISE Adult Education and Counselling

Psychology /Adler Institute: Professional Skills Coaching

• York University/Schulich Executive Education Centre: Certificate in Coaching Skills for Managers and Directors.