Managing Performance Through Coaching

THE KEY STEPS TO EFFECTIVE COACHING

What is Coaching?

The Benefits of Coaching

The Range of Coaching Approaches

Setting up the Relationship

Getting Started

GROW Questions

Giving Feedback

Knowing the Boundaries

Further Help

QRG 1

1. What is Coaching?

A coach is someone who is appointed or chosen to help and advise someone. They will

normally be experienced and at various times can undertake differing roles e.g.

Coaching – giving positive and negative feedback or challenging the coachee

Acting – as a sounding board, providing affirmation or helping the coachee to fully uncover

issues

Advising – exploring ideas and giving opinion

Guiding - by demonstrating appropriate behaviour, attitudes and values which reflect the

culture of the organisation

But mainly coaching is very much about asking questions and helping the coachee to apply

their expertise as compared with, say, mentoring or training which is likely to have a greater reliance on the practitioner’s own skill and experience and involve imparting this in the main.

The skills of a coach are needed for managing performance effectively.

2. The Benefits of Coaching

Coaching offers the opportunity to:

• Increase personal and professional effectiveness

• Develop improved learning skills,

• Operate with increased self confidence

• Achieve personal development in a cost effective way

3. The Range of Coaching Approaches

The following diagram presents a number of approaches that will be used in coaching ranging from the facilitative (PULL) to the more directive (PUSH). All at times will be necessary components in a coaching relationship. The task of the coach is to recognise when each is

needed.

Listening to understand

PULL

PUSH

Paraphrasing and reflecting

Summarising

Asking questions

Making suggestions

Giving feedback

Offering guidance

Giving advice

Instructing

Telling

4. Setting up the Relationship

At the outset:

• Clarify the purpose of the first meeting – to see if you can work together, to set up the

relationship and, if time, to do some work

• Find out more about the coachee’s background

• Say a bit about yourself

• Ask them to explain their current role

• Check that they understand what coaching is

• If need be clarify topics you do not think it would be appropriate to discuss

• Explain the duration of the coaching relationship

Round off the introductory session by setting up a working agreement covering e.g.:

• Confidentiality – the content of what is discussed stays private unless the mentee decides to

disclose some part of it – but ask them to tell you if they do this

• Neither of you can withhold information about policies being broken

• Number or regularity of sessions

• What happens if either has to postpone a session

• Clear arrangements for making contact

• Record keeping

• Circumstances in which the mentee could be referred on

5. Getting Started

Remember above all coaching is based on a mutual foundation of trust and partnership right

from the start.

The first session will be about getting to know each other and developing rapport. It doesn’t matter where you start as long as dialogue is developed. Some coachees want to get focused

right away while others will want to build up a greater degree of trust and rapport first.

So you need a flexible approach but it helps to have a clear framework in your mind to guide you – not follow slavishly — so you know where you are in the process and which way you

need to edge the discussion. The GROW process is useful for structuring a session:

Topic

Goal Way For-

ward

Options Reality

Topic: Before starting the GROW process find out what the coachee wants to get from the

relationship.

Goal: What do they want to get from this session – encourage the coachee to consider what successful meeting of this goal would be

like.

Reality: Explore the current situation around the coachee’s goal. This will raise their awareness of what they are doing and what factors are

affecting the achievement of the goal.

Options: Help the coachee explore what they can do to achieve the goal. Focus on generating as many options as possible, not on finding a

single “right” idea.

When it is clear they have exhausted their options add your own ideas based on your

experience.

Way Forward

Help the coachee evaluate all the options and decide what to do. Then help explore when they will take various actions, what/who might help or hinder progress and also what you can do to help. Agree an action plan that you can update on at the next session.

GROW Questions Here are some suggested straightforward “open” questions which will help to guide

through the GROW process:

• What do you want to achieve long term? • What is a short term goal on the way? • When do you want to achieve it by • How will you know if you have achieved it? • What is happening with your goal right now? • What resources do you already have? • What are the potential barriers? • How can you go about achieving your goal? • What else could you do? • Have you thought of trying …? • What are the pros and cons of each option? • Which option do you think is best and why? • To what extent does it meet all objectives? • How will you measure success? • What specific steps do you need to take? • When do you need to take them? • What/who will help or hinder? • How can I help?

6. Giving Feedback

Read “Managing Performance Through

Feedback” because feedback is a central

part of the coaching process:

• Give clear assertive feedback • Be non-judgemental • Maintain your positive regard and

genuineness • Give the coachee the opportunity to self

-critique • Ask for their point of view • Look for clues about how it is received • Use a joint problem solving approach

7. Knowing the Boundaries Above all this is a confidential relationship and you must make sure that you keep it so – however tempting do not talk to the coachee’s management about their progress unless you and the coachee have agreed this would be helpful.

Support the process by ensuring you reach a clear up front agreement with the coachee about how the process is going

to work – e.g. will you or they keep notes.

Know that you cannot solve everything. If issues arise where you do not have the knowledge or do not feel confident in handling you must make this clear to the coachee and offer to refer them to someone else.

9. Further Help Whitmore, J (1996) Coaching for Performance. Nicholas Brealy Publishing. Gallwey, T (1986) The Inner Game of Tennis. Pan Books. Gallwey, T (2000) The Inner Game of Work. Orian Business. Downey, M (1999) Effective Coaching. Orian Business. Max Landsberg (1997) The Tao of Coaching. Harper Collins Business.

Stratagem Learning and Development Ltd Tel: +44 (0)1962 848630 Fax: +44 (0)1962 870080 E-mail info@stratagem-uk.com Registered No: 2822632