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Coaching is a development technique which is commonly used to enhance performance. The coaching process will encourage an individual to take more personal responsibility and to become more self-aware. The idea being that by making these changes, a person can become more self-reliant and astute in their decision-making. Some common definitions of coaching:
“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.” (Whitmore, 1992)
“Partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential.” (International Coaching Federation (ICF))
Mentoring and coaching can often be confused, as both are typically one-to-one conversations and involve learning. While coaching tends to focus on a shorter-term relationship between equals, whereby the coach facilitates the deep thinking of the coachee to reach a goal, mentoring is more typically a longer-term relationship in which one of the parties has superior knowledge which they share with the other individual through the relationship.
In a pure coaching session, the coach will not be advising or counselling the coachee, but rather creating a safe space in which the coachee, working with the coach, can explore, reflect and consider their goals, options and way forward around a particular issue.
We are all individual and so there is no limit to what you might bring to a coaching session, but here are some examples of work-related issues:
· Lacking confidence generally or in certain scenarios, e.g., speaking up in meetings or making presentations;
· Conflict/problematic dynamic with a particular individual/team;
· Difficulty in saying ‘no’; and
· Deciding on a future path within an organisation.
These are just a few examples, and as you can imagine there are a huge number of issues that people may want to bring to coaching at different times in their career.