Please reach me at anna.smyth@balscadden.co.uk if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Coaching is a development technique which is commonly used to enhance performance. The coaching process encourages an individual to take more personal responsibility and to become more aware of self and others. The idea being that in making certain changes, a person can become more self-reliant and astute in their decision-making and leadership. 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 client 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 client (although I will share useful resources and observations where appropriate), but rather creating a safe space in which the client, 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;
· Stepping up to a leadership role and getting 'out of the weeds'
· Setting boundaries - difficulty in saying ‘no’; and
· Deciding on a future career path.
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.