Coaching FAQ’s
Coaching is arguably the most powerful method of learning at work. Coaching is a key skill for every manager and knowing how to seek and use coaching is a key skill for employees, who wish to become more effective in their current roles and perhaps advance to more senior roles. Here are answers to some of the most common questions about coaching.
- Is coaching only for people who have a problem or aren’t performing?
- Most coaching is aimed at helping people improve from good to even better. It focuses more on building on strengths than overcoming weaknesses. A balanced approach takes both into account.
- When is a good time to be coached or to offer coaching?
- Any time. The range of situations, when coaching can be helpful, is almost endless. Basically, any time that you see a colleague struggling, or trying to work their way through difficult choices, you can offer coaching. And any time you sense that an improvement in your skills, performance or behaviours could be beneficial, is a good time to ask for coaching.
- Does my coach have to be an expert in my job role?
- Yes, if the learning need is around a specific task or skill. However, they don’t always need to be more skilled than you – the coaches of top sports professionals, for example, are rarely better players than their clients. The coach simply has to know enough to help you think through what you are doing.
- No, if the learning need is much broader. For example, to help you develop leadership skills, they don’t have to have been a leader in your function.
- Is coaching a form of therapy?
- It helps if the coach has some understanding of people’s behaviours and professional coaches are expected to have some training in the psychology of personal change. Some coaches also help you to understand yourself better by giving you psychometric questionnaires and talking through the results. However, coaches need to be very clear about the boundaries between what they do and therapy. One simplistic but broadly helpful distinction often made is that therapy focuses on helping you sort out your past and present, while coaching focuses on the present and future.
- Is coaching the same as mentoring?
- Development mentoring and developmental coaching (the preferred models for Anglo-American) have a great deal in common. Both are about “helping a colleague with the quality of their thinking about issues that are important to them”. The primary differences between coaching and mentoring are that:
- Coaching focuses more on performance and mentoring more on career issues
- Coaching can often be between a manager and members of their team, while formal mentoring is always outside of the boss-subordinate line
- Development mentoring and developmental coaching (the preferred models for Anglo-American) have a great deal in common. Both are about “helping a colleague with the quality of their thinking about issues that are important to them”. The primary differences between coaching and mentoring are that:
- Can I take non-work issues to coaching?
- Our lives inside and outside work influence each other greatly. While your coach won’t want to pry into your life outside work, it is legitimate for them to help you think through issues at home, which may be affecting your work. In doing so, however, they must be very careful not to cross the boundary into counselling – so they may refer you to other specialist sources of help, if appropriate.
- How do we know if coaching is working?
- A healthy and effective coaching relationship is one where you feel both supported and challenged. Other useful pointers include:
- Do you come away with useful ideas, insights and clear intentions of what to do next?
- Do you feel motivated to tackle the issues addressed in the coaching?
- Do you (and other people) see specific changes in your skills, performance and/or behaviour?
- A healthy and effective coaching relationship is one where you feel both supported and challenged. Other useful pointers include:
- How often and for how long should coaching happen?
- While ad hoc, “brief coaching” can be effective in just a few minutes, most coaching requires a minimum of 30 minutes to an hour. While some executive coaching sessions can extend to double this, it is not recommended good practice, as the deep thinking required in coaching tires the brain.
- Frequency of coaching sessions varies, according to the immediacy of the goals set. It’s important, however, to leave long enough between sessions for to coachee to apply the learning they have gained.
- How long should a coaching relationship or assignment coaching last?
- The optimum duration of coaching depends on the learning need, with skills-focused coaching usually being relatively short, behavioural coaching between 6 and 12 months and performance coaching somewhere between. However, there are no hard and fast rules and in the end it depends on individual circumstances. A common problem with coaching that continues for too long, however, is that the learner becomes dependent on the coach.
- Do we have to meet face to face?
- While meeting face to face creates the conditions for a rich exchange, it often takes longer to arrange, can be costly in terms of travel and can involve a high number of distractions. (For example, many coachees are less open and less self-confident when they are with someone more senior, than when they are using distance media.)
- Should I take lots of notes?
- Only the highlights are important. Good practice is for both coach and coachee to take very few notes while they speak, then for the coach to ask periodically (when there is a natural pause) “What would you like to capture from our conversation so far?” This:
- a) puts the emphasis on the coachee’s learning, where it should be, and;
- b) allows coach and coachee to concentrate fully on each other, for the rest of the time.
- Only the highlights are important. Good practice is for both coach and coachee to take very few notes while they speak, then for the coach to ask periodically (when there is a natural pause) “What would you like to capture from our conversation so far?” This:
- How specific do I need to be about my goals from coaching?
- It’s far more important to have a sense of direction or purpose (an “umbrella goal”) at the beginning of a coaching relationship, than to have a very specific or SMART goal. Indeed, the early sessions of coaching are typically about refining goals and often result in a radical re-appraisal of goals. Examples of purposes might be:
- I want to have my own business by the time I’m 35
- I want to be a more effective leader
- I want to have contributed more in my life than I have taken
- I want to find a job role that plays to my strengths
- In all these examples, it will take a lot of initial effort to establish what these umbrella goals mean in practice and to break them down into smaller, more specific goals. Identifying multiple routes to achieving the umbrella goal is generally more effective than focusing on a single, narrow path.
- It’s far more important to have a sense of direction or purpose (an “umbrella goal”) at the beginning of a coaching relationship, than to have a very specific or SMART goal. Indeed, the early sessions of coaching are typically about refining goals and often result in a radical re-appraisal of goals. Examples of purposes might be:
- Does my coach have to be my line manager?
- You can ask anyone, who has appropriate expertise, to coach you. However, it is generally polite to inform your line manager – or better still to discuss with him or her who would be the best coach for you. Your HR Business Partner can also offer useful guidance.
© David Clutterbuck, 2014
Prof David Clutterbuck
Coaching and Mentoring International Ltd
Woodlands, Tollgate,
Maidenhead,
Berks, UK. SL6 4LJ
www.coachingandmentoringinternational.org
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