Let's develop our understanding of coaching by considering
how it compares with other ways of developing people.
Specifically, let's consider:
Coaching and Teaching
Coaching and Training
Coaching and Mentoring
Coaching and Counselling
Coaching and Teaching
We know from our own experience at school that teaching
tends to be delivered to groups, to a predetermined lesson
plan, with people of mixed abilities developing their
understanding as best they can.
Of course, teaching can be given on a one to one basis and
there are countless people who have benefited from being
taught or tutored in this way.
However, the dominant party in the teacher-pupil
relationship is the teacher. The teacher will be concerned
with passing on knowledge, facts and wisdom and as pupils,
we usually take a passive role and try to soak it all up.
We have little scope to set or follow our own agenda and we
have to try to interpret what the teacher is saying and
make sense of it against our own experience.
Coaching on the other hand is more often than not delivered
one to one. It is the person being coached - often called
the coachee - who sets the agenda and decides on the issue
to be considered. As coaches, we are not there to provide
input or advice or to tell the coachee how we would do
things. Instead our role is to probe and encourage and help
the coachee make sense of things for him or her self.
This can be a difficult concept to grasp, so let's look at
a comparison. When we get up in the morning we usually pad
across the hallway to the bathroom and begin the mammoth
task of making ourselves look presentable.
For some this will mean dragging a razor across their face
and a comb through their hair, whilst others will
concentrate on applying make up and hair spray etc. All of
this activity would be almost impossible without our trusty
friend - the bathroom mirror.
But does the mirror say "Ooh I wouldn't do it like that" or
"that's not how we usually shave here" or "you've never
done your hair like that before"? Of course not! But the
mirror does help us to make sense of what's going on and to
achieve our aim - in this case, to look presentable.
When we are coaching we are trying to perform the same
function. The best coaches will hold up a 'mirror' so that
people can develop a deep sense of self-awareness. When
people are highly self-aware they have more choices about
how to move issues forward.
Coaching and Training
With this in mind we can see that coaching is different to
training. Training is concerned with helping people to
perform in their roles of course, but again it is centred
on the trainer and the subject matter, not the individual.
Coaching and Mentoring
Coaching and mentoring share many of the same skills and
abilities but are usually delivered by different people. A
mentor is typically a senior person of greater experience
who is invited to take us 'under their wing' and let us
benefit from their wisdom.
If it is coaching we want however, we are probably best
advised not to seek a more experienced person who may be
overly tempted to persuade us to 'do it their way'.
Given that we can now see that coaching is wholly concerned
with drawing out and not putting in, we can also see how it
is possible for anyone with the right skills to coach us -
their position in the organization is irrelevant.
Coaching and Counselling
When we consider how coaching compares with counselling we
need to think about the limitations of coaching. Coaching
in organizations is concerned with helping people with
performing well in their jobs, not in dealing with
deep-rooted problems from the past.
It may be that as we coach we do uncover some painful or
personal issues, but we need to know when to bring in the
appropriate expertise. Many effective coaches have never
trained as counsellors or therapists, but can still deliver
excellent coaching support.
Arguably this exercise in comparison is academic. Do we
really need to worry what method is used to develop people
as long as they are being developed?
The short answer is no, but we do need to understand the
unique qualities of coaching so that we can use it with
choice and with greater care.
In reality good coaches draw on all of these different
approaches as they work with individuals and will not be
concerned with whether they are coaching or teaching at any
one point in time. However, they will be wholly concerned
with using the right approach based on the needs of the
individual and the demands of the situation.
----------------------------------------------------
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com
No comments:
Post a Comment