coaching

conversations

Performance = Potential - Interference

MY TAKE

There’s a lot written and said about coaching. You may have seen or heard some of it. Here are four of my observations.

objectivIty & CLARITY

What a coach can help individuals achieve can be game changing.

Often people get in their own way with their thinking, the way they feel and patterns of behaviour that just do not serve them.

When working as a coach, the conversations I have are aimed at developing fresh insight around these three areas and most importantly clarity about what changes need to happen.

whole person

It’s more common than many people imagine that the issue or situation that appears to be the challenge is a symptom of a wider cause.

Working from the principle of coach the person not the situation, my coaching helps people step back and understand more about what is going on. As a result of the changes they then make, they are able to achieve progress in multiple areas.

Challenge & support

To achieve our full potential, we need to balance challenge and support. My role in coaching conversations is to judge this balance.

Someone in an overly supportive or challenging environment is likely to fall short of their potential. I've found personally and professionally that the more impactful conversations are towards the challenging end of the spectrum. Deconstructing excuses or imaginary barriers we may have built to make the progress we desire.

when Progress happens

During coaching conversations we will make progress. Fresh insight about something, clarity about what to do or perhaps new things to experiment with. This is all great. Based on my experience I want to suggest that the real sustainable progress happens between the sessions when the individual or team put into practice the things we talk about.

Often people will rationally understand this point yet in the moment can get overrun with thoughts that stop them doing what they know they want to do.

(this very interference is a common topic in coaching conversations)

four steps to progress

Step 01

An initial conversation about the challenges being faced and what outcomes are desired.

Step 02

Agree on a way of working. This includes the frequency of sessions, how the sessions will be conducted, the best time for the sessions.

Some people get real benefit from either early morning or later in the evening coaching as they can then better manage the competing demands for their time.

Step 03

Determine the type of coaching you’d like. Much of this is about personal preference and learning styles. Some situations lend themselves to following a more structured approach and others more free form. Both have their place. Both can achieve significant progress.

Step 04

Agree the programme we will work on together including costs.