Why coaching?

In this day and age when we have become so reactive in response to the daily needs of life, coaching is the opportunity to break free.  In a coaching relationship you are in the seat of power and control and can proactively direct your life in the direction you want to go.  In any area, career, relationship, health, community, when you are being coached you are asked two very important questions.  First, what do you want?  Second, what are you willing to do about it?  These questions are potent and confronting, but the whole idea behind coaching is that you are hiring someone to supportively hold you accountable for getting what you want. You determine what that is.

 

Coaching is one of the six emotional leadership styles proposed by Daniel Goleman. Moreover, it is a behavior or role that leaders enforce in the context of situational leadership. As a leadership style, coaching is used when the members of a group or team are competent and motivated, but do not have an idea of the long-term goals of an organization.

This involves two levels of coaching: team and individual. Team coaching makes members work together. In a group of individuals, not everyone may have nor share the same level of competence and commitment to a goal. A group may be a mix of highly competent and moderately competent members with varying levels of commitment.

These differences can cause friction among the members. The coaching leader helps the members level their expectations. Also, the coaching leader manages differing perspectives so that the common goal succeeds over personal goals and interests. In a big organization, leaders need to align the staffs’ personal values and goals with that of the organization so that long-term directions can be pursued.

 

Individual coaching is an example of situational leadership at work. It aims to mentor one-on-one building up the confidence of members by affirming good performance during regular feedbacks; and increase competence by helping the member assess his/her strengths and weaknesses towards career planning and professional development.

Depending on the individual’s level of competence and commitment, a leader may exercise more coaching behavior for the less-experienced members. Usually, this happens in the case of new staffs. The direct supervisor gives more defined tasks and holds regular feedbacks for the new staff, and gradually lessens the amount of coaching, directing, and supporting roles to favor delegating as competence and confidence increase.

 

A successful coaching process and experience involves several elements:

• An individual/group/team freely requesting/choosing to be coached and making themselves "coachable"
• A fully competent coach who is fully committed to the success of this person/group/team
• Clarity and a clear sense of urgency by the individual/group/team about a commitment to something specific and big
• A choice and commitment to continue learning through discipline and practice