Introduction to coaching

Introduction

Coaching continues to grow in popularity in professional circles. In recent years, it is not just senior executives who are taking the opportunity to coach; professionals in all sectors are using coaching skills as part of their people management toolkit.

It is also becoming apparent how useful coaching skills are in all areas of professional life:

Explicit coaching – you may offer to coach a colleague on a particular issue, helping them to identify their own resources and build their own solution.

Management styles – coaching is a particular form of communication, highly effective in enabling subordinates to be more pro-active and take on more responsibility.

Informal conversations – using this communication style in everyday conversations where appropriate, can be useful to influence, diffuse tension and bring clarity to situations.

Individual reflection – if useful, coaching skills can give you a framework to reflect on your own goals and how best to achieve them.

Objectives

To understand the roles of coaching, how it differs from mentoring and other interventions, and how it can be most effectively used
To build the key skills of communication
To develop an effective framework for coaching interventions
To practice coaching in different circumstances, aimed at illustrating the benefits making the skills more automatic
To introduce the skills needed to perform effectively as coaches in the workplace