Coaching is communications in action. It is a process where a coach, through structured interaction using a process that focuses on outcomes, information, strategy and results, helps a coachee effect personally desirable and sustainable change.
I am drawn to coaching because of the way it dovetails with adult learning realities. Adults learn when they need to know something, they are self-directed and have prior experiences that impact how and what they learn. For me it comes down to motivation - we change the things we want to change, we do the things that make sense to us (we are less willing to do things that make sense to others and don’t resonate personally). I did my research paper on training effectiveness and learning styles in Proseminar, and so am interested to find that coaching offers a relevant and proven approach to help people actually make changes.
Coaching as a field and profession is quite diverse. There are a variety of coaching genres, contexts and theoretical traditions that impact the practice of coaching. Coaching can be grounded in a variety of approaches: psychodymanics (a focus on the unconscious mind), cognitive behavioral or cognitive developmental thought, there can be a concentration on solutions, ontology (influence of body posture), narrative (identify connections between stories), and existentialism (meaning and meaninglessness), coaching can be person-centered (looking at self-actualization), it can be impacted by Gestalt (creative adjustment to the external environment), or NLP (an approach that focuses on patterns of behavior and their impact on the construction of reality) and more. In addition to the different approaches to coaching, there are many different types of coaching: performance coaching, developmental coaching, transformational coaching, executive and leadership coaching, team coaching, cross-cultural coaching, peer coaching, life coaching and career coaching.
From a practical standpoint, I found that to be an effective coach, good listening skills are vital. I had to get out of my own world and prepare before each coaching session to clear my mind of “me” so that I could be focused on my client/coachee. Asking “good” questions is important in a situation where an 80/20 or 75/25 rule regarding coachee/coach talking time is used as a benchmark for coaching sessions. Good questions solicit information and are helpful in providing perspective-opening possibilities; the ability to ask good questions requires confidence, experience, and prior thought (I have a list of questions that I keep and add to every time I hear a "good" one). As a new coach, it was so helpful to have a coaching model and to be able to use that to guide each coaching session towards action and results.
As part of this course, we had to coach a client, someone we didn't know. I contacted my coachee and found that I would be doing my coaching with him over the phone. This lack of face-to-face meeting gave me immediate concern about my ability to build rapport and to develop a "relationship", and this was on top of my overall anxiety of having very little experience in the coaching arena. But I found I was able to do it and felt that I was helpful to my client over our four sessions together. Coaching is like being on a tight-wire; when you're moving and balanced, it's an amazing thrill, but the abyss is just a mis-step away and is a lurking presence. I found that during the coaching process, approaches that I had learned from this course, as well as other ideas for interacting with the coachee, would come to me - some of these worked well (like asking my client to sit in a different chair when we had our sessions so we could create a special place where our conversations could take place and where the distractions of a home office were somewhat removed) and others did not (in listening to my tape recording of sessions, I found I became a cheerleader and stepped over my objective role which ultimately hinders coaching effectiveness). As a result of my coaching experiences with my client, the proverbial light bulb went off for me! I discovered that I was passionate about helping people grow, and felt that coaching's forward-looking, positive approach to change which focused on the client coming up with information, ideas, and strategy made sense to me in the ways that traditional teaching or counseling never did. I now apply coaching principles to my interpersonal relationships (most importantly for me, when going through issues with my children). Overall, I was surprised and pleased with my hands-on coaching efforts, and found that I really enjoyed the personal challenge and seeing my client's breakthroughs and directional changes.
As I pursue coaching, I will hone both my approach and the context and type of coaching most interesting to me. The type of coaching that I did in this class ended up being mainly performance coaching, because of the needs and interests of my coaching client (coachee), but I find I am interested in developmental coaching and executive/leadership coaching. I will pursue this more in my Advanced Coaching Class (ODEV 645).
Syllabus Coaching Syllabus
Interview I did with a Coach, along with analysis and thoughts about coaching practice Coach Interview
We watched and analyzed the movie "Peaceful Dragon", using styles and theory, from a coaching perspective Peaceful Dragon.
Much of the work done for the class will not be documented online. The coaching sessions I had with a client - four 30 minute sessions over a month and a half - are confidential. I kept a journal during the semester which I can make available to my professors if required.
Powerpoint presentation of my group project on the effectiveness and best practices for Peer Coaching Peer Coaching Presentation
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