Coaching for Performance - Growing People

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Questions like :

- What would you like to get out of this session ?

- I have an hour for this, where would you like to have go to by then ?

- What would be the most helpful thing for you to take away from this session ?

Could elicit answers such as :

- an outline for the month that I can develop

- a clear idea of and commitment to my next two action steps

- an understanding of what the principal issues are

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REALITY

Having defined various goals, we need to clarify the current situation. Once the current situation is known and understood, once the reality is clear, the goals can be brought into sharper focus or even adapted if the situation turns out to be a little different from what was previously thought.

The most important criterium for examining REALITY is objectivity. This demands a high degree of detachment on the part of the coach and the ability to phrase questions in a way that demands factual answers of the coachee. F.i. "What are the factors that determined your decision ?" will evoke a more accurate response than: "Why did you do that ?" (tends to produce a defensive justification).

Examples of reality questions :

- what is the situation today ?

- what is your main obstacle ?

- When did you … ?

- What are you worried about now ?

- Which are the key elements of ?

- How often did you … ?

- How much do you think that helps ?

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[pic 8]O PTIO N S

The brain-stimulating process of gathering all the options is a very valuable process because it gets the creative juices flowing. And that's what's needed if we want to improve and learn. The coach should stimulate the creative process by asking questions to get the coachee think about as many options as possible.

The coach will do all he can to draw the options from the coachee. To do this he needs to create an environment in which the coachee will feel safe enough to express his/her thoughts and ideas without inhibition of fear of judgement from the coach or others.

What does the coach do if the coachee makes negative assumptions ?

Examples of negative assumptions :

- It can't be done

- I can't be done like that

- They would never agree to that

- It's bound to cost too much

- We can't afford the time

- The competition must have thought of that

A good coach would invite his coachee to ask him/herself : "What if … ?"

Examples :

- What if you had a large enough budget ?

- What if you had the time ?

- What if the competition has not thought of that ?

- What if the obstacle did not exist ? What would you do then ?

What does the coach do if he has particular knowledge, skills or experience of the matter in question and the coachee has not come up with what is, to the coach, the obvious solution ?

The coach offers his expertise and gives his input quite simply by saying : "I have a couple of other options. Would you like to hear them ? OR : "Would you like a few more options to consider ?"

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WHAT will you do & WHEN

The purpose of this final phase of the coaching sequence is to convert the discussion into a decision. Steps for action within a specific timeframe are set and stated explicitly.

Questions asked by the coach in this stage :

- What are you going to do ?

- When are you going to do it ?

- Will this action meet your goal ?

- What obstacles might you meet along the way ?

- Who needs to know ?

- What support do you need ?

- How and when are you going to get that support ?

- What other considerations do you have ?

- Rate on a scale of 1-10 the degree of certainty you have that you will carry out the actions agreed

- What prevents it from being a 10 ?

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If the coachee's rating is less than 8, it is better to cross out the action step as he/she is unlikely to take it. It is our experience that those who rate less than 8 seldom follow through.

At this point the coaching cycle is complete. Ideally, the coach hands over to the coachee a clear and accurate written record (= often a standard company template) of the action steps agreed and the coachee's answers to all the WILL questions. The session should end with the coach and the coachee agreeing on the action steps and the coachee should confirm that it is a true record of his plan, that he fully understands it and that he intends to carry it out. This is when the coach usually offers himself as further support and reassures the coachee of his accessibility should the coachee need him.

The coach initiates the next contact after a suitable interval just to see how things are going. If the coachee initiates