Coaching: The Ultimate Management Accessory

Coaching is flaunted these days as the essential accessory for the busy manager or executive. Increasingly, coaching is being sought by some of the most successful executives in their field. The reasons for this are widespread and complex but there is little doubt that an excellent coach can help to bring the best out of any leader. So, if you’ve made the decision to engage the services of a coach, what do you need to take into consideration?

1. Ensure rapport between candidate and the intended coach

Ultimately, the most important factor in selecting a coach for yourself or a member of your team is the coach’s approach and ability to establish the kind of relationship that helps to achieve results. For coaching to be effective a strong relationship based on honesty and trust must be established.  Assessing rapport between the coach and the candidate is a vital predictor of a successful coaching relationship.

2. Understand the development need

Thorough planning must be undertaken to ensure time spent on coaching is targeted and achieves specific and measurable changes to behaviour, ability and performance. The first step in the coaching process should always be for the coach to meet with the candidate and their manager to explore the objectives of the coaching program. The coach should seek to understand the catalyst for providing coaching and the outcomes that are desired.

3. Develop a tailored coaching program with clear objectives and outcomes

The coach, candidate and manager should agree upon a set of measurable changes in abilities and/or behaviours and work together to determine the best approach to achieving these objectives. Factors to consider include:

• Period of time over which the coaching program will take place

• Content to be covered over the duration of the program

• The role of the manager throughout the program

• The optimal number of coaching sessions anticipated in order to achieve success

• The feedback mechanism that will be adopted

4. Maximise effectiveness of each coaching session

The coach should ensure that each session builds on the last and as such, dedicate time to reflect on the candidate’s experiences since the last session and over the period of the program to date, exploring:

• Lessons learnt

• Relative success of actions or strategies agreed in previous session/s

• Performance progress including feedback received

The coach and candidate should then discuss and agree how to apply what they have learnt over the coming period. It is a vital part of ensuring that all discussions relate back to the candidates role and experiences within the organisation. The use of real scenarios that the candidate is experiencing will provide the opportunity to put theory into practice which is the only way to ensure applied learning which changes to ability and/or behaviour.

5. Work in partnership

The responsibility for ensuring success of the program must be shared by the candidate, coach and the manager to ensure alignment of expectations and perceptions of priorities and to monitor progress throughout the program. This can be achieved by maintaining regular contact with the candidate and their manager as well as engaging in open, honest and productive conversation.

Coaching programs can deliver some great results provided they are structured and tailored to the individual learning objectives.  It’s imperative to build rapport between and the coach and employee and that all stakeholders take ownership for all applied learning objectives.