A633.8.3.RB – How Do Coaches Help?
I came
across this idea about coaching, and I wondered to what end I felt this was
true and also the kind of value that coaches are able to provide. To be an executive coach, it is necessary to
know clients are the first and best experts capable of solving their own
problems and achieving their own ambitions, that is precisely the main reason
why clients are motivated to call on a coach. When clients bring important
issues to a coach, they already made a complete inventory of their personal or
professional issues and of all possible options. Clients have already tried
working out their issues alone, and have not succeeded.
It
takes a certain level of skill and will, for someone to decide they want to
take the next step in seeking improvement to reach a goal through coaching.
Perhaps someone has tried everything and not found their ideal success. But
what if it was not a matter of trying, but coming to a giant fork in the road.
What if there are two or more possible directions one could go, seeking a coach
to work out an expert strategy in order to yield the best possible outcome
would surely be better than trial and error.
While,
deep down we probably know the best way to solve problems and achieve our
ambitions it takes collaboration to tap into our full potential. Considering
the Johari Window model momentarily, it is impossible to have a full sense of
self-awareness. A coach can assist with minimizing our blind spots, areas known
to others but not known to ourselves. “A coach helps people understand what
they need to change in order to attain their professional goals” (Von Hoffman,
1999, para. 5).
Coaching
is a vital part of leadership and has a significant impact on strategy. How can
you expect someone to have the behaviors and tools you desire if they are not
developed? “Coaching can have a positive impact on performance, but it is not a
short-term process. Coaching prospects should be people you think can be even
greater assets to the organization than they already are” (Von Hoffman, 1999,
para. 11). As coaching is an action-oriented process it enables individuals to
grow through each stage of the process to reach increased levels of
accountability and problem-solving capacities.
Additionally,
Nick Obolensky (2010) discusses attractors, which are a plot of action
on a phase space diagram, which lays down the road map for leadership.
"They give us a flow or dynamic that combines strategies in a powerful
way" (Obolensky, 2010, p. 166). Coaching always looks at the present and
goes forward. Coaching leaders and potential leaders focuses on what to do now;
not what went wrong in the past, and takes advantage of some of the benefits of
coaching. This includes the ability to be more flexible and adaptable on a
consistent basis, which is vital to the skills in an organization's strategy
for success, especially in today's ever-changing environment.
In many
organizations coaching adds value. “While some employees who achieve new goals
will leave, far more will feel greater loyalty to an organization that is
interested in their professional development” (von Hoffman, 1999, para. 10). Coaching
in my organization is not so much a '"one size fits all" approach as
it is a holistic approach. On a small scale, each of us has personal and
professional problems to overcome and/or achieve, and in terms of our
day-to-day operations, we are all accountable for the expected, measurable
outcomes of our performance. When we miss the mark on something, we discuss it
either in a one-on one setting, or in a round-table discussion, where all of us
are able to take advantage of a learning/coaching opportunity. Coaching is a
well-defined process containing specific start points and end points, however
our coaching is not as easy to quantify. It is not defined by a typical
coaching time frame, more so an ongoing fine-tuning of our processes.
References
Obolensky, N. (2010). Complex adaptive leadership.
(2nd Edition). London, UK: Gower/Ashgate.
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