Identify specific coaching needs through discussion with colleague and organise coaching sessions.
Coaching individuals to their needs
Coaching is a popular approach to employee development, and specific needs can be focused on due to the relationship between two people, the coach and the individual. Each person involved in the process can bring their own ideas as to what the person needs and what the coaching sessions should be about.
Individuals or coaches may want to focus on:
➢ Improving understanding of a situation
➢ Learning new skills
➢ Learning new processes
➢ Improving areas of weakness
➢ Preparing for new situations/future work.
Coaches can identify specific needs by:
➢ Identifying problems or identifying underlying
reasons for problems
➢ Provide tools, methods or knowledge to help individuals
➢ Provide methods or activities that could improve performance
➢ Sharing insight about the working environment
➢ Providing feedback about working methods and performance.
There are many approaches to developing skills and knowledge, new methods and processes, coaching relationships, etc. Each can be an effective tool when properly used in the right situation.
To help determine specific coaching needs, consider discussing the following:
➢ Does the individual have a problem? If so, is it understood? – Often, the nature of an individual’s areas of weakness is not well understood, and coaching is used to identify manifestations of the problem and explore the root causes.
o E.g. Someone is not accomplishing all their assigned tasks. However, they work hard and have a good attitude – the problem lies within their working method.
➢ What skills are to be improved? – Some skills can best be improved by coaching, others by different activities. Coaching is a good method for the development of skills that require feedback on actual behaviour but may be less useful when measures of improvement are not dependent on another person’s evaluation.
o E.g. If an individual has poor financial management skills, the best solution may be a training course focused on principles of financial management, whereas if someone has difficulty getting along with colleagues, a coach who can give direct feedback and probe sensitive areas may be more useful.
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➢ Time restraints or priority of the coaching – This can be influenced by a number of factors, such as the number of people needing to be coached, the nature of the coaching topic, such as legal or regulatory requirements, an important safety issue, or strongly related to standards or working processes.
➢ The individuals previous experience in work and coaching – It is useful to know whether or not people have had positive or negative experiences with earlier coaching/training; those with negative experiences may need extra attention, more support and added time to ensure that they understand the coaching process.
➢ Common skills that are coached include:
o Conflict management
o Tact and diplomacy
o Language or cultural skills
o Self-confidence and assertiveness
o Listening skills
o Presentation skills
o Time management skills
o Strategic thinking
o Decision-making skills
o Interpersonal relationship skills.
Individual factors
There are a number of factors that can impact how effective a coaching session is, including:
➢ Is the individual ready to accept coaching and guidance? – Although everyone has strengths and weaknesses, not everyone is ready to accept their deficiencies. The coach should assure that any information shared in the session remains confidential, be empathetic and a good evaluator of a person’s personality in order to make the most of the sessions.
➢ What learning skills does the individual possess? – Acquiring new skills and knowledge is a function of learning skills in addition to motivation. Sometimes a coach serves just to help the individual discipline themselves and spend time on development activities. Other times, a coach assists the individual in analysing a situation and pointing out the salient elements.
o Coaching cannot be expected to yield results where the person does not have the raw capabilities to improve.
o Coaching is not recommended when emotional or psychological issues are the reasons for poor performance. (e.g., depression, substance abuse).
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➢ What motivations does the individual have? – The essential requirement for effective coaching is simply the individuals desire to improve his or her performance and willingness to work at it. Improving a skill is a challenging task. Unless the individual is motivated to participate fully in a coaching relationship and make significant changes, coaching is not likely to succeed.
➢ What resources are available to the individual or organisation? – Because coaching involves an on-going, one on one relationship, it can be a significant investment. The organization or individual paying for coaching must have the resources to pay for it.
➢ Does the individual have the support of others in the organisation? – An individual making changes in their approach to work must have the support of the organisation. This could be in the form of a manager providing detailed feedback. Other times, the organisation must be willing to accept new approaches to certain activities. Without organisational support, changes in the individual are unlikely to be sustained over time.
Organising coaching sessions
Coaching can take place at any place at any time due to its informal nature, but some people may benefit from more structured sessions.
Coaching can occur:
➢ Before or after work hours
➢ During work hours, or on-the-job
➢ In a simulated environment.
Organise a time and place for coaching where appropriate. The time and place should be agreed to by everyone involved. Ensure that coaching does not occur at an inappropriate time, for example, trying to coach at a time where the service is very busy and the employee is struggling to cope – adding another priority on top of that will not be productive. Coaching should always be conducted at a time when the colleague will be able to focus solely on coaching session. There must be a lack of external pressure, as far as that is practical, coupled with a readiness and willingness to learn.
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Activity 1B
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- Coach colleagues on-the-job
2.1. Explain overall purpose of coaching to colleague.
2.2. Explain and demonstrate specific skills.
2.3. Communicate required knowledge and check colleague understanding.
2.4. Advise organisational procedures for completing workplace tasks.
2.5. Provide colleague with opportunity to practise skill and ask questions.
2.6. Provide feedback in constructive and supportive manner.
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