Coaching

Christine Phillimore

Abstract: What is coaching? Differences between coaching,

mentoring, and training; The benefits of coaching; Skills
neededquestioning, listening, observation, building
rapport, giving feedback; Structuring a coaching session;
Choosing the appropriate style; Coaching individuals or
teams; Dealing with possible difficult situations

Keywords: appropriate style, definition, key skills, possible

difficult situations, structure

Coaching has currently become very fashionable in the

business world, with claims that it is the answer to al-
most everything. Coaches are appearing virtually every-
where, from different backgrounds and with a variety
of styles. However, coaching has been around for a very
long time in its purest form. So, what exactly is it? How
did it develop? And how is it different from other work-
ing tools?
Coaching first appeared in the 1990s as a recognizable
business specialism, where people were encouraged to
take responsibility for improving their own skills. The
origin of the term lies as far back as the 1830s when it was
the slang term for a tutor at Oxford University. Coaching
Christine Phillimore, developed with greater use in the sporting world where
Training Consultant, Enlighten.
the coach gave specific guidance to improve specific
Following a successful career skills and allowed players to develop ways of incorporat-
education, Christine became a
ing them in their game. This was based on the idea that
freelance trainer. Focused and
well-read, she has worked in Uganda, sports people had the necessary experience to put things
Israel, and South Africa as well as in into practice themselves after the initial intervention.
England and several European nations. Many organizations, managers, and leaders now real-
Christine has conducted training ize that coaching forms a vital element of performance
courses in Communication Skills enhancement. Increasingly employees are also accept-
and Business Writing Skills. Clients ing the value of coaching and are even requesting it for
include GSK, PIMCO, Addaction, the
NHS, various universities, and the
their own development. It is recognized as a valuable
armed forces in the U.K., the U.S., two-way relationship, conferring considerable benefit
and Germany. on both the organization and employee.

What Is Coaching?
Coaching is largely conducted on a one-to-one basis,
although teams can be coached together. Its main aim
is to support an individual in building on current skills

Expert Insights 1
 Coaching
to improve performance, raising an aware-
ness of their own skills and devising a goal
that is achievable and realistic. With a good
relationship between the two people in-
volved, it can lead to better working links
as well as enhanced competencies. It is vi-
tal that discussions are open and honest
with the appropriate support and encour-
agement from the coach. The focus does
not always need to be solely on one topic
but can be wide-ranging. There is the op-
tion for the program to be a one-off or a
series of meetings. Through effective ques-
tioning techniques, the coach can enable
the person being coached to identify their
own goals and their means of getting there,
without being judgmental. Gaining com-
mitment is likewise important. It is not an
opportunity to offer advice or suggest the
coachs own solution. Rather it is a chance
to explore the thoughts of the coachee and
thus draw out that persons own answers.
What Are the Differences between
Coaching, Mentoring, and Training?
While they have much in common, coach-
ing differs from mentoring in that mentor-
ing allows a person to follow the specific
advice of a more experienced colleague
who has a greater depth of knowledge and
expertise to pass on. They do not neces-
sarily have to have the same background
or experience as the person who is being
mentored. Indeed they may work for an-
other organization altogether. Often this
affords the opportunity to explore a situa-
tion in an unfettered way and allows peo-
ple to ask what might be considered too
obvious a question. This can be very lib-
erating as this may be exactly the question
that needs to be posed. Like coaching, this
could be a one-off discussion or a series
of meetings. Like coaching, it can be for-
mal or informal. Coaching contrasts with
mentoring because in coaching the greater
emphasis is on individuals taking respon-
sibility for their own development, profes-
sional and personal. Mentoring is more a
2 Expert Insights
process of offering detailed advice and is
solution driven by the mentor.
Coaching is not directive nor is it impos-
ing the coachs own ideas and solutions on
the other person. A successful coach does
not have to have experience of a persons
specific role. One of the most successful
Team GB rowing coaches, Jurgen Grobler,
had no experience of rowing at such a high
competitive level. What he did possess was
the insight and knowledge to motivate row-
ers to dramatically improve their skills and
success. He provided a different, fresh per-
spective. Effective coaching is not about
telling people what to do; it does not in-
volve telling others what the solution is.
Coaching focuses on the present and
does not look back to examine past situa-
tions. This is counselling, which seeks to
investigate previous events, often very per-
sonal issues, to search what happened and
why. Coaching does not ignore the past;
its focus is on the present and what can be
done differently in the future. Successful
coaches help people achieve their own re-
alistic goals, based not solely on knowledge
but on an awareness of what changes an in-
dividual can make. These coaches know the
processes to assist changes in a persons be-
havior. Dwelling on what is already known,
the coachees natural strengths, this can be
used as a springboard to move forward. It
places the responsibility on the person be-
ing coached to achieve the desired results,
with support and some guidance but not
direction, which is simply dictating what
needs to be done.
Teaching and training consist of impart-
ing a particular body of knowledge, often
in a very structured way in a specific pe-
riod of time. It is driven by the trainer or
teacher and depends on their effective-
ness and the aptitude of the learner to
assimilate thesubject. It is not usually tai-
lored to the individual needs of that per-
son since it more often involves a group
or class, many of whom have been sent or
told to attend.
 Coaching
The Benefits of Coaching
A prime aim of coaching is to instill aware-
ness and responsibility. It requires the
careful use of questions to enable people
to see the way forward and work out their
own goals. If people reach their own solu-
tions, they are more likely to devise rel-
evant and realistic ways of reaching their
objective, specific to their own situation.
This will increase commitment as the goal
has not been imposed by another person.
Other benefits can be increased confi-
dence and self-sufficiency. People will start
to set more accurate targets, achievable
within their role.
Skills NeededQuestioning, Listening,
Observation, Building Rapport, Giving
Feedback
The essential skills of a successful coach
include questioning, listening, good obser-
vation, building rapport, being nonjudg-
mental, and giving objective feedback.
Establishing trust and openness is vital and
the discussion needs to follow the agenda
of the coachee, not the coach. A major con-
sideration is also time, which can be dif-
ficult to organize during the working day,
especially if it is to be on a regular basis.
Questioning
The use of questions needs to be
wide-ranging, not just open and closed.
Open questions that start with the interrog-
ative words Who, What, Where, Why, When,
Which and How can allow the individual
to answer in more detail. The assumption
here is that the replier wants to talk; they
may not. These questions can be too wide
in their scope. Closed questions can give
a precise answer or reduce the breadth of
the discussion, and like the name suggests,
close down the conversation.
Better questions to ask are those prob-
ing or clarifying ones that have become
known as TED, statements beginning with
the words Tell, Describe or Explain. Their
Expert Insights
origin is unclear but they are used by or-
ganizations such as the British police force
and Border Agency. Using them can cre-
ate a more comfortable environment as it
does not then seem like an interrogation.
Examples of this are:
Tell me more about ...
Explain what you did.
Describe what happened.
These can also be extended by adding PIE
statements, beginning with precisely. In
detail and exactly, different types of clar-
ifying and probing questions that do not
start with an interrogative word. These
allow deeper examination of what has
been said and make the goal-setting and
decision-making process more precise.
By exploring closely what has been said,
the coach can see more realistically and
clearly the level of commitment and de-
gree of knowledge involved. It also shows
that the coach has been paying close atten-
tion to what has been said.
Leading questions should be avoided as
they too often result in ideas being put for-
ward that are the coachs, not the coachee.
Some people call them guiding questions
but again it is important to establish who
is guiding whom, and in what direction.
Effective guiding questions address the
heart of the matter and are open-ended
to allow the coachee to explore their own
ideas. They need to have intellectual bite
and will probably elicit further questions.
Another name for this type of question is
Socratic, designed to develop critical think-
ing, based on the work of Dr. Richard Paul
of the Foundation for Critical Thinking.
Such questions might be Why did you say
that?, What would be an alternative to do-
ing that? and How would that affect your
future actions?
Rhetorical questions might have a use,
if only to make people think. An example
is when Shylock in The Merchant of Venice
asks: If you prick us, do we not bleed?
He does not require an answer but is us-
ing the question to persuade people of his
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