247-coaching

4 Steps to Create Coaching Culture in Your Business

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 18:27:52 GMT

A coaching culture is a learning culture - a place where everyone is free to fail, receive feedback, be coached, and learn.

Here are 4 steps to put your organization on the path to a healthier, more productive culture:

1. Get a coach.

Set an example by getting a coach to help you become a better leader. Share the insights you gain through coaching with your coworkers up and down the chart. Before long, others will want a coach, too.

2. Learn and apply coaching skills in your interactions with others.
Coaching is a highly-skilled profession, and you will want your professional coaches to have ICF ( International Coaching Federation ) certification.

However, the communication skills coaches use (active listening, asking open-ended, thought-provoking questions, building the relationship, and providing structure and certainty in a conversation) can also be used by managers and individual contributors.

Seek out managerial coaching training - there are many opportunities online and face-to-face.

3. Train the whole organization in coaching skills.

With common understanding and language around coaching skills, employees become more coachable and more willing to coach instead of criticizing or avoiding conflict.

It is important that leaders model the importance of this learning by attending training and practice sessions in coaching skills.

4. Foster mindfulness.
Coaching cultures blossom when people are self-aware, and mindfulness helps develop self-awareness.

Mindfulness is simply the coaching competency of being present and aware, of noticing what you are doing.

Simply slowing down and thinking before reacting, listening before answering, reflecting before deciding, and mono-tasking instead of multi-tasking can bring a sense of peace to you and to those who work with you.

Peace is contagious.

One of the beauties of coaching is that it can spread from the top of the organization to the bottom or from the bottom up. Doing both at the same time can impact culture even more.

5 Tips to Get The Most Out of Coaching

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 18:27:52 GMT

You have an appointment with a coach. What next?

Coaching is a learning interaction between two or more peers, one of whom is trained in the coaching skills of listening, questioning, and reflective feedback, and the other an expert in their own resources, challenges, and opportunities. The coach is there to help the client tap into the inner expert.

Any coach will agree that when both the client and coach come to the coaching session ready to make it great, it usually is.

Here are 5 ways you can prepare for and participate in coaching to get the most out of your experience:

BEFORE THE COACHING SESSION

1. Reflect on what you want to achieve.

Come to the session with one or more ideas for a topic you wish to discuss. Typically, this topic is around a plan, decision, or strategy you want to create. You might want to reflect on a project or product you created with an eye to improving it or doing it differently next time. Remember coaching is forward thinking-- don’t come expecting to stay in the past. It is all about what you will do moving forward.

During the coaching session

2. Be fully present.

Set aside all distractions-- give yourself this time to be fully present with yourself and with the coach. Of course, shut off all devices and be in a quiet, private place. Coffee shops and other public spaces are not the best choice. Practice mindful breathing or other simple mindfulness techniques as you begin to bring your full self to the moment.

3. Be honest.

Some people struggle to silence their need to impress, make friends with, or hide from their coach. Remember that this conversation is bound by confidentiality, and it is worthless if you use the time to present yourself other than you are. Believe me, good coaches have heard everything, and the relationship is not a social one. This is one reason coaches whom you know socially and professionally may not be the best fit for you. One of the delights of having a coach is knowing they have no agenda other than your agenda.

After the Coaching Session

4. Reflect.

Not all of the benefits of coaching happens during the session. Afterward, write down your thoughts, or review your notes (if you took them). What did you learn in the session? What was most helpful? What do you want to address next time?

3. Follow up.

You should leave your session with something you want to do or think about. Determine how you will hold yourself accountable for doing this and how you will communicate it with your coach.

The coach may be an expert in coaching, or even in your industry, but you are the expert in your challenges and opportunities.

Both experts have to come together with open hearts and minds to make the process effective.

When do you need a coach?

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 18:27:52 GMT

It is wonderful to have people to talk to, and if you are fortunate, you have friends, family, coworkers, mentors, and bosses who are more than willing to lend an ear and maybe offer advice and suggestions when you are in a bind.

Sometimes just talking things through with a trusted friend is all you need to solve a problem or make a decision.

Sometimes, though, you want more. Instead of advice, or sympathy, you want to tap into your own inner resources to take action. In these situations, a coach is a great resource .

Recently, a client came to me saying she needed to make a decision about whether to stay in the large city where her current job was located or move back home to a small rural community near her family for a new job.

As I paraphrased back to her what she was grappling with, she realized that she already knew what she wanted to do. She just needed a way to communicate that to the people she loved.

She had been getting advice from everyone-- her city friends and coworkers, her small-town family and friends, and everyone had an opinion. She loved them all and did not want to let anyone down, so much so that she wasn’t even sure what she wanted.

As her coach, I had no opinion, no agenda other than her agenda, and in speaking with me, she was able to recognize the path she wanted to follow.

This is a simple example, but it illustrates one benefit of working with a coach. If you find yourself struggling to do any of the following, consider reaching out to a confidential, impartial professional coach who has only your benefit in mind.

Get a coach when:

You want to improve the leadership of others.
You want to be energized and refreshed by your career.
You are thinking about making a career change, starting a business, or retiring.
You want to set a challenging, yet attainable professional goal.
You need an action plan to achieve your goal.
You want to create habits to support your plan.
You want to analyze an event that has happened to determine what to do better next time (this can be a positive or negative event.
You have a decision to make and the answer seems unclear.
You have a problem and are not sure how to solve it.

Sometimes, your goal is straightforward and you may only want one session with a coach. However, as you advance in your career, and you begin to encounter challenging situations on a daily basis, a regular appointment with a coach, perhaps monthly, can be the professional development you need to stay relevant and successful.

Sometimes, you may be in a transition and decide to see a coach for 6-10 times as you navigate it.

There are situations where you might need another type of support, such as a therapist, counselor, or spiritual guide. Most coaches are comfortable working with clients who see more than one type of professional to support them in their goals. Unlike counselors or therapists, coaches only focus on forward movement, and look to the past only as a source of inspiration and ideas for the future.

For more information on finding a coach, review the International Coaching Federation website at https://coachingfederation.org .