EIGHT COACHING COMPETENCY

Many organizations fail to do very well in employee coaching.  This is because coaching is a relatively complex and subtle set of skills that need to be developed over time, both in theory and in practice.  Many business coaching training programs available are aimed for external coaches.  Where training courses are available to internal business coaches, it is found that not enough time is spend on the “softer-side” skills that are necessary in order to be successful.  There are eight coaching competency clusters of behaviors and/or approaches that an internal coach should draw upon:

1. The ability to build strong relationships and build trust
• clearly communicating expectations at the earliest stages in a coaching relationship
• treating each individual as a unique situation
• adjusting a coaching style accordingly
• involves listening well, building empathy, relating real life experiences and stories and just being “available” when needed
2. The ability to frame the coaching process
• seeing coaching as a two-way process or a give-and-take dialogue and a chance to share ideas and information
• consider the difficulty of the task being coached, the skills and experience of the person they are coaching and their preferences in terms of how much ‘help’ should be given
3. The ability to set goals and targets
• ability to work with an individual to set meaningful goals and targets
• finding a balance between goals that are too easy to reach and goals which are too stretching
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4. The ability to identify and analyze areas for coaching
• ability to offer several different kinds of feedback
• able to adapt his or her managerial/coaching style to the individual
• able to diagnose the style likely to work best in the circumstances
5. The ability to conduct effective coaching conversations
• ability to gently ask the individual being coached for ideas and suggestions
• capacity to listen actively and attentively
• ability to encourage individuals to think back on their experiences and discuss lessons learned and then debate the implications of the experience for future behavior or action
6. The ability to deal with resistance, or defensiveness
• ability to listen to an individual talk about difficulties that they perceive in making future changes but steering them to consider other options where necessary
• carefully pointing out behaviors which are overly defensive so that individuals can start to entertain the idea of doing something differently
7. The ability to give (and receive) feedback
• ability to describe why a particular skill/behavior is important for future performance
• readily outline the steps/expectations/objectives/outcomes that are likely to exist
• engaging in straight talk with the person being coached
• observing the individual doing something and asking him or her to analyze the situation for themselves then reflecting back
• Providing encouragement and support along the way
8. The ability to conclude coaching conversations positively
• ability to summarize all conversations in pithy and helpful ways
• follow up with individuals so that all sessions build on the last and are as action oriented as possible

 

Shared from:

http://blog.readytomanage.com/business-coaching-training/

Business Coaching Training

February 15, 2013 by Dr. Jon Warner