Regular readers of Unleash The Power will know that I shared bite-size guides on leadership over the last couple of weeks.

This week we focus on Coaching one of the 4 situational leadership styles. We will look at what coaching is, the benefits it brings, and one of the most popular frameworks to apply.

What is coaching?

Coaching is a process to help someone realise their inner potential and deliver fulfilment to that individual. It is about achieving excellence, motivation, intrinsic learning, and intense satisfaction. Coaching can occur in any conversation between two or more people creating a positive and measurable impact on performance beyond what the individual or team thought was possible. When every leader in the business coaches, it helps creates a performance culture. It is crucial that coaching is not confused with mentoring, which is usually longer term and involves the passing of knowledge or the tricks of the trade.

What are the benefits of coaching?

Coaching is a form of development that is tailored to meet personal needs. As each individual takes ownership of their experience and is held accountable by their coach, it is much more likely to bring about long-term growth and change.

Coaching can help employees attain their goals, allowing them to become more focused and achieve quickly.

Coaches can empathise with the individual being coached, with it being beneficial to have an outsider listen to issues in a confidential environment.

Coaching can help individuals experiencing change, perhaps in the event of a promotion or an increased workload, leaving the individual clear and motivated about the way forward.

Coaching enables employees to develop accountability, enhanced confidence, performance, decision-making, relationship development, and leadership qualities.

A coach can help clarify goals and choices to enhance career satisfaction, maximise goal setting, and prioritise and manage time more effectively.

The G.R.O.W Model

If you are new to coaching, one of the most quoted frameworks to adopt is the GROW model.

The reason for its popularity is that it underpins coaching at all levels, whether carried out with a group or an individual. Coaching focuses on achieving goals rather than dwelling upon past behaviours and failures, and the GROW model provides a flexible framework. Allowing the coach to jump between stages to follow the conversation pattern as it develops, enabling the person being coached to move forward.

Before entering the coaching conversation, a subject should be decided on for discussion and, if appropriate, set a long-term aim for the sessions.

Now you are ready to help people GROW.

GOAL

This is what the individual receiving the coaching wants to achieve. There must be clarity surrounding the desired outcome, perhaps using SMART goals, ensuring the result is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and trackable.

REALITY

This is the stage where the current situation is discussed, and the coach starts using open questions to probe under the surface. No assumptions must be made during this part of the conversation, irrelevant history is ignored, and problem-solving is avoided. However, through providing feedback, the session's goal may be reviewed if necessary.

OPTIONS

Once clarity is gained on the reality of the situation, then you can start exploring all possible solutions and options that can achieve the goal. While it might feel comfortable to accept one of the first few possibilities, it is crucial that every possible action is discussed. The person being coached decides on the preferred path to follow, with the coach refraining from suggestions to avoid the risk of mentoring rather than coaching.

WRAP UP

This final stage reaffirms the individual's commitment to action, setting clear timelines and providing an opportunity to identify possible obstacles and agree on any support required.

Coaching is just one of a range of training and development interventions that can be used to meet identified learning needs, and its merit should be considered alongside training courses, mentoring, or on-the-job training.

How are you going to help others grow this week?

Or what challenges could coaching help you resolve?

Have a brilliant week!

Dave Rogers, Chief Business Explorer, Fuelled Fit and Fired Up

At Fuelled Fit and Fired Up, we have a childlike curiosity about people and their businesses and use it to explore their challenges and discover their future business success stories. Think of it as unleashing your power.

Contact us at info@fuelledfitandfiredup.com to find out more.

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