By Sandra Perry
Hello and welcome to our second conversation on coaching. These coaching conversations are aimed at you, the manager who is expected to manage and coach staff in the workplace. It is not intended as coaching advice and in no way advocates that you take what is shared here as adequate to coach professionally. It must be acknowledged that coaching is a growing profession and with expanding interest from the academic community, a whole body of knowledge and research is available for reference.
At the end of each of the conversation pieces going forward, I will list a recommended book or articles that I have read and continue to use as a reference, that could assist you in providing deeper insights on the topic discussed.
From the coaching sessions held with clients since our last conversation, a reflective question has arisen about how the coaching conversation begins: When one seeks out the professional services of a coach, how does one arrive at the point of dealing with the most burning issue in ones life at the time?
When one approaches a coach, one may have a vague sense of what one wants, Lauron Buys, in his book Management by Coaching, uses an analogy of putting together a jigsaw puzzle, starting with all the pieces in a bag, without a clear picture to guide the process at the beginning. Buys goes on to describe how, through the coaching conversation, the picture begins to emerge as well as the “corner pieces and some of the edges”. Depending on how clear the picture is, through questions and discussion, a clearer picture is created and the ‘puzzle’ is now clearer.
As a coach appointed by a company, one is given a mandate by the company, which in a way prescribes the agenda, with a bias to the company’s need. However, in the case of a coachee voluntarily approaching a coach, one may have a myriad of issues to deal with and not know what to deal with first.
In all cases, the coaching conversation usually starts with a question to the coachee – A good question will have a range of issues to deal with. In my conversations, I start off with: “what is it that would bite your bottom off, if not dealt with in the next 30 days?” That is sure to get one’s mind moving to identify the most pressing issues. The starting question will create the platform on which the conversation will be built on. Even if the question does not allow the conversation companion to become part of the process immediately, it will allow the coachee to evaluate whether you are the correct person to be talking to.
The coach in directing the coaching conversation, needs to be able to follow the conversation at a strategic level to be able to gauge where the conversation is at every step, where it is going to and how is it going to get there (Buys). When a coachee has a point of reflection to analyse in between sessions, one could describe the coaching session as beneficiary. The point of reflection that the coachee and coach share will determine whether the coachee will return to the sessions or not. Given the limited time allocated per session, the coachee needs to be skilled enough to arrive at reflection points.
How would you know when you have arrived at a well formed reflection point?
There are various models that could be used to arrive at well formed reflection point For the purpose of this conversation, I will make reference to a model popularly known to coaches: the GROW model.
The GROW model, developed by Graham Alexander as far back as 1984, has been a common model used by coaches. In summary, the acronym stands for:
- Goals
- Reality
- Obstacles
- Way forward
Buys makes reference of the I-GROW model. The ‘I“, standing for “introductory statement’. This could refer to the issue with which a person starts the coaching conversation as discussed above. Following this, one moves to the level of identifying the GOALS and ensuring that these are commonly understood by both. The conversational style should be exploratory and get to the core issues linked to the goal.
The REALITY step is linked to the GOAL setting, as it emerges when the coach checks where the person is currently in relation to the stated goal; what resources are available, what are the barriers preventing the individual from achieving the goal and what are the underlying emotions and reasons for wanting to achieve the goal. The O step deals with exploring options – the approach should be to use the approach of possibility thinking and the emphasis is on alternatives and quality options (Buys). The skill in this process is to guide without judgement, rejection or endorsement of any of the options identified by the coachee. It is important to note that the coach chould never lead the coachee towards what s/he believes to be the appropriate outcome. It is the prerogative of the coachee to lead the conversation towards her/his expected outcome.
The WAY FORWARD entails weighing the options available by assessing their advantages and disadvantages or developing criteria to assist the choice. Once identified, the coach would need to explore further obstacles that could prevent implementation and in so doing, negate a non committed coachee.
The GROW model is not a static process and requires continuous review and reflection and can serve as a useful tool in the manager coach’s toolkit amongst others, to achieve outcomes in the workplace.
Recommended reference:
Management by Coaching 7 basic keys by Lauron Buys.
Next time:
We will explore the element of the coaching relationship and the importance of trust and rapport. If you have a question or a coaching experience that you would like to share, please send it through to sandra@regenesys.co.za/linda@regenesys.co.za
Until next time…
