Coaching
Resources
Human Cognizance Ltd 2010
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Contents
PAGE
A framework for getting to know coachees 3
Questions for use with the framework 4
Coaching and other 1 to 1’s 5
Building the working alliance 6
Egan’s three stage model 7
A six point plan for the Coaching session 8
The grow model for development 9
Intervention styles 10
Intervention skills 11
Observing interventions 14
Feedback skills 15
Listening skills 16
Questioning skills 17
The final review 19
12 habits of the ineffective coach 20
Assessing your strengths 21
Coach session review and reflection 22
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A framework for getting to know
coachees
This framework can help coaches structure the early stages of getting to know
and building a relationship with their coachees.
The 6 points on the circle reflect dimensions of the coachee as a ‘whole’
person and encourage both coaches and coachees not to focus exclusively
on the more narrow ‘professional’ person.
This is a tool which is intended to be used with your coachee and not done to
them – the list of questions (over) are a guide – asking them all is likely to
make your coachee feel grilled!
1 2
The Professional Future Hopes
Self
6 3
Future Plans Social
Self
5 4
Educational Personal
Experience Self
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Questions for use with the framework
The aim of this series of questions is to begin to build a picture of the person.
The professional self
Tell me how you have got to this point in your career?
What have you most enjoyed in your career to date?
What excites you about your current role?
What do you find most challenging?
What do you see as your greatest achievement?
Future hopes
Where might you want to be in 5 years’ time?
To what extent are you on course for achieving this?
What do you identify as your personal strengths?
What might hinder your future plans?
Which forces will act positively on future plans?
Social Self
How do you spend your time when you are not working?
How would your best friend describe you?
What do you gain from your social interests and activities?
How do you keep time for your outside interests?
What do you look for in your relationships with friends?
Personal self
What sort of person would you describe yourself as being?
Tell me about the people who most influenced your formative years?
What events/circumstances do you find most stressful?
To whom do you turn for support?
To whom do you offer support?
Educational experience
What has been your most enjoyable education experience?
Why was it enjoyable?
Can you give me an example of a negative learning event?
What effect might this have had on you?
What is your preferred style of learning?
In what areas would you like to increase skills and knowledge?
Future plans
Describe three objectives for your professional development.
What are you learning needs in relation to these professional development
objectives?
What might be the obstacles to your professional development?
What do you see as our future working agenda?
Are there other areas of discussion you would like to develop, or return to?
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Coaching and other 1 to 1’s
Coaching is one of a number of 1 to 1 developmental relationships which are
available within a health care context.
In helping coachees to understand what is on offer and what is possible in the
Coaching relationship it is important to be able to describe not only what
Coaching is and is not but how it may be similar and different from other types
of developmental relationships.
In your context how is Coaching similar to and different from:
• Appraisal
• Performance management
• Mentoring
• Counselling
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Building the working alliance
Creating a good climate for learning and development in Coaching involves
developing good rapport and a shared clarity of purpose.
High
• Open Dialogue Cl arit y • Task focussed
• Shared expectations • Debate rather than dialogue
• Openness to mutual benefits
• Sense of urgency/value
High Low
Rap port Rap por
t
• Friendship • Limited risk taking and
• Lack of direction experimentation
• Opportunistic in dealing with • Going through the motions
issues
• Short term Low
perspective…but...may become Cl arit y
a long term friendship
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Egan’s three stage model
This model can provide a useful map for developing the Coaching relationship
Stage of Objectives at Tasks & Skills
Relationship each stage
Stage 1 To open the meeting Listening
To initiate and develop an effective Asking open ended
relationship to get to know each other questions
To clarify aims and objectives of the Negotiating the long and
relationship short term agenda
Exploration
To show respect and appreciation of the Active listening
learners situation
To help the learner to explore Asking open questions
development needs
To be genuine and honest Clarifying
To establish ground rules Understanding
Stage 2 To start to recognise their strengths and Active Listening
their weaknesses
To begin to identify their development Challenging
needs
Enabling a new
To focus on priority area Sharing experiences
understanding to
be reached To offer alternatives To give information and
advice
To give feedback
Ask open and closed
To demonstrate skills questions
Stage 3 To look at options and consequences Creative thinking
A commitment to resolve coach process Problem solving
problems
Action Planning
Making agreements
Enabling the learner To agree action plan for next meeting
to make their own Making decisions
decisions and take
Monitoring and evaluating
appropriate action progress
Planning
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A six point plan for the Coaching
session
These 6 points define a potential agenda for a Coaching session. Agreeing
such a structure at the beginning of each session helps to ensure that issues
get addressed and the time is managed effectively.
Action
Step Review Progress What has happened since
last time?
1
Step Discuss What worked well?
Any problems?
2 Any insights?
Where next?
Step Agree priorities What could the next steps
be?
3 What are the priorities?
Step Set objectives for next So what do you want to
achieve?
4 stage
Step Agree action What will you do?
By when?
5 What will I do?
Step Fix a time for next
6 session
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The grow model for development
This is a 4 stage model which can be used as a tool to shape a Coaching
session.
It is a particularly useful tool for the coachees who find it difficult to move from
talking/reflection to making decisions and focusing on action.
Identify the goal What do you want?
What outcome do you want by the end of the
session?
How far, how much detail do you expect in this
session?
Check the reality What is happening right now – in relation to this?
How much control do you personally have over the
outcome?
What have you done so far?
What is really the issue – the ‘bottom’ line?
Identify options What are all the ways you could approach this?
List all your options
What might you do if you were to start with a clean
sheet?
Which most appeals to you?
Engage will What will you do?
Which option or options do you now choose?
What are your criteria for success?
What could arise or hinder you taking these steps?
What commitment on a scale of 1 to 10 do you have
to taking these next steps?
What stops this from being 10?
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Intervention styles
Heron’s six categories of intervention
John Heron (1986) defines six major forms of intervention that we can use to
increase out effectiveness in helping relationships: all of them have a role.
Their effectiveness lies in always being clear about the intention of the
intervention and in using it skilfully.
In the list, the interventions are described according to their intention rather
than content.
Authoritative
1. Prescriptive: A prescriptive intervention seeks to direct the behaviour of
the patient/colleague, usually behaviour that is outside of the
practitioner/patient relationship.
2. Informative: An informative intervention seeks to impart knowledge,
information and meaning to the other person.
3. Confronting: A confronting intervention seeks to raise the awareness of
the patient/colleague/person about some limiting attitude or behaviour
of which she/he is relatively unaware.
Facilitative
4. Cathartic: A cathartic intervention seeks to enable the other person to
discharge and express painful emotion, usually grief, anger or fear.
5. Catalytic: A catalytic intervention seeks to elicit self discovery, self
directed learning, and problem solving.
6. Supportive: A supportive intervention seeks to affirm the worth and
value of the other person, and their qualities, attitudes and actions.
As coaches it is important become aware of how you use them.
Developed from Heron ‘Helping the Client’ (1990)
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Intervention skills
Identifying intervention categories
Below are a range of situations which you may meet as a coach.
Write briefly your response to the given situation under the category headings.
1. The person you are working with is in a difficult situation, and is in a panic,
not knowing what to do for the best and which way to turn.
Prescriptive
Catalytic
Supportive
2. The person you are working with has just made a terrible mistake, involving
disciplinary or legal proceedings, and setting in train a situation that will have
serious consequences.
Informative
Confronting
Cathartic
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3. The person you are working with is feeling very low and depressed.
Prescriptive
Supportive
Cathartic
4. The person you are working with is in the aftermath of a very difficult
situation, is exhausted, nervous and irritable, and not really capable of
working effectively until they have put themselves back together.
Supportive
Confronting
Prescriptive
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5. The person you are working with has an important life decision to make and
is unable to move towards making it.
Informative
Catalytic
Confronting
For reflection and discussion
• How comfortable are you in using all these different categories of
intervention?
• Which do you find most difficult to use?
• Does your personal style lead you to use one when another would
be more effective?
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Observing Interventions
Six category interventions observation activity.
When observing the coach in action try to notice examples of each of the six
categories of intervention which she/he makes.
Style of Example (what she/he said or did)
Intervention
Prescriptive
Informative
Confronting
Cathartic
Catalytic
Supportive
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Feedback skills
Giving and receiving effective feedback
Feedback helps us become more aware of what we do and how we do it.
Receiving effective feedback gives us an opportunity to change and modify
behaviour.
In order to be helpful, feedback needs to be given in a supportive way and to
include some appreciations as well as some information to make the recipient
review their behaviour.
Giving Feedback
It should focus on
• Someone’s behaviour rather than the person
• Actions rather than qualities
• Observations rather than inferences – what is said, rather than why it is
said
• Descriptions rather than judgements
• Giving specific information rather than generalising
• Sharing ideas rather than giving advice
• The amount of information the receiver can use rather than the amount
we would like to give
• Behaviour the receiver can do something about
Receiving Feedback
When receiving feedback it is important just to hear it without responding.
This maximises the opportunity to really hear the information and decide what
is useful and what is not.
It is always worth noticing any resistance to feedback because there is often a
‘nugget of gold’ hidden in information that may appear, at first, to be
meaningless or difficult to accept.
If you are giving the feedback and you notice that the person you are giving
the feedback to continues to resist it, move into active listening instead – they
may not be ready to hear it.
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Listening Skills
Active Listening
The four levels of active listening
• Listening with your ears to the words that are spoken
• Listening with your eyes to the body language
• Listening to yourself using all your senses and signals
• Listening with your mind to make sense of all that you are aware of.
Responding
Listening is the foundation on which supporting is built and effective coaches
need to build on this through making appropriate empathic responses. Some
of these responses may be non-verbal, such as slight movements of the head
or noises of the ‘mm – mm’ variety which indicate to the other person that one
is present and paying attention.
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is a response to the content of what the coachee has said. By
paraphrasing, the coach summarises the content of what has been said in
such a way as to indicate to the coachee that she or he has been heard and
understood. From the coachees point of view, this can help also in clarifying
the content of what has been said.
Reflection
As well as paraphrasing the content of what the coachee has said, the coach
is also concerned to reflect back feelings to the coachee. This then leads to a
clarification of the emotional content of what is being communicated. In these
ways the coach communicates empathy and establishes rapport.
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Questioning Skills
Choosing appropriate questions
Choosing appropriate questions to ask is a core skill in Coaching. Helpful
questions encourage the coachee to explore, reflect and clarify. They also
help build the relationship between coach and coachee.
Helpful questions
To open up the dialogue, give What…? What if…? How…?
Open the coachee an open space in Use ‘why’ sparingly – it can
which to respond feel like interrogation.
To fill in details, to help coachee What were the exact words
Probing explore an issues in depth. you used?
What actually happened?
Repeats something the coachee When you said ‘I can’t work
Reflective has said/implied. Helps them with you’ – I wonder how he
feel the impact of what she/he felt?
has just said and can lead to
new insights.
Helps the coach check the Do you mean you would prefer
Clarifying meaning behind the words and to …
the coachee hear what the other
has heard
A form of closed question. Helps Which was most successful for
Comparative coachee reflect. Gives option of you – this…or that…?
following with how/what?
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Unhelpful questions
Leading Where the questioner knows the Wouldn’t you say
answer they expect and leads the that…?
person to give this response
Multiple A string of questions, coachee Why did you take that
usually answers first, last or the one job, how long did it last
they find easiest and what did you dislike
about it?
Ambiguous Have unclear meaning or frame of I was wondering if not
reference, usually provokes a why do you not just tell
question from the subject but can them, what if you invited
lead to misunderstanding them tell them, to
participate then let them
decide for themselves?
Catch/trick Attempts to trick the subject into What were you trying to
revealing something significant do? …Is that really your
through answering an apparently role?
different question.
Can be helpful or unhelpful questions
Closed Requires a short answer and useful Did you do it?
for establishing facts. Often much Did you enjoy that role?
overused with a negative impact on How long did that last?
the flow of dialogue. Overuse can
make coachees feel grilled.
Hypothetical Value lies in encourage the person What would happen if
to explore new ideas and think you shared your
through the potential consequences. concerns with the team?
Unhelpful use is where it is better to What might happen –
ask the coachee how they tackled what would you do if it
something previously. did?
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The final review
You may have agreed at the start that the Coaching relationship was a finite
one, or you may both decide that the relationship has achieved its objectives
and agree a final session. At the final session it is important to make time to
review the process together. The final review involves looking back, looking
forward and sharing feedback.
Looking back
Start with returning to the initial purpose and objectives of the Coaching
relationship and review what has actually been achieved.
For example
• What were your objectives at the start of this process?
• What have you achieved?
• What was particularly challenging?
• What surprises did you have?
• What have you learnt about yourself?
• What have you learnt about this role?
Looking forward
Although this may be the end of this Coaching relationship it is important that
it is not seen as the end to personal/professional development. Therefore it is
important, as a result of the review to also look forward.
For example
• Where are you going next?
• What are your priorities?
• How will you action these?
• What support might you need and where will you get it?
Sharing positive feedback
Finally it is also important that you give each other feedback about how you
both found this process and the relationship which you have developed.
You should both reflect on and shared.
• What have I most valued from this relationship?
• What have I learnt?
• What do I particularly want to say ‘thank you’ for?
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12 habits of the ineffective coach!
The ‘what not to do’ – some of which are rather easy to do, particularly
when feeling under pressure!
1. Start from the point of view that you – from your vast experience and
broader perspective – know better than the coachee what is in his or
her best interest.
2. Be determined to share your wisdom with them – whether they want it
or not; remind them frequently how much they have still to learn.
3. Decide what you and the coachee will talk about and when; change
dates and themes frequently to prevent complacency sneaking in.
4. Do most of the talking; check frequently that they are paying attention.
5. Make sure that they understand how trivial their concerns are
compared to the weighty issues you have to deal with.
6. Remind the coachee how fortunate she/he is to have your undivided
attention.
7. Neither show nor admit any personal weaknesses – expect to be their
role model in all aspects of career development and personal values.
8. Never ask them what they should expect of you – how would they
know anyway?
9. Demonstrate how important and well connected you are by sharing
confidential information they don’t need (or want) to know.
10. Discourage any signs of levity or humour – this is a serious business
and should be treated as such.
11. Take them to task when they don’t follow your advice.
12. Never, ever admit this could be a learning experience for you.
For reflection
• Which are you most vulnerable to?
• Which behaviour in coachees is most likely to stimulate this in you?
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Assessing your strengths
Use the list of core skills to identify your areas for development as a coach.
Identifying your development areas as a coach.
Area of OK Need to develop
strength
Please tick appropriate box
Listening actively
Using a range of different questioning styles - appropriately
Helping to identify and set learning/development goals
Being supportive – helping to build self confidence
Confronting – challenging assumptions
Being catalytic – facilitating insight and reflection
Giving information appropriately – being a resource person
Being prescriptive – directing behaviour when it is appropriate
Facilitating the expression of emotions – anger, fear, joy etc.
Giving feedback
Working with difference/diversity
Using own experience appropriately to help
Encouraging the person to experiment and take risks
Helping the person to find his or her own solution
Managing confidentiality in this context
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Coach session review and reflection
Use this pro forma to review and reflect on your performance and
effectiveness as a coach after each Coaching session. The intention is to
help you increase your awareness of your strengths and areas for
development.
Session date Session number
_______________________ _____________________________
Coachee
What went well in the session? What went less well?
(What did you do that was particularly helpful)? (What happened &
what might you do
differently)?
What might you need to pay particular attention to next time?
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