About Coaching
Coaching is a useful way of developing people’s skills and abilities, and of boosting performance. It can also help deal with issues and challenges before they become major problems.
It can be used for all levels of personnel in the organisation, however due to the nature of challenge, it is often used as a professional development tool for Senior Positions, such as Managers, Directors and Executives.
A coaching session will typically take place as a conversation between the coach and the coachee (person being coached), and it focuses on helping the coachee discover answers for themselves. After all, people are much more likely to engage with solutions that they have come up with themselves, rather than those that are forced upon them!
Most formal, professional coaching is carried out by qualified people who works with clients to improve their effectiveness and performance, and help them achieve their full potential. Coaching on this basis works best when everyone clearly understands the reason for hiring a coach, and when they jointly set the expectations for what they want to achieve through coaching. We do this be ‘contracting’ with the Coachee and where relevant, sitting down with the Manager, coachee and Coach to discuss a tri-partite agreement.
Where Coaching Can Help
Here are just a few examples of questions that you can answer with the benefit of coaching:
- How can I manage my time better to achieve all I want in life?
- How I can improve my skills as a leader?
- How do I deal with a difficult situation/member of staff?
- What should I do next in my career within the organisation?
- How can I reduce the stress in my job or my life?
- How can I achieve a better balance between work life and home life?
- What skills do I need to grow and develop further?
- How can I improve my relationship with a specific colleague?
Coaching is founded on Confidentiality and Trust
Coaching can be successful only if coachees are able to discuss every aspect of an issue or challenge with their coach. The coach may need to listen to personal problems or private information that must be kept confidential. (Unless of course, it involves criminal activity, harmful activities or affects the safety and welfare of other people).
The Solution to the Coachee’s Issue Lies within the Coachee
This may sound unusual, but it means that the background of an issue and the options available are generally known to the coachee. The coach’s job is to ask the right questions to help coachees arrive at their own conclusions. As we’ve said before, this is a very powerful way of helping people to change.
Of course, the coach can provide helpful input or suggestions, but the best answers usually come from the coachee.
The sessions with Optem are very action orientated with a view that after each session there are clear actions to work on until the next session. These are completed face to face or can be via telephone and skype for national and international clients. For more information please feel free to contact at info@optem.co.uk