About Coaching

What is coaching?

Coaching is a professional and confidential relationship that in it’s basic sense, enables someone to think through what’s not working or what they want to change, set and achieve goals while overcoming perceived and real barriers.

Just as a sports coach will work to improve the performance of an athlete, so a coach will work with you to make changes you want or improve your performance in work, business, your life and relationships.

Coaching uses a range of positive approaches, tools and techniques to help clients focus on how they want things to be and how to overcome physical and emotional resistance so they can make real and lasting changes.

In today’s technological world having time and space to think with clarity is hard to find. Colleagues, friends and family, while having your best interests at heart, can often talk over you, come with their own perceptions of the problem and fail to listen effectively. Coaching gives you the quality thinking time to let you think at your best, focus on what you really think and challenges you to expect and achieve more. Coaching keeps you in the driving seat and gives you back control.

In personal coaching what’s the role of the coach?

The role of the coach is to:

• Create a safe, positive and supportive environment.
• Provide a confidential and non-judgemental service.
• Adhere to coaching code of ethics.
• Think the best of clients and be a true thinking partner.
• Be supportive, encouraging and positively challenging.
• Enable clients to explore their current situation, priorities and goals.
• Hold clients responsible for their lives.
• Ask incisive questions and use a range of techniques and models to support your learning and development.
• Help you build your confidence and motivation.
• Support you to think the best of yourself, set achievable goals and overcome barriers.
• Monitor and check on progress.
• Enable you to evaluate the coaching process and your achievements.

 What’s the role of the coach in business or executive coaching?

Business coaching will look at all aspects of the business and particularly help improve your success as a leader, the performance of your team and ultimately raise profits.

Solid! Coaching for Business ensures that the process is results orientated and the role of the coach includes the following elements:

• Coaching Contract to identify cost, purpose, objectives and duration of coaching
• Ensure trust, confidentiality, good rapport and mutual respect.
• Adhere to coaching ethics and codes of practice.
• Pre-coaching audit of skills and performance.
• Define your business values and ethics, vision and strategy.
• Identifying the key issues, challenges and outcomes to focus on.
• Set a clear development plan.
• Analysing the barriers and blocks to success
• Re-focussing on key actions for greatest impact.
• Monitoring of progress during the coaching process.
• Evaluation of performance in the workplace and outcomes for the business as a result of coaching.

What’s the value for managers?

• A chance to take an objective view of their people management style and create ways to enhance business relationships and impact.
• Increased clarity about business goals and options.
• More confidence and competence in their 'people management' skills
• More influence over team members, colleagues and business partners
• More flexibility in adapting to the needs of individuals
• More effective collaboration with colleagues and clients
• Better working relationships

What benefits does it bring to a business or organisation?

• More commercially effective and creative work
• Improved morale and working relationships among managers and team members
• Better communication and collaboration between teams
• Better communication and collaboration with clients and business partners
• Developing your talent pool - increasing the 'creative capital' of the business
• Reduced interpersonal conflict absenteeism
• Increase Sales

What will happen in a personal coaching session?

This very much depends on you, but essentially it’s a conversation that will enable you to talk about your current situation, what you’d like to achieve and explore barriers to you getting the results you want. During the conversation the coach can draw on a number of tools and techniques to help you think more clearly. This can be business like, fun, active or relaxed – the focus is on your needs and preferences as the client. The coach may challenge your preferences in order to get results but you don’t have to do what you’re not comfortable with – but bear in mind – if you always do what you’ve always done – you’ll always get what you’ve always got!! So be prepared to challenge yourself and move forward.