FAQ's
This section is aimed at providing basic information and insights
on a variety of topics and issues. The point is to provide a little
more information on concepts used in our texts and guide you to
“read more” in articles or other cross references
Three categories of questions are:
COACHING IN GENERAL
What is coaching?
For the sake of brevity we will use the presentation from COMENSA
(Coaches and Mentors of South Africa) the umbrella professional
body of coaches and mentors in
South Africa (www. comensa.co.za)
“The term ‘coach’ … is used to describe
all types of coaching...… that may be taking place, both
inside and outside the work environment.”
“Coaching is about creating change that helps enhances
performance and learning. Coaches emphasise new competencies,
learning and goal attainment. In fact, a coach is a personal navigator
for the journey of life, focusing on what the clients want. Everything
in coaching hinges on listening with the client’s agenda
in mind.”
COMENSA defines coaching as ‘a professional, collaborative
and outcomes-driven method of learning that seeks to develop an
individual and raise self-awareness so that he or she might achieve
specific goals and perform at a more effective level’.
“Coaching has been shown to help leaders develop a clearer
understanding of their roles and responsibilities. When leaders
are more confident about what they need to do, they are better
able to motivate employees and mobilise them for action.”
Read more...Core
elements of coaching
Why coaching?
Here are some indications of reasons why people or teams or groups
enter in coaching processes.
Clarity: Greater ability to distinguish between
present situation and future scenarios.
Direction: Increased ability to generate options,
see possibilities and knowing which
path is best.
Focus: Concentrating on what is truly important
in business, people and in life.
Decisiveness: Quicker and better decision = less
delays and better quality of actions.
Doing successful things: Concentrating on what
is going to have the desired impact.
Doing things successfully: Concentrating on efficiency
and delegation.
Concrete planning: Ensure that concrete, practical
and ca-do plans are in place and ways to ensure implementation.
Meaning: Attain meaningfulness and overall purpose
in work, career and life.
What is the difference between coaching and
mentoring?
The terms coaching and mentoring are often used interchangeably.
It is important for you to ensure that you develop a good understanding
of these two processes and to ensure that you know what service
you will employ.
Whereas the above description on coaching as given above could
by and large apply to mentoring as well, the following differences
exist.
The coach: client relationship
The client is being the expert on content issues in her/his position
at work and on what she/he would want in life (the latter may
not be clear to the client, but can be solicited in the coaching
process). The coach is the process expert on change in assisting
the client to reach her/his goals in the process of change.
The mentor: client relationship
The mentor is generally accepted to have superior knowledge and
expertise relative to the client’s needs in a certain area
(e.g. management). The mentoring process is designed to assist
the client to learn from her/his mentor and thereby reaching her/his
learning or developmental goals.
Time frames
Coaching is generally understood to be taking place within
a specific time frame. The coaching process is designed to work
towards making the coach “redundant” vis-à-vis
the issue of issues focused on during a coaching process. Mentoring
is generally understood to be a long term process and relationship
between a mentor and her/his client.
Note: Coaching by retainer agreements be that
with an individual (mostly executives) and or teams could take
the form of a long term arrangements and relationships.
Any coaching process may include moments of mentoring, whereby
the coach provides the client with her/his insights, knowledge
and expertise. It would be imperative for the coach to announce
this and return to the coaching process again. In the same way
the mentoring process could include moments of coaching. A mentor
may also assume a coaching style in mentoring a client.
Read more...Coaching
and other organisational interventions
What is the difference between coaching and
counselling or therapy?
It is important for the client to understand the difference between
coaching and therapy or counselling in order to ensure that she/he
engages in a process relevant or appropriate to her/his needs.
Therapy or counselling is generally regarded as remedial processes,
based on and using remedial psychology and remedial therapy. This
means that something needs healing or is broken or that there
is something wrong that needs to be corrected. The therapist or
counsellor is often regarded as a person with knowledge and expertise
to heal, to correct or to remedy the situation. A major focus
of attention will be on the causes leading to the situation.
The coaching process is basically a generative process, based
on and using generative psychology and generative processes. This
means that the process is geared towards generating change in
the sense of improvements, further development or even transformation
regarding an aspect of a person’s life or that of an organization
or team. This could for instance apply to a skill (e.g. public
speaking, listening), a competency (e.g. leadership), a business
(e.g. business goals or financial goals). A major focus of coaching
is forward looking and concrete planning and implementation of
change process.
Notes: A remedial therapist can assume a coaching
style and incorporate elements of a coaching process into remedial
therapy.
The coaching process may certainly have remedial and therapeutic
moments and therapeutic value. The assumption and basis of the
process is however: coaching is done because there is something
right with you that needs to change, in order to develop or be
transformed.
Read more...Coaching
and other organisational interventions
In which areas of work and life could coaching
be useful?
It cannot be overemphasized that every coaching process is fingerprinted
for a particular client. Different clients find their own areas
in which they would want coaching to be useful to them.
What follows is list of areas in which coaching is found and
can be made useful to a client, be that an individual or a team.
•
Personal / career / professional / business development
•
Being a manager in addition to being highly skilled in an area
of expertise.
•
Environmental risks: stress; competition; danger; pressure.
•
Human / stakeholder relations and communication.
•
Time management.
•
Finance management. Strategic thinking, planning and management.
•
Increase productivity and competition. Business / Political /
Professional Savvy.
•
Public speaking.
•
Emotional intelligence / right brain thinking.
•
Physical issues: health, weight, addictions, fitness.
•
Attitudes / behaviour patterns/self limiting beliefs.
•
Personal life issues: relationships, self-esteem, and confidence.
•
Work and life balance.
•
Ethics Spirituality (not necessarily dealing with religious doctrines
but rather deals with
...the person’s quests and
questions related to meaning and meaningfulness in life and work).
THE COACHING PROCESS
How confidential is confidentiality in coaching?
Confidentiality is sacredly guarded. It is a cornerstone of successful
coaching. Nothing can be reported to the organization or to anyone
else without the consent of the person being coached.
Whenever you have reason to think that the coach breached confidentiality:
•
Raise the matter with the coach
•
Raise the matter with the organization
•
Raise the matter with the coaching organization rendering the
coaching service.
•
Ethical considerations apply to ensure that such a process is
fair and well substantiated.
Can a coaching process work in conjunction
with training, mentoring, therapy or counselling?
The answer is a resounding: Yes.
During the coaching process a situation may emerge whereby you
and your coach agrees that remedial therapy may be needed, e.g.
to treat depression. The coaching process can assist you in empowering
you through that process and helping a person to make success
of remedial therapy and to include that into certain goals.
In the same way you and the coach may agree that you participate
in training and/or mentoring programmes regarding a certain development
area e.g. moving from being an expert in a certain field to being
a manager. You may need that kind of content which the coaching
process does not offer. Equally you may include learning and development
outcomes as part of your coaching process. A coaching process
may also empower you towards successful outcomes of a mentoring
and/or training process.
An ethical and professional precondition would be that you declare
to the coach if you are in therapy, training or in a mentoring
process. Also the coach should ensure that you declare to a therapist
or mentor that you are in a coaching process.
Some of the reasons for participating in a coaching process may
be evident from reading on the question: what is
coaching?
Ultimately each person may have her/his own reasons or sets of
reasons for participating in coaching. Again, it is important
to ensure that you are aware what coaching is and to clarify what
motivates you to be coached.
Most important you should NOT enter a coaching process if you
expect the coach to teach you, or to tell you what to do with
your career, your job or your life or expect the coach to remedy
whatever you think is “wrong’ with you.
The basic reason for participating in a coaching process is because
you want to bring about positive changes in your life. If you
are aware that you are stuck and want to move on in your job,
your life, your relationship etc., coaching can assist you to
make changes real.
In the end you are the one who will make the changes. The coach
can assist in helping you to gain clarity, to take decisions and
make plans for change, the coach can challenge you, motivate you,
support you, ask questions that generate solutions, ask questions
which you may want to avoid. In the end you are in charge of the
process.
What if I do not get on with a coach?
The basis for a coaching arrangement is that you decide to take
on (‘employ’) a coach. Remember you are actually driving
the process.
Make sure that you also develop good rapport with a coach.
If for any reason you experience discomfort with a coach the
following options can be considered.
•
Talk the matter through with the coach.
•
Speak to the person in the organisation who manages the coaching
process.
•
Speak to a person in the coaching company.
•
If you have done what can or should be done, ask that the coaching
relationship be terminated.
Any given coach may not be a good fit for any client. It should
not be any matter of ego to a coach. A problem may however arise
if the coach displays unethical or unprofessional conduct. The
latter has to be dealt with in no uncertain terms.
Can an organisation prescribe areas to be coached?
The organisation or the manager of the coaching process needs
to understand very well that a coaching programme cannot succeed
if issues for coaching or other conditions are unilaterally prescribed.
An organisation certainly has a right to suggest areas in which
coaching should proceed, particularly if the organisation is paying
for the process.
Ultimately the person being coached need to fully agree and wanting
to be coached in these areas.
Sensitive, though firm, negotiations may have to be held to ensure
that there is synergy and buy-in on the outcomes of a coaching
process. Such discussions could proceed between the person or
team to be coached and the organisation. If need be with the assistance
of a coach or a representative of the coaching company could be
solicited.
What happens if a client decides to leave
his/her position as a result of coaching?
A coaching agreement needs to stipulate up-front that decisions
taken in the coaching process are the sole responsibility of the
person being coached.
It is the duty of the coach to challenge the decision of the
person to ensure that it is well-tested, and that it is the decision
of the person her/himself, well founded and well thought-through.
The person being coached may be encouraged to discuss such a
decision with the relevant official in the organisation. The coaching
process could be of use in assisting a person in leaving her/his
position and in the process of moving on.
Do considerations such as gender, culture
or sexual orientation play a role in deciding who will coach me?
The bottom line is: you need to feel (sufficiently) comfortable
with the coach. Sometimes persons prefer to be coached by someone
e.g. of the same gender or someone of the same cultural background
or race. This is understandable.
The following need to be taken into consideration:
•
Successful coaching does not depend on the race, culture, gender
or sexual orientation of
...the coach.
•
It may not always be possible to find a person of the same gender,
race, culture etc.
•
Successful coaching process depends by and large on the quality
of synergy between the
...coach and the person being coached.
•
Experience indicate very successful coaching interventions e.g.
a white male coach coaching
...black woman, black woman coaching
white male, hetero sexual coach coaching gays and
...lesbians and vice versa.
A BUSINESS CASE FOR COACHING
Is there a compelling business case for coaching?
To many decision makers coaching is a new development. Given the
fact that a substantial financial commitment is made towards a
coaching process the following may assist in developing a business
case.
One question that is constantly asked in this regard is: What
is the expected Return on Investment (ROI) for coaching?
Little detail is available on the Return on investment (ROI)
for coaching in South Africa.
The following is noteworthy:
“The debate is over in South Africa – coaching improves
productivity, effectiveness and efficiency by a measured 22,4%”
(In: “Over to you, coach” by Bill Price, Mail and
Guardian, May 27 to June 2, 2005.)
“The Bottom Line: Coaching produced a 529% return on investment
and also significant intangible benefits to the business. When
the financial benefits from employee retention were included this
boosted the overall ROI to 788%. The study provided powerful new
insights into how to maximize the business impact from executive
coaching.” (Case Study on the Return on Investment of Executive
Coaching Prepared by: Merrill C. Anderson, Ph.D. MetrixGlobal,
LLCNote: The focus of the study was on executive coaching programmes
in the USA.)
More and more executives are being appointed on the condition
that they work with a coach. This is a vote of confidence in the
abilities and potential of the person. It is coach’s responsibility
to assist the person to actualise her/his potential and ensure
that the investment made in the appointment yields positive returns.
The same applies to coaching individuals in other levels of the
organisation as well the coaching of teams and the coaching of
groups in organisations.
Coaching is an investment in human resources and organizational
development.
Given the importance of the question the following report is
provided in full here:
The Executive briefing of the study Report on the Benefits of
Business Coaching JACKSONVILLE, Fla.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Jan. 4, 2001
“Manchester Inc., a supplier of customized executive coaching
programs, has released the results of a study that quantifies
the business impact of executive coaching. The study includes
data on executive behaviour change, organizational improvements
achieved, and the return on investment (ROI) from customized,
comprehensive executive coaching programs.
The study included 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies,
who received coaching. Participating companies realized improvements
in productivity, quality, organizational strength, customer service,
and shareholder value. They received fewer customer complaints,
and were more likely to retain executives who had been coached.
In addition, a company's investment in providing coaching to
its executives realized an average return on investment (ROI)
of almost six times the cost of the coaching.
Half of the executives in the study held positions of vice president
or higher (including division president, general manager, chief
executive officer, chief financial officer, chief information
officer, partner, principal, and practice leader). Almost six
out of 10 (57%) executives who received coaching were ages 40
to 49, and one-third earned $200,000 or more per year.
The coaching programs that executives participated in were a
mix of both change-oriented coaching -- which is aimed at changing
certain behaviours or skills -- and growth-oriented coaching --
which is aimed at sharpening performance. The coaching programs
typically lasted from six months to one year.
Among the results of the study:
The coaching programs delivered an average return on investment
of 5.7 times the initial investment in a typical executive coaching
assignment -- or a return of more than $100,000 -- according to
executives who estimated the monetary value of the results achieved
through coaching.
Productivity (reported by 53% of executives) Quality (48%) Organizational
strength (48%) Customer service (39%) Reducing customer complaints
(34%) Retaining executives who received coaching (32%) Cost reductions
(23%) Bottom-line profitability (22%)
Other benefits to executives who received coaching were improved:
Working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77% of
executives) Working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%)
Teamwork (67%) Working relationships with peers (63%) Job satisfaction
(61%) Conflict reduction (52%) Organizational commitment (44%)
Working relationships with clients (37%)
Executive coaching programs focus on helping executives adjust
to new organisational realities and not just survive, but thrive.”
Read more... The
business impact of leadership coaching...
Read more... Return
of investment on executive coaching....
|
