Tips to Coach Effectively

We all aspire to be executive coaches and even get ourselves certified under different agencies. Our consultants in PB have found that organizational experience gives you a good sense of understanding others, while a certification provides you a framework to work with coaches.

Here are few pointers which will help you become more effective as a Coach:

Seeing the Big Picture: As a coach, it is always important to understand the larger perspective of the organization from the business as well as coachee's point of view. While there is always a tendency to jump into a coaching assignment purely on available reports and then finalizing the goal, it is always good to have a sense of business and organizational challenges as it helps establishing the comfort level of the coachee to open up and seek 'coaching' from the coach.

Reflective Listening: As a coach, you need to be able to go beyond the obvious & help the coachee draw insights for development. In doing so, the coachee will be able to see things in a perspective that has not occurred to him/her earlier. It helps them to see 'true value' being provided by the coach. Focus completely on what the coachee is saying and is not saying, to understand the meaning of what is said in the context of coachee's desires - hear their concerns, goals, values and beliefs about what is and is not possible.

Ownership: For the coachee, it is critical to take the ownership and keep the momentum in the coaching assignment. Apart from the value that the coach adds, they should be able to consistently empathize with situations of the coachee. A stronger commitment to change happens, when the coachee is able to see the changes happening in their approach or behaviors and get feedback of positive change from stakeholders - which motivates the coachee to put in an extra effort for transformation.

Know Thy Coachee: The coach needs to clearly understand the coachee's passion, purpose, and personality. The coach also needs to understand the coaches coping strategies and life aspirations, while looking at the impact of this on their current role. This helps take the coaching relationship to the next level.