What is your definition of coaching?

There are many ways to define the domain of coaching. When I think of coaching, I first think of it as a way of being: a way of being that has an impact on me and on the people I interact with. More specifically, coaching gives me, and others I interact with access to a different way of observing and interpret the world we live in. This observation skill becomes manifest in the way I speak and listen. If you or I have access to a different way of observing and interpreting the world we will have access to different behaviours that may better support what we are committed to. This way of being evokes, or at least promotes, excellence in what we are trying to accomplish.

Another way of thinking about coaching is that coaching is a learning method. Accessing new behaviours through new mindsets is a different way of learning and is very much what coaching is about. It is also very much what leadership is about. Great leaders and great coaches have a lot in common.

Other ways of defining coaching have to do with techniques and ways to change other people's behaviour. While these approaches may have valid application in some situations, I prefer to think of coaching as a partnership between a coach and a coachee towards excellence and effectiveness in work and life in general.

How is this different from mentoring?

Let me start by saying that a mentor with strong coaching skills would be, in my view, a great mentor. I like to think that a mentor is someone who has, over the years, developed his / her leadership skills. As a leader, a mentor can be quite effective in evoking excellence in the protégé. Both mentoring and coaching are personalised learning methods to assist people in moving towards excellence in whatever they are trying to accomplish. A mentor usually has 'been there and done that' and is willing to share his / her experience with a protégé.

A coach does not necessarily bring this experience to the relationship. A coach, like the mentor, is interested in what the coachee is trying to accomplish but what he brings is his specific ability to work in the background, or mindset, of the individual and observe what is blocking action. The coach may tend to focus more on the present and the future. The coach can be fully present to the coachee's situation without any interference from past stories.

A mentor is usually senior to the protégé in terms of age and experience and has a unique view of the culture of the organisation. Mentors have been quite effective at preserving organisational culture and corporate knowledge and wisdom.

Coaches can be good observers of culture and tend to work more on helping people create new cultures to better support what coachees are committed to. Both coaching and mentoring are effective contributors to evoking excellence in others and each has its own approach.

Where does this come from?

The coaching discipline has to do with helping other human beings excel and further developing oneself. At the head of the list of contributors to the field of coaching one would find sports and performing arts. Think of the Olympians or of great actors. It took until the late 70s for management science to see the connection between coaching and leadership excellence in its field.

The field of behaviour modification had given rise to a particular type of coaching where control is an important outcome and has been available for much of the twentieth century in one form or another.

Coaching based on reflection and insight is a more recent phenomenon. While studying artificial intelligence in the 70s, Fernando Flores, with other colleagues, contributed much of the current knowledge on the domain of coaching dealing with transformation. Several world class leaders in the field of coaching still credit Flores as a major influence on the emergence of the domain.

Human sciences such as psychology and counselling have contributed to the evolution of coaching but so have the domains of organisational development, education and all innovations in terms of personal growth.

Philosophy is also a major contributor to the evolution of coaching as it tries to help the learner answer questions regarding human beings and learning in general. Coaching seems to be an idea whose time has come and is slowly emerging as a distinct discipline. Some would argue it's a new management fad and it too shall pass. My view is that the roots of coaching are deep and the times are ripe for a different approach to leadership.

We want to create a coaching culture. How do we do this?

I think this is a great project. You need to be clear on what you mean by coaching. Are you trying to control people and have them conform to a new way of doing things or are you trying to empower them to achieve what they have never been able to do in the past, given a collective commitment to a collective vision? If it's the control dimension that is important, then chances are that you already have such a culture in place. Calling it coaching will not likely enrol people in the project. Tell me more about your culture. What are you trying to achieve? Creating a new culture is not as simple as declaring it so because the purpose of a culture is to maintain itself.

Several coaching distinctions such as conversations for relationship, for possibilities, opportunities, action, are desirable at various times during your journey towards a new culture. Working with a professional coach would be advisable. See Jim Selman's articles on culture change on this site.

How can I learn more about it?

The easy answer is 'get a coach'. Fortunately, this is not the only way to learn about coaching! The first method perhaps has to do with informing your mind. Read a good book or article on the topic so that you can acquire enough distinctions to be an educated consumer. You could explore the Internet to continue informing your mind on the subject.

Training is also offered by several suppliers and this is also a good way to become better informed, if this is what you are after. My suggestion would be to take this learning a few steps further. You can't learn golf only by reading about it. You must get out there on the course or the driving range and practice. As you learn the distinctions of coaching and are ready to apply them in your daily life, you might want to keep track of what you are learning and observing. Keeping a learning journal may not be a natural reflex for most of us but the practice provides for better observation and reflection in the long term. Start observing what is going on in and around you and take note.

Another way of taking this learning a few steps further could be to find someone who shares your interest in the subject and exchange notes and learning. If more in depth learning were what you are after, then I would recommend a more rigorous training program from a reputable supplier. Use this site to learn more about it before committing to an in depth learning program. One additional comment: the learning never stops!

Is this another management technique to get more out of people?

Some coaches will represent coaching in this way. They will offer programs that will ensure greater employee performance. The carrot and stick approach has been around for many years and is useful to a certain point. In a society where law and order are valued, speed control is an accepted norm on highways. If this is well done, you will get safer roads, fewer accidents and this will contribute to a higher quality of life for the citizens of this society. In this sense you will get more out of people.

If you need breakthrough thinking to accomplish what has never been done before, you might have to think outside the norms or, as some would say, outside of the box. If, through coaching, you are able to create a different and more effective future for yourself and for others, instead of more of the same, you will effectively get more out of people. However it won't be through a technique or through a manipulative way of making them do something they don't want to do anyway. It will be by choice and as responsible individuals for their own future.

I've been doing coaching for 20 years. What is the fuss all about?

I can appreciate your point of view. Every so often, someone comes up with a new idea that is supposed to be the new magical cure for management problems. Innovative consultants are doing good business. Different forms of coaching have been available to managers for several years. You are familiar with employee assistance programs. Managers have been rather slow catching on to this concept. It's good for their employees but, when it comes to them, reluctance is manifest. It's like they are not supposed to have problems, or at least, they are not supposed to admit to having any.

Some types of coaching focus more on achieving excellence than on problems and, suddenly, it becomes more acceptable to have a coach than a counsellor. Consultants have been providing coaching to managers for years without necessarily calling it such. Trusted advisors come to mind. We could go on and on.

What is becoming evident is, that managers and employees, in today's world of constant change, realise that, if they want to go beyond the 'more of the same' they may need the assistance of an external observer or become better observers themselves. As these people enhance their own skills, so too will the current coaches enhance theirs. The local coach may not be able to take you to the Olympics!

Why would I want to work with you instead of another?

This is a very good question. The choice is something that actually belongs to both of us. A mutually satisfactory relationship is a key ingredient of coaching. Do you have a coaching request? Without a coaching request there is no coaching. Can we trust each other? Do we respect each other? Do we feel we can speak freely to one another? Can I commit to your commitment? If some of these questions represent some difficulty it is possible that a coaching relationship will take a long time to form or may never form.

How will this help me solve my problems?

I see a take-charge attitude in your question and this is very much in the spirit of coaching. Coaching is about empowering people to take responsibility. Problems require action. Coaching will provide you with ways to keep you in action and spend less time in the story about the problems. Problems are also often a matter of interpretation. Coaching will give you access to how you deal with problems and how you interpret problems. What you will learn will serve you in other situations. In this sense, coaching will assist you in becoming self-correcting and self-generating in dealing with problems.

How is this going to change me?

Not everyone benefits in the same way from a coaching relationship. If you are only looking for small incremental changes in the way you do things, or if your commitment is very reasonable, you may not experience much change in yourself.

If your commitments are beyond what you think is possible and if you need to achieve a breakthrough then you are likely to experience important changes. For a breakthrough to occur, something has to change in the way you see the world. When you acquire a new way of thinking, it gives you access to different behaviours which essentially change the way you are.

There is a however! However, old mindsets and old habits die-hard and tend to be readily available in moments of stress or panic. Only having a new mindset as a concept will not be powerful without practice. Seeing a video on how to get out of a sand trap in golf only goes so far. You get in a real sand trap and practice and practice. A good coach will support you in this way. Furthermore, you will become available as a coach to others around you.

How do I know this is not going to become a long-term dependency arrangement?

This would be quite contrary to the spirit of coaching, which is to empower people to accomplish more than they think possible and to take responsibility for their own actions. Coaching is a self-correcting, self-generating learning method that serves you in what you are doing. You are the player. The coach's role is not to go on the ice for you. The coach offers to be your partner for an interim journey to help you see what you don't see. A good coach will challenge you, perhaps even make you quite uncomfortable, but will not baby-sit you. This is a different way to learn. How much are you prepared to invest in your own learning?