Coaching Skills for Managers: Unlocking Leadership Potential

1. Coaching Skills for Managers

2. Aim of the presentation To gain an understanding of coaching and how it applies to leadership.

3. Why Coach? Coaching is a personal development tool which can enhance individual and organisational effectiveness. It is the fastest growing facet of leadership development today. My Trust has made a commitment to develop a coaching culture throughout the organisation by introducing a number of learning strands: • coaching practitioner training and accreditation; • coaching for leadership and peer coaching; and • coaching skills for managers.

4. Defining Coaching and Mentoring • Clear definitions of coaching and mentoring have been agreed to ensure a shared understanding for all participants in coaching / mentoring activity. • Coaching • Coaching is a questioning and supportive process in which the Coach supports and facilitates improvements to another’s performance. This may be through discussion and planning for achievement of goals and actions towards increased competence, commitment and confidence. The coaching questioning process usually involves growth and change, whether that is in skills, knowledge, attitude or behaviour. • Mentoring • A process in which the mentor serves as an experienced role model, or trusted advisor, to guide or support another in their development. They may pass on knowledge and experience; provide opportunities for development and growth or open doors to opportunities.

5. Features of Coaching • Is learner centered • Is self-discovery • Unlocks potential • Raises awareness • Encourages responsibility • Raises performance

6. Activity • Counselling • Mentoring • Coaching • Training • Do you know the difference?

7. To summarise… • Counselling • Coaching • Mentoring • PAST • FUTURE

8. “Coaching is unlocking people’s potential to maximise their own performance” Timothy Gallwey (1975) The inner game of tennis

9. Fundamental Coaching Skills • Coaching • Skills • Building rapport • or relationships • (Starr 2008) • Different levels • of listening • Giving feedback • and support • Asking • Questions • Using • Intuition • (Starr 2008)

10. GROW model of coaching • John Whitmore’s MAP of COACHING • Key principles •       Raise awareness; take responsibility  (coachee) • Skills •       Effective questioning; active listening (coach) • Steps • G - GOAL What do you want?  • R -REALITY What is happening now?  • O - OPTIONS What could you do?  • W - WILL What will you do?

11. Reality – what is happening now? • Options – what could you do to make a change? • Will – what will you do to make a change? GROW model of coaching • Goal – What do you want?

12. GOAL • REALITY • OPTIONS • WILL • Topic (Entry) • Contracting, rapport building, • identifying topic or discussion areas. • This is the end point – where the client wants to be. It should be defined in such a way that it is clear when the goal has been achieved. • How far away from the goal is the client? Looking at all the steps needed to achieve the goal; how many steps has the client taken already? How far along the line are they? • There will be obstacles to the client achieving their goal. What are the different things the client can do in order to overcome the obstacles and reach the goal? • Turn the options into action points – this is a commitment to take action. Define a time frame. This is the way forward

13. GROW discussion GOAL -Coach and coachee agree on a specific aim objective and topic for discussion REALITY – Both coach and coachee invite self-assessment and offer specific examples to illustrate their points OPTIONS – Coach gets suggestions from the coachee by asking effective questions and guides them towards making the right choices WILL – Coach and coachee commit to action, define a time frame for objectives and identify how to overcome obstacles

14. Goal setting Goals are our targets or what we intend to achieve, and research indicates that those with clearly thought out goals achieve much more than those without goals. Your clients will have a variety of goals, with a variety of reasons for wanting to achieve those goals. It’s your job to help them clarify exactly what their goal is, and how they intend to achieve it!

15. What do you want to change? • A basic premise of coaching is that we want something to be different. Our role as coach is to help the performer to get a full understanding of this gap and to make sure that they have a compelling vision of the future that they want. • “Would you tell me which way I ought to go from here? asked Alice • “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” said the cat • “I don’t much care where.” said Alice • “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” replied the cat • Lewis Carroll – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

16. Research • One of the most powerful pieces of research was completed on Yale University graduates in America. They were surveyed in 1950's and again 20 years later. The research showed that 3% were worth more than the other 97% put together. The 3% also had better health and enjoyed better relationships with others. • What explained this 3% 97% split was not parental wealth, degree subjects taken, career selected, ethnic or gender base etc. The difference was that the 3% had written goals in the 1950's while the huge majority did not.

17. 9 years later…

18. Write it down! There are lots of different tools that can be used to keep a written record of your clients goal; • SMART • Well formed outcomes • Establishing your life purpose • Multiple pathways

19. ActivityGoal setting • Choose one of the tools, and write down one of your own goals

20. Building Rapport / Using Intuition What creates rapport? • Physical appearance / clothes • Body language / physical gestures • Quality of voice • Language / words used • Beliefs and values What is intuition? • skills to shape and guide a coaching conversation (Starr 2003)

21. Work in pairs – have a chat! • Complete a getting to know you exercise – for example ask about: • Employment history • Hobbies • Personal Achievements Entry - Initiating and Building Relationships How do you build rapport? • Remember – the coach should: • Only ask questions (don’t share!) • Reflect back (and make links)

22. Pull Influencing Style • Helping them solving the problem • Listening • Reflecting • Paraphrasing • Summarising • Asking questions • Giving feedback • Making suggestions • Offering guidance • Giving advice • Instructing • Telling • Solving the problem for them • Push

23. Understanding your client If a coach wants to understand an individual, it’s important that they have an understanding of their drivers and motivation. Think about one of your members of staff - What issues do they face? What are their drivers or motivators? What is their role or function? What is their ‘view of the world’?

24. Questioning Who? What? When? How much? How many? What else? Avoid - Why? and How?

25. Questioning – some examples • What else? (then silence) • If you knew the answer, what would it be? • What would the consequences of that be for you or for others? • What is the hardest/ most challenging part of this for you? • What advice would you give to a friend in your position? • Imagine talking to the wisest person you know – what would they say? • What would you gain/ lose by doing that? John Whitmore, Coaching for Performance, 1992

26. Conversational listening • Cosmetic listening • Active listening • Deep listening Levels of Listening • (Starr 2008)

27. Conversational listening • Cosmetic listening • Active listening • Deep listening Levels of Listening • If it looks like I’m listening, I’m not really – I’m somewhere else • I’m more focussed on you than me; I’m getting a sense of who you are now • I’m very focussed on what you’re saying; recording facts, paying attention • I’m engaged in the conversation; listening, talking, thinking etc. • (Starr 2008)

28. Practical Coaching Exercise Groups of 3: 1 coach, 1 coachee, 1 observer • 10 minutes per coaching interview • 5 minutes for feedback and observer review (Total: 15 minutes per session) • Using the GROW Questions, conduct a 1:1 coaching session with another delegate. • Coachee should briefly outline a real or potential situation that they want to change • Coaches to conduct a coaching session using GROW to achieve a simple coaching action plan • Observers to feedback

29. Learning and Actions • Key learning points • Actions / changes to personal practice