Challenges for coaches: those you see and those you don’t

1. Challenges for coaches: those you see and those you don’t • Professor David Clutterbuck

2. Some emerging themes in coaching What’s the difference between coaching and mentoring? How smart are SMART goals? 7 levels of coaching conversation How many conversations in a coaching interaction? The line manager as coach Powerful questions v the tyranny of the question Coach maturity

3. Coaching v mentoring: 2 models of each Influence (Directive) Traditional Coaching Sponsorship Mentoring Personal Development Performance Career Developmental Coaching Developmental Mentoring Influence (Non-directive)

4. Phases of reflective space External Energy Action Normal Working (High Activity) Options Framing ImplicationAnalysis Re-framing Insight! Internal Energy Time

5. Coaches’ critique of goals Goals over-privilege the sponsor’s agenda at the price of the coachee’s agenda Goal setting is an unconsidered routine Encourage ‘do more’ in a society where ‘do less’ may be more valuable Goals serve the coach’s need for clarity and control Clients may not be ready to set goals (or to have moved beyond them) Goals can be used as an excuse to avoid the painfully beneficial Goals save coach from having to be fully present

6. How can we obtain the right balance between goals as beneficial stimulants to performance and goals as addictive distractions?

7. Seven levels of dialogue Social Technical Tactical Strategic Self-insight Behaviour change Integrative

8. The seven conversations

9. Conversation one Coach’s reflection on: Context Avoidance Attitude

10. Conversation two Client’s reflection on: Learning Needs Attitudes and motivations

11. Conversation three Shifting focus between being inner-directed and outer-directed

12. Conversation four Allowing the dialogue to happen

13. Conversation five Helping the client develop their own skills of self-observation

14. Conversation six For the coach: How did I help? What choices did I make? What did I learn? What concerns do I have?

15. Conversation seven Client’s: Learning Intention Processes and Behaviours

16. When to use the seven conversations When the coach feels in some way inadequate or that they have “failed” the client When the client procrastinates constantly, leaving the coach frustrated When the coach feels too close (intimate), or too distant from the client When the coach has a sense that there are unidentified others in the room When conversations are repeated, with no sense of significant progress in the client’s thinking or behaviour When the coach simply has the intuition that they are “missing something important” in the conversation or the relationship When the coach feels there is a moment (or longer) of disconnect in the conversation but can’t pin down what was occurring

17. Attentiveness v reflection in action

18. Contextual factors in conversation Atmosphere: Temperature, bright/dull, colour Flow: Pace, energy, direction, purposefulness Efficacy: What changed or what foundations were laid for change? Openness: Self-honesty, instinctive responses, body language Identity: Self-awareness, authenticity, awareness of perceptions by others Ownership: Coach directed, client directed, jointly owned, jointly disowned Creative thinking: Multi-perspective, constrained/unconstrained Attentiveness: Awareness of nuance, unspoken meaning, unspoken communication, being “with” or “holding” the client Focus: Convex or concave (i.e. were we focusing in on a very specific theme or widening out and more discursive; or moving backwards and forwards between these foci?)

19. Linguistic content What words or phrases captured your attention then? With the attentiveness of recollection, what words or phrases capture your attention now? Do these words or phrases echo those from previous coaching conversations with this client? (Or ‒ often even more revealing ‒ with another client?) What makes these significant for you? What makes them significant for the client? Is the client aware of this significance?

20. Can a line manager truly be a coach?

21. Five levels of listening Listening while waiting to speak Listening to disagree Listening to understand Listening to help the mentee understand Listening without intent

22. Asking powerful questions Personal – it is about them, or about how they connect to an issue Resonant – it has an emotional impact Acute/incisive – it gets to the heart of the issue Reverberating – it stimulates reflection both in the moment and for some time afterwards Innocent – the intent of the questioner is not self-interested or derived from an agenda of their own Explicit – clearly and explicitly expressed

23. Coach maturity: an emerging concept Maturity is about mindset, not age or seniority

24. Evolution of coach maturity

25. What mindset do you observe in the best coach you know (who may be yourself!)?

26. Systemic eclectics Have immense calm Use tools subtly and seamlessly within the conversation. Steer with only the lightest of touches Understanding a technique, model or process in terms of its origins within an original philosophy Use experimentation and reflexive learning Use peers and supervisors to challenge their coaching philosophy Take a systemic and holistic view of the client and the client’s environment; and of the coaching relationship

27. What do mature coaches take into consideration in working with clients?

28. Mature coaches reflect deeply on: Personal philosophy of coaching Understanding of the business context Freedom from the tyranny of the question How they use supervision How they maintain professional development – and can demonstrate how y our have applied learning How they identify and manage boundaries Their personal journey as a coach What kind of clients and situations they work best with What makes a fully functioning individual What makes an effective organisation