#Coaching Part 1 - What Type Of #Coach Are You?

Coaching  is an invaluable tool in developing teams and high performance in the workplace.  There is no right or wrong style. The key thing as a people manager is to actively develop your teams, by whatever means works best.

Accelerate Your Growth Through Coaching

Following on from our recent blog posts on self assessment and coaching versus mentoring I thought it would be helpful to explore some different coaching styles.    

• Are you an accomplished coach? If so, what type of coaching style do you adopt? Do you flex this style according to the individual?
• Do you want to gain coaching skills and experience? What style do you aspire to?

Coaching Styles:

Key Influencer – a dominant figure who leads by example and who inspires others. This coaching style is typical of someone with influence, persona and charisma.

Visionary – this can be the most frustrating of coaching styles for recipients. The coach sees the big picture and enthusiastically talks about their vision - to them it is all crystal clear! However often the result is that recipients lack specific direction, as they have failed to understand the vision or keep up with the pace. This style is most effective when the vision is communicated, but time is taken to check team or individual understanding.

Hands On – common in the workplace, coaching on how to actually complete the specifics of a task e.g. step by step.

Hands Off – sometimes called “coaching on the run” e.g. telling someone where to find the information but then leaving them to figure it out themselves. A hands off coach is happy to help, after the individual or team has first tried the task themselves.

 

Formal and Structured – more “tell” in nature commonly used when there is little time to get the message across or in safety situations e.g. police, military.

Relaxed and Informal - being available when support and guidance is required. The coach understands individual or team strengths and plays an active role and ownership remains with the individual.

Collaborative – an group or team come together to support each other and set goals. Individuals feel "obliged" to follow through and deliver for the sake of the group so as not to lose credibility.

Following soon some coaching models that you might find helpful in developing others