How do you facilitate coaching sessions?
Coaching is a powerful way to help your employees grow and achieve their goals. However, facilitating effective coaching sessions requires more than just giving feedback and advice. You need to create a supportive and collaborative environment, use the right questions and tools, and follow up on the progress and outcomes. In this article, you will learn how to facilitate coaching sessions that are engaging, productive, and beneficial for both you and your coachee.
-
Arti HalaiExecutive Coach | Trailblazing Women become Confident Communicators | Media, Communication & Confidence Coaching |…
-
Shweta RamkumarCommunication Coach for ESL Healthcare Professionals to help build better relationships with patients, consistently…
-
Narinder BhatiaI help professionals effectively address workplace challenges, thrive at work and accelerate career growth | Executive…
The first step to facilitate a coaching session is to establish rapport and trust with your coachee. This means showing genuine interest and respect, listening actively and empathetically, and avoiding judgment and criticism. You can also use positive body language, such as eye contact, nodding, and smiling, to convey your attention and support. Rapport and trust are essential for creating a safe and comfortable space where your coachee can open up, share their challenges, and receive your feedback.
-
Providing a psychologically safe environment for the coachee to open up and share everything that may be holding the coachee back from taking actions or achieving results. When a coach puts itself more as a partner in progress through empathy, acceptance and active listening, the coachee starts to trust the process and gains the confidence to lay bare even their deepest fears. The only word of caution here for the coach is to not get too sucked up in the emotional state of the client because that may lead to an irrational approach to the entire process of coaching. As a coach, use your wisdom to guide the coachee/ client to therapy or other appropriate alternatives in case there's an outpouring of strong emotions by the coachee/client.
The next step is to define the purpose and goal of the coaching session. You need to clarify why you are having the session, what you want to achieve, and how you will measure the success. You can use the SMART framework to help your coachee set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. You can also ask your coachee to share their expectations, concerns, and motivations for the session. By defining the purpose and goal, you can align your vision and direction, and avoid confusion and misunderstanding.
-
Sometimes, with Executive Coaching you may need to invite the person who has commissioned the programme along with the coachee at the start so everybody is clear about what outcomes may be achieved. It is important at this stage to reinforce the confidentiality of each session and I find people respect that. This works well as often the coachee's line manager (who often commissions the Exec Coaching) also has an interest in the coachee's wellbeing, growth and development. At this stage I also make it clear that not all the outcomes may be achieved, as much depends on what comes out of each session.
The third step is to explore the situation and options with your coachee. You need to help your coachee analyze their current reality, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and generate possible solutions and actions. You can use the GROW model to guide your conversation, which stands for Goal, Reality, Options, and Will. You can also use open-ended questions, such as "What is the challenge you are facing?", "What have you tried so far?", and "What are the pros and cons of each option?" to encourage your coachee to think critically and creatively.
The fourth step is to provide feedback and support to your coachee. You need to give your coachee constructive and specific feedback on their performance, behavior, and potential. You can use the sandwich technique to deliver your feedback, which consists of starting and ending with a positive comment, and inserting a negative or improvement point in between. You can also use praise, recognition, and encouragement to boost your coachee's confidence and motivation. You can also ask your coachee how they feel about your feedback, and what kind of support they need from you.
The final step is to agree on an action plan and follow-up with your coachee. You need to help your coachee create a realistic and detailed plan of action, based on their goals and options. You can use the SMART framework again to ensure that the action plan is clear and achievable. You can also assign tasks, deadlines, and resources to your coachee, and ask them to commit to their plan. You can also schedule a follow-up session to review the progress and results, and provide further feedback and support.
-
In my opinion, if a Coach could operate with the following thumb rules, then coaching could be effective in delivering the desired results 1. Not be Pushy - there's no place for coercion and as a coach we should not lead the coachee to any particular direction or solution. 2. Not be Prescriptive - Imposing the coach's perspective or view point is anti to the basics of coaching, which is all about accepting and respecting the coachee's viewpoint. 3. Staying in the Present - it's so very important to help the coachee discover the current reality so that more realistic goals and action plan could be derived. Few more could always be added but the above three will have a huge impact on helping the client get the best out of coaching.
Rate this article
More relevant reading
-
LeadershipWhat are the most effective ways to help new leaders set goals and track progress during coaching sessions?
-
Talent ManagementHow can you conduct effective coaching sessions?
-
Interpersonal SkillsHere's how you can enhance your coaching skills to unlock others' full potential.
-
Executive CoachingHow can you prepare a coachee for the end of the coaching relationship?