Professional Development It’s About Coaching Too

I was talking with a manager from one of the major hotel chains recently. Their organisation has a strong commitment to training and developing their staff and provide a wide range of options for their staff to choose from. He told me there is an increasing trend for managers to want to “skip” the workshop/seminar/conference approach and ask for instead the equivalent amount of money for coaching. That interest in coaching confirms the feed-back I receive from those I coach. What is it about coaching, however, that has seen it become so important in recent years?

1. People are being challenged today to not just be good, but to be excellent and remarkable if they want to make a difference in their organisation and their world. This requires them to reflect on their professional selves and focus their learning and development much more sharply than in previous times. Coaching allows them to do this. It helps people to zone right in on the issues that are important for them. One hour of coaching – that is sharply focussed on a person’s individual learning needs - can usually be much more value than eight hours at a conference, if the desired result is professional development. Conferences have, however, a great value in terms of networking, expanding our ideas and developing vision.
2. The outcomes from coaching are often quite immediate. It is very solution focussed. Experienced people can go away from a coaching session with the clarity and skills they need to handle a situation about which they were previously feeling quite blocked.
3. Coaching that is on-going and more long term can be enormously supportive and be quite transformational in terms of both developing and enhancing leadership. Those in leadership positions are caught in a tension that sees them needing to demonstrate that they know where they are going and are very focussed, yet often also questioning their own leadership style, whether they are making the right calls and relating with their people the best way, for example. Yet they can’t reveal this questioning and doubting of themselves within the organisation – but they can to their coach who keeps them focussed on their strengths, and builds leadership qualities like emotional intelligence, resilience, pro-activity, courage and positive risk-taking.
4. Coaching is also very flexible. It can be “maintenance” focussed something that is engaged in on a regular basis once a month to maintain already established direction and commitment. It can be “crisis” focussed, with three or four sessions engaged in over a month period to work through a crisis. It can be “issue” or “project” focussed, engaged in as we lead some change process in the organisation, for example. It can have a “personal” focus where we work on ourselves, for example, handling conflict better or learning to manage stress. It can be short term or long term. It can be individualised or can happen in small groups. It can happen face to face or over the telephone.
5. Most importantly, when you go for coaching, unlike going to a workshop, you set the agenda. You are in charge. You are asking the coach to help you achieve your goals.

There was a time when coaching was seen as something you did when you weren’t on top of everything. You didn’t let anyone know you had a coach because it may be seen as a failing. Now, however, seeking coaching is coming to be seen as a measure of commitment to excellence and becoming remarkable. As well, if your manager suggests you could benefit from coaching, it often is a badge of honour, that you are seen you as part of the organisation’s future and it wants you to have all the opportunities to develop your leadership skills.