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We know that to be an effective coach requires us to have certain skills and knowledge, and to have a healthy, positive attitude regarding the nature of people at work and their potential to grow, develop and become the best they can be.
The most effective coaches concern themselves with helping other people to raise their levels of awareness, encourage them to make positive choices and to take meaningful action. Effective coaches build trust by coaching with an open mind and with great sincerity.
To become an effective coach we need to develop and practise our skills in asking probing questions and actively listening. The ultimate aim of coaching being to provide an environment in which the people we coach can engage in high quality thinking. Everything we do as human beings is preceded by thought and it follows that the quality of our actions and decisions is totally tied to the quality of our thinking. This is where coaching can have its most profound effect.
Coaching of such quality provides direction for our thoughts and enables us to focus. Through focus we will become even more aware of the things that affect our performance and make lasting changes and improvements without the need for someone else to suggest that we do so.
What's needed though is a framework for putting this all in place and navigating through a coaching session.
In previous articles, I've explored the various qualities which good coaches develop and shown how coaching is a particularly powerful development tool because it works on state of mind as well as knowledge and skills.
How do we bring this all together in a framework that is easy to work with and to remember? There are many such frameworks around and you might like to explore them after you've read this. However, we are going to use a framework I developed known as the coaching ARROW. Those of you familiar with the ubiquitous GROW model will recognize the origins of my approach, however I hope that the ARROW sequence provokes fresh thinking.
We know that we can develop individuals quite powerfully by raising awareness and generating responsibility in an environment of trust and that this is achieved by asking questions. But what sort of questions and in what order? How do such questions promote focus? And how can we guide people towards a positive outcome in a coaching session. Consider the following conversation:
Wife:
What shall we do about a holiday this year? I fancy some time in the sun.
Husband:
Yes, I agree, and preferably soon.
Wife:
Well, I could get a few weeks off in September.
Husband:
I can get time off when I like, but I think we'll need to save up.
Wife:
We should be able to save enough by September.
Husband:
You're right. I'll find out how much we've got saved at the moment.
Wife:
I reckon we can have a week in Florida or two weeks in Spain.
Husband:
Great, we'll go to Florida for a week in September. Let's both book the time off work tomorrow and I'll call into the travel agents on the way home.
You may not have recognized much coaching going on, but that was exactly what this couple was doing. To begin with they thought about what they were trying to achieve - they established their Aims. Then they thought about how the situation stood at the moment - they considered the Reality. There was then some Reflection on the gap between the aims and the reality. Next they pondered on the Options they had and finally they committed to a course of action - the Way Forward.
Whether they realized it or not they were using the coaching ARROW
Aims - Reality - Reflection - Options - Way Forward
The coaching ARROW provides a simple framework around which to construct our coaching questions. Watch out for future articles where I'll examine each part of the model so you'll know exactly how use it to best effect.
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years' experience. He works with a host of clients in North East England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE at http://www.mattsomers.com
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