Coaching?
Many people do not have experience of coaching in a business environment, in most people’s experience coaching is associated with sport. A coach in sport is defined as an ‘instructor or trainer’. They teach, tutor, educate their pupils or team.
An executive or business coach typically doesn’t offer information.
Their skills lie in listening and asking questions to help their client work out an answer for themselves. However skilled we are at self analysis and making decisions, sometimes we get tangled in our thoughts and we are unable to see clearly through the fog. Talking through the issue with a coach can untangle your thinking and help you come to a decision.
A couple of examples …
- A senior executive in a large company who is not sure if there are opportunities for her or whether she needs to look elsewhere. This is not a question I can answer, and neither can she! But what I can do is ask her questions and give her some tools (in this case create a mind map ) to start to find the answers herself. I will meet with her again in a few weeks after she has mapped out the issues and has a clearer picture of the options. We will then talk through specific parts of the map she has created to start to unravel her thinking.
- A manager who has just joined an organisation and is having issues with one of his staff. The member of staff is not communicating well in meetings or on a one-to-one basis. He is unsure if the problem is him or the staff member. We discussed the way he works and compared it to the way she works. He recognised through talking that actually they work in a similar way – this led him to set a series of actions that meant he changed the way he talked to her. I will meet with him again to see how this worked and what further steps, if any, he needs to take.
Both are situations that can be dealt with alone, but it is hard! And you make a decision and then second guess yourself!
I can help! By listening, showing empathy and picking up on specific phrases or comments you make I can ask questions which lead you to clarify your thoughts and perhaps help you to think about your issue from a different perspective.
To find out more and experience executive coaching for yourself then contact me.
Jacqui Hanbury is the Managing Director of The Pathway Communication Company Limited and is a specialist in helping you find the thing that is stopping your business from achieving as much as it could be. Follow her on LinkedIn to find out more.
The Pathway Communication Company Ltd provides a personalised plan to help you and your business move forward. We might help you set goals, a strategy, a communication plan, facilitate a meeting, be a coach or mentor. Whatever it takes. Find out more at: www.pathwaycc.co.uk