Book Review: Coaching and Mentoring at Work

Coaching and Mentoring At Work (2nd Edition)  –Mary Connor and Julia Pokora (2012) Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education

Martin Hill, Senior Tutor, BSC

 This book is relevant for experienced practitioners and also provides a great framework for new practitioners and students. I would also suggest that this is an essential read for purchasers of coaching and mentoring service, HR professionals and managers/leaders who are interested in developing their coaching and mentoring skills.

The book is written in an accessible, easy to understand style and is crammed full with practical examples and tips. The authors even reserve a chapter for one of the key characters in any coaching or mentoring relationship – the client. This is one of the few coaching and mentoring texts that address the position of the client and sets out the factors that clients should bear in mind when deciding whether to embark upon coaching or mentoring and suggests how best to prepare themselves to get the best out of that experience, as well as highlighting some of the standards and behaviours that they should be expecting from a coach or mentor- a useful chapter for the practitioner to reflect upon their own practice to ensure that they are meeting these expectations and standards.

The book considers the similarities between coaching and mentoring and one of the key arguments of the authors is that “a learning relationship is central to both coaching and mentoring, which are more than just a set of activities or skills.” It also highlights the differences between the two disciplines, albeit the majority of the book focuses on the common elements.

The structure of the book prompts reflection and learning opportunities for the reader- reinforcing the reflective learning discipline that is a prerequisite for the wise practitioner! I found the chapter on contracting to be a practical and comprehensive guide which addresses the key factors that one encounters in reality – a book that addresses the practitioner elements as well as the subject theory.

The main model that is advocated by the authors for both coaching and mentoring is Dr Gerard Egan’s Skilled Helper” model-once again the authors approach this with a winning combination of theory and practical application. Two chapters show how the model would apply to a coaching scenario and a mentoring scenario. The authors also highlight other models commonly encountered in coaching and mentoring.

The authors also provide a comprehensive guide to tools and techniques that will support the successful implementation of the model – twelve tools and techniques that are succinctly described and the pros and cons considered.

The second edition features a new chapter which deals with reflective practice, supervision and accreditation – this is outlined with the same hallmarks of clarity and practicality with useful checklists and prompts.
This book will be one of the “default” texts that I turn to in my coaching and mentoring practice, and also in my role as manager and leader. It will be one of the texts that I will recommend for my ILM Level 7 candidates as a good “foundation” text.

Martin is a Programme tutor for British School of Coaching's executive coaching courses.  Read more about our ILM qualifications and CPD courses here.

ILM Level 2 Award in Mentoring, Dubai 2014

A few pictures from our 3rd ILM Level 2 Mentoring course, run at Dubai English Speaking School, UAE

www.britishschoolofcoaching.com

How Manuel Pellegrini's coaching style won Man City the Premier League

A common factor in all successful athletes or sports teams is that they had a fantastic coach. 

Football in particular is a sport which puts a lot of focus and emphasis on the role of the coach.  Not only do they have to pick the team, but most are heavily involved in training, tactics and many other administrative aspects of the club, e.g. transfers. Many top international players have commented about their coaches and how they helped them become the best player they could.

Enter the Chilean Maestro Manuel Pellegrini.  Manchester City’s new manager joined the club in 2012, faced with a tough task – turning an underachieving team of huge egos into a championship winning club.

On a simple talent level Pellegrini inherited one of the most talented squads the premier league had in Manchester City with world stars such as Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero amongst its ranks. 

However this was a very similar squad to the one that lost out on the Premier League title by a massive 11 points only one season before. 

Arm around the shoulder:

Pellegrini inherited a squad full of bruised egos (and top international egos at that!) He identified straight away that he did not need to completely revamp the team or start a revolution. With a characteristically calm demeanour, he merely put an arm around the players’ shoulders and told them they were the best and that they would win the league.


This painfully contrasted with the style of previous manager, Roberto Mancini, who ,may have operated with a much more brusque style when communicating with his players.
Top professional athletes do not expect criticism from their coach in the public eye and Pellegrini understood this. 

In fact a Coach should be reviewing performance and asking the right questions.   When the media tried to he acted like a father figure, defending them at every opportunity. The Manchester City players respected this and gave their all for the Chilean Manager.

This success was shared when they won the title making Pellegrini the centre of attention.   This is an exemption must Coaches work in the background and successful clients may honour you with accolades but more commonly a client offers quiet recognition of the Coaches contribution to their success.

Willing to adapt and admit to mistakes:

As a Coach one of the most difficult  traits is that of being unwilling to adapt and change, which seems difficult to understand given the work is more often than not about change.  However some Coaches work with clients who but their services for exactly that wanting what you, (the Coach), has done before, in this case with other football team.  

Manchester City’s home form all season was phenomenal but by October their away form was threatening to ruin their season. Rather than sit and hope he listened to what his players were thinking and adapted.

This led to an amazing run of away form which guided them to the title. 

Being decisive:

Top coaches make tough decisions when they have to. City’s English International goalkeeper Joe Hart was clearly struggling for form and a series of mistakes saw him heavily criticised by the media. Many coaches would have let their number one get away with it and not improve, but Pellegrini did not. 

Understanding Hart’s personality, Pellegrini immediately dropped him from the starting 11 – a highly unusual move in modern football -  and explained his reasons for doing so. 

After a couple of months in the reserve team, Hart returned with a hunger and motivation not seen for a long time. It is often said that a poor builder blames his tools, but Manuel Pellegrini did not do this. Instead he motivated his players and got the very best out of them.

A charming man:

Manuel Pellegrini is a very different breed of manager to any other the Premier League has seen. Throughout the Premier League campaign unlike many other managers he has not become embroiled in childish spats or taken part in the media game of blaming referees after the game. 

Rather than aim pointless abuse like many other coaches do Pellegrini has proved to be a true gentleman preferring to only talk about his players in a positive light and no others.
Pellegrini broke down the walls of division in the Manchester City squad by being calm and collected. 

Manchester City’s midfield maestro David Silva recently said “Pellegrini’s calm manner gave them as players’ joy and freedom to express the talents they had”. Silva went further to suggest “that if you see the manager being edgy on the side-lines then that translates to the performance on the pitch”.

Honesty:

Perhaps it is a rare trait in modern workplaces, but Manuel Pellegrini’s coaching style is entirely based on honesty.  Players have spoken of his willingness to tell hard truths so they know exactly what he wants and why he has made certain decisions. 

His own honesty in publically admitting personal mistakes rather than displacing blame has fostered a deep respect from his players.  

One of Manchester City’s most controversial and outspoken players in Samir Nasri said “the players appreciate his honesty and that he made the players want to put their egos to the side to work for him and the team.”


In any team sport one of the coach’s greatest jobs is creating a sense of team unity and making every player want to give their all for the team. 

Pellegrini’s coaching style of being calm, honest and willing to adapt has brought respect and a willingness to play for the team from a clearly very talented group of athletes. This charming man has become a coach who many could learn from and one whose coaching styles will be copied for many years to come. 

Remember international coaching week starts on Monday 19th May 2014.

The Sound of Silence

 

Sanam Yakub

 ...

Did you hear that? 

It was the sound of silence.

Sir Conan Doyle had it right when his character Sherlock Holmes criticized Watson for only ‘looking’ and not ‘observing’. We all ascend the same stairs everyday at home, but do we observe how many steps there are? 

Similarly, it can be easy to ‘listen’ to what your client is saying, but do you always ‘hear’ what they say?

Listening to what the client is saying and hearing what they actually mean is a skill that all coaches should develop.  A coach must not only focus on the clients spoken response but also pay attention to non-verbal clues, which can be imperative in guiding further questioning.

Techniques such as pausing after questioning, are essential in allowing the client time to think about their response - silence is where the thinking and change is taking place.  

In addition, listening for key information and phrases can give clues to the clients thinking. Furthermore, paraphrasing, reflecting and summarizing what the client has said can help to develop the thinking of the client and ensuring that the coach has heard the clients response correctly.

Once effective listening has been mastered, open-ended questions can be powerful for extraction of information.  

Listening is more than just sitting back and taking in the words of the client. 

It is about picking up the clues in the unsaid words, facial expression and body language. So next time you are listening to your client, ‘observe’ and ‘hear’ the silence – it should speak volumes. 

Sanam is CPD Leader at Dubai English Speaking School.  Having completed the ILM Level 3 Award in Coaching with flying colours, she will now be embarking on this May's ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring!

www.britishschoolofcoaching.com

www.dessdubai.com 

A Rationale for Coaching in Education

Jane Shaddick-Brady

Strategies for professional learning and staff development in a school context has traditionally been through the introduction of an initiative by senior leaders or visiting providers or through focus groups and twilight training internally or by staff attending external courses. Other strategies have been to share classroom practice through team meetings, through discussion and conversations about observations and ‘drop-ins’ on classroom practice, although the results of these approaches have very little sustained impact at individual level, possibly because of a lack of understanding of the new initiatives or a lack of consolidation to embed the new learning.

Professional learning has led to the introduction of using coaching as a process for performance management and enhancement. Through the use of coaching conversations, it is hoped that the integration and realisation of new approaches into an existing repertoire of skills sets will encourage new thinking, reflective practice and ultimately improved teaching and learning for the children.

At present, appraisal and performance management is the preferred model for accountability in many schools but these processes are often not very rigorous or successful in driving change. Other strategies for development such as mentoring or co-mentoring are also used; however, these methods also appear to have very little sustained impact at individual level because of a lack of understanding of the new initiative or a lack of consolidation or willingness to embed the new learning.

Peer learning, joint practice and support whereby staff visit classrooms and either team teach or observe practice to develop teaching and learning objectives again have been seen to have little impact because of a lack of time to organise mutual sessions, a mix-match of timings with timetables or a lack of commitment.

However, in order for development to take place, support needs to be more personalised and relevant to individual needs and performance management targets agreed, which identify learning outcomes and real changes in practice that would result in improved learning or practice, rather than an imposed set of targets.

This approach again leads to the importance of introducing coaching as a process for development as this is at the heart of coaching and mentoring. The potential for the performance management process to develop colleagues, to build motivating and collegiate relationships, to achieve school priorities and to improve pupils’ learning and experience can then be established and developed further through solutions-focused coaching.

A coaching approach can support a more effective culture for learning and development for staff in school and so support professional development that makes a difference to the learning and experience of pupils and which is why I believe coaching should be integral to the professional development and performance management process in school.

‘The use of coaching is not a difficult skill to learn. Perhaps the hardest part is the willingness to give up what we did before, especially when it was a more prescriptive style. Change is a challenge for all of us, but in the modern world, it is inevitable and the better we understand the reasons for it and the effects of better methodologies, the easier it becomes.

Coaching should never be viewed as the flavour of the month or as just another new initiative. It is more importantly another step in the ongoing evolution of participative human interaction. As such it applies equally to leadership, to management, to parenting and to teaching and learning’ (Whitmore, 2005)

Jane is Assistant Head Teacher at Dubai English Speaking School, who have spent the past 2 years implementing a Coaching culture within the school, with the help of British School of Coaching.   

www.britishschoolofcoaching.com

http://dessdubai.com/ 

Get S.M.A.R.T by being S.M.A.R.T.E.R

Susie Matson

Most people are familiar with the process of goal setting using ‘SMART’ targets, but what about, ‘SMART’ getting ‘SMARTER’.

It is much more difficult to set goals based around improving softer skills and personal qualities, such as communication. By using SMARTER targets alongside web-profiling enables us to focus on their interpersonal and intrapersonal skills.

When setting SMART targets it is essential to make it an art and listen sharp. You need to get alongside and assist the client to put in the ‘S’ and be specific about the goal they aim to achieve. Ensure there is a measure, can the goals be assessed? 

If measurement is not by the completed action, try using scaling for effect; the result may be growth in esteem and personal confidence. ‘A’ - is the target acceptable?  Do you both believe that it can be achieved? Bring back the ‘R’ for reality. Challenge is vital for motivation, yet unrealistic targets will only lead to further disappointment and loss of personal confidence. 

When is it going to be done? Time is essential for knowing how much time you have to complete your target.

You can maximise the impact of your SMART goals by making your goals SMARTER. To do this create an atmosphere of excitement to whet their inquisitiveness, enabling high levels of curiosity and enthusiasm for both client and coach. 

Updated records of goals achieved demonstrates client satisfaction and that target setting can undoubtedly make the difference.

Susie is currently a candidate on our Masters-level Coaching course, the ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring.  Read more about this and other ILM coaching qualifications here.

How to Cope with a Challenging Client

Charlotte Randall

One of the things that tested my resolve the most during my training as a coach was learning that coaching sessions may not always leave you with an instant gratification of the influence your facilitation has had on the clients thinking.  

I understand now that you may not receive the real-time positive feedback you are hoping for from your client, and that the expectation of this can leave you over-analysing your performance. 

My first experience of this came when coaching a client who was extremely challenging in their behavior and mannerisms. I left every session drained, feeling like I was an inconvenience to them and not really sure how much I had really facilitated their thinking. 

At this time I turned to my supervisor for support. We planned an observation of a session with the client and debriefed at length afterwards. Within the supervision environment I was able to speak frankly and accept feedback about my approach and discuss the best way forward. 

Without a shadow of a doubt this supervision enabled me to maintain the professional coach/client relationship, reflect on my practice objectively and to ultimately stay the distance with this client to a beneficial end. 

I still didn’t receive much gratification through verbal or body language communication from my client in subsequent sessions, but as a consequence of the support from my supervisor I was able to manage my own emotions better. 

A little while after their final session I received a message from the client thanking me for everything I had done to challenge their thinking and develop their learning, and still receive intermittent communication of how they continue to put their learning into practice! 

Charlotte Randall

British School of Coaching run coaching and mentoring training programmes up to Masters- level.  Programmes are currently being delivered in the UK and the UAE - see if there are any courses that might benefit you here