How to choose the best coach for your organisation

Experts from the British School of Coaching give their advice for getting the most out of training and development

Coaching is a recognised technique in the development of individuals’ performance as skills and knowledge are deepened and goals are set. Choosing the right coach to help achieve those goals is crucial, says Judith Barton and Martin Hill from the British School of Coaching. They told People Management about their five C’s of coaching.

1 Clarity
Before you embark upon the process of selecting a coach, you need to ensure you are clear about what outcome you wish to achieve. This is frequently the main cause of disappointment, or at worst, failure. If you are not clear what the ultimate aim of the coaching is, it will be almost impossible to set any meaningful matrices to measure the success of the intervention. What is it that you are seeking to achieve? What needs to change? What aspect do you need the support of the coach for? Does the coach need to have wider skills or knowledge to draw upon to support that aim?

2 Credibility
At present, coaching is an unregulated industry and anyone can describe themselves as a coach. Recent surveys of HR professionals and other coaching buyers have highlighted that consumers are becoming even more diligent in their enquiries of prospective coaches.

There are a number of questions you could ask when hiring a coach: What is their coaching qualification? How many coaching hours have they undertaken? What are their supervision arrangements for their practice? Are they a member of a recognised professional coaching body? If a coach specialises in a particular area, how have they developed their knowledge and skills? Do they have an understanding of your industry, sector, and profession?

3 Contract
Coaching should be a relationship based on equality. The coach is not there to act as an expert or to advise – they are there to act in an objective, non-judgmental manner and to provide a challenge to the client’s thoughts and ideas and help them achieve their desired outcome.

Good coaches will include the client in the design of the contract that will regulate their contractual relationship; setting the boundaries; specifying the roles of both parties; describing the methodology to be used.

Confidentiality is a crucial aspect and all parties should be clear, prior to commencement of any coaching assignment, about what information is to be shared, with whom and for what purpose?

4 Concise
While we would argue it is impossible to predict at the outset the number of sessions necessary to make progress, there are so many variables to a successful session. From our experience, significant progress can be made in three coaching sessions. To make this progress, coaches must have the skills and experience, there must be a ‘fit’ with the client and the definition of a successful session must be identified. Refining a client’s initial desired outcome is more often than not the focus of the first session.

5 Conditions
Other variables we believe make a positive contribution to the session are environment: where will the session take place? If it’s within an organisation, is it separate to the client’s area of work? One organisation we work with in the UAE decided to convert a small building in the grounds that is separate to the main building to be their coaching suite. Clients said “the five minute walk created space to think” and “the separate facility signalled coaching, that it’s time for me.”

Originally published by CIPD, 21 September 2016

Focus and Energy in Coaching

“The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.” Anthony Robbins
I am sure that you will all have experienced sessions that went fabulously, when everything just seemed to flow and it was almost effortless. Similarly, there will have been sessions which leave you with a sense of frustration, where things just did not seem to click, despite all your tried and tested approaches. What makes the difference? In my experience it will be attributable to the focus and energy in the session on the part of the coach or coachee or both.

One of my favourite techniques to assist my reflective learning when reviewing my coaching sessions or supervision sessions is to review the energy levels within the session – for the coach and the coachee. A great tool is Peter Hill’s FOE tool (“Concepts of Coaching- A Guide for Managers”- Peter Hill (2004) ILM). This requires you to assess the following:
•    FOCUS – The attention the coach brings to the moment.
•    OPENNESESS – The receptivity of heart and mind the coach brings to the moment.
•    ENERGY -The physical and emotional vigour the coach brings to the moment.

Although Hill focuses on the coach, I have found it useful to adapt the tool to analyse the FOE levels for the coachee as well. One of the great lessons that was imparted to me – if you really are committed to continuous improvement and striving for excellence, then you should always find at least one thing you can improve upon. Bear in mind however, that this comes with a health warning – only assess the coachee after assessing yourself as the coach.

Although reflective practice is great for honing your skills, what can you do as a coach to ensure that you optimise your energy and focus for coaching sessions? Here are some things to consider:
•    Contracting for self as “coach”– It is amazing how much time and energy we give to drafting contracts for the coachees and sponsors, but one way of ensuring that you are not overstretched or overcommitted is by treating yourself as “coach” as an additional stakeholder or party to the agreement. Choose which are the key aspects that you need to cater for (for example time between multiple sessions; start and end times etc.) and then ensure that these are specifically addressed when working out the contract.
•    Preparation & “Refresh” Time – this is particularly important when you are dealing with multiple sessions in a day. To ensure that you bring the same focus and energy to the final session as you did for the first session. Allowing time to “wind up” and “wind down” enables you to manage your energy and focus.
•    Hydration – make sure you have water to hand, keeping hydrated ensures that you maintain focus and attention.
•    Sustenance – if it’s going to be a long day, make sure that you have healthy snacks or foods available – a banana or yoghurt can be a life saver to maintain energy levels.
•    Stretch – a great way to re-energise is by getting up and stretching your legs for a short while. Why not combine the two and do a “walking” coaching session with the coachee – it can be amazing what a change of venue brings!

Those are my starters for ten- what are your hints and tips?

Martin Hill LL.B (Hons), FCMI, FInstLM, FISQC, MAC, EMCC Member, Coach & Coach Supervisor
Director for ILM 7 Coaching & Mentoring Courses

The Courage to be Vulnerable - for Client and Coach

Judith Barton, Director of Coaching

If you are in the United States and switch on breakfast TV the majority of the stations have a bright breezy air with short popular segments. One programme that bucks this trend is “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. Morning Joe is co-hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Joe was a former lawyer and Republican member of the US House of Representatives from Florida’s First District from 1995 to 2001, Mika is a journalist who often shares the fact she is a Democrat – so a lively debate ensues.

What makes me keep watching is the depth of discussion a cross between BBC Breakfast and Newsnight, with humour, sarcasm and discussion on British sport. Sometimes Katty Kay BBC America journalist is a guest which makes me feel more connected when I hear her voice and smile at the quality of her arguments. Anyway, on such a morning, Joe introduced a guest he described, (Brené Brown, author of ‘Rising Strong’, published by Vermilion in 2015), a research professor who was making a difference to how individuals run their organisation and manage their people in the US. Brené’s work focuses on courage to take the step, the bravery needed to be vulnerable, to say it is OK to fall down, and the strength to get up and move forward.

In her earlier publication ‘Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead’ she quotes Theadore Roosevelt powerful quote from his 1910 ‘Man in the Arena’ speech: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how strong the man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;… who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

One of the things that makes Brené’s work interesting to me is her background research and what has led her to her writing. She describes how she has fought against the qualitative research, the introduction to ‘Rising Strong’ describes her time as a doctoral student, trained by research professors to choose evidence over experience and data over story. Whilst non-research professors were reminding her she should be a live to false dichotomies she quotes “either you’re this or you’re that”. She goes on to say how she learned when faced with either or dilemmas to ask “who benefits by forcing people to choose?” This rang a loud bell in my head, in situations like this I ponder “who’s asking the question?” and this often leads to the next question “for what purpose?” Brené gives an example of benefits; traditional quantitative researchers benefited if the social work profession decided their quantitative work was the only path to truth.

There was very little training in qualitative research methods and the only dissertation option for Brené was quantitative. As a career professor and researcher she describes how the way to get on was through “if you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist”. Brené Brown cites her light bulb moment in the 1990s when Paul Raffoul a professor gave her a copy of the editorial by Ann Hartman ‘Many Ways of Knowing’. “In the editorial Hartman wrote: This editor takes the position that there are many truths and there are many ways of knowing. Each discovery contributes to our knowledge, and each way of knowing deepens our understanding and adds another dimension to our view of the world… Both the scientific and the artistic methods provide us with ways of knowing.”

As coaches it seems to me we work with stories all the time. Our clients often open a session with a story, which requires deep listening and probing to begin untangling the story. Imagine a very tangled necklace, it may need more that one pair of hands. Just in the same way a client may find using a coach key to untangling their story and their thinking. For a client to achieve their goals they are often taking risks dealing with their self esteem and pride. Ultimately to achieve their goal they must be in the arena. Returning to the Roosevelt quote “the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena”, in British parlance “you’ve got to be in it to win it”.

The arena could be any environment where we might show up and risk being seen, the classroom, the office, the interview, the teambuilding exercise, chairing the meeting. This is your arena, your moment of courage to be vulnerable, this is the difference from those who sit on the sidelines.
What is clear to me as a coach, every client will have a unique story. I never cease to be amazed by the capability of clients. What I personally advocate is we all need ‘stretch’ in our lives to do more or things different than we thought we could. For me this is healthy, it keeps us mentally fresh and sharp.

For this we need to be in our arena. Being in our arena means we will be vulnerable. Vulnerability is courage – “vulnerability is not winning or losing, it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome”. Think of that job interview – you put yourself forward with little or no control over the outcome. The personal risk, the vulnerability, the courage to apply. Other people, the sideline people, those who observe from the cheap seats are often quick to comment and dare I say criticise but not brave enough to put themselves in the arena. I am sure many of us have experienced the comments from the cheap seats, I have – and it is an important life rule to choose not to listen and don’t become a cheap seat commentator.

Brené Brown argues there are some basic principles, she calls them “basic terms of emotional physics – the rules of engagement for rising strong:
1. If we are brave enough often enough, we will fall at some point – getting up and learning from this is the key.

2. Once we fall in the service of being brave, we can never go back – when we are courageous and we try something new in our arena we are learning and therefore have built knowledge. For a coach this is the continuous development we should seek through reflection, supervision and application to practice.

3. This journey belongs to no one but you, however, no one successfully goes it alone – this is your clients journey and your journey as a coach a successful coaching/mentoring relationships knows when you are better together and when it is best to separate. Both client and coach should access their own CPD, peer support and networks – it is your journey.

4. We’re wired for story – neuroeconomist Paul Zak says hearing a story with a beginning, middle and end causes our brains to release cortisol and oxytocin chemicals trigger the ability to connect, empathise and draw out meaning.

5. Creativity embeds knowledge so that it can become practice. We move what we’re learning from our heads to our hearts through our hands – think of using rehearsal in coaching or working with a client who uses creativity to develop their ideas in a session.

6. Rising strong is the same process whether you’re navigating personal or professional struggles – our worlds overlap, there is no separation between business and personal. Clients often ask am I ok to talk about this? We are whole people, one part of our life affects the other.

7. Comparative suffering is a function of fear and scarcity – remember to respond with empathy and compassion.

8. You can’t engineer an emotional, vulnerable, and courageous process into an easy, one-size-fits-all formula – everyone of us is unique and a positive outcome will require effort and an element of risk. As coaches we must continually refine our skills to support clients and have access to supervision to support ourselves.

9. Courage is contagious – others will benefit from your courage.

10. Rising strong is a spiritual practice – Remember “grace will take you places hustling can’t” from Liz Gilbert’s Instagram.

The content of a coaching session: the art of elephant spotting

Martin Hill, Senior Tutor BSC

My previous blogs explored the topics of “Beginning A Coaching Relationship” and “Endings In A Coaching Relationship”. In this blog I will be exploring the content of the coaching session and, in particular, how the coach needs to ensure that the true topic/issue has been issued – the art of spotting the elephant in the room.

Sounds easy doesn’t it? A lot of the coaching models that you will be familiar with also give that impression – for example GROW – the first item on the agenda is to identify and agree the goal. Unfortunately, the first declared goal may not be the real goal – in other words the elephant has not yet been spotted. This may be for a variety of reasons – the coachee may feel nervous; feel a sense of shame or a fear of failure – it may even be the case that the coachee is unsure or uncertain.

Here are some of my tools and tips that I have gleaned from my own coaching and supervisory practice and which help ensure that the elephant is spotted and appropriately dealt with:
•    Preparations – the pre-session contact and information that you forward to the coachee can play a critical role in scene setting, managing expectations and providing the foundations for building trust and rapport. How do you “contract”? Including the coachee in the process and exploring their preferences/ expectations pays dividends in this regard – for example establishing their learning style preference (which enables the coach to plan for that) or establishing their understanding of, and tolerance for, challenge.

•    Confidentiality – you know that you have established trust and rapport when the coachee feels confident to disclose personal, often their innermost, thoughts and feelings. The greater the attention you pay to explaining confidentiality, and agreeing the boundaries thereof together, the more likely it is that the elephant will come out into the open. Remember though that elephants do not like shocks or surprises – beware of promising “total confidentiality” as there are things that may arise that require disclosure and if you have not fully explained this or checked for mutual understanding – the elephant may well stampede and retreat into the distance.

•    Patience – relax and be prepared to play the long game. Each coachee is unique and will have their own bespoke coaching experience. Bear in mind as well the nature of the coaching engagement as this may be a contributory factor in making the coachee feel safe and relaxed – for example internal coaches may notice that it takes longer to establish total trust and rapport with internal coachees, compared to external coachees.

•    Check-In To Check-Out – even if the goal/topic has been identified and the session is focused on this, take the opportunity from time to time throughout the session to “check in” with the coachee and “check out” that this remains the most pressing or relevant goal or topic that the coachee needs to discuss.

•    Questioning – Use of clear and focused questioning can help unearth the true issues. In “Enabling Genius” (2016), LID Publishing Ltd Myles Downey outlines that one of “the means of managing one’s thinking …is called the ‘floodlight and spotlight’. Floodlight comes first. Floodlighting shines light on the whole territory and into every nook and cranny. It includes what one notices, what one thinks about, what one intuits, imagines, feels and desires. Floodlight is followed by spotlight and the best question to focus the spotlight is: what stands out? Or what is most interesting? Cliff Kimber…asks this question frequently: ‘What do you need to think clearly about?’” Think of this in relation to your coaching practice – does your questioning generate floodlight and spotlight thinking?

•    Use the AWE question – “The Coaching Habit” – Michael Bungay Stanier (2016) Box of Crayons Press uses this tool – the AWE question is (drum roll please)… “And What Else?” This can even be used at the goal/topic discussion stage – do not just accept the first declared goal, follow it up with AWE!

•    Intuition – as your confidence as a coach grows, you will notice that you are becoming more adept at sensing or feeling (a “gut reaction”) the non-declared topics/issues. This intuition is something to pay attention to, but always needs to be carefully managed. Always seek permission to check out if the intuitive sense is accurate, and/or is something that the coachee is content to explore.

•    Observation – the elephant in the room may be spotted by your observations – not just visual but also active listening. For example you may notice discordance in body language or expressed emotions by the coachee when they are talking. Another concept to be aware of comes from Hawkins & Shohet’s Seven Eyed Supervision model – “parallel process”. This could include the situation where the coaching session with the coachee mirrors how the coachee acts/behaves normally –sometimes contradicting what they are telling you in the session. It may be useful to explore this with the client by asking them to describe how they approach a task etc. The coach would then highlight what they have observed and the discordance. For example one coachee was describing her frustration with her second in command and spent some time explaining what the coachee was doing to address that and expressing confusion and frustration at the fact that it was not working. The session was interrupted by a knock on the door and I had a ring side seat and was able to hear the interaction between the two. When the session resumed, I played back what the coachee had initially described about her own behaviours and actions and contrasted that with the interaction I had just overheard which evidenced the complete opposite! A powerful tool which worked wonders.

•    Use of knowledge – as the coach you may come into possession of knowledge or information that is unknown to the coachee. This is where Johari’s Window can be a really powerful tool to use and help the coachee explore their own “blind spot” and the “unknown” arena as well.

•    Materials- Have you got everything that you need – pen, paper? Sometimes using a different learning style or using creativity in the session can expose the elephant. For example a coachee struggled to talk about an emotional issue; until I suggested that we tried a visual representation of the subject – hey presto!  Make sure you keep your “coaching kitbag” stocked and also make sure that you keep it current and topical to suit your practice.

•    Challenge – be ready to challenge the elephant in the room – especially if it has not been “noticed”, or acknowledged by the coachee.

•    How do you eat an elephant?

Make sure you deal with the elephant by setting small “baby” steps for action – make sure that they are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound) and get the coachee to visualise and describe what the successful completion of the action will look and feel like , what will others notice; what will people be saying etc.

•    Suspend Judgement – maintain neutrality no matter what is disclosed. Simply acknowledge, accept and explore.

I hope that this has provided a catalyst for your own thoughts and reflections and I would be interested to hear from you with your own comments or observations (email Martin@britishschoolofcoaching.com).

Endings in a Coaching Relationship

Martin Hill, Senior Tutor BSC

“Endings are not always a bad thing; it just means that something new can begin” PictureQuotes.com

In this blog I thought it may be useful to draw on the lessons I have learned from my own coaching and supervisory practice relating to endings in a coaching relationship.

Ironically, before I explore the topic of endings, I need to look at beginnings. Stephen Covey (“Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”) highlighted that Habit Two is “Begin with the End in Mind”. What does that mean? www.businessballs.com (accessed 25/03/16) states “Covey calls this the habit of personal leadership – leading oneself that is, towards what you consider your aims. By developing the habit of concentrating on relevant activities you will build a platform to avoid distractions and become more productive and successful.” Ok – so what does that mean for you as a coach? For me, it means ensuring that your coaching preparations lay the foundations for the whole of the relationship, including planning the ending phase-but more on that later.

Enough of the beginnings, already – let’s get to endings. The title of the blog is not a typographical error – as a coach you may encounter a variety of endings in the course of a coaching relationship. In the course of a recent group supervision discussion I facilitated at a British School of Coaching UK Coaching Network, asking the group of coaches what they understood “endings” to mean, generated the following insights:
•    The end of a topic/goal discussion within a session, so that the discussion moved to the next topic/goal

•    When, and how, to draw a session to an end (linking in to time management of the session)

•    The ending of the coaching relationship itself – this prompts me to pose the following questions for you, dear reader, to reflect on for your own coaching practice:
– Was the ending planned or unplanned?
– What was the catalyst for the ending?
– Who ended the relationship –coach or coachee?
– How was it ended?

•    How does one know when a goal/objective has been achieved and thus can be ended? How are outcomes reviewed? Who is involved in that review-coach alone? Coachee alone? Coach and coachee? Coach, coachee and organisational sponsor?

The other nervousness highlighted when discussing endings with my coach supervisees, is how to actually deal with the topic of ending with the coachee. One approach is what I describe as the “It’s not you, it’s me” style conversation. Even writing that phrase, I could feel the aftershock-like tremors of memories being jogged by the earthquake shock of painful reminiscences of long ago relationships!! Remember having those conversations, or being on the receiving end of one? How did that feel? How long before you stopped dissecting the ins and outs?

One of the risks of the “It’s not you, it’s me” style in a coaching relationship is that it masks the real reasons for the ending. If you are operating a professional and ethical coaching practice, I am sure that the values of honesty, openness and transparency are of fundamental importance to you. The ending will be easier for you and the coachee to deal with if it is discussed in an open, objective and evidenced fashion. For example – “Our discussions about topic x, are outside my field of experience and I think that a different coach with that knowledge may be more useful for you. I may be able to help you with finding that coach if you would like.”

What about another approach? Remember my promise to return to the planning phase? When I am agreeing my coaching contract/agreement with the coachee and organisation I ensure that my planning includes anticipating potential endings. This means that we agree who, how and when can terminate the coaching relationship. Notice anything missing from that list? My contract does not specify grounds/examples for the coaching relationship to be terminated. This is because I identified that this could be a barrier to the issue being raised, especially for the coachee potentially, and this in turn would mean that the effectiveness of the coaching relationship would be diminished.  However, it’s YOUR contract and YOUR choice what goes in to it.

The other feature in my coaching contract/agreement with the coachee and organisation, and which I draft together with them, are what I describe as my “expectations” section. I outline what the coachee/organisation can expect from myself as the coach (and sometimes specify what it does not include, e.g. I am not here to provide advice to you) and also what I expect from them as coachee/organisation – e.g. punctuality; to turn up with pen and paper; to take ownership for the agreed actions.

The beauty of the coaching contract/agreement approach is that this provides a depersonalised mechanism to review the effectiveness of the relationship and discuss and decide if ending is appropriate. The contract/agreement can focus on behaviours that were agreed, but which have not been honoured etc. As a coach, I find that this gives me a mechanism to challenge the coachee and this usually serves as a prompt to bring them back on track.

Here are some of the factors that I have noticed that help build an effective and successful framework for dealing with endings within the coaching relationship:
•    Contracting – Take time to identify all the players involved as there may be a multiplicity of parties- for example, coach, coachee, sponsor (HR), line manager, department head, organisation etc. etc. This also influences what documentation may be needed – for example the “formal” legal contract (dealing with fees, deliverables, termination, confidentiality etc.) needs to be agreed with the “sponsor”, but I also ensure that the coachee in these situations completes a coaching agreement which outlines what they can expect from myself as the coach, what is expected of them, confidentiality and termination and cancellation). Think what may be needed for your own practice. Review your coaching agreement/contract. Does it cover what they can expect from you as the coach and what is expected from them as the coachee? Does it cover termination? If not – what are you going to do?

•    Values/beliefs – Let me paraphrase a quotation “To coach others, you must first know yourself”. Not only do you need to ensure that you know your own values and beliefs, you must make sure that your practice and behaviours are consistent with them- this can often avoid unexpected endings from arising in the first place.

•    Know when to say “No”-  If there is no beginning, there can be no end – so be clear who  you decide to coach and/or be clear about what actions you are prepared to undertake as coach (e.g. notes; chase ups; out of session contact etc. etc.).Reflect on those choices and challenge and review them regularly.

•    “Permissions”- If in doubt, ask – seek permission from the coachee to check things out. Really useful, for example, when dealing with the outcomes review. I would recommend that as a minimum this should be done by the coach and coachee together; but why not also consider inviting the line manager/organisational representative to part of the review session, with the coachee’s permission. (See my blog on permissions here)

•    Regular Reviews – earlier in the blog I mentioned planned and unplanned endings. A planned ending could arise where you have agreed to undertake, for example, five sessions. A good practice to develop is to introduce regular reviews, mine, for instance is after every 3rd session. This is simply a quick “coaching MOT” check – are you content with the relationship; does anything need changing; are actions being generated? Is value being added? If the answers to any of these are negative then this is a prompt to recontract and agree, or, to agree to end the relationship. Unplanned endings can, as the name implies, arise at any time. The same approach of discussing and recontracting or agreeing to end the relationship.

•    Boundary Management – make sure that you know the boundaries for your own competence- and do not overstretch. Also make sure you do not stray into counselling or advising mode. I would also suggest reflecting on the hypothetical situations when you would decide that you would have to end the coaching relationship. Review those situations – are they covered in your coaching contract/agreement? If not – time to review and revise.

•    “I’m OK, You’re OK”- endings can be emotional – make sure that you check that the coachee is ok and can get back ok. Similarly, give yourself time to review, recollect yourself, reflect and reboot.

•    Location – This links in to the topic above- if you anticipate that the relationship may be coming to an end in the next session, especially if you anticipate emotional or difficult responses, plan where and when to hold that session – the primacy concern being that of safety for yourself and the coachee.

•    Supervision/Support – Endings can generate emotional responses- both conscious and sub-consciously. Reflect on the support networks you have to draw upon (supervision, peers etc.) – is anything else needed or are these sufficient? What did you do to recalibrate?  Could that be used again? Could that be improved?

•    Adopt a 3R Evaluation Approach – Review, Reflect & Revise – following each coaching session that you conduct, seek feedback from the coachee, but also take time to review the session, reflect on what you did and what the effect was; also consider what worked well, what could have been improved on or what could have been done differently. Finally, if the reflection leads you to conclude that something needs to change, and then revise your approach before the next session. Does the ending generate the need to review and revise your coaching contract/agreement or coaching approach?

I hope that this has provided a catalyst for your own thoughts and reflections and I would be interested to hear from you with your own comments or observations.

In my next blog, I will look at the content of coaching relationships and the art of elephant spotting!!

For more blogs like this visit www.britishschoolofcoaching.com/blog/

Beginning a Coaching Relationship

Martin Hill, Senior Tutor BSC

“Let us watch well our beginnings, and results will manage themselves” –Alexander Clark

In this blog I thought it may be useful to draw on the lessons I have learned from my own coaching and supervisory practice relating to the beginning of a coaching relationship with a new client.

Frequently coaches say that they achieved rapport and gained trust, but when asked what they did and how they did it, they frequently are unable to do so. This can even apply to experienced coaches. The risk as one becomes more consciously competent is that complacency can begin to creep in and we begin to take some skills and behaviours almost for granted, meaning we give them less focus and attention. I would recommend taking some time to review and reflect what you do and consider how you managed to create a safe environment that helped to build trust and rapport.

Here are some of the factors that I have noticed that help build an effective and successful coaching relationship:
– Preparatory Actions- Even before the first session is held, your preparatory actions can be critical in building a sense of trust and rapport with your coachee. Do you always follow up your potential leads? How is that done? Have you got your “elevator pitch” fine-tuned? Prior to a first session I forward my coachees a copy of my profile, a brief explanation about what coaching is, a copy of the proposed coaching contract/agreement and a copy of the Code of Ethics I follow. The advantage of that is that the first session spends minimal times on dealing with these “administrative” necessities, and the majority of the session is focused on coaching. The pre-session material outlines what the coachee can expect of me, and also the expectations of them.

– Research Preparation- taking the time to research the coachee and/or organisation is something that can potentially reap huge dividends- not only does it illustrate a professional and committed approach, but it can provide you with background knowledge that can be used to make the coachee feel at ease and relax, once they realise that there is some element of common understanding.  Some coaches take this a stage further and ask the coachee about their preferred learning style or their “challenge” preference/tolerance. This can enable the coach to adapt their coaching style to accommodate those preferences. Bear in mind, however, that sometimes it is useful to “stretch” someone by choosing a different style – but that is something that is likely to be more productive once the coaching relationship has had time to establish.

– Contracting- Again this is a preparatory element – who do you have to contract with? This could be a 2 way contract (between coach and coachee directly) or a 3 way contract (coach, coachee and sponsor). Take time to scope all the players involved as there may be a multiplicity of parties- for example, coach, coachee, sponsor (HR), line manager, department head, organisation etc. etc. This also influences what documentation may be needed – for example the “formal” legal contract (dealing with fees, deliverables, termination, confidentiality etc.) needs to be agreed with the “sponsor”, but I also ensure that the coachee in these situations completes a coaching agreement which outlines what they can expect from myself as the coach, what is expected of them, confidentiality and termination and cancellation). Think what may be needed for your own practice. Finally, this may also assist with who should be invited to attend the first session – I have found it useful to invite , having discussed with the coachee, the line manager so that the coachee and line manager can both hear me outline what will happen in the session and critically, what confidentiality means- which helps build trust as the coachee knows there is not going to be a separate conversation between coach and line manager ( which could create doubts or concerns about what will be discussed at that meeting) and also means that the line manager and coachee are clear about what the coaching sessions will focus on, which avoids misconceptions and misunderstandings arising.

– Chemistry Session- some coaches offer “chemistry” sessions or calls so that coach and coachee can discuss preliminary matters and establish whether they can work with one another. Some coaches offer the first coaching session as a “free” session at which they cover similar matters to those outlined in “preparatory actions” above- explaining what coaching is; dealing with the contract etc. This can be done face to face or by telephone or Skype.

– Location- This depends on how the coaching intervention is going to be conducted – it could be face to face or it could be done remotely via telephone or Skype. Whatever the method, ensure that the coaching room is a “safe” environment – not just for the coachee, but also for you. Make sure that the room is comfortable and that interruptions can be minimised, if not entirely avoided.  Make sure that you get there early to set the room up to ensure that the coachee feels relaxed and focused.

– Dress- wear something that helps you feel comfortable, relaxed and professional. It is worth checking as well with the coachee, if you are coaching at their organisation’s premises, whether they have a particular dress code that needs to be followed.

– Materials- Have you got everything that you need –pen, paper, laptop, charger etc.? Make sure you keep your “coaching kitbag” stocked and also make sure that you keep it current and topical to suit your practice.

– Authentic Self- Edna Murdoch once said “Who You Are Is How You Coach” – [2010] Personnel Zone. Make sure that you are behaving as your natural self and being true to your values and beliefs. Sometimes assumptions and presumptions can be made by a coach about what they think the coachee is expecting about how they behave and act and this can lead to the coach overcompensating or undercompensating their own skills and behaviours. If you are not being true to self, not only will you feel uncomfortable – but the probability is that the coachee will notice – at the very least it will affect the session flow and feeling of naturalness.

– Adopt a 3R Evaluation Approach- Review, Reflect & Revise- following each coaching session that you conduct, seek feedback from the coachee, but also take time to review the session, reflect on what you did and what the effect was; also consider what worked well, what could have been improved on or what could have been done differently. Finally, if the reflection leads you to conclude that something needs to change, and then revise your approach before the next session.

I hope that this has provided a catalyst for your own thoughts and reflections and I would be interested to hear from you with your own comments or observations.

In my next blog, I will look at the ending of coaching relationships.

Permissions to Coach

Martin Hill, Senior Tutor

One of the recurring topics that I have noticed in my supervisionary practice is the issue of contracting within the coaching session itself. Most coaches put a lot of focus and attention on the formal legal contract which governs the coaching intervention-especially the bits about payment, cancellations, terminations etc.etc. However the informal contracting that arises within the session itself rarely attracts the same levels of attention and focus.

What do I mean by informal contracting? It is the practice of ensuring that you have the client’s permission, or consent for any new development or initiative that may arise within a session. For example, the client may start a session by declaring that they wish to discuss a particular topic or goal, but as the session develops a different one arises. How do you manage that when it arises within your own practice?  I check in with the client, highlight what had arisen and then ask which topic or goal they now wish to focus on. By actively seeking that permission, both the client and I were clear as to the focus for the rest of the session and the aims, outputs and outcomes that were to be aimed for.

Here are some of the occasions when the need for permissions may arise:
•    Boundary Management – you may have contracted to coach the client within the constraints of certain boundaries; for example, you may be hired by an organisation to deliver coaching for a particular organisational goal, such as leadership or management development. If the coachee then wishes to expand the scope of the session to their own personal development. Not only would the expectations of the coachee have to be managed, but it may also necessitate the coach having to “park” that topic until the permission of the organisation had been sought to expand the initially agreed parameters of the coaching intervention. (NB As you gain wider experience as a coach, you can often avoid such issues arising, by anticipating developments that may arise and addressing those in your initial formal contracting with the sponsor.)

•    Role Management – sometimes in sessions, subject to this being within the coach’s range of competence and ability, the role of the coach may need to shift, for example to mentor role, in order to assist the client’s learning or knowledge to enable them to develop their own options and ideas. By actively seeking permission to shift roles, and then to shift back, the client and the coach are both clear as to which role the coach is in and thus which boundaries or rules apply for that role- thus, managing expectations for each.

•    Confidentiality Issues – in the, hopefully, rare occasions when a coach is faced with a situation where confidentiality has to be broken because of something that has arisen in a session, it is critical that the coach explains that disclosure needs to be made and seeks the client’s permission to do so. This is a rare occasion where, if the client refused permission, the coach needs to explain that their professional and ethical obligations mean that the disclosure must be made.

•    Feedback – this is a key tool and skill that a coach can use to really help the client to gain a wider perspective and understanding. In order to “signpost” to the client, and thus ensure that they are actively listening and are focused, I find it is useful to say something such as “Would it assist if I provided some feedback?” or “May I provide some feedback or observations?”  This also provides clarity and understanding.

•    Challenge – although challenge is a key, distinguishing feature of coaching from other interventions, each client has a different “tolerance” level or preference to how that challenge occurs. The style of challenge is something I specifically address in sessions and seek permission, having agreed the preferred approach. Actively seeking this permission manages the client’s expectations and helps build rapport and trust. In fact, my reflection on my own practice is that the majority of clients actively desire a strong level of challenge, as and when appropriate.

•    Use of tools/models – it is often useful to seek client’s permission when thinking of using a model or tool as not only does this provide an opportunity to explain that particular intervention and how it will work, but it also helps build rapport and trust as it makes the client feel more comfortable and relaxed as they have a greater awareness of what is taking place.

•    Supervision – if planning to record the session for supervision purposes; or if it is to be an observed session – ensure that client’s express permission and consent is obtained. Even if your supervisionary practice is to engage in post session discussion  of anonymised sessions with your supervisor or peer or group supervision colleagues, then it is useful to explain this to your client and seek permission.

The above is not an exhaustive list. In short you will find that the more transparent and collaborative approach you take to informal contracting/permissions, the more successful the coaching interventions tend to be as there is greater clarity for both coach and client and thus greater rapport and trust.

Permissions + Rapport/Trust Building = Success

Keep calm and get a coach in 2016

Judith Barton, Director of Coaching&Mentoring

As I reflect back on the previous year I find myself thinking of things I didn’t do and now become part of my must do list for 2016. A large part of my life focuses on reflection and self development, which is just me! It can be quite easy to sit and write a long list of the things we need to get better at, but what will make the biggest impact? Where is the greatest return for my investment?

I invite clients to think of themselves as their own finance director and ask some tough questions. Remember to consider the longer term return on investment, not just the next 12 months, will it add to your skills and the service you offer clients. It is likely that whatever your work is now it will be different in ten years.

In the UK the fastest growing workforce is the over 50’s. With the removal of a compulsory retirement age and an increase in health and life expectancy, many individuals are continuing to work longer in their field or move to a new field of work which may require training and support. So being ready mentally and physically for our next career will become increasingly important. Of course not all of us will be able to continue in our chosen career, look at the work of Frey and Osborne 2013. In their study they indentified those jobs that are likely to be extinct in 10 years (2023) from now, so don’t train for extinction!

Investing in Evidence Based Development

If we are able to continue developing we are continuing the process of learning (Viall 1996). As a coach we need to invest in our CPD (continuous professional development) by firstly considering what will make the greatest difference to our clients. To do this we really need to understand our performance as a coach. Understanding our own performance will come from:

• Client feedback +
• Supervisor feedback +
• Self reflections +
• Peer coaches +
• Supervisor +
• Coaching +

= Analysis

Real understanding will come from analysing all of the above. Then identify and prioritise what will make the greatest difference.

An example could be, you are working with a client that would benefit from more focused career coaching work and you recognise this is likely to be the area of need from potential clients for the next 5 years and you feel less comfortable in this area. A second very easy example for all coaches is the return on investing in supervision. Supervision provides the essential ‘scaffolding’ to support your practice – the quality control, an assurance to your clients, or thirdly sometimes we forget, get a coach to support your development in 2016.

We then apply our learning to our activities to add value to ourselves and of course our clients. In certain countries such as the Nordic ones, lifelong learning is embedded in the culture. Learning new stuff is pleasure in itself.

In the coaching profession and other fee for service environments learning is more likely to depend on the impact it has on the services we offer and on the performance of the session. In order to make this impact we need to really understand ourselves and our performance. Coaches I work with will be well aware of my passion for indentifying how well we perform and what makes the difference in our performance. I advocate frequent self review and reflection supported through supervision and essential to this is client feedback using the following model.

Through this approach you will be able to compile your evidence and prioritise your development needs.

Analysis and Definitions
When we consider areas for development we can be quite general ‘I need to be a better listener’. ‘I want to improve my questioning’. The first step is to analyse what is listening, for example, what needs to be improved? By truly understanding this, the coach can identify the focus. For example, is the coach an effective listener but runs out of energy? So energy and stamina during the session is an issue, not listening. Once the analysis is complete and the development issues are defined move to prioritisations.

Prioritisation
How are you going to prioritise your investment in the next 12 months based on impact? A very important question to ask yourself is what does impact mean to you? An example, impact = an improvement in my coaching performance, which consequently enhances the client experience, which in turn leads to return/attracting more clients.

Using a methodology such as this will focus thinking and investment. It also offers an evidence based development approach to share with clients, sponsors and professional bodies.

Have a very successful coaching and mentoring year. Remember support yourself, to then support your clients, with a coach/supervisor in 2016.

Preparing for Supervision

Martin Hill, Senior Tutor BSC

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle

“Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity of self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that self-observation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes. He begins to understand that self-observation is an instrument of self-change, a means of awakening.” – George Grudjieff

The key factor in my view that distinguishes a professional and ethical coach from a “run of the mill” coach is the supervision regime of the coach. The Ridler Report and recent coaching tenders and literature all have one element in common – the importance of supervision for an ethical, professional and safe coaching practice.

Supervision can also be a key element in helping you attain your CPD requirements as a coach.
Supervision can be accessed in a variety of forms – peer supervision, group supervision and individual supervision. In relation to my own practice, I use a combination of all three elements- why? Peer supervision and group supervision have their advantages – drawing on, and sharing group knowledge and experience, but there may be time barriers, confidentiality concerns and/or confidence issues in sharing some topics in these environs. Individual supervision provides a bespoke, focused opportunity to have a detailed reflection on my coaching practice.

All well and good I hear you say, but what about the expense? I know it’s difficult to find two bankers to rub together but pause for a moment – if you are expecting clients to invest in your coaching services, what is stopping you from investing in a supervision programme that ensures that your coaching is the best it can be. It is an investment and the purpose of this blog is to provide some tips to ensure that you get value for money from that investment.

• Type of Supervision – choose the most cost effective package that fits your needs. This may involve a “pick and mix” approach- using peer supervision or group supervision may reduce the frequency required for individual supervision and thus reduce the cost.
• What does good supervision cover? The supervision should cover the following elements:

NORMATIVE – ensuring that you are working in a competent and ethical way as a coach- the quality assurance that you can provide for your marketing strategy for your practice.
FORMATIVE – helping to refresh and develop your skills, theoretical knowledge, personal attributes, self-awareness etc. so that you become increasingly competent as a coach.
SUPPORTIVE – There can be sessions that have an emotional impact on you as the coach – sometimes this presents as a conscious effect, sometimes as an unconscious impact. This is where the concept of transference comes into play. Supervision provides a health check and provides a check and challenge mechanism to ensure that the coach and coaching practice are kept healthy.

• Format for supervision – are you going to rely on a verbal summary of a session or focus on a specific session – some coaches use video/audio. Think of the impact this may have on your client’s engagement, also make sure you cover confidentiality and Data Protection Act issues re the retention and handling of any material by yourself and the supervisor. Remember to specifically contract with your client re this aspect as well.
• Make sure the “whole” of you turns up – you do not coach in isolation, to get the most from supervision be prepared to share and reflect on work, home, personal issues etc. as relevant.
• Preparation – don’t just turn up. Build on your own reflective practice skills by reviewing the sessions and identify the topics/issues/themes that you wish to focus upon.

In “On Being a Supervisee-Creating Learning Partnerships, 2^nd edition”- Michael Carroll & Maria C. Gilbert (2011) Vukani Publishing the authors suggest the following useful preparation l exercise – “let your mind drift back over your recent work. What surfaces for you immediately? Notice it and let it go (you might want to make a note of it…). Let your mind wander over the following questions:

1. What interactions/sessions/clients/interventions were you pleased with?
2. What was difficult for you?
3. What were you/are you, uncertain about?
4. What are you looking forward to in your next working session?
5. Are there any anxieties about the way you are working with a particular client/group/programme?
6. Are there any anxieties about your relationship with clients/other tutors/managers etc.?
7. Are there some doubts/anxieties/feelings just “out of view” which you would rather keep out of view? Identify the feelings as well as the items.
8. What interactions have you enjoyed most? What were the feelings?

…Immediate preparation for the supervisory session:

1. Are there any crisis/emergency issues you need to talk about?
2. Are there any themes emerging for you in your overall work that you would like to review in supervision?
3. Are there any organisational/training areas you want to talk about in supervision?
4. What do you want from this session of supervision? For yourself, your clients, your learning?
5. Are there any areas of the supervisory contract you want to review/negotiate”

I hope that this blog has provided some useful tips for supervision. The hardest step is perhaps the first, finding what it means in practice. A useful introduction could be to attend the British School of Coaching’s UK coaching network event on 16 January 2015, when you can join a group supervision session – feel free to join us. Suitable for anyone who is interested in coaching and mentoring – regardless of level of experience.

• Learn about the key elements for supervision – formative, normative and supportive
• Discover the challenges coaches face in managing a coaching session – and discover tips to assist.
• Comes with a free gift- REFLECTIVE LEARNING

For more information go to http://www.britishschoolofcoaching.com/cdp-courses/bsc-coaching-network/ or email info@britishschoolofcoaching.com

Qualification Levels

Judith Barton

British School of Coaching offers training and development programmes leading to Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) accredited qualifications. These qualifications are available at a number of levels, which are defined by the regulatory body for qualifications in England, commonly known as Ofqual. We offer qualifications at Level 2, 3, 5 and 7 which include academic learning and a requirement for practical, ‘vocational’ skills – the ability to ‘do’ things as well as to ‘understand’ them.

So, what do these ‘Levels’ mean? The essential differences are, I suggest, based on the complexity of thinking skills required to achieve each level and the organisational context within which they are applied.

Levels 2 and 3 are about understanding – e.g., what the solutions-focussed approach in coaching is, what its key features are, how it works.
Level 5 is about analysing – why it works, what the theoretical model and assumptions are which underpin the approach.
Level 7 is about critiquing – what are the strengths and weaknesses, are there flaws in the underpinning model and assumptions which might limit its usefulness, are there other models which are more effective in particular circumstances?

In more detail, there are three ways of describing levels.

1. The occupational status of the learners for whom the qualifications at each level are designed (organisational context).

Level 2 qualifications are designed primarily for team leaders and aspiring first time managers.
Level 3 qualifications are designed primarily for those in their first management role – including team leaders and first-line managers.
Level 5 qualifications are designed primarily for practicing middle managers.
Level 7 qualifications are designed primarily for those operating at senior manager/executive director level or equivalent.
Level 5 and 7 qualifications are also appropriate for those wish to start or develop their own coaching practice or business.

2. Comparison with traditional academic qualifications (complexity of thinking). There is an agreed table of comparators, which is:

Level 2 is roughly equivalent to GCSE grades A* to C;
Level 3 is roughly equivalent to A Levels/International Baccalaureate;
Level 5 is roughly equivalent to the second year of an undergraduate degree;
Level 7 is roughly equivalent to postgraduate certificates, diplomas and Master’s degrees.

     3.  Looking at the learning outcomes and assessment criteria for each level of qualifications and how these can indicate the difference between these levels (complexity of thinking). Following on from the blog on writing your assignment, I noted that the key element in the learning outcomes and assessment criteria which helps to indicate level is the assessment verb. This verb tells you what you are expected to learn and then demonstrate through your assignment. Here are some examples taken from the ILM coaching and mentoring qualifications – with suggested explanations of what the verbs mean.

Level 2:   ‘Describe the benefits of mentoring’ – what does it look like? This may involve selecting the most important features;
‘Explain the importance of agreeing goals for mentoring’ – how does it work? This involves some description of the topic and providing reasons;
Level 3:   ‘Describe the purpose of workplace coaching’ – what does it look like? This may involve selecting the most important features of workplace coaching;
‘Explain the role of an effective workplace coach’ – how does it work? This involves some description of effective workplace coaching and providing reasons what makes coaching effective;
Level 5:   ‘Analyse why coaches require effective communication skills’ – what makes this work the way it does? This involves exploring a topic in detail, breaking the topic into essential features so that you can identify possible causation and/or draw conclusions;
‘Review the responsibilities of the coach to manage relationship’ – how well does this work and what may need to be done about it? This involves making a judgement about a topic which relies on evidence which is evaluated within a theoretical model;
Level 7:   ‘Compare and contrast the application of different models, modes and methods of supervision’ – how do topics relate to each other? and, how ‘good’ is one example compared to another? Comparison requires a description of the relative features or effectiveness of each example; contrast requires an assessment of the relative features or effectiveness of each example.
‘Critically review own ethical and moral values, beliefs, attitudes and personal integrity’ – how well does this work and what may need to be done about it? This will involve more detailed, in-depth review and requires an informed judgement with reference to concepts, theories and ideas.

As well as the assessment verb itself, the complexity or the topic and the context in which the verb is applied will affect the level of the qualification. Whilst the ‘lower level’ verbs may appear in higher level assignments, the ‘higher level’ verbs will rarely, if at all, be a low level activity.
Essentially, the higher the level of qualification, the more complex the cognitive skills required to complete it successfully and the more senior the learner is (in an organisation) who will be able to successfully complete the assignments.

If you would like to see more about the qualifications offered by the British School of Coaching click here

How to become an even better coach - Identifying the slither of difference

Judith Barton

In my last blog I discussed the ‘slither of difference’. For those who may not have read this blog; the ‘slither of difference’ is the little, often tiny elements that make the difference between good and great performance. The difficulty with this can be identifying what is the tiny element that will make the difference.

I mentioned how Sir David Brailsford, CBE, Team Principal at Team Sky, had concentrated on the tiny improvements of every element of the cyclists performance. This is a philosophy for Sir David, known as the “aggregation of marginal gains”, if we improve every element of what we do then this percentage gain will make a real difference to performance.

Unbeknown to me I follow a similar approach to improving my coaching practice, this I term the ‘slither of difference’.

Lionel Birnie interviewed David Brailsford (pre-knighthood) in May 2011 in his office at the Velodrome in Manchester, England. This cycling weekly piece noted how Brailsford reads coaching manuals and management books, he searches out the ‘how to’ from football managers, and speakers on performance. A book called Moneyball written by Michael Lewis, focused on the work of Billy Beane at Oakland Athletics basket ball team who drew his attention to the stats and measuring the right things rather than the stuff always measured.

I would liken this to asking clients to complete training or coaching evaluation forms. How much of the data gathered can be turned into information to help me improve? What Beane did at the Oakland Athletics club was to challenge the process of what was being measured and how it was used to improve ready for the next game.

Standing back, reflecting, understanding the data and challenging the whole coaching process is key to making real improvements in our practice. What is important here is ones definition of the whole process. For me the whole process (macro) means everything around the coaching session as well as the process or approach used within the session itself (micro). If we consider the whole coaching process to be the macro view this would include the organisational context, venue, contracting, relationships and so on.

Everything that goes into a coaching session should be included as part of the supervision. Edna Murdoch and Jackie Arnold describe how they see this Full Spectrum Model; “Full Spectrum Supervision; who you are, is how you supervise”.

To do this you need to work deeply and have trust with your supervisor. They note the quality of the relationship with your supervisor is key, and the supervisor must want the supervisee to become an even better coach. For me this relationship is about support and challenge, with a supervisor who really has my best interest at heart.

To improve your own coaching you need to truly understand your own performance. I do this by examining four key factors that impact on my performance; 1 health, 2 energy, 3 work and 4 home, against a zero baseline which equates to normal performance. Also shown is the number of coaching sessions per month. Each element has a plus and minus scale of 1 to 3. Then over the timeline, in this case 12 months, I track any changes from the zero baseline.

Health = Any episodes, e.g. influence, something that affects my performance;
Energy = Plus or minus my zero baseline;
Work   = Plus is work more challenging, stretching, feelings of success;
Home = Plus would be success, great experience within the family. Minus would be
when difficulties occur such as illness or bereavement.

I plot this throughout the year, and the illustration also shows the number of coaching sessions per month. Exact dates and times can be identified in the coaching log.

I then write up my learning in the format below:

 If you are struggling to see the images clearly click here

Selfie, supervision and success: reflecting on my coaching selfie

Judith Barton, Director of Coaching and Mentoring

I attended the Coaching at Work Annual Conference “Onwards and Upwards”. Hearing Liz Hall, Editor of Coaching at Work reflect on the last ten years (of the publication) the challenges, the achievements, the thrill of making it work has made me reflect on my year.

2015 is a big year for BSC and there is always tremendous energy in the practice, which I think is key to generating ideas and progression. When I reflect back on the last 12 months, I do this by “seeing and feeling”; then the highlights and lowlights very quickly come back to me. I wonder who else does this in such a visual way – or is it me?

When I say seeing and feeling, I am referring to the visual imagery and emotional triggers. So I have begun to think about how this could be used for supporting evidence based reviews such as: performance development review, evaluation of team performance, performance of a class over their school year and essential for us coaches; coaching supervision.

To share my thinking on this I will return to my title, “selfie, supervision and success”. Taking a selfie is now the done thing, and the use of selfie sticks is the new annoyance, finding itself banned by museums and Disney, personally I am not a fan.

Only once have I taken a selfie, that was to capture a ‘really can’t believe it’ moment. I had lost all my hair as a result of chemotherapy and I couldn’t believe the head on my shoulders was mine. It was a moment when seeing was believing, particularly when I would wake up and try to flick my long hair off my shoulders to be surprised it had gone.

My Grandmother would refer to taking a photograph as “having your likeness taken” and this was a difficult likeness to comprehend the selfie was a realisation of my current reality.

So I suppose the advantage of taking a selfie or photograph is it clearly captures the likeness, no matter how we may say “I don’t look like that”, I have come to realise that recognising how we truly look or truly are is that from this position we can see the true potential.

A) Continual Professional Development (CPD)
As coaches and mentors we must develop further our knowledge, understanding and skills. Effective CPD needs to have not just learning but application, how do we apply or implement the learning. As a new coach or mentor there is a lot to learn, everything from managing a session, environment, questioning, silence, suspending judgement and so on. As we become more experienced we need to become more critical of our own practice. Unpicking each element of a session and exploring what makes the difference. The more experienced we become the smaller but possibly deeper the difference is likely to be. It is the minutiae, the tiny difference I refer to as the “slither of difference”, which will ensure growth making us all more effective coaches.

Sir David Brailsford, CBE British Cycling Coach, refers to a similar philosophy of improvement as the “aggregation of marginal gains” the 1 percent margin in everything we do. If we add up these gains our slither of difference I think of the potential, the impact for our clients. According to a blog by James Clear no detail is too small when it comes to improvement; “They searched for 1 percent improvements in tiny areas that were overlooked by almost everyone else: discovering the pillow that offered the best sleep and taking it with them to hotels, testing for the most effective type of massage gel, and teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection. They searched for one percent improvements everywhere”.

B) Identifying the “slither of difference”
Identification of the “slither of difference” can be tough, especially immediately after a coaching/mentoring session. You may have another session – you may be travelling or you may simply be too tired to review the session effectively.

I recommend scheduling a review some 36/48 hours later, this for me is the optimum time, personally rather in the morning rather than afternoon or evening. Energy is more likely to be restored and the step away brings clarity. However a word of warning, your review is dependent on your recall, so with your clients permission it is a good idea to voice record the session. Listening to this will provide greater insight into what worked for the client and areas less effective and help document the session and identify the slither of difference.

C) Capturing the selfie moment
Whether you choose to voice record or not I would suggest have a go at capturing the image. What I mean by this is capturing the moment, the image that recognises your slither of difference either as a strength or an area for development. For example the time it took to ‘unlock’ the client in a session by an image of the clock in the coaching room; an image of stillness to remind you of doing nothing and the power of silence in a session.

You may find it useful to write up the ‘unlock’ question and photograph it. With phones and tablets this is extremely easy and makes my next suggestion even easier.

D) Preparing for supervision
Supervision is essential. To fully benefit from supervision I believe we need to invest in it, make time for it and take our reflections to the session. Remember you only get out what you put in, and this is especially true for supervision. Through the images we have generated we have the when and possibly the how we did something through reflection and supervision we can understand the why we did it, and the so what or what next. Through supervision we can receive support and challenge to work on our “slither of difference”.

E) Performance Timeline – Reflecting on previous 12 months
Using selfies or images we can build a timeline, say 12 months and reflect back to understand our growth. If we wish to understand more we can identify the data points of where our practice developed or didn’t and where support may be needed.

If this sounds interesting try overlaying your coaching sessions data with the rest of your life. Take your timeline and add to it:
A) Health
B) Energy – you may remember great highs and lows, a time when you may have operated slightly below par – a selfie/image may be particularly useful here.
C) Work
D) Home – family, personal events, life happenings
F) The whole person coach

Then stand back and see if this visual representation of your whole self provides evidence as to your performance over your timeline. An example of this will be presented in my next blog.

Working out your whole person timeline will provide immense data when identifying the slither of difference. I believe we are only as good as our whole self, so our coaching performance is more than likely to be affected by what is happening in our world or whole self. Whilst we all practice suppressing daily distractions, life events such as illness (ourselves or our children), bereavement, work challenges etc can cause interference  and often a reduction in energy which is likely to have a knock on effect with a reduction in mental agility. The Full Spectrum Model, Edna Murdoch, focuses on the whole person.

So consider snapping your selfie for supervision and reflect on the whole you to inform and develop your practice – to be the most effective coach you can be.

Judith Barton, BA, MSc, Chartered FCIPD, FISQC, MInstLM, EMCC Member,
Director of Coaching and Mentoring
British School of Coaching

Judith is leading the ILM Certificate/Diploma in Coaching Supervision starting 8th December 2015.

Coaching Blog: Language that passes all understanding?

Martin Hill, Programme Director

A recent trip to deliver a presentation at the launch of the British School of Coaching’s UAE Network proved to be an interesting source of learning on several levels, but perhaps the most interesting reflection that it prompted was the use of language in coaching.

What started this thought process of was my arrival at the airport – the choice of  “terminal” is hardly a confidence - building descriptive to use; and why when I am arriving have I got to go to departures? Despite there being a myriad of languages and cultures represented amongst the airport customers, it was surprising to observe how quickly everyone adapted and conformed - and also the various “coping strategies” that were being used. People watching led me to observe the following styles:

·         The Organiser- everything planned to the last iota - focused, determined, sometimes to the point of being oblivious to anyone else’s needs. Usually armed with a checklist or itinerary that is frequently consulted. Sometimes thrown by unexpected changes or events (unless a true organiser, in which case even if these unexpected events were anticipated and planned for).

·         The Follower- usually, but not exclusively, seen in association with The Organiser above. Interesting to reflect on whether they are a willing or “press ganged” follower. Works best when there is a clear and well communicated joint strategy between organiser and follower - often not there with family groups (main disparity often being between husband and wife).

·         The Worrier- determined to see everything from the “worst case” scenario. Worrying about possible “what if’s” from a negative perspective means that they have little chance to engage and enjoy in the “here and now”- for example, are given a flight upgrade, but are still worrying about whether will land safely etc, etc. 

·         The Optimist- calm, adaptive and flexible approach. Usually they have a general plan in mind, but are not fazed by unexpected changes, simply accepting them and quickly adapting to the new parameters.

All of the above made me reflect on how similar the airport scenario described above was with a coaching session. Both have a common goal (or destination) and the clients undertaking that journey often display some of the same behaviour types as those outlined above. That made me think about what gets in the way, and realise that sometimes what causes the issue is the language – assumptions are made by both coach and client as to the meaning of a particular word or phrase, but this is often not checked out. This is further exacerbated when we bring in the tour operator (or manager/supervisor) and discover that they have a different understanding of the same word.

Does this strike you as an artificial scenario? Well, it is probably not that uncommon.  Just think back on a coaching intervention involving a 3- way contracting scenario (coach, client and sponsor). If you can, think of a successful and an unsuccessful coaching session – what was the difference?  I would venture an informed guess that the unsuccessful session featured a difference in understanding of goal/destination and/or some other misunderstanding caused by communication. Sometimes this may have been between coach and client – often it is clear between coach and client, but differs from what the sponsor thought that they had agreed with coach and/or client. For example, in a recent group supervision session I simply put one word as the topic for discussion –“Endings”. A simple word, that everyone understands? It was interesting to note that this one word generated 6-8 different meanings from the coaches present- what made some of the difference was the perspective for each person’s definition; the client-context which they were relating it to and also the experience of each.

What can you do as a coach to ensure that the destination is safely reached and a successful and enjoyable journey for all? Even the most simple of language can have different meanings for the people involved – always check out understanding – not just of the client in the room, but also for the sponsor and anyone else potentially impacted by that particular coaching relationship. The greater clarity that there is in describing the goal/destination; the greater the chance of success.  Remember what Oscar Wilde said about assumption: “When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me”. 

Martin Hill LL.B (Hons), FInstLM, FISQC, MAC, EMCC Member, Coach &Coach Supervisor

Faculty Member

Programme Director for ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching & Mentoring Courses