Understanding good practice in workplace coaching

Sports management is a really broad field, therefore I decided to focus on my minor and one of my major interests of this field: coaching. In this paper I will be explaining my personal five building blocks that make up a well-rounded coaching philosophy and coach. Those blocks are; leadership, organization, attitude, respect, and resiliency. Each of these five aspects are equally important and balance each other out. Leadership, the action of leading a group of athletes towards a goal. Organization, being able to organize a team and have a plan in order to help the team achieve goals. Attitude, it is very important for a coach to have a winning and positive attitude that is contagious to the players. Respect, there has to be a good

Coaching: helping another person to improve awareness, to set and achieve goals in order to improve a particular behavioural performance.

Coaching can take many forms, life coaching, business coaching, performance coaching etc. As with mentoring and counselling it is about helping the individual to gain self awareness, but it is goal focused and action is required so that the individual can move forward. The goal setting process has two components: skill development and psychological development. The outcome sought is that the "coachee" will achieve the goals set, and

I think it is safe to say that the coach has several roles to perform; with the main objective being to develop the person being coached. This can be achieved by increasing self-confidence, identifying relevant and suitable topics for coaching as well as agreeing the setting of suitable planned tasks to support the learning process.

A coach or mentor can help to give guidance and support as challenges are faced, assisting staff in negotiating challenging situations with increased confidence.

One definition of coaching is “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance.” (Coaching for performance, Sir John Whitmore 1992). Or to expand on this; Simply defined, coaching is one person guiding another through a process, leading to performance enhancement. The applications can vary, support to achieve a specific project, helping an individual to do better what they already do well, or developing a skill they don't yet possess.

Credibility is another important factor when matching coaches and clients. Boyce, Jackson and Neal (2010) state that, “credibility refers to a coach possessing the necessary credentials to meet client needs and include coaching competence and experience” (p. 917). Not only does credibility involve the coach’s competence and experience, but their ability to hold true to their word. Clients’ expect coaches’ to follow through on their word. With time, this ultimately forms the client’s

* Coaching This is a process that supports and enables an individual to unlock and maximise their own potential, to develop and improve performance. Coaching helps the individual to learn rather than be taught. Coaching believes the individual is best to take responsibility for own actions and solutions with subtle guidance and prompts. This is an excellent way of improving performance through reflection. Enabling control and development to remain with the individual with the coach helping to unlock own potential. The ‘GROW’ model of coaching (Whitmore, 2009) provides a structured model for the coach. G= Goal setting asks questions to encourage the

Coaching is a useful way to develop people’s skills and abilities, and of boosting performance. It can also help deal with issues and challenges before they become major problems. Coaching typically begins with a personal interview with the employee to assess the situation, review current opportunities and challenges. After the interview, priorities for action are established along with specific desired outcomes. Individuals may also be asked to complete specific action items in a certain period of time that support the achievement of desired goals. Resources may also be provided such as articles, checklists and assessments.

The use of coaching by individuals and organizations has increased rapidly in last decade. As role of coaching is growing over the time, so has the need to find ways of assuring quality of the coaching services being provided. Coaching supervision is an essential part for continuous professional development of coaches. It’s the essential link between theory and coaching practice, the main source of assuring quality, to mitigate the risks may inherent in coaching. It can also help to increase the return on an investment in coaching and to provide evidence of that return.

There are a number of definitions to what coaching is; I feel that I can personally relate to the following definition:

Being a leader has many advantages and disadvantages. Could coaching an employee be helpful for all involved? Being in a management position there is the need to be the devil’s advocate and approaching employees in a delicate manner to engage in the conversation that something issues need to change. What is the definition of coaching when working with adults in a workplace? Do managers need to be coached on how to coach? These are items will be addressed in this essay for anyone who is in or is planning on being in a managerial role. All the skills needed to provide a safe and healthy work environment for every employee.

What is coaching – “The coach works with the clients to achieve a speedy, increased and sustainable effectiveness in their lives and careers through focused learning. The coach’s sole aim is to work with the client to achieve all of the client’s potential-as defined by the client” The Coaching Manual Starr, J 2008.

The coach is visionary and lives life by adhering to core values. He should have very real strength of character and commitment to personal integrity and honesty.

Coaching, however challenging, is a great way to influence the lives of others while also building their character. For as long as there have been sports, there have been people teaching the sport to the players and making them better at it. Coaches must have certain qualities in order to obtain success. One must also look at a coach’s motivation for his job, his passion for what he does, his methods for coaching, and how he became a coach in order to fully understand him. There are many questions someone may want to ask a coach about his profession if they are interested in coaching. Some questions would include: Why did he choose this as a profession? How did he get into coaching? What does one have to do to get a job as a coach? How