COACHING: Help Your Employees to GROW
By Richard Baines
It’s said that when we tell people things it can close their minds, but by asking questions, we trigger their thinking. This is one reason coaching as a management skill has risen in importance and popularity in recent years.
But what is coaching and how does it differ to training?
Let’s take some examples from the sporting world. Why do elite athletes such as sprinter, Dina Asher-Smith or tennis star, Novak Djokovic retain a coach? Surely, they are among the best in the world already.
The answer is threefold:
- We all need help to achieve our full potential,
- We can’t always see for ourselves where we can or need to improve,
- We can all suffer dips in performance or motivation from time to time.
A good sports coach will tackle these areas, helping the athlete achieve levels they are unlikely to reach alone. Done well, the same can be achieved with workplace coaching.
So, what makes a good workplace coach and how should we go about it?
It’s about asking good questions and having a structured approach. A tool that can really help with this is called the GROW model, which consists of four powerful steps:
- GOAL – what do you want to achieve?
- REALITY – where you are now?
- OPTIONS – what are the possible routes to success?
- WILL – what actions will you commit to, to get there?
Structured coaching for your future stars can be a powerful way to stretch their thinking, develop their performance and help them achieve their potential more quickly.
Corporate Coaching also has several benefits over training
- It’s fully tailored to the needs of the individual,
- It’s more immediate in nature and easily applied to live challenges or opportunities,
- It’s a more continuous form of development, where training is more concentrated in nature.
The next time a team member comes to you with a question, challenge or opportunity, consider whether coaching might be a better way to help them GROW.
Click below to find out more about the Amber Group’s business coaching services.