By Rebecca Young
Organisational Coach and COO of Tucker and Young
Coaching is best suited to those with a desire to thrive in their role. By getting a little help to manage interferences and maximise your own potential you can increase your performance. In fact, this theory is well explored in Timothy Gallwey’s The Inner Games of Tennis. Gallwey proposed that performance (p) is equal to potential (P) minus interference (I), or p = P – I. And without going too far down the sport metaphor route, there aren’t too many professional athlete’s prospering without a strong coach in their corner.
Business leaders, including Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey, proudly share that they utilised coaches throughout their journeys for their own professional development and to grow their empires. If these effective and driven humans have engaged coaches it feels quite safe to assume each of us have some things we could work on a coach with.
Everyone will have different motivations to engage a coach, but here is a few that we see most often:
- Developing leadership: Strengthening leadership skills at various levels including the ability to inspire and manage teams, improve decision-making and learning to think strategically
- Navigating change: Helping to guide through transitions, ensuring they go smoothly, and that employees feel supported
- Building culture: Developing a strong, positive organisational culture that align the values of the entity and its people
- Resolving conflict: Helping to prepare for difficult conversations and to manage employee grievances
- Fostering innovation: Challenging current ways of thinking to create change and holding space for innovative thought
- Spot-fixing problems: Talking through current situations and resolving them in a safe space
- Building accountability: A recurring meeting with a coach can be the necessary motivation in the calendar to just get things done
A good coach will be able to work with you on all the above and so much more. It is handy to remember though that not every situation is a coaching situation. Coaching is not a replacement for training of technical skills or counselling though it can work well alongside these!
And if you’re wondering how to kick-off the search for a quality coach, the internet is a great place to start. Coaching is currently an under-regulated industry and to make sure you’re engaging with a real coach (instead of just someone with some interesting branding), consider looking for those that have completed courses and accreditations through ICF, the International Coaching Federation.
If you have any further questions about coaching, or think we might be a good fit for your coaching requirements, be sure to reach out today.