Coaching meetings help to identify certain problems or assist in people’s professional and personal development. It is a process of reflective and creative accompaniment.
This process has great benefits. It must be carried out by someone trained to accompany people in the right way. And thus, to be able to achieve the proposed results and objectives.
Summary
- Coaching meetings can be used for different areas and for various purposes. It is important to establish the context and purpose of the coaching meeting so that it can accompany you correctly in the meeting.
- Coaching meetings generate great benefits and can serve different reasons. They can help you to increase your motivation, boost your confidence, and develop professionally, among other things.
- It requires willpower and time investment for good development since it is necessary to build harmony and trust among those involved in the session.
What you should know about the coaching meeting
A coaching meeting is not a magic tool that means change without effort. If you resort to the session, you must know that it has to be with a great attitude and desire to change your path. Coaching is not a consultancy or therapy, but an accompaniment where we try to reflect on what we are questioning.
What are the coaching techniques based on?
The coaching meeting techniques are based on the identification of the points that do not work properly. From this, a conversation is established between the coach and the coachee in order to define the ways in which they will work in order to achieve successful results.
Specific tools will be needed for each session. This will depend on the technique, interaction, and evolution that is deemed appropriate for the achievement of the mutual objectives. The techniques that a coach can use are the following:
What are the benefits of individual coaching?
Coaching, as previously mentioned, can help you work on any aspect of your life, whether it is personal, work or sports related. No matter the coaching orientation, it can always bring great benefits.
A study conducted by ICF together with Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) revealed that 81% of the younger segment is aware of the scope of coaching. Among the most important results are communication skills, increased self-esteem and self-confidence, a more balanced personal and professional life, and increased productivity and quality of life (1).
Helping to define objectives
It is important to define realistic objectives, helping to establish priorities and determine the way to achieve them. You must distinguish what is truly a priority from what is secondary and thus guide your life.
More creativity
The coaching process allows you to unlock your mind to generate new ideas that lead to change. Therefore, it promotes the discovery of new alternatives and provides a lot of options to help with this change.
Adaptation and flexibility
During the coaching process, you will start adapting to what happens in each session and small changes will be happening every time. In the process, you will be responsible for your own decisions allowing a better adaptation to the environment.
Coaching and mentoring: are they the same?
Coaching and mentoring, although they are two concepts related to the development of someone’s skills, are not exactly the same. Their differences should be taken into account when choosing one of the two training methods, since not knowing their exact definition can cause different results and lead to bad experiences.
- Coaching: According to the International Coach Federation, it is defined as a process of reflective and creative accompaniment with clients that inspire them to maximize their personal and professional potential (3).
- Mentoring: It is a developing relationship, where a person with more experience or greater knowledge, helps another to enrich both personally and professionally.
That is why we will show you below the main differences so that you can make the right choice.
| Coaching | Mentoring | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Focused on achieving results. | Focused on the relationship between mentor and mentee. |
| Time | Short term. | Long term. |
| Objective | Personal development. | Personal development. |
What does employee coaching involve?
In companies, it is necessary to have employee coaching to be able to help and guide them toward continuous improvement, so that they can feel more productive. Coaching is a widely used tool by companies as the objective is to look for areas of improvement and reinforce strengths.
Employee coaching has had a significant impact on leadership development, decision-making, empowerment and awareness, increasing productivity in organizations (2).
How to start a coaching meeting with an employee?
To start a coaching meeting with an employee it is necessary to invest time. Both the employee and the leader need to be willing to work together, creating a climate of trust, to achieve the necessary results.
Therefore, it is important for the leader to adopt a different view on personal management in order to take on the role of a coach and help the employees develop the required skills.
Check a recent article on Management Styles
Why is it essential to coach employees?
It is essential because coaching is focused on improving your well-being. Therefore, working on it will make employees feel more satisfied and generate an increase in motivation and productivity. There are plenty of different objectives, such as:
Coaching meetings make employees happy
Every employee is of great importance to any organization. You must be in constant training in order to feel valued and satisfied. Therefore, the company must invest in training to achieve different and better results.
In addition, research shows that implementing training programs will make the team feel more confident, understand and adapt to the company’s culture or simply feel welcome and valued (4).
How to implement a coaching meeting in the workplace?
In order to implement coaching in the workplace, it is necessary to have a process in place so that the sessions are organized and both parties can feel confident. Remember that coaching is not a consultancy, but a process of change at an individual or group level that helps to achieve the goals set.
Therefore, first define the step-by-step and then it can become as personalized as possible. The results may vary since everything depends on the goals that are established.
1. Define the purpose of the coaching meeting
To start the training, the team and the leader must meet up to establish the purpose of the meeting. What do we mean by purpose? We mean the reason for the training, whether it is to learn various skills, to improve performance, or to learn new processes.
In order to have a better understanding, here are some questions that can guide you, either as a leader or an employee.
- What needs to be improved?
- What do they need to be trained on?
- How can it affect the company’s objectives?
- How can it affect individual performance?
2. Set a goal
Once you have the right focus, you can set goals. It can be one, two, or as many as you think you need in order to improve. For this, both parties should contribute their thoughts and opinions to reach a common point and make the coaching satisfactory.
The goal(s) must be realistic, measurable, clear, and with a deadline so that you can work intensively on it without losing focus over time. They must be written down and shared with the whole team.
3. Take action
In this step, you should already implement all the necessary tools to achieve the above-mentioned goals. It is necessary to take action, as it is the most important point if you want to see actual results.
Every action must be carried out with its deadline, and each of them should contribute to the optimum goal. The coaching meeting will not help if you do not work on a daily basis.
4. Evaluate your performance
A fundamental part of a coaching meeting is evaluation. Feedback arises from it between both parties to know what is working well and what is not. Communication is necessary in order to give each other the opportunity to ask questions, offer suggestions or simply express any possible concerns.
Read about: Performance Reviews
Conclusion
From what has been stated in this article, we can say that coaching is a fundamental tool for any aspect of your life. It can be used to improve your lifestyle, thoughts, and skills, among many other things. It all depends on the objective you set for each session.
Coaching meetings are part of various growth processes, especially in business. It is a technique that is being carried out in greater depth due to the benefits it brings and the results it can generate in individuals, organizations, and work teams.
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References
1. Colombo Daniel. The four trends why companies incorporate coaching to improve performance [Internet]. Forbes Argentina. [cited 2022 Oct 18].
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2. Valle Arevalo LA. Business coaching: Definition, models and programs. A theoretical review. Universidad Peruana Unión [Internet]. 2019 Dec 3 [cited 2022 Oct 18]
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3. Definition of coaching according to ICF [Internet]. www.icf-es.com. [cited 2022 Oct 18]
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4. Walters K, Rodriguez J. The Importance of Training and Development in Employee Performance and Evaluation [Internet]. ResearchGate. www.researchgate.net; 2017.[cited 2022 Oct 18]
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