Coaching is psychological support and individual counseling for people in the position of the Author.
Classical coaching does not teach, but with the help of questions, it pulls out of the client what he himself can reach. This is what allows the coach to work effectively in areas where he may not have any professional knowledge.
“When I was incompetent, I acted like a coach…”
The main work is done by the client himself (sets goals, looks for means), the coach-consultant only supports him in this work.
Technique of operational consulting in coaching:
- Positive reformulation of the request. The purpose of the stage is to form a positive formulation (goal) for the counseling participant.
- Request refinement. The purpose of the stage is to receive a specific request (in specific terms, measurable, with an achievement criterion) from the training participant. If necessary, meta-modeling (the question «Why?») and clarification of the query («What exactly do you mean?»).
- Outline one or more steps to achieve the goal (the question «What can you do to achieve your goal in the next 24 hours?»).
- Encourage the participant to formulate a commitment to take these steps and report on them within the agreed time frame.
In the process of clarifying the goal, examples are given that are formed on the basis of the inaccuracy and weakness of the formulation by constructing a clearly inappropriate (absurd) context.
In general, in the process of counseling, the coach does not use assessments and harsh statements, he asks questions in such a way that the client himself notices the weaknesses of the wording.
For a detailed list of important coaching skills, see Coaching Skills: Assessment Sheet
Example of a coaching session: Coaching and holidays for children