Coaching is currently one of the most popular ways of transferring skills in organizations. Employees are becoming coaches of their colleagues, mostly based on their experience and roles in organizations. They know that their goal as coaches is to inform, educate and help expand the horizons of their colleagues. However, they are not always fully aware that this is not just about sharing knowledge, but especially about the ability to detect and take advantage of the ways they prefer to learn. Trainingmag.com summarized the basics of building a successful coaching relationship in six steps:
1. Clarify the context of your coaching role
Before accepting the role of an internal coach, you should know what is expected of you. Find out as much information about your coachee as possible and discuss future possibilities of his development with his direct supervisor.
2. Start the coaching partnership
Meet your coachee personally and discuss the ways of cooperation and the basic rules of your relationship.
3. Build the coaching plan
Based on the above two steps, establish a plan for your cooperation, including objectives, roles and responsibilities. Agree on the duration of your cooperation and interim benchmarks of success. The plan should be realistic, but also motivate your coachee and focus on your business.
4. Be a partner in thinking
Your responsibility is not to provide all the answers, but help your coachee think and act independently. Ask questions and see how he could think and process information.
5. Evaluate the results
Evaluate both the coaching process and its results to see whether your efforts are beneficial for the coachee and for the organization. Leave also some space for reflection. Think about what you have learned and the feedback from your coachee. Enhance your coaching approach accordingly.
6. Determine next steps and share what you have learned
Create a community of coaches in your organization and share your best practices.
-Kk-