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Last Updated:
01 April 2006

Articles from Mike:

Coaching in Organisations

Getting Students into the Training Room (Part 1)!

Getting Students into the Training Classroom  (Part 2)

NLP - A Trainer's Tale (Part 1)

NLP - A Trainer's Tale (Part 2)

 

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I was recently asked to define "Coaching in Organisations" as part of a presentation on the potential of coaching in a particular client organisation. Now, I don't know about you - but when I hear people looking for "definitions" my alarm bells start to go off.

Often, definitions are all about providing an absolute description/truth (and something to argue about), whereas, when it comes to coaching in organisations I have found that the definition of coaching starts with .... "it depends".

It "depends" on WHO you are defining it TO e.g.
 

• A potential coachee

• An executive who aims to sponsor such a programme

• Someone who has been sent along by their manager to be "fixed"

• A four year old (now that's a good test)

• A supervisor/manager who thinks that they have been giving coaching all along (and proud of it)
   

It "depends" on HOW you wish them to RESPOND to that definition e.g. 

• "Wow, that sounds good - when do we start?"

• "Who the hell do you think you are? I've been coaching for 20 years now!"

I feel that generic definitions are good kick-off points in achieving the above, but the real definition, well, as we say in coaching terms, depends on the individual and what you wish to achieve with them.

So, for me - the best definition for coaching is the one that I can present in very broad (and unarguable) terms and then drill down with specific examples depending on who I am talking to.

I addressed the client example at the top of this article with the following presentation:

"Coaching is a process that supports the individual in articulating and driving towards their goals... now, the rest of this definition depends on the context and constraints of your particular coaching environment. I am happy to elaborate with some specific examples. Hands up here who has either coached, been coached, or seen coaching happen? (as the hands go up, I have potential examples that I can ask audience members about - I start by asking them to describe the coaching they saw - and to try and define it's intention)".

In this case, the audience in question arrived at the following definition of coaching for THEM in their ORGANISATION:

"Coaching is about making change happen, one person at a time"

 

Mike Collins