Let’s talk about coaching.
What does Coaching really mean, what not and where does it come from?
In my daily work as Coach and Cosultant in different technical areas, like project management, process optimisation or agile transformation in R&D, too often I meet people who are not aware of what coaching is really about, but using the term frequently in different contexts and meanings.
Well, they are not alone. Still today, there are several definitions and meanings of “coaching” in literature and in colloquial language, as it covers a wide range of application areas and is used in connection with different consulting services or training offers.
When looking up the word “coach”, the oxford dictionary presents following statements:
1. Single-decker bus, railway carriage, closed horse drawn carriage
2. Instructor or trainer in sport, a private tutor who gives extra teaching
According to S.J. Whitmore, one of the main creators of performance coaching in the USA, the first way of definition explains the core of coaching better than the second one, as (Whitmore, S. J. (2017), p. 11 f.)
„Coaching is all about a journey and nothing about instruction or teaching. It is as much about the way things are done as about what is done.“
What Coaching is (See: Whitmore, S. J. (2017), p. 21-70))
This explains also the mindset of working together in a coaching relationship. The idea is that the coachee, the person consuming coaching, gains information and facts, not from the coach but from within himself, stimulated and triggered by the coach by powerful questioning and active listening. In fact, coaching requires no deeper knowledge on the subject on hand, but expertise in coaching methodology. It is a confidential, process-oriented, individual backing in a business context by an (external) coach.
The wide range of understanding of coaching leads to the fact that the term coaching is used very differently and often incorrectly. The scientific discussion shows also great effort in delimiting the term “Coaching” to adjacent consulting fields coming out of the psychological and psychotherapeutic area. Often confound about coaching in the practical use are consulting, mentoring, therapy, mediation and training.
An adequate framework for this distinction can be conducted along solution- vs. conflict-orientation and person- vs. task-orientation to draw clearer boundaries between each other.
Distinction of coaching to consulting, training, mediation, mentoring & therapy (See in dependence on: Drath, K. (2012), p. 20-22)
In this context, mentoring can be summarized like sharing expertise and giving guidance. In this case, a more experienced person passes down his / her knowledge to the mentee in a confidential framework. This requires the mentor to have technical expertise of the subject at hand. Mentoring undermines the building of self-belief, which is an essential aspect of coaching.
Consulting, on the other hand combines giving advice and guidance to solve a specific problem for or in cooperation with the client (coachee). The consultant draws on and utilizes experiences, resp. best practices of previous assignments and clients. It is a results-oriented form of support with great focus on tasks to be done.
Training, in contrast, comprises the actions of teaching a person a particular skill or type of behavior. It is a result-oriented form of structured imparting of knowledge and expertise by a trainer with a clear teaching intent.
Thus, mediation is a confidential, process-oriented form of intervention for conflict resolution between minimum two parties in dispute. Objective is the moderated solution finding of task-oriented conflicts of interest by an all-party mediator.
Finally, therapy is a treatment of mental or psychological disorders by psychological means. It can be described as also confidential, process-oriented individual consulting, but of psychologically suffering people in a private context.
In accordance with this definitions, the focus of coaching lies explicitly on the flexibilization of behavioral patterns as well as the evolution of personality and the development of individual performance and resilience of psychologically stable people. Mental disorders are not considered or treated in a coaching context.
Going one-step further, coaching is an attitude: “a belief in the capability, resourcefulness, and potential of yourself and others which allows you to focus on strengths, solutions, and future success, not weakness, problems, or pas performance.” (Whitmore, S. J. (2017), p. 55)
To get an additional perspective on the term of coaching, let's have a glimpse on its origin.
The roots of coaching are to find in the competitive sport, where around forty years ago Timothey Gallwey demonstrated a simple, but comprehensive method of coaching, which he described in his book “The Inner Game”. Coming from the tennis area, in the first step Gallwey trained tennis professionals on the court. Learning from his daily work, he developed his approach and transferred it to the business area.
His approach bases on the conviction, that (Whitmore, S. J. (2017), p. 11)
„the opponent within one’s own head is more formidable than the one other side of the net“
This means that the power to play and win the game lays within us as players. Therefore, Gallwey used the word “inner” to point out the player’s internal state. Working with this, Gallwey states that if a coach can support a player to reduce or remove internal obstacles to their performance, an unexpected natural ability will flow forth with no need for any technical input from the coach’s side. The focus is on increasing performance by enabling the coachee to grow his / her potential and by supporting him / her to decrease inner blockers or interference. This is the working mindset both of the inner game model and coaching.
In my work as Project Management Coach I have accompanied many project managers from the R&D environment to learn, try out & finally adopt certain coaching skills into their daily standard method repertoire.
I believe that the acquisition of a coaching mindset will sooner or later have a positive influence on our way of working together. In my opinion, the application of coaching approaches and ways of thinking promotes a respectful, curious and solution-oriented interaction with and among each other. If we consciously focus on the strengths and potential of our counterpart, respect him/her and deploy team members according to their abilities, project goals will be achieved better, faster and in higher quality - with the side effect of a positive team perception and a strengthened team feeling.
And this is possible in all areas of the company along the product life cycle, as everywhere along this path, people work together with people.
