Coaching is best received in a one-on-one setting. In a coaching session you want to gain their perspective on current state. It is important to empower them to share their thoughts around future state and how they fit into that. To be a good coach you want to make sure that you are realistic, flexible, always providing positive insight, and you are conservative.
As a coach don’t provide the person with answers to their challenges. A coach guides the individual to their own solutions. That is the biggest difference between a coach and a mentor. A leadership coach helps the person in improving or enhancing their performance and productivity. They develop a partnership with only one goal – TO IMPROVE, make emotional connections.
Leadership coaching consists of ongoing, one -on -one conversations between a coach and an individual.
During these conversations, a coach advises the individual on the skills and strategies needed to be a more effective and/or to achieve certain professional and/or organizational goals.
Here are a few questions a leader would ask in a coaching session:
What is your strongest strength in your role to date?
Where do you see your career headed and how are you planning to get there?
If you could change one thing about your role and how it is done what would that be?
What resources have you identified that you need access to?
What does success look like from your perspective?
Create a culture with the person you are coaching and ask things like:
Help me understand your perspective on….
Tell me a little bit more about………
Are you saying that………
In your coaching session make sure you establish rapport. Know what is important to the person you’re coaching.
Enforce accountability. Questions that lead to accountability could be:
Did you run into any challenges with that?
How did that work for you? Are you satisfied with the results?
Have you found any roadblocks or bottlenecks?
Did you learn anything different from the experience?
Reframe from providing solutions and work with them to create solutions together that are measurable and attainable.
Never end a session without an action plan.
Here are a couple of things you can do yourself as a leader/coach to prepare for your next session:
Reflect on the session and see what you learned new about the person and how you can guide them to success or enhancement.
Did you pick up on any roadblocks that you can help them overcome?
Finally, send a follow up email highlighting what you gathered from the coaching session.