The 5-minute coach

The spectrum of coaching skills

DIRECTIVE - PUSH - solving problems for them

Telling
Instructing
Giving advice
Offering guidance
Giving feedback
Making suggestions
Asking questions that raise awareness
Summarising
Paraphrasing
Reflecting
Listening to understand

NON-DIRECTIVE - PULL -helping someone to solve their own problems

In any coaching conversation the coach may use approaches that vary from 'telling' to 'listening to understand'. The key to the success of non-directive coaching is that the responsibility for deciding and taking action on the outcome remains with the coachee throughout.

The GROW model

A good coaching conversation contains the following elements:

Goal - what the coachee wants to achieve from the conversation.

Reality - achieving understanding of the current position, who/what/how much?

Options - what the coachee believes might be possible

Wrap-up - what is going to happen, clarity/commitment/support.

In a five-minute conversation at work it is possible to be clear about the Goal, the important Reality, the main Options and What the coachee will do as a result.

To achieve that outcome the coach must resist both the temptation to tell the coachee the 'right' answer and the urge to take over and solve the problem him/herself. Both those approaches will confirm the coachee's belief that by calling on the coach he or she can transfer responsibility for the decision, and will encourage him/her to keep coming back for advice. Neither outcome is beneficial to the coachee's learning or the coach's time management.