making changes

Making Changes

The final step in the coaching process requires working with the coachee to help them make changes in how they behave. By making changes it will allow them to achieve their career goals and become a much more productive team member.

At this stage both you and the coachee need to think about the actions that the coachee must take in order to achieve their goals and change for the better. As a coach there are a various things that you need to do at this crucial stage:

Generating ideas and making choices

In order to establish what options are available for improving a coachee's performance you need to generate some ideas from the coachee.

It is a good idea to have a brainstorming session with your coachee so that you can ask them useful questions such as, “What possible actions can you think of?, What are you going to do in order to improve your areas of improvement?, How are you going to improve how other people see you?”

By asking these type of questions it allows the coachee to think for themselves and come up with appropriate actions. As a coach you should encourage the coachee to come up with the ideas themselves but if the coachee does not think of something that you know will be a good idea then ask the coachee's permission to contribute your thoughts and ideas.

Once you have numerous actions then you will need to prioritise these actions. A sound way of doing this is by writing down all the possible actions and deciding which ones will have the greatest impact but the least amount of time and effort.

Providing Resources

After deciding on the list of actions it is now essential that as a coach you provide the coachee with the resources that they may need to carry out the actions. Below is a list of possible things that coachees may need:

• Training courses

  It may be the case that the coachee needs specific training on a particular subject that only a specialist would be able to help with.

• Colleagues

  It may be the case that the coachee will benefit from having some hands on experience with someone in the workplace that will help them to improve in a specific skill. Thus, the coachee could get in touch with other experts in the workplace and shadow them.

• Group activities

  It may be a good idea to encourage coachees to volunteer for project teams or committees so that they can acquire new knowledge or skills.

• Books and materials

  It may be the case that a coachee might prefer to read about things at their own pace through journals or articles etc. So it is important that you offer to help them locate appropriate reading materials.

• Time out

  It may be the case that the coachee needs some time off away from day to day pressures to learn or practice something. If you are not the coachee's boss then you could ask their boss if they will allow it which normally they do if you explain the situation the coachee is in.

Agreeing a plan

In order for the coachee to carry out their actions it is extremely important to create a specific written action plan. This involves breaking each action down into several components:

• The action

  Write down the action itself and exactly what you are going to do.

• The aim of the action

  Write down why you want to do this action, what you believe it will accomplish and how it will help you to achieve your overall career goal.

• Resources

  Write down what other resources you will need in order to achieve the action.

• Time scale

  Write down when you want to start the action and when it should finish.

• A way of measuring success or failure

  Establish what the effect will be if you achieve the action.

Keeping the momentum going

As time goes on it is your responsibility as a coach to ensure progress is being made in relation to the coachee's action plans. Therefore, it is crucial that at every coaching session you ask questions to draw out learning points of what they have maybe achieved or failed in.

This may also be a good time to analyse the action plans and maybe modify them if they are too easy or to difficult to achieve. Therefore, you can make them more challenging or less difficult.

Offering ongoing support

As a coach you should not only offer advice and encouragement at the coaching sessions but also outside of them. You can do this in a number of ways:

• Offering words of encouragement just before a difficult task
• Reminding them of their commitments if you feel that they are forgetting their tasks
• Reminding them that your door is always open whenever they need your help or advice

Solving specific problems

When coachees are carrying out their actions it most definite that they will encounter problems either in their personal lives or in the workplace. As a coach it is up to you to ask the coachee when they are ready, questions that will help them think and make their own solutions to their problems.

If they are really struggling to come to some sort of solution then you can ask them if there is anything you can do for example, giving your opinion on something.

As a coach you should also be constantly analysing your own performance and think about how you could improve. So apply these concepts of coaching yourself and keep developing yourself.

Altogether, by adopting this five stage process of coaching then you will be able to help others into achieving success in the workplace as well as benefiting yourself.

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