Peer coaching micro-learning 5

There are three components to this Let's get real learning experience:

• Coaching challenges
• When and how to introduce the coach’s perspective
• Application of a coach’s perspective in the scenario

One of the biggest challenges when taking up the role of a coach is to maintain objectivity and to keep the process of coaching front of mind whilst being present in a free-flowing conversation. This is sometimes referred to as the art, the heart and the science of coaching.

If you are a leader, you will be spending more time trouble shooting and making decisions than you will coaching. It is fundamental for a successful peer coaching relationship that this non-judgemental and objective perspective can be maintained by the coach.

Underpinning our coaching philosophy is that the coachee is the expert in their own lives and they have the answers within them. The coach's job is to ask open questions and to help facilitate and encourage the coachee coming up with their own truth.

It is not usually the role of the coach to offer their insights and solutions, but there can be exceptions to this. For instance, it can be useful to offer a perspective to broaden the coachee’s thinking.

Where it seems appropriate to share an observation or perspective, permission must be sought so the coachee understands that this a departure from the normal coaching approach.

Sharing a perspective will not be a frequently used technique, but it can be a very powerful and illuminating approach to keep in your coaching kete.

How to share the coach's perspective:

1. Request permission to share a perspective.
2. Clearly signal it is a departure from the coaching approach.
3. Share your perspective.
4. Question curiously to help broaden the coachee’s thinking.
5. Check in with the coachee – ask if that was useful.

Develop a way of requesting permission that suits your style and language preference:

• “May I share a perspective/a similar situation I have observed?"
• "This is different from what we normally do – I am hoping that sharing this will help you with our thinking."
• "This is in no way me suggesting what you should do.”

When sharing the perspective, frame it as something you observed rather than something you did yourself. This makes it easier for the both the coach and coachee to retain objectivity. Ask the coachee to comment on what you shared, and ask open questions to encourage insights:

• “How do you think the individual felt?”
• “What options would something like that create that we have not already thought of?”
• “What would you advise the people in that situation to do?”