COACHING IN YOUR WORKPLACE
Coaching seems to be the new
axiom in corporate world.
Professional coaches are pouncing
up in huge numbers and in various
areas-n-perspective–Executive
Coaches, Business Coaches,
Performance Coaches, Life Coaches,
and Family Coaches Etc. These
people come from a range of
backgrounds e.g. HR, Training,
Psychology and Sports & Games and
have different contexts, approaches,
methods and styles, however the
purpose remains almost the same.
It’s said that Coaching is an
increasingly popular tool for
Supporting personal development
to attain the desired outcome. In a recent survey in Europe and USA, 70% respondents in the Learning and
Development survey reported that they now widely use Coaching in their organizations. It’s remarkable that 65%
offered coaching to all employees whereas 35% offered Coaching services to Directors and senior management.
Previous survey, which took place in 2014, have shown record success of Coaching. The record and stable results
for Coaching and mentoring show that it delivered desired outcome successfully. In one survey report the
recorded purpose of coaching was 53% for personal development and attaining desired outcome, over 32% use
the tool for transition support and 15% use it both as a culture change instrument and to reach organizational
objectives.”
This article aims to clarify what Coaching is, why it should be used and some of the difficulties which can arise from
Coaching in the workplace.
What Is Coaching?
The key characteristics of coaching are:-
•it’s to be performed one-to-one
•it aims to help the Coachee to develop d achieve the desired outcome
•it is an approach which allows the “person being Coached or Coachee” to gain self-awareness and insight rather
than directly telling or advising or guiding or provoking, Coachee as what & how to do or practice or follow or learn
or behave etc.
•it is focused on helping the individual achieve specific goal(s) and is directed towards that only
•it can be used to address a wide range of concerns
•the coaching discussion is based on the coachee’s agenda and needs, not the coach’s wish, opinion or priority, as
its only about Coachee.
•it requires an honest, trustful and open relationship between the Coach and the Coachee, where the coach is
supportive and encouraging.
The aim of coaching is to develop awareness and responsibility in the Coachee through a process where he or she
comes to recognize the best suitable series of actions to take in order to move forward. The Coach, therefore, tries
to avoid giving direct advice or offering his or her own solution and, instead, asks a series of powerful questions to
bring-out the thoughts and multiple probable possibilities of actions by the Coachee.

One of the most popular models used to structure coaching is the GROW model practiced widely by Coaches
world-wide, its process stands as:-
•Goals-what do you want to achieve?
•Reality-what have you done so far? What has been the result?
•Options-what alternatives are available?
•Way forward-what are you going to do?
GROW model underline the idea that coaching is based on establishing clearly the desired outcomes and leads to
actions rather than just thinking and planning, to discover that the Coachee is sincerely committed to attain those -
desired-n-specific outcomes. The absence of direct advice draws a line which makes coaching different from other
forms of development activity, such as Mentoring, Counseling, Guiding, Training and/or Educating. In mentoring
one person/mentor passes on knowledge or share experience to another/mentee.
The prime aims of Coaching is to develop awareness and responsibility in the Coachee by carefully placed powerful
questions. The Coachee is facilitated to develop goals and see the best way forward to achieve them, may be
reviewing past performance in the process.
The concept is that, by way of this thought process, the Coachee will foresee solution(s) which are positively
relevant and realistic because they have originated from the Coachee himself and have not been imposed by
anyone. The person is also likely to be more confident, sincere and committed to take the specific and planned
actions.
The benefits for the Coachee can be:
 Higher motivation and commitment
 Effective decision making
 Clarity of goals and objectives
 Better self-awareness
 Best of ability to deal with change
 Improved ability to work independently
 Greater sense of responsibility, e.g. for own development
 Finds certainty in achieving defined-n-desired outcome.
The organization has obvious several advantages by having motivated and charged employees, committed to
achieving clear defined goals and targeted performance. There should be higher, faster and accurate outcome and
more self–reliance employees, with almost no supervision by superior(s). This can be particularly helpful in
organizations where employees are spread at different work location, offices or site and need to be able to work
independently and to be self–motivating.
Coaching can be used to complement other training and development activities-n-programs. It can be used to
follow up training programs and help participants to implement their learning. Since much learning in
training/courses etc. can be diluted soon as the person returns to work. Using coaching to ensure the transfer of
learning can significantly increase the ROI in training.
Problems of Coaching in the Workplace
Coaching involves a different relationship between Coach and Coachee than exists in the usual management
structures found in most organizations. In some cases, organizations will ask their own managers to coach, rather
than bringing in external coaches. This can cause difficulties but, if the organization wishes to develop coaching as
the predominant management style, then these issues need to be addressed and a solid program be developed.
Both parties may be practicing the traditional management style and role, expecting the manager to
solve problems or tell the other person what is appropriate and may have problems changing to the new
relationship. There may be non-acceptance by both parties. Even if the manager is ready to adopt the new
approach, s/he may lack the essential skills to coach effectively and may need further training.
The key skills and attributes of an effective Coach include:
 Listening –high level listening skills and an ability to avoid the usual barriers to effective listening.
 Questioning –use of powerful questions to develop the coaching conversation and lead the Coachee towards
awareness and action
 Empathy
 Non-judgmental

 No direct advice, guidance or training so that the Coachee develop his own options
 Ability to build rapport and trust
 Encouraging and supportive
 Seeing different perspectives and viewpoints
 Constructively Challenging
It’s established that the coaching relationship rest on openness and trust between the Coach and Coachee.
Furthermore, the conversation should be to its entirety follow the coachee’s agenda and not of the
Coach. These precondition can be difficult to have in the workplace, especially where the manager has double role
of coaching and another of line supervisor for the Coachee. This can mark dent of trust and openness. It’s observed
that there may be limits to determine the agenda by the Coachee as the Organization itself may have clear-n-
strong expectations in terms of performance and acceptable actions from Coachee. The Organizations can address
these problems by separating coaching from other areas of functional areas, for instance, making sure that
Coaches are not also the line managers of those Coachee.
Coaching and by defining the boundaries of the coaching sessions that take place. They can also try to create a
Coaching Culture by establishing that coaching takes across the organization and at all levels, functions, locations
and sex. It should not be treated as a remedial approach for underperformers or sticky employees. The Coaching
activity must be recognized at par with other values management approaches.
Coaching is now extensively practiced as a normal-n-regular corporate culture. It has surpassed the stage of being
the new trend or tool and has accepted by many businesses as part of their management and development tools.
However, the success of any coaching primarily depends on the expertise of the coaches and the degree of
understanding about Coaching in the organization as why it’s introduced and envisioned to achieve.
Sourcing Professional Support
Dr. Sunil Kr Kapoor, a Professional, Certified and Practicing Coach, provide Coaching services and the development
of programs to develop a Coaching culture within different client organizations. It involves working in close
partnerships with senior executives to reap the benefits such as those described within this artifact.
Dr.Kapoor can be reached at corehrdc@gmail.com for more details about the services on Coaching, HR Consulting,
Training and LDP.