Jane Stubberfield Developing Coaching Skills

By the end of this session you will be able to:  Identify the importance of observation skills in coaching  Improve your observations skills  Identify someone’s method of information processing from eye accessing cues

Having outstanding observation skills allows you to pick up what is happening with the person you are coaching quickly and easily. It enables you to find out whether what you are doing is having the results the person wants or not

The purpose of this exercise is to begin to help you notice much more when you are talking to someone. Find someone to have a talk to about something there are very interested in Your job is to find out as much as you can about the topic and to pay exquisite attention to the reactions you get from the other person and

 When you do this exercise be twice as aware of the person as you normally are  Use your senses to take in all of the person.  Listen to the words, hear the tone, volume, intonation in the voice and when it changes  Listen and note the kind of words they use. Is there a particular word pattern that keeps re- appearing? Continued

 Do they use particular mannerisms when they talk, do you they sit in a particular way, when does that change?  Note their facial expressions and when they change  When asking the question use some of the language that the person uses  Above all be aware of all of the person

Jot down some of the things that you noticed, you will come back to them later

 Find a partner to work with  One person will be the observer and the other person will be the mover  The observer will pay great attention to the mover and then close their eyes  The mover will move something about themselves, maybe the position of a finger or tilt of the head etc  Observer will open their eyes and say what has been moved  Repeat this 8 times, with the changes in movement getting smaller and smaller each time

Watching eye movements allows you to discover how someone is processing information. If you know how someone is processing information means you can adjust your questions and what you are doing to suit their processing. This helps create greater rapport.

Visual remembered Auditory remembered Auditory digital Visual constructed Auditory constructed Kinaesthetic (Feelings)

Visual constructed Auditory constructed Kinaesthetic (Feelings) Visual remembered Auditory remembered Auditory digital A small proportion of the population are reverse organised

 Find someone to work with  Ask them a couple of questions from each section of the list of questions on the next slide  Make sure you are watching the eyes as you are asking the questions  Notice where the eyes go.

 Visual Remembered  What colour is your front door?  What colour was your first car?  What was the brightest colour clothing you wore recently?  Visual Constructed  What would an orange square with purple stripes look like?  What colour hair will you have in 20 years from now?  What would an elephant with pink polka dots look like?  Kinaesthetic  What is eating a lemon like?  What does it feel like to float in the water?  How does it feel to put your hand in a bucket of water? Continued

 Auditory Remembered  What does a dog barking sound like?  Listen to your favourite song in your mind  Tune into the sound of the ocean  Auditory Constructed  What would it sound like if I was speaking underwater  What would it sound like if a lion yodelled?  What would a whistle sound like in space?  Auditory Digital  Say the first lines of the national anthem to yourself  Recite a nursery rhyme to yourself  What do you say to yourself to psyche yourself up?

This resource was created by the University of Plymouth, Learning from WOeRk project. This project is funded by HEFCE as part of the HEA/JISC OER release programme.Learning from WOeRk This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license ( The resource, where specified below, contains other 3 rd party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and attributions are outlined below: 1.The name of the University of Plymouth and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources. 2.The JISC logo, the and the logo of the Higher Education Academy are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license. Author Jane Stubberfield InstituteUniversity of Plymouth TitleObservation Skills Description Date Created March 2011 Educational Level Level 4 Keywords Coaching, Mentoring Creative Commons License Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project ©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved