1. Coaching Skills
John Oughton

2. Today’s Learning Outcomes
Analyze when faculty need mentoring/coaching
Describe foundations of coaching skills
Recognize what coaching is, and is, not
List some principles
Observe and analyze coaching demo
Practice and observe mini coaching sessions

3. Coaching is Not the Same as:
Teaching
Advising
Facilitating
Counselling
Mentoring

4. Mentoring Important to many at developmental stages
Assumes mentor has superior knowledge/experience
Not a peer activity
Do or not do.
There is no try.

5. “Coaching is
...not telling people what to do; it’s giving them a chance to examine what they are doing in the light of their intentions.” – James Flaherty

6. Coaching
Uses listening, questions, reflection of coachee’s statements/feelings, and intuition to help coachee find own answers
Assumes coachee already
has the knowledge and skills
necessary to solve own
problems, make decisions
and answer questions

7. Special types include Sports Career Life coaching
Personal/professional
development
This is a general approach useful for many situations/relationships -- between peers,
manager/staff, teacher-student relationships
May be done effectively over phone or F2F

8. Coaching
Bloom’s domains: coaching is affective: feelings, values, attitudes
Multiple Intelligences: coaching applies both interpersonal and intrapersonal smarts

9. Benefits of Coaching Increases self-awareness
● Makes people more self-directed
Promotes accountability and commitment
Overcomes “dump and run” syndrome
Increases organization morale, quality of
communication

10. Coaching Traps Believing coaching is remedial
Feeling need to be expert
Being too directive
Staying in problem-solving mode
Pursuing your own agenda
Lacking awareness of own
beliefs/biases
• Not setting agenda and
boundaries

11. COACHING FOUNDATIONS
1. Empathy: being able to communicate authentically what you hear and feel of another’s experience. Putting empathy into action: Reflect what you’ve heard, then ask question, empowering speaker to clarify

12. Coaching Foundations 2 Coachee has the answers
Can find them even when convinced he/she can’t
Coach asks questions to illuminate answers that may be hidden
People are more satisfied/ compelled/ resourceful when using own answers

13. Foundation 3
Listening: attending to what other is saying without passing judgment
Listening Levels
1. Attention is on me (own goals are primary)
2. Attention is on coachee: no internal chatter, aware of other’s every word and nuance
3. Global listening: Attention is on space/energy around and between people, underlying moods and tones as well as words, gestures, body language, etc.

14. Foundation 4
Intuition: learn to recognize when own intuition is working (what does it feel like?)
When you have a hunch about other’s feeling, perception, etc., blurt it out and then ask if that echoes anything for the coachee
Even if not accurate, this may trigger a honest response about where
coachee is

15. Foundation 5: Curiosity
A way of discovering, focusing attention on a specific direction
Helps others discover who they are, what’s important to them
Use open or general questions, rather than specific, for self-exploration
Specific question:
What courses will you
take?
General question:
What would you like to
learn more about?

16. Foundation 6: Powerful Questions
Put curiosity into action. Usually no more than
7-8 words:
“What’s stopping you?”
Special types:
Intruding: head off an-overly detailed answer or excursion: What’s the payoff for you in that?
What’s another way of looking at this?
What value are you (not) honouring here?
Inquiry: get the coachee thinking for a while (e.g. until next session): Could you look up some options and choose three to discuss next time?

17. Foundation 7: Acknowledgement & Championing
Acknowledgement: recognizing (not judging) someone for who they are or who they are becoming, not only their actions
-shows sincere interest in/respect for other; validates their experience
Championing: expressing belief that people can overcome self-doubts or fears and accomplish something; articulates their full potential

18. Foundation 8: Accountability and Commitment
Accountability: Asking coachee to account for achieving plans/intentions. Uses three questions:
What are you going to do?
By when will you do this?
How will I know?
Commitment: asking coachee’s agreement to follow through on action/reflection

19. The Saboteur
Inner critic that stops us when we are thinking big and wanting to move forward
Protects us and the status quo
Some favourite sayings:
“You can’t…
You shouldn’t, mustn’t…
This is the way it’s always been”

20. Career and Life Wheels
Activity 1

21. Coaching Demos Activity 2: 5-10 min. coaching demo
Observers use feedback sheet
Coach and coachee debrief

22. Coaching Practice Activity 3:
in groups of three, take five-minute turns playing these roles:
● Coach
● Coachee
● Observer
After each mini-coaching session, observer describes what he/she saw, then all switch roles

23. In the Immortal Words of Coach..
Yogi Berra (New York Yankees):
“You can observe a lot by just watching”

24. Coaching Certification
Available through many organizations, including:
• YWCA: Life Skills Coaching 1 and 2
• OISE Adult Education and Counselling Psychology /Adler Institute: Professional Skills Coaching
• York University/Schulich Executive Education Centre: Certificate in Coaching Skills for Managers and Directors.