Appendix 6
Reflective Grid – Coaching and Mentoring Skills Workshop. This was completed by one student and provides her reflections on coaching during the assessment task.
Areas for reflection / Evaluation / What did you learn? / How will you use this learning in the future? / What action/s will you take to continue with your development?What did you do well when initiating the coaching conversation?
What would you like to do differently next time? / When first initiating the coaching conversation I covered confidentiality, the time of the session and a brief explanation about coaching.
I followed the rapport building basic tips from the Mind Tools website, both in the introduction and throughout; including looking the coachee in the eyes, smiling, being sincere and facing the person, as well as showing empathy (Mind Tools, 2014).From the feedback I received, from both the observer and tutors, the introduction was comprehensive and professional with clear evidence of rapport building.
I utilised the T-GROW model (Downey, 2003) to structure the coaching session, and so firstly focused on the topic area and then established the coachee’s goal. On reflection I would have liked to have spent more time clarifying the goalto ensure the conversation and outcome that follows are completely relevant (Grant, 2006).
Although overall I am happy with my introduction to the coaching session, I would like to build further on my rapport building skills to ensure the coachee feels comfortable in sharing their thoughts with me. As active listening (Mind Tools, 2014) plays a key role in rapport building (Cox and Smy, 2013) this is an area I would like to develop in; especially in the initial stages of coaching when I feel my nerves can distract me from focusing on listening. I also received the feedback from the observer that my posture could have been more open and this is therefore, something I will be conscious to improve on in future coaching sessions. / I gained further experience in initiating a coaching session, covering the key factors of time and confidentiality, as well as explaining the purpose of coaching. I also learnt the importance of attentively listening and spending adequate time on understanding and clarifying the goal for the coaching session, so not to lose focus. / I will use this learning to focus the development of my coaching skills and in building rapport, active listeningand clarifying the coachee’s goal in future coaching sessions I carry out. / In order to develop my coaching skills in these areas I will continue to practice coaching and reflect on my progress. I think further practice will also build my confidence and ease my initial nerves in commencing a coaching session.Furthermore, I will continue to research coaching techniques; for example using Mind Tools and Coaching at Work websites.
How well did you explore the coachee’s current and desired situation?
What would you like to do differently next time? / I think I explored the coachee’s current and desired situation relatively well through the use of scaling questions. The scaling questions gave clarity to where the coachee was with their issue and where they wanted to be, as well as gave the opportunity for me to incorporate the gap-analysis model;focusing on how the coachee gets to where they want to be and exploring the barriers in between (Grant, 2011).
The feedback from my tutor mirrored my thoughts that the scaling questions helped to establish focus and understanding of the coachee’s current and desired situation.
I occasionally clarified my understanding of the coachee’s reality; however this is an area I feel I need to develop further in. As previously mentioned, I think my listening skills in this coaching session could have been improved on, which in turn hindered my ability to replay my understanding back to the coachee. Clarification is an important aspect of coaching for several reasons: to demonstrate listening and build rapport; to clarify what is important to the coachee; to guide the coaching process, and to encourage to coachee to begin a process of self-discovery (Cox, 2013). / I learnt that scaling questions are an effective means by which to explore the coachee’s reality - their current and desired situation, as well as explore the gap in between (what the coachee has done so far and barriers to progress).
I also learnt the important of listening in being able to clarify understanding, which in turn keeps the conversation focused. / I will use this learning in future coaching sessions I undertake; incorporating scaling questions where appropriate and being conscious to attentively listen to the coachee. / Following this experience I will endeavour to develop my listening skills and as far as possible be conscious to keep focused and not be distracted by nerves. Again, I think this is something that will improve with practice as my confidence builds.
In exploring the coachee’s options did your questions generate some less obvious choices?
What techniques did you employ in order to evaluate these choices?
What would you like to do differently next time? / With probing, the coachee thought of several valid options to resolve their issue, some of which appeared to be options that they had not previously considered. As far as I recollect the questions I asked were mainly open; however I may have at times been inadvertently leading the coachee, which is something that was raised in my formal feedback. I was not aware that I was doing this and am therefore going to beconscious of this in future coaching sessions I conduct.
I noted down the options they presented and asked the coachee to assess the suitability of each in turn. In hindsight this is an area where I should have asked more challenging questions, as a critical barrier to the chosen option was presented by the coachee later in the coaching session. As this barrier was not established earlier there was not time to reassess whether this was the most suitable way forward.Another sign that I should have spent more time with the coachee in considering the options was that the option chosen was not necessarily the most relevant to the goal of the session. Both of these factors were also raised by the tutor and observer in my formal feedback.
In my next coaching session I would like to bemore assertive in challenging the coachee’s assumptions. As Hawkins and Smith (2010) suggest, powerful questions are core to coaching as they enable the coachee to explore the situation from different standpoints and generate new perspectives and possibilities. / I have learnt a great deal from this section of the coaching session, especially areas for further development. In future coaching sessions I will be mindful not to lead the coachee and to explore barriers to the options presented before a way forward is chosen. / I will use this learning to develop my skills in these areas for future coaching sessions I undertake. / Do develop in the options stage of coaching I am going to continue to practice and reflect on my progress. I will also research typical questions and techniques to utilise in this section of the coaching conversation to improve my skills in this area.
How well did you provide feedback to the coach? / I was overall, happy with the feedback I provided the coach. I tried to balance positive and negative feedback, and made sure the negative feedback was constructive. I asked the coachee how they felt the coaching session had gone in order for the coach to receive more detailed and fuller feedback. I enjoy watching coaching sessions so did not find that I lost concentration. I am pleased that the feedback I received from my tutor on my observations was largely positive. / I feel that my skills in observing coaching have definitely improved as I have developed my understanding of what is expected of a coach in a coaching session. I have learnt to take note of the key points (e.g model used, question type/style, body language, etc). I try to provide the coach with honest, balanced and full feedback in order to aid their development. / I will use this learning in future coaching observations I undertake. / When observing coaching in future I will follow a similar process, noting down my thoughts against a pre-prepared list of the different aspects of coaching.
What part of the coaching conversation did you enjoy most and why? / The coachee followed the GROW model and I most enjoyed the reality section. I thought the coachee covered this area well, asking questions about how the coachee felt, the background of the issue, what they had done so far, the support they had available and what they would like the situation to be like in an ideal world. I felt the coachee asked the appropriate questions to get to the real root of the problem, which was not immediately obvious. The questions asked ensured the coachee had a detailed picture of the issue before moving on to the options stage. / In watching this coaching session I developed my understanding of the types of questions to ask as a coach in the reality stage of the grow model. / Watching this coaching session has given me ideas of further questions to ask in the reality stage of the coaching model. I will use this knowledge in future coaching sessions I undertake. / To continue my coaching development I will reflect on the reality section of my next coaching session. I will also look to observe more coaching sessions to learnt techniques, questions and approaches from other coaches.
Evaluate your use of the following skills or qualities:
Asking powerful questions / As mentioned, I think this is a particularlyprevalent area for further development for me. I think my questions, especially in the options stage of the session, could have been more powerful in order to encourage the coachee down new paths of thinking and challenge their assumptions. / I learnt that powerful questioning is essential to coaching conversations, in order for the coachee to generate new perspectives. / I will be mindful of my questioning technique in future coaching sessions and where possible include powerful/challenging questions. / I will continue to develop my questioning skills through further research and practice.
Listening, clarifying and testing understanding / As mentioned, I think my nerves distracted me from completely listening to the coachee, which in turn impacted on my ability to clarify and test my understanding. / I learnt that I need to control my nerves in assessed coaching sessions so not to hinder my ability to listen, clarify and test my understanding. / I will continue to practice coaching and reflect on my performance in order to build my confidence, which will hopefully help to lessen my nerves in formal assessment situations.
Empathising / I felt I was able to put myself in the coachee’s place to view the problem and made no assumptions about the coachee. I received the feedback from the observer that I had a nice manner, was very attentive. I think I could have improved on empathy in the session by asking more questioning as to how the issue made the coachee feel and also played this back to them. / I learnt that I could look to include more questions inquiring how the coachee feels in future coaching sessions. I think it is difficult at times not to make assumptions about the coachee and this is something I will continue to be mindful of. / I will look to include questions about how the coachee’s feels and be mindful not to make assumptions about the coachee in future coaching sessions / I will practice my empathising skills in future coaching sessions and reflect on my performance in order to aid my development.
Providing feedback and observation / I was happy with the quality of the feedback I provided. I attentively listened to the coaching conversation and felt I gave honest and appropriate feedback. I also received the feedback that I had good clarification and provided focused feedback. / In this session I used a list of the different aspects of coaching to structure my comments (e.g. model, questions, body language, etc), which I found to be very useful in structuring and focusing my feedback. / I will continue to use a pre-prepared list of the different aspects of coaching to review the coachee against in future coaching sessions. / I will continue to observe coaching sessions to learn more about the skills that make up an effective coach.
Concentration / At times I found my nerves distracted me from concentrating on listening whilst I was coaching; however I didn’t find myself to be distracted by anything else. I was interested to listen to the coachee’s problem and to help them to resolve it.
I felt I had high concentration whilst being the observer. / I learnt that I need to practice more and have confidence in myself to ease my nerves in assessed coaching sessions. / This learning has identified further areas for development. / I will continue to practice coaching in order to improve my confidence and ability.
Tutor feedback comments removed but were provided throughout using the standard comments tool.
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