Management
Coaching Summary Report
Introduction
Coaching is a very vital process in any organization, since it enhances better development of leadership skills. Individuals, who are subjected to effective coaching, tend to uncover their potentials, which might have been otherwise untapped (Bowman, Bill, 2006). Therefore, leaders and other employees of an organization have to be subjected to coaching under a qualified coach to improve their skills and record enhanced performance at work. This paper is a summary report reflecting on the practice of coaching by application of FUEL coaching framework, as well exploration of the role of coaching in the process of leadership and development.
My experience of coaching exercise in class has supported the notion that coaching is a very important skill for the leaders of the future. First, through the class coaching exercise, I realized that coaching is an important skill for the future leaders, as it instills confidence as well as helps to build self-esteem for them to take up the leadership roles. In this case, coaching contributes towards mentoring and building confidence through affirmation of improved performance from regular feedbacks. This is also a good opportunity for the participants to assess their strengths and weaknesses in career planning and development for future leadership (Homan, Miller, 2008). I also realized that coaching instills competence in individuals aspiring to be future leaders. For instance, less experienced members, such as the new staff, normally exercise more coaching before they can take up leadership positions in any work place.
Another thing that has supported my notion towards future leadership and development is that the experience I had in class supported the fact that coaching promotes excellence both at individual, as well as team levels. It is only through habitual good practices that excellence can be realized. Coaching enhances the regularity of meeting and delivery of constructive feedbacks. It is only through coaching that members can learn good habits and continuously subject themselves to the assessments in order to realize their potential and the areas for improvement for future leadership. It is this process that makes them attain excellence at work.
Through the class experience, I also realized that coaching is a major contributor towards commitment to the organizational goals and objectives. Through coaching, the members are able to balance the process of achieving both long term and short term organizational targets. They are able to align their personal goals to those of the organization or teams, and keep their personal interest in check to avoid conflicts. Lastly, through the class experience, I was able to confirm that coaching is one of the best ways to produce future leaders, who are valuable. This is achieved through coaching members to become leaders, who can lead by example. Making members understand the importance and the benefits associated with leading by example will definitely mold leaders, who will follow suit; thus, becoming valuable (Zenger, Folkman, 2009).
It is important for the leaders to develop trusting partnerships in order to make the coaching conversations productive. Leaders can only develop trusting partnerships in coaching sessions, if they are fully convinced that the coaching exercise they are being subjected to is effective and relevant to their career. This can only be ensured through giving proper outlines of the coaching exercise, as well as the expected outcomes. Those expected to lead the coaching exercise ought to be competent enough and selected through proper laid out procedures, so that the participants can develop trust in them. No leader wants to waste time on the exercise that will not make a positive impact to his or her career, and this is why the trustworthy partnerships are important. Leaders can also develop trusting relationships with the coaches by embracing mutual understanding, respect, and togetherness. In case of any problem during the coaching exercise, leaders need to collaborate and address it in a manner that will not appear to be demeaning to the coaches (Zenger, Stinnett, 2010). Seeking out proper communication channels and strategies is another way of ensuring that leaders develop trusting partnerships with their mentors during the coaching exercise. Proper communication strategies will enable the leaders to air out their views and suggestions and get appropriate and timely feedback from the mentors. Failure to achieve this trusting partnership will definitely lead to a fruitless coaching exercise. It is likely to fail and the outcomes are unlikely to be positive. In other words, the participants are unlikely to emerge as better and improved people in terms of leadership skills development when the coaching exercise lacks trusting partnership (Brockband, 2006).
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During my role as a coach, the most interesting components that I would like to address and explore are the second and the fourth components (understanding the current state, and laying out a proper success plan). Under understanding the current state, the coach is required to make an exploration of the present state from the perspective of the people to be coached. This will help to understand the real coaching issue. During my practice as a coach, I had a very curious mind set. I played the role of a minority only adding to the insights brought out by many. I had to make the participants understand the need for change and that change can only be attained through the relevant coaching. Asking open-ended questions made the participants feel the real change issue. This experience was similar to what the authors stated that in order to fully understand the current state you have to get the views from other participants, establish the need for coaching, and give directions toward exploring the real issue (Zenger, Folkman, 2009).
Considering the laying out of a success plan as the last stage of FUEL, the coach is required to come up with the specific action steps that are time bound and geared towards achieving the desired outcomes. Every step has to be accounted for. I handled this stage by providing the participants in class with a clear vision on the anticipated goals. I then assigned specific actions with specific timelines to enhance accountability and follow up. This experience slightly differed from the authors perspective, as it involved extensive use of persuasive and creative skills to make the participants get up to the task assigned. I also made sure everyone was fully participating.
There are several challenges involved when delivering feedback. Among these challenges there are high expectations from the participants, resistance to accept the feedbacks, the outcomes turning out to be contrary with the ones desired, and the choice of the delivery language. Positive feedbacks are much easier to deliver than the negative ones. Therefore, as a coach, I will choose an appropriate communication language and make participants understand that negative and positive feedbacks are both possible outcomes (Zenger, Stinnett, 2010). I will make them understand that the weaknesses are not failures, but they should be taken as stepping stones towards attain higher levels. I will give feedback at group level, so that the participants know the strengths and weakness of each other, which enables them to help one another appropriately.
Conclusion
Coaching is a very important process in any organization and it has been seen as a ladder towards making leaders, who are excellent, confident, competent, and valuable. FUEL has been seen and practically applied as one of the most effective frameworks for coaching, and it has proved to be effective, as it contemplates for togetherness and team work spirit. Just like any other development process, coaching also has challenges, and the process of giving feedback has been identified as one of the most challenging stages, which has to be handled with care through effective communication and motivation of all participants.