Today I heard that coaching is like playing Angry Birds. Yes, Angry Birds… I have just come back from a very intriguing coaching workshop. The coach was a former game developper, thus the comparison, I believe. How accurate though!
But hey, what is this coaching anyway? And why am I writing about it? I discovered coaching a couple of years ago but officially started using it as a tool some 10 months ago. I just didn’t realize this was such a powerful tool in helping people achieve their (I repeat: THEIR) goals.
Yes, I do coach people from time to time and I feel passionate about it. Whenever my coachee proceeds with the changes in their life (that they have feared for so long!) or gets their dream job, or even cuts off this toxic relationship with their partner, I feel like I’m giving a little bit of myself to this world. The feeling is indescribable. Seriously.
This week, as it is International Coaching Week, I’m attending a series of workshops and lectures dedicated to coaching. It gives me such a pleasure to discover more about this topic and to hear success stories of people who uncovered their own potential during their coaching sessions. I believe in people, I’ve always did. I used to repeat, while working as a project manager in an international corporation, that people are the best company’s asset. Each and every person has a particular talent. It just has to be uncovered sometimes. A good coach is the one who helps with this mystery.
Nowadays, more and more organizations realize the importance of coaching. They send their managers for a couple of sessions each time they see there is a problem (such as lack of motivation, need for self-development or conflict with other employees, etc.). It’s good to see this trend. It means senior management is willing to invest in their people. Or I’m just being too naive 😉
That’s how I got into coaching myself: I started coaching people (business coaching). At work. The change I saw in my coachee after 3 months was tremendous. What’s more important actually is that HE saw that change and was very proud of it. Did I mentor him? Nope, I was just asking questions. All right questions apparently 😉 That success motivated me to continue with coaching sessions. In the meantime, I also discovered the power of self-coaching but I’ll write about it another time.
So coming back to Angry Birds and coaching… Surprised to hear the comparison? I was as well. But when you look closer you will realize there are similarities between both indeed. I didn’t take notes during the workshop this time (shame on me, I know…) but, from what I remember, it goes something like this:
- GOAL/OUTCOME – what do you want to achieve in the game?
- BOARD of the game – where are you now? what is the situation? what is the reality?
- CHOICES/RESOURCES – what can you do now? what do you have now that you can use to achieve your goal?
- PLANNING – what will you do? what actions will you take? (try different techniques, what works etc.)
- REVIEW – what went well / not so well? (lessons learned)
This model reminds me a bit of the OSCAR coaching model. OSCAR stands for: Outcome, Situation, Choices/Consequences, Actions and Review.
If you’re struggling with an issue, you might want to check out if a coaching session wouldn’t be of any help to you. Coaching is a very popular tool and there are numerous coaches all around the globe to help you out.
If you have any successful stories to share, whether you are a coach or a coachee, I’ll be happy to hear about them 🙂 Don’t hesitate to leave a comment.
PS. Picture taken from HERE.
Inspirefulness 