What is Coaching?

 

Coaching is a form of development, where a Coach supports you (a coachee) to create learning, self- development and improved performance in a way that benefits you.

From early forms of transportation, i.e. stage coach, or rail coach, the word “coaching” literally means to transport someone from one place to another. One thing that all forms of coaching have in common is that people are using it to help them move forward in a certain direction.

One simple example is probably that of a sports coach. Here, the coach supports the individual to improve their performance and get better results; depending on what they want to achieve. For a golfer, the goal might be winning a major tournament, or simply improving their grip. The role of the coach is to apply specific principles of success, in a way that creates experiential learning and improvement for the golfer.

Coaching is normally a conversation, or series of conversations, one person has with another. The coach intends to produce a conversation that will benefit the other person, the coachee, in a way that relates to the coachee’s learning and progress.

For example, coaching might consist of two people talking in a room about things the coachee wants to change. This is sometimes called “off-line” coaching. It might also be one person observing another person doing something, e.g. chairing a meeting, then discussing that afterwards. This can be called “on-line” coaching.