Oct 09
28
Coaching Development
You will be aware that your Personal Development Training encompasses many different opportunities to enhance your self development; one such opportunity is training to become a Professional Development Coach. Kris Robertson of The Coaching Academy discusses the opportunity and what it involves.
Kris, The Coaching Academy’s Client Services Manager says Professional Coaching Development or Coaching Supervision offers coaches continuing professional development and the opportunity to reflect on their work with a more experienced coach and mentor while also giving a form of protection to their clients.
An area of coaching has emerged in the past few years, one that is still so new that its name has yet to be fixed; some call it ‘Coaching Supervision’, others know it as ‘Professional Development Coaching’. The exact definition of this emerging field of coaching is still in the formative stage; essentially it is a structured process for coaches with the help of a coaching supervisor to improve the quality of their coaching. What is clear is the process of coaching coaches, whether they are trainees, newly qualified or very experienced, is being formalised.
Kris is at the forefront of this emerging field. He says becoming a Professional Development Coach has been an evolutionary process but that is beginning to change as more people within the coaching industry become aware of the need for it to be a formalised and accredited qualification that imparts the necessary skills and knowledge.
He is not so keen on the term “supervision” because for him it comes from a therapeutic background: counsellors, therapists, social workers and probation officers have supervision. Professional Development Coaching is subtly different from supervision because it’s a form of both mentoring and coaching that focuses directly on the coaching interaction, specifically looking at a coach’s competency and the impact they are having with their clients or coachees. It looks at the interventions they are using and challenges them in terms of what might be a more effective way of working. It’s obviously conducted in a safe confidential environment so coaches can talk through any challenges they might be experiencing in terms of their role as a coach. For example, he talks about one very experienced coach who told her Professional Development Coach she didn’t like her clients! That happens to the best of us; maybe not all of our clients but occasionally one or two of them. These are the types of issues that a Professional Development Coach can help their clients with.
Kris says, “I think it is invaluable to have somebody that you can go to confidentially to get your frustrations out and come up with some sort of positive solution and way forward both personally and professionally and in terms of coaching competency as well.”
So what happens during a Professional Development Coaching session? First of all, it’s an in-depth exploration of the coaching work. The aim is to help the client develop further so we talk through previous sessions; what went well, or what didn’t go according to plan, what they would do differently next time and how they plan to ensure it does develop next time. We discuss what their action plans are in terms of their areas of development. Obviously, all Professional Development Coaches will be coaches as well as mentors. He uses a lot of coaching skills and questions and techniques in his role as Professional Development Coach.
Occasionally, part of the session may involve providing hypothetical examples. He might ask, “What would you do if your client came to you with this issue? How would you coach them around that?” Normally, it’s qualified coaches who want to be challenged in that way.
Coaches in training typically go to him with issues around goal setting, about how they can help clients commit to powerful goals. An issue which many new coaches struggle with is keeping to the client’s agenda. Many coaches come from careers where they gave advice; areas like career guidance, teaching, social work and accountancy. To come into a discipline in which the whole premise behind the intervention is that you do not give advice and that the client has all the answers within is sometimes difficult for people. He challenges them to come up with strategies that they can use to keep to the client’s agenda.
Sometimes he uses what is called a “Role Shift” session; for example, if someone has a particularly challenging client, he encourage them to take the role of that client and then he coaches them. Afterwards, he can discuss how he did it and what strategies he used.
Is it really any different from having another coach? It’s different because mentoring is involved. I’m bringing in my own experience and giving them advice and input using real world examples. I am using a lot of my skills and experiences in terms of what I have done previously so I am able to give pointers and give advice which is not coaching. For example; if a coach tells me they are struggling to keep a client on track, I can give them some coaching tips and techniques to use which I know from my experience will help keep clients on track.
Kris says Professional Development Coaching is only concerned with the coach’s professional life. While I am using a lot of coaching in the process, it’s solely focused on their skills as a coach and their development as a coach.
The demand for Professional Development Coaching is increasing all the time, he says. There are so many coaches doing a lot of fantastic work, helping people to achieve their goals and they are encouraged to have their own personal coaches but there is still a need for professional development.
What should coaches look for in a Professional Development Coach? Somebody who has a wealth of experience as a coach and that they have rapport with.
Employing a Professional Development Coach at every stage of your coaching career is hugely beneficial, says Kris. The advantage of hiring a Professional Development Coach is that it challenges you and helps you to increase your levels of competence exponentially. If you have someone you can talk to confidentially about the challenges you face as a coach, somebody whose sole purpose is to develop you as a coach, to develop your skills, attitudes and facets that go together to make a professional coach and does it in a structured manner, it can only do good and help you to become even better as coach.
What qualities does a person need to become a Professional Development Coach? If you are a coach and love coaching and your background is helping people achieve through imparting your knowledge then becoming a Professional Development Coach will give you the best of both worlds because while the vast majority of your time will be coaching you’ll be able to share your experiences too.
For further information contact Kris via The Coaching Academy on:
info@the-coaching-academy.com
www.the-coaching-academy.com
Tel: 0208 4399 440
Thank you for reading this post, please let me know what you think and share your experiences. While you’re here please take the time to sign up for the newsletter or alternatively you may prefer to subscribe for regular updates in your favourite reader or by email.
photo credit: Melody Campbell
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Hi Paul
This is a great article about the ongoing professional development of coaches. Maybe because I've done therapy training, I have no problem with the intervention you're talking about here being called “supervision”, but I understand the argument for calling it something else. Perhaps also because I've done therapy training, I've understood from an early stage in my coaching work the importance of having someone who supports your coaching work. It's great to know that I have the resource, and also that I can go there and unpick some of my work. The insights and learnings are awesome and of course feed back directly into my subsequent coaching work.
It'll be interesting to see how the whole field develops. Thanks meantime for posting such an interesting article on it!
Christine,
Thank you for your detailed feedback.
I think the coaching profession is and probably has been for a number of years an important feature of our lives. Not just personally but also professionally; gone are the days when we could rely on the elders in our family at home or the experienced member of staff at work, to guide us and offer advise.
With the new thinking being based on the answers coming from within ourselves, (Sir John Whitmore covers this beautifully) the development of good coaches is just as essential as the coaches themselves. As coaching is, and not before time, seeking credibility and be recognised as a governed profession (similar to lawyers, solicitors and other similar groups) the use of “supervision” (or whatever it's called) is an important and necessary feature.
Thank you again for your contribution.
Regards
Paul
I like the way you put that, Paul: “the new thinking being based on the answers coming from within ourselves”. Spot on!
Christine,
Thank you for your support.
Regards
Paul