Instant Coaching

Citation

(2001), "Instant Coaching", Work Study, Vol. 50 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2001.07950gae.005

Instant Coaching

Instant Coaching

Paul BirchKogan PageISBN: 0749434414£9.99

Many organizations are coming to realize the power of coaching and managers are having to develop new skills rapidly in order to make use of coaching techniques at work. But being a coach is not the same as being a teacher.

Paul Birch describes coaching as "a systematic approach to improvement through questioning and guidance that focuses on incremental changes in current performance to reach a target level".

Successful coaches help to improve performance by drawing out and developing key strengths: they question and guide, they help people to focus and achieve more. Some managers can find the shift to a coaching style of management difficult to achieve: this text aims to quickly improve managers' ability to coach someone at work, provide a good grounding in the key skills they need to develop and boost confidence.

Some of the topics covered in Instant Coaching are:

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  coaching individuals and groups;

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  assessing an individual's current performance;

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  developing a coaching plan;

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  keeping track of whether coaching is having the right effect; and

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  learning how to motivate and communicate effectively.

Paul Birch is a change and creativity consultant and trainer. One of his previous roles was that of "Corporate Jester", at British Airways – an internal consultant who challenges and provokes at all levels of the organization. Here, he presents a simple and practical insight into the concept of coaching in a business training context.