At a recent event I hosted a panel discussion on Coaching across Cultures (if you weren't there, you missed a great session) and was asked a great double barreled question that I wanted to share with you here.
How has coaching evolved? and, given we have multiple generations with diverse goals and expectations seeking workplace meaning and purpose, in a volatile ever changing world... is coaching still relevant?
And it was one of those questions that really made me pause, organize my thoughts and test my own assumptions.
How would you answer those questions? How are you r organization answering them?. Pop a comment below I'd love to know. IF you're interested here are my answers
How has coaching evolved? Coaching has evolved as more organizations in government, not for profit, business and beyond invest in coaching they are seeking answers to how coaching works and why coaching works, this has driven a focus on best practice. Accreditation bodies like the ICF, EMCC and WABC are driving a structured approach, often backed by solid research and field testing producing a formalization and standardization that brings rigor and discipline to the practice. But the evolution of coaching goes further and deeper. As the sum total of human knowledge increases in every area, the research and studies bein conducted in fields like psychology, economics, neuro science, motivation and cognition are making their way into the coaching canon. And as those (and other) fields expand, so does coaching evolve.
Is coaching still relevant?
The short answer is yes, but it's more complex than that. Coaching his hyper-personalized to the coachee. The agenda is driven by them, the coach facilitates a reflection on the situation, questions assumptions, holds a mirror to the coachee to help she/he see their own patterns and helps the coachee build a plan to effect meaningful behavior change.
Train someone in time management and delegation and you'll improve their productivity, but if an interpersonal conflict between two team members threatens a must do project all the time management and delegation skills in the world are to no avail*. But provide that same person a coach and they can address both at point of need and just in time.
And finally the best coaching builds the coachee's ability to self reflect and self correct - ultimately reducing the need for the coach long term.
So yes, coaching is still, very much, relevant.
*Don't get me wrong training skills has a big place in the workforce, coaching offers greater (complimentary) flexibility to skills training.