•It has become fashionable these days to say, “You should get a coach.”  In fact, a survey of Fortune 1000 companies conducted by an international consulting firm found that 65% of the companies sampled use external coaches with their executives and managers.  As coaching has mushroomed, the term has come to include a broad range of training and consultative services. 

The use of coaching has increased for two primary reasons.
First, coaching can accelerate learning.  The rapid pace of change in markets and organizations demands fast learning, skill development, and behavior change.  Second, people must constantly learn new things.  But there is always more to learn than anyone has time to pursue.  Coaching is often more “customizable” than many other forms of learning.  The focused nature of coaching can help managers target learning that best applies to their personal and business needs. 

The executive or manager thinking of using coaching may be asking, “What kind of coaching, by whom, and what outcome should I expect?”  This guide will give you a roadmap for answering these  questions.  It will also explain the critical elements in the coaching process.

The Focus of Coaching

Typically, coaching will concentrate on one of the four following areas of change:

Skill building – The skill coach is usually an expert in a particular area or field.  The role of the coach is to advise the learner on how to acquire specific skills.

Performance coaching – The learner has performed below expectations and needs help with performance improvement.  This type of coaching is usually very problem solving in nature, though it may also involve some skill building if the solution to the problem is outside the learner’s current range of skills.

Career development – This type of coaching helps the learner identify his or her desired career path, assess readiness for positions along that path, plan career moves, and seek positions which lead to development along that career path.

Executive coaching – Executive coaching is a term that has come to mean almost anything.  For our purposes, however, we will refer to executive coaching as high-level process consultation to decision makers to help them have a better understanding of their own interpersonal and psychological processes.  The goal of this type of coaching is to help people in key roles sharpen their influence with individuals and groups, to make better use of their talents, to master very difficult or complex situations, and to experience personal growth as well as professional achievement.