Coach works

In an era when we have reached saturation point in terms of management speak, techniques and troubleshooters, it would easy to be cynical about the idea of ‘coaching' at work. But give this practice a chance, and you could be surprised by how effective it can be.

So what is coaching? The idea behind the concept is to help both employers and their employees to get more out of their work. It can help members of staff gain greater competence and overcome barriers to improving performance; and it can result in a more productive workforce.

It is most appropriate when a person has the ability and knowledge for their role, but their performance does not reflect this.

Coaching differs from training. Training is a structured process to provide employees with the knowledge and skills-set to perform job tasks, whereas coaching is about changing a person's attitude to undertaking these tasks. In other words, it aims to change behaviour.

A coaching programme focuses on the psychology of peak performance. It provides techniques such as neuro-linguistic programming, to coach a person to achieve higher outcomes by looking for opportunities to succeed in any role. Neuro-linguistic techniques are a type of hypnosis, which can coax more positive behaviour from people.

Opportunities to succeed present themselves to most people many times and in many ways. So the question is not so much when and how an opportunity will come, but whether you will be ready to grasp it when it appears. Those that grasp opportunities succeed.

But not everybody is capable of grasping every opportunity. Fear, pain and pleasure are all emotions that can limit people's success. Only through mastering these emotions do we stand a chance of being successful.

This is where the concept of a ‘comfort zone' is useful. A person can perform effectively, efficiently and with confidence within their comfort zone.

However, our emotions are often at their most negative when we are pushed into a situation that is outside our comfort zone. This might happen when a person moves into new areas of expertise in their job, which are unfamiliar. For example, a mechanical engineer tackling electrical engineering and vice versa; or moving from a maintenance-focused job to becoming a designer manager.

Such a change will induce discomfort in many people. Indeed, the more they move away from their comfort zone, the greater the awkwardness can become.

At worst, people forced to operate outside their comfort zone may experience: panic attacks, poor co-ordination, palpitations, memory loss, nausea, a dry throat, severe perspiration, energy loss… And yet, being pushed towards new attainments can be how we rise to our greatest achievements.

When we do break out, our comfort zone becomes larger and we grow because of it. Coaching can help people to go beyond their comfort zone by using the performance model depicted in the diagram above. The model enables people to understand the relationship between goal setting and getting outcomes, and to consciously change it.

A negative internal barrier will always cause a bad habit to form – and usually a bad work result

It also indicates how we form our values and belief system. A value is something you aspire to, but will change if the situation dictates, ie, lying when it suits; whereas a belief is something you will die for, ie, protection of your family. A value can become a belief if the general event becomes personal enough.

If an event were bad, this would lead to a limiting value and/or a limiting belief, which in turn would lead to negative thoughts and negative emotions. Our thoughts, beliefs and emotions determine our habits/behaviours. Therefore our beliefs, thoughts, perceptions and emotions can become internal barriers to success.

It goes without saying that if a person is in a negative state of mind, then their actions and behaviour will not be as positive as when they do it in a positive state of mind.

The result of an effort carried out in this state of mind will either be failure or success; and in turn it will reinforce values, thereby determining potential to succeed in the future. Take the example of a person who has designed a heating system that has turned out badly. Their experience is that they annot design a heating system.

What happens is that the next time they have to design a heating system, that too will turn out badly because they expect it to turn out like that.

These states of mind and body can only be altered by taking control of the situation, instead of allowing the situation to take control of us.

A negative internal barrier will always cause a bad habit to form - and usually a bad work result as well.

But psychotherapy and support from a trained coach can break this bad pattern of behaviour, and enable staff to achieve better personal growth and work performance.

There are a number of different types of coaching strategy available, and companies that want to really invest in their staff in a worthwhile, mutually beneficial way could do well to consider using coaching. You could end up with happier, less-stressed staff.

Which has got to be good for business.