Coaching is an intervention where the coachee develops personally and professionally with the help of a coach. It is action and solutions-oriented. The coach helps the coachee unravel issues that the coachee faces but does not provide advice or answers. Instead, it is the coachee who finds the answers by him/herself with the help of the coach. How does the coach do this? The coach must be completely present for the coachee and be sensitive to the changes in mood and energy level of the coachee. In this state, the coach asks open-ended questions and knows when to ask them and what to ask.

The coaching model that I learned focuses on life coaching. It assumes that coaching cannot be isolated to either your professional or personal issues but that all aspects of your life are connected. I have seen how powerful this tool can be; I have helped an employee realize what’s most important for him in his career or help a person realize what is holding them back from moving forward.

I think everyone can benefit from coaching, regardless of where you are in your career or job. I find that it is a useful personal and professional development tool. It allows you to tap into yourself to find answers to your questions. In many situations, I have seen executives who have recently been moved into a new role be assigned an executive coach who has been hired from the outside. The purpose of those coaches is to help the executive in succeeding in his/her new role by working on self-perception and adjustment to the new role.

How can you gain access to a coach?

Some HR business partners are trained coaches or if you have an Organizational Development or Training department, there may be trained coaches on staff. You can also ask around since there could be a trained coach who works in line management. Otherwise, there are numerous coaches available who are trained and/or certified if you plan to hire one from outside of your organization.

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