Coaching and Self Leadership

Introduction

Helping managers and employees succeed
Although people do have competence and hidden" talents, most people don`t always succeed in developing their full potentials on their own. Many pursue counterproductive behaviours due to negative self-talk and cognitive traps (automatic, negative thoughts). Both individuals and teams need good helpers to assist them in identifying and developing their potentials. The old “command and control” theories in leadership must be replaced by new theories promoting action, results and positive feelings.. This is a process-oriented course which emphasizes developing attitudes and skills in coaching in order to achieve change. Coaching entails helping individuals to develop their own way of thinking, behaviour and learning in order to achieve important personal goals and/or organizational goals.

Course content

Coaching: Helping one-self, managers and employees succeed

• What is coaching? Why coaching? How to coach?
• Coaching versus management, mentoring, consulting, counselling and therapy
• Effects of leadership. What are research views? Effects of coaching. What are research views?

Setting the agenda: Challenges and possibilities ahead

• Paradoxes and dilemmas in leadership and collaboration
• From “command and control theories” to coaching
• “The knowing-doing gap”. From knowledge to actual action
• Ethical issues, pitfalls and "red flags".

The foundation of coaching

• Positive psychology. Flow. The Dream of the Good Life
• Fundamental belief: All people have resources. The learning individual
• Self-fulfilling prophecies
• Andragogy and pedagogy. Philosophical roots of coaching

Coaching models: Alternative forms of coaching

• Behavioural coaching, cognitive coaching, phenomenological coaching
• Skills coaching, result coaching, developmental coaching

Coaching methodology: Stages in a coaching conversation

• Build trust and rapport. Understanding of situation
• Degree of readiness and motivation for coaching. What is the desired outcome??
• What are your talents and strengths?
• Intrinsic and extrinsic hindrances. How to overcome hindrances which are within your control?
• Brainstorming and choice. Developing an action plan. Scaling technique.
• Implementation, evaluation. Learning step by step. Personal rewards.

Self-leadership: Helping employees to lead themselves. Desired outcomes of coaching

• Cognitive management: To try to control/manage your own thoughts
• Behavioural management: To try to control/manage your own behaviour
• Natural/intrinsic rewards: achievement, self-assertion, competence development and self-esteem
• Managment of cues: Facilitating achievements by organiizing environmental factors
• Self-efficacy

Communication

• Listening on various levels. Asking good open-ended questions. Solution-focused dialogue
• Using intuition to understand more. Challenge and support action
• Facilitate mastery experiences. Feedback.
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Development of skills in coaching

• What characterizes a skilled coach. What characterizes the manager coach as leadership style?
• Success factors and pitfalls in coaching
• Strong focus on solutions and future goals. Less focus on problems and negative experiences in the past

Putting coaching into practice

• Development of thinking, behaviour and learning methods
• Skills training. Action learning. Self-reflection. Feedback.
• Creating a personal and professional development plan
• Ethics and "red flags" in coaching