Everyone benefits from coaching, suitable styles may vary.
While it’s easy to argue that everyone benefits from some form of coaching, it is a broad concept that’s hard to grasp and causes many misunderstandings. To clarify the possibilities and value of coaching in different settings, we’ll walk you through the most essential coaching styles.
By Luuk Tubbing & Joop van Schijndel.
Of course, a coach coaches people. But what is coaching really and what is its value really? Coaching is helping people to help themselves develop personally and/or in their career. Very common objectives are improving performance, more efficient behavior, achieving goals and generally to experience more success and fun. Coaching therefore presupposes growth and variation in terms of vision, attitude and behavior. In a good coaching conversation there is learning involved! Depending on which book you read or who you talk to, different coaching styles are acknowledged. We provide you with some common examples.
Result-oriented
The coach helps the coachee to be explicitly aware of his goals, opportunities, and activities. The coach helps with practical applications and action. He acts as a motivator and helps the coachee to incrementally identify, analyze and realize his goals.
Solution focused
There is spoken about problems without immediate search for causes. Therefore, a diagnosis cannot be established. Instead, the coach helps the coachee to contrast by asking him to clarify the desired situation in concrete behavioral terms. By then seeking for what has already worked in the past, the coachee acquires practical ideas to put steps forward.
Mentor style
The coach has the role of a wise man or woman; a big brother or sister; a dyed-in-the-wool person with a lot of life experience. The coach shares his or her experiences and translates them into the situation of the coachee.
Teacher style
The coach has expert knowledge of the topic at hand (e.g. leadership, writing), on both the theory and application. Sharing knowledge and insights as well as teaching particular skills are the key to this style.
Transformational
The coach is mainly some kind of ´talking mirror´, someone who makes the coachee look at himself and comments on his behavior. The latter is done by asking opinionated and often critical questions. The aim is to cultivate awareness of the behavior of the coachee by wondering where his behavior comes from and what causes it.
Provocative
Provocative coaching is a revolutionary cocktail of humor, warmth, challenge and surprise. Suddenly the coachee shouts that he is worthwhile, that he can do it and that he will do the damn thing! This is the result of a provocative principle in action: “If you want the donkey to go forward, pull him by the tail.”
Luuk Tubbing MSc is consultant at O&i Management Consultants, and founder and coach at de afstudeerconsultant. Joop Van Schijndel MA is personal effectiveness coach at de afstudeerconsultant, management consultant, and head of the advisory board at Rhiza International.
More information about the expertise at de afstudeerconsultant can be found at: deafstudeerconsultant.nl/personal-effectiveness
