Coaching
Coaching is a thinking partnership that can be described as unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. A person being coached is being enabled to learn rather than being told, shown or taught. Our aim at OPTIKAL is to use coaching as a developmental tool, to help anyone being coached to learn and develop with the aim of improving personal performance and capability.
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How can coaching help?
Coaching can potentially help in any area of personal development, providing a highly tailored and bespoke intervention helping with competencies or supporting areas of emotional intelligence e.g. critical decision making; communication; developing leadership style; improving presentation skills; developing your self-confidence as a manager; improving time management.
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What are the alternatives?
If the development is purely about the acquisition of knowledge (e.g. therapeutic treatment of health conditions, dealing with employment matters, interpreting the P&L, learning about project management) then a training programme, or mentoring, may be a better option.
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Who can have coaching?
Anyone who is willing. The first step for you might be to reflect on your own personal situation and development goals. If your needs relate to your employment, a good move can be to discuss your needs with your line manager, who may sponsor and support you through the process. Whatever the situation, all parties will mett early on to agree together on the desired outcomes from coaching.
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Accessing the right coach
A vital step at the start of any coaching relationship is to meet initially to determine whether the coach is a good fit for you and vice versa. The next step is to agree a clear contract. This will include things like how often and where you will meet, how long the relationship will last and agreeing coaching outcomes.
Our Clients Say
"​I attended my first coaching session mistakenly expecting to be told what to do! With Kiki's expert coaching skills acting as a sounding board and accountability partner across pre-agreed sessions, I had worked out the way forward and successfully achieved my goal - a competitive sought after leadership role, within just 4 months"
Optometrist A
What is the Role of the Coach, Coachee and Line Manager?
​For coaching to be successful the coachee needs to be “coaching ready". That means to be personally committed to coaching, open to developing their self-awareness, willing to commit time (not just for coaching sessions but also for reflection and experimentation between sessions) and willing to be, at times, challenged by their coach. The coach will support their coachee using whatever tools and techniques are appropriate. They will always actively listen and ask great questions, they will hold a coaching mindset enabling the coachee to learn, grow and find solutions, they will offer a balance of both support and challenge, and they will agree the appropriate level of confidentiality with the coachee and line manager jointly and always maintain this.
The line manager’s role is to join the coaching process right at the start, providing sponsorship and support, to be actively engaged to help clarify coaching outcomes and, where appropriate, to help with any agreed evaluation of the success of the coaching, potentially including providing feedback during the programme of the coaching programme.