Is your company looking to add life-coaching skills to your managers' skill set? If so, this article is for you.Background: I was asked by a financial institution to meet with HR staff to discuss coaching for their managers. In the meeting the key spokesman indicated that they would like to provide training to their managers to be coaches so that they can coach their junior staff. The question was asked whether I would be able to provide such training.I indicated that I, personally, would not do this training as I believe that life coaching is a young profession and anyone aspiring to be a life coach should do their training with an accredited coach training school, whereby they would be able to do the additional courses that would give them their (Certified Professional Coach) credentials.
It is like doing an associate degree and then being able to have the necessary credits to go on and accomplish the full degree.I explained that there is a programme that offers coach skills, which is a collection of the core skills that managers will need to hit the ground running, as a coach.Although many of these skills can be used in many other contexts (teaching, managing, parenting etc), in this course, managers will learn how to specifically apply them to a coaching setting. The skills taught, will give managers the confidence to coach anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Online course
The course is an online course so that managers can sit at their computers either at the office or at home and attend class. This will alleviate the need to have managers away from their desks for long periods and they will be able to pursue the extra courses on their own and at their expense.My philosophy is that, if a company is going to invest thousands of dollars on managers, to provide a coaching skill-set programme for them to become life coaches, then they need to research the options and ensure that money is spent once.
This investment in the managers will encourage them to pursue the additional courses, once they recognise that life coaching is their passion and the company will benefit in the long run.My one last piece of advice to them was to not make the training mandatory for the managers. To be a successful coach, a manager needs to "want" to do the training. Else, the company will be spinning top in mud and will not get the expected results after the training is completed.Finally, I provided the financial institution will the relevant materials and contacts for them to do their due diligence as I was not prepared to provide the training at the expense of my reputation.
TIPS
Managers will learn:
�2 how to listen like a coach
�2 how to ask powerful coaching questions
�2 how to set up structures for your clients
�2 how to assist your clients to create a vision or action plan
�2 the power of acknowledgement
�2 how to keep clients accountable
�2 how to create trust in a coaching context
Companies who would like to find out more about the coach skills programme for their managers can contact me:E-mail: janice@coaching4ideallife.org; Mail your letters:PO Box 5145, St James.