Coaching involves the belief that the individual has the answers to their own problems within them. The coach is not a subject expert, but rather is focused on helping the individual to unlock their own potential. The focus is very much on the individual and what is inside their head. A coach is not necessarily a designated individual: anyone can take a coaching approach with others, whether peers, subordinates or superiors. The key skill of coaching is asking the right questions to help the individual work through their own issues Mentoring Mentoring is similar to coaching. There is general agreement that amentor is a guide who helps someone to learn or develop faster than they might do alone. In the workplace mentors are often formally designated as such by mutual agreement, and outside of an in dividual’s line management chain. They usually have considerable experience and expertise in the individual’s line of business. A mentoring relationship usually focuses on the future, career development, and broadening an individual’s horizons, unlike coaching which tends to focus more on the here and now and solving immediate problems or issues. Counselling Counselling is closer to a therapeutic intervention. It focuses on the past, helping the individual to overcome barriers and issues from their past and move on. Here, the focus may be either internal or external.
04: Unconscious Competence
Coaches need to identify the stage at which an individual is at to use the right sort of language to help them move to the next stage. After all, it’s difficult to try to improve a skill if you don’t know that you lack it. You no longer have to think about how you do it, but just do it. In fact, if you think about it too hard, you may not be able to do it. You have learned how to something so well that it has become hard-wired into your brain. The Differences Between Teaching, Coaching, Mentoring and Counselling Although teaching, coaching, mentoring and counselling all share some key characteristics and skills, they are nonetheless quite different and it’s important to be aware of the differences. Teaching and Training Teaching and training involve an expert teacher who imparts knowledge to their students Although the best teachers will use participative and interactive techniques, like coaching, there is very definitely an imbalance of knowledge, with the teacher as expert knowing the ‘right answer’. Coaching
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