What is it that really makes a difference in your coaching?

I was asked this ever so practical question when I recently pitched for a piece of coaching work at a large plc. I could have given an insightful academic response of course, yet the answer is simple and uncomplicated (unlike the coaching market place): ‘It is the coach as a person, rather than the application of particular techniques or methods’, that’s what my Lecturer at Oxford Brookes: Tatiana Bachkirova writes about in her practical & theoretical approach to developmental coaching.

My own research and experience, puts it clear: it’s ever so important to be in rapport. I don’t know a single person that’s unable to sense whether they’re in rapport or not. This is a crucial point to consider when buying coaching, especially if you’re in the HR department and sourcing coaching for someone else in the organisation.

The openness this type of relationship creates allows us both to work at behavioural & emotional levels and can lead to increased personal insight and lasting change. As a coach I need to be in a position to better understand my client’s thoughts, feeling, behaviours and how they make meaning, and this could be on any theme from promotion, redundancy, delegation, to why I’m really not able to delegate, to why I don’t want to delegate (I’m sure you get my point).

The quality of the client coach relationship is the starting point of any professional coaching programme, and so after ploughing through the many different types of coaching to get to what you need, the process would ideally begin with selecting a great coach/client match.

A great coach will ask you what impact you’re looking to create as a result of your coaching programme