Leadership Coaching, Leadership Mentoring
Leadership coaching: buying for someone else? Read Leadership Connections' free, expert advice on leadership coaching and the challenges of buying leadership coaching for your team that can undermine coaching if not addressed.
One to one coaching -
buying for someone else?
Buying coaching for someone else creates some particular challenges. If not properly addressed they can undermine the ability of a coach to help.
Scroll down or click here to read more about what you should and should not do to maximise the chances of success.
Click here to read the general introduction to one to one coaching.
If you feel we could help you in any way, please Contact Us.
Coaching guide - contents
Click on the contents headings below to see more on each topic:
One to one coaching - how does it work?
One to one coaching - buying for yourself
Supporting leaders to overcome their obstacles and develop themselves - through coaching and mentoring
Increasing the effectiveness of management teams through leadership team development
Identifying and improving leadership across the organisation through talent management and leadership development
Mobilising large groups for change through creating inspiring conferences and motivational speaking
Increasing the effectiveness of the Human Resources function through HR strategy and skills development
Coaching Guide - How to choose and use coaching
One to one coaching – Buying for someone else ?
Before reading this click here to read - One to one coaching - how does it work
Dos and don’ts
- Coaching is often poorly engaged when it is for other people. If this happens success is very hard to achieve so we, and other good coaches, will often turn down engagements like this if they have not been set up properly. The first three points below are especially important.
- Do involve the prospective coachee right from the start. For coaching to be effective it is vital that they support the idea of receiving coaching (or are at least open to exploring it). Coaching cannot be ‘done to’ a client.
- Do begin by agreeing the development needs with the prospective coachee. If they don’t want to develop a particular aspect then, however good the coach is, success is very unlikely.
- Do allow the prospective client to play a real part in choosing their coach. They may not need to see more than one coach but it is very important that they believe that they can decline a coach (and see a further choice/s) if they do not feel comfortable and confident.
- If you are in HR, do involve the line manager in agreeing the goals of the coaching and keep them involved as you go along. Coaching works much better (and the benefits are more sustainable) when the coach, coachee and line manager work in partnership.
- Do involve HR from an early stage. They will be able to help you clarify the goals, they may know some good coaches and they may also want to integrate the coaching with other development initiatives.
How to begin
When buying for someone else, the same basic rules apply as for buying coaching for yourself (see the previous page). The single most important factor remains the relationship between the coach and coachee.
The only distinction here is that the coachee is usually in less control of the introduction process and anyone in this situation should, therefore, meet a minimum of two coaches. This helps them to feel that they have a genuine choice and so greatly increases the ownership that they feel. This, in turn, makes a big difference to the effectiveness of the coaching.
Let's Talk
The easiest way to understand how we can help, and whether you feel that you could work with us, is to begin with a conversation.
We don't believe in a "hard sell" and often find that people get value out of the exploratory discussion - whether or not we go on to work together.
Please Contact Us – we would love to hear from you.