Coaching Skills for Healthcare Leaders - Essay Example

Coaching skills Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction Coaching is a process which helps the clients to achieve their expectations professionally. Coaching skills are the skills which are aimed at shaping the behaviour of an individual. It is the learning process that equips learners with special skills they can apply in life to improve their well being. This paper discusses the basic coaching skills, theories, assessment of the coaching skills and other descriptions about coaching. My scenario I am a student at the University studying a master of health informatics. I am an overseas student from Libya studying in Australia being gin the final year of my studies. As a health informatics I am expected to improve information system and the health system. At the end of this course I am expected to develop standard health systems that can be used internationally. Being a student at the University, I have conducted two coaching sessions. The first session was solution centred approach. The issue was all about improving hygienic conditions (Green & Grant 2003). Before the coaching session, I gathered the information concerning the issue of coaching. I decided on the coaching skills I will apply which were listening and asking questions. These skills will help me to collect adequate information the coachees. Finally, I drafted an action plan which acted as a guide during the coaching process. In the second coaching session, the process was not much different from the first one. I first identified the approach which was person centred approach. The second step was drafting the objectives of coaching (Cassida & Pinto-Zipp 2008). Listening and appropriate questions were the skills which I used to collect understand the coachees views and find solutions. The action plan acted as a guide during the coaching session. The strengths and weaknesses of my coaching were evaluated using the coachees’ responses in the evaluation sheets. Coaching sessions There are two coaching sessions that I have already conducted. The first coaching session was all about how to improve the hygienic conditions and the second one was about how to improve health conditions. The rationale for choosing these two topics was that there were some health issues affecting many people in the society (Green & Grant 2003). Therefore it was important to coach health professionals on how they will educate people on improving their health concerns through diets they take. The first coaching session was problem centred. The process of coaching started by drafting the need for coaching, people involved in the coaching process, the coaching duration and the objectives (Cassida & Pinto-Zipp 2008). The second session was human centred approach. The coaching process started by recognising the objectives of coaching, the time period for coaching, people involved and the expected outcome. Coaching four steps The main approach to coaching is based on the following four steps. The first step is setting goals and objectives. This is the first step when coaching is being planned. The objectives and goals should be systematic, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. The next step is finding the reality. This is the step where the information about the real situation is collected. It helps to understand the actual situation and it entails discussion with the coachees. Finding better options is another step. After discussion with the coachees, the next step is to find the options. Various options are weighed with the aim of choosing the best one. The best option is selected based on the coaching situation. Finally, the last step is the consequences. After adopting certain option and has been implemented, the consequences are measured. The results can be measured by comparing the performance before and after coaching. Coaching description There are various coaching methodologies, theories, models and coaching skills that can be applied by the coach. The coaching skills include listening, using appropriate questions and using appropriate theory. The listening levels include surface listening where there is a desire to manage anxiety, skilful listening which is listening tactfully and open conversation and there is deep listening and this is where the listener wants to make a decision (Grant & Cavanagh 2007). After the coach has assessed and evaluated the learners, the best form of listening will be applied. Another skill for coaching is the application of questions. The coach has another alternative of using questions to attract the attention of the learners. The questions to be used should be simple, should be purposeful and they should generate some alternative possibilities (Grant & Cavanagh 2007). The questions should respect the learner and should recognise and appreciate any good done. Closed questions can also be used especially when collecting facts, information or inviting a brief response. Closed questions help to gather information without any discussions with the learner. In addition, questions should include question tags for example am I right up to that point or am I clear? On the hand, there are various coaching models which are applicable. The first coaching model is the Grow model. This theory starts with setting the goals, discovering the reality, weighing the different options available and wrapping up the coaching session (Grant & Cavanagh 2007). Goal establishing is where the coach designs what he or she wants to achieve at the end of the exercise for instance what can be achieved at a particular time. Reality is the assessment of the measures that helped to get this far and what has been helpful during the coaching process. Weighing options provide alternatives on how to achieve the objectives best. Wrapping up sums up all the discoveries which have been made during the coaching process and they reflect if the goals have been accomplished. Another model for coaching is the Egan skilled Helper model. This model aims at helping people solve their problems. This model is based on some development of personality (Crisp & Wilson 2011). It is used to mentor people and it is more flexible than grow model. It is based on three stages which are the current situation, the preferred situation and the strategy stage. This model aims to answer questions like what is the current situation, what is preferred and how will I get what I desire. There are also different coaching theories. The first coaching theory is the wellbeing theory. This theory emphasizes on positive emotions, relationships, meaning and the achievement (Crisp & Wilson 2011). This theory is all about what is good about the coaching process and what has been changed. It further focuses on any barriers to coaching and what needs to be explored more. Another theory is the hope thinking theory. This theory focuses on thinking which is directed towards achieving a certain goal (Grant & Cavanagh 2007). Goal directed thinking takes two forms of thinking which are pathway and agency thinking. Pathway thinking involves generating many pathways to find the best while agency thinking is selecting and using one pathway to achieve an objective. Coaching can take various methodologies depending on the situation. Some of the most common methodologies used include short term coaching. It is also referred to as problem based coaching (Crisp & Wilson 2011). This methodology is used when the coachee has limited options for achieving an objective. It is usually based on solving an issue. It is mostly applied by coaches who have high coaching skills and adequate experience. There is also crisis coaching methodology is applied in some circumstances (Dewing 2010). For example when there is anxiety, when life is at a cross roads, when there are disturbing feelings and when there is uncertain about the outcome of a particular take. In this regard, crisis coaching methodology can take either long term or short term approach. Another coaching methodology is the long term methodology. This is the long duration and it requires long term commitment between the learner and the developer (Dewing 2010). It is especially applied when there are serious performance standards, when there are many goals to achieve and when developing professional skills among the learners. Relating taught coaching skills The coaching skills taught actually rhyme with relevant literature. From the taught skills, I was able to relate them with relevant literature during the coaching process. In the first place, I was able to relate communication skills with listening skills (Green & Grant 2003). There are different literatures which talk about how to improve the communication skills. One way is by being a good listener. Communication is all about exchanging ideas so when a person is talking another one listens. In this regard, the taught content will be understood. In order to improve the coaching session, it is important to select the most appropriate approach to coaching. There are many approaches to coaching (Cassida & Pinto-Zipp 2008). For instance there is problem oriented coaching and person oriented coaching. From the literature explaining these approaches, the most appropriate approach should be selected in order to deliver the message effectively. This is because different approaches are effective in different situations. Coaching effectiveness greatly relies on the content to be taught. Taught require the application of different skills and methodologies in order to be successful (Green & Grant 2003). For instance, when there is a problem or an issue that needs to be solved, the most effective approach to use is the problem centred approach. Without understanding the contents to be taught it may be difficult to select the effective skills poor approach. Therefore, coaching entirely depends on the contents to be taught so that it can be successful. Coaching effectiveness can be related to coaching content by assessing the learners’ response after the coaching process (Cassida & Pinto-Zipp 2008). There are normally assessment sheets which are normally distributed which have some codes. The coachees fill the sheets and rate the coach on how the coaching skills were implemented by the coach. This assessment can be useful when relating coaching to taught contents. Coaching competencies There are some key competencies that promote effective coaching. All the training coaches should be aware of these competencies. To begin with, the coach should be able to build good relationship between with the client (Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council 2006). This will promote trust and build partnerships. Due to a good relationship, the coachee will be held accountable during the coaching process. Listening is another key competency. Listening skills help to collect opinions from the client before making a solution on the agenda of coaching. This will help to build an expression based on the opinions of the client, not on self interest. Furthermore, enquiry of questions will improve the coaching effectiveness. This helps in collecting detailed opinions about the situation that needs coaching (NSW Health 2009). It also provides clear feedback to know the current situation of the coachees. Questions and enquiry will help to understand the situation better and do effective coaching. Feedback is another coaching competency. Through feedback the coach will be able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the coachees. After assessing the strengths and weaknesses, the coach will be able to develop appropriate strategies to help the learners overcome their weaknesses and find a solution to the problem. Ability to design to design actions will also improve the competency of the coach. Action plan will help to create opportunities for the ongoing learning and also give the coachees opportunity to challenge them (Manleyet al 2008). The coachees will be able to develop their action plans with targets thus avoid conflicting action plans. Coaching skills and processes For any coaching to take place effectively, the trainer should develop some approaches to improve his or her efficiency. The first skill to possess is ask and tell approach (Crisp & Wilson 2011). This is an open approach and does not tell learners what to do instead it is a conversation. Through a conversation, there will be many pathways for solving an issue and the best will be chosen. Effective communication skills on the other should be possessed by the coach. In order for good communication to take place, some communication skills should be implemented like clarification and being open minded. This opens the conversation between the learners and the trainer as it does not limit the discussions. Using appropriate questions should also be applied in the coaching process (Dewing 2010). Using good questions will help the learners to respond to them and in the process there will be discussion which will help towards achieving the coaching objectives. Coaching process is a short process. It starts with identifying the need to do coaching. Then develop and select the best program for conducting the coaching. Select the mentors and coaches (Dewing 2010). Select the objectives and programs of the goals and the time when the coaching will come to an end. There should be a program to end the goals which assesses what has been achieved and if there is a need for the coaching program again in the future. Coaching processes include job shadowing process where a learner is assigned to a mentor and follows him or her around for a given period of time (Dewing 2010). This helps to improve the skills of the learner. One to one coaching process is another coaching process where best coach is assigned a learner to help him or her improve the skills. What was done well During the coaching process, there are some aspects which were done well than others. They include well time management. The time which was allocated for coaching operations was well utilised. Each activity was carried out as it was planned and the objectives were achieved (Lombado & Eichinger 2000). For instance, the time which was set aside for discussing each agenda was very well observed. Therefore there was no need of asking for any extra time for coaching. Time management was successful because of the achievable action plan which acted as a guide in conducting activities. Another area which was done well is the effective communication skills. Communication was an effective between the learners and the coach. The coaching progress was a success because of the communication strategies which were put in place (Lombado & Eichinger 2000). Both parties practised effective listening skills. The learners were taught on how they could be good listeners and it was successful. On the other hand the coach was also a good listener when the coachees talked. This helped to extract information from the learners which helped in making solution. Accountability on the other hand was successful. The learners were able to do what they said in time (McGill & Beaty 2001). There were no delays in any work thus all the learners were accountable in their tasks. The learners were encouraged to execute their tasks without any delay. Accountability was achieved because of the tight action plan. After one stage of coaching there was no time to review it again. Therefore, action plan helped the learners to be accountable. How coaching could be improved The coaching could have been improved by applying various strategies. To start with, the overriding concept needs to be applied (Rolfe 2011). This concept recognises the problem and work towards correcting it. There is need to tell the learners that there is a problem and try to find the best way to solve it rather than leaving it at that point. Another way to improve coaching is by asking powerful questions and not providing the answers (McGill & Beaty 2001). This helps the coach to understand better the kind of people he or she is coaching through their response. These powerful questions will also improve the thinking skills of the learners. Effective listening can further improve the coaching process. When the coach has asked a question, there is a need to actively listen to hear what the other person is saying before making a conclusion (Meyers & Jones 1993). Active listening helps to gather various opinions which could help to establish the cause of the problem before responding to it. Being non judgemental when asking an opinion is another strategy for improving coaching. When an opinion is being sought, there is a need to keep own opinion out of the way (Andreson et al 1995). Open minded is the best skills and will open up for the learners to give their best opinions which could better than that of the coach. Acknowledging a person on the other will improve the coaching skills or process. When there is a good contribution by the learner, he or she needs a positive compliment (McGill & Beaty 2001). This will encourage them to give more viable opinions than the learners are given a negative compliment about their opinion. Encouraging accountability will also promote effectiveness in the coaching process. Accountability is in the sense that when a learner promises to do something, he or she should be asked when will that be done. It helps the learners to be held accountable for whatever they say. What I have learnt There are various lessons have learnt from this experience. First, I have leant how to improve my communication skills (Seligman & Park 2005). For any coaching to take place effectively, there are some skills which need to be observed. From point of view, effective listening is a major component in the coaching process. This listening skill will help me when doing coaching in the future. I have also learnt that all problems have solutions. After the coaching, we found out solutions to issues which seemed difficulty (Lombado & Eichinger 2004). The solutions were found after lengthy discussions with the learners. This lesson helps me to understand that there is no any difficult situation which does not have an answer. Therefore I will not be discouraged when faced with problems. Another lesson I learnt is how to draft achievable objectives. I now know how to set systematic, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely objectives (Andreson et al 1995). I have leant that without setting clear objectives, the coaching process and its objectives will not be a success. This lesson I have learnt will help me to attain my coaching activities in the future because I will be able to set achievable objectives. In addition, I have learnt various methodologies which could be applied during coaching. There are many coaching methodologies and each one can apply better than the other one in another situation (Andreson et al 1995). Different coaching circumstances require different methodologies so that coaching process will be successful. From this lesson, I now know which methodology to apply and in what situation. Finally, I have leant how to assess myself. This can be done by drafting an assessment sheet and passing it over to the coachees (Daft 2008). They will fill it according to my coaching skills. This helps me to know my competency in coaching. This personal assessment is useful because it will help me to improve on my weak areas. Self assessment Please be frank and open in your response, as this will form the basis for accurate feedback on the coach’s coaching skills. Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements. Do not spend too much time on any question. If a question does not seem to apply to you at this time, for any reason – then check the “Neutral or Does not Apply at Present” box. (Grant & Cavanagh 2007). 1= Very strongly disagree 2= Strongly disagree 3= Disagree 4= neutral 5= I agree 6= I strongly disagree 7= very strongly disagree Very strongly Disagree Strongly disagree I disagree Neutral I agree Strongly agree Very strongly disagree 1. Was my coaching effective to help the student achieve the goals? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. My coaching did not take into consideration time value 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. I am able to create free environment where coaches could easily give their opinions? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4. I used communication language which showed that I took into consideration the coaches feelings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5. my coaches had identified their issues at the end of this coaching 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6. the coaching goals were many but we attained them 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7. the coaching objectives were crucial to coaches 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. the coaching goals were vague 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9. I was helpful in helping coaches design their action plans 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10. I spent a lot of time analyzing issues rather than providing solutions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11. I asked the coaches to report their goal progress to me 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12. I failed to any performance issues on completing the action plans 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Conclusion Coaching is the process of changing an individual’s behaviour towards achieving the objectives in life. There are various skills which are applied in the coaching process and they include listening and ability to extract information from the coachees. After the coaching session, there are assessment sheets which are passed to coachees to assess the skills of the coach. From the two coaching sessions I conducted, I learnt how to improve my communication skills; I learnt that all problems have solutions and various methodologies when conducting coaching. In order to improve the coaching process, it is better to ask difficult questions without giving as they will encourage the learners to think, practice effective listening and selecting the most appropriate approach to coaching. Therefore, coaching is a learning process and the coach will keep on improving on the weaknesses and finally be an expert in coaching. References Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC) 2006, National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse, fourth ed. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council, Dickson. Anderson, L., Boud, D & Cohen, R 1995, Experience based learning. In: Foley, G (Ed.), Understanding Adult Education and Training, second ed. Allen & Unwin, Sydney. Cassida, J & Pinto-Zipp, G 2008, Leadership-organizational culture Relationship in nursing units of acute care hospitals, Nursing Economics, Vol 26, No. 1, pp. 7-15. 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