Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication Part 3

By: Matt Somers

In Parts 1 and 2 we explored six communication styles and the relative advantages and disadvantages of each:

Tells, Sells, Tests, Consults, Joins and Delegates

So how does all this relate to coaching and where would we place coaching on the spectrum. Many contend that since coaching is about generating ownership and responsibility, it must be somewhere close to delegation. However, we can also see that perhaps coaching doesn't belong to this range of alternatives at all as it almost represents a philosophy of communication rather than a style. It's as if coaching becomes the way we can have the advantages of each whilst steering clear of the disadvantages.

Good coaches don't fear loss of control as they know that the people they coach will have formulated their plans and ideas in their presence. Thus the coach has the ability to warn against a certain course of action if it is against the rules or likely to cause problems. Also, we've seen that coaching is an effective way for managers to build trust in their teams and so they can resort to Tell when the situation demands it without worrying about the team being uncooperative or becoming disillusioned.

So far we have considered the merits of various communication styles in a general context. What about when we need to communicate with another to help them develop?

It seems that Tell is dominant here and perhaps this is because most of us were conditioned to learn in this way at school. We would sit in rows of desks while the teacher would tell us what we needed to do and how to do it and lessons would consist of being told what we needed to know. But this doesn't always work. Try explaining to someone how to do up a tie or lace a training shoe without showing them - it's almost impossible. To do so requires us firstly to understand exactly the process that needs to be done and then to find the language to convey that process to another person in a way they can understand. The modern world of work is changing so fast that we can no longer be certain that the ways and methods we used to become successful will be valid for the next generation. It's risky to solve the probelms of today with the solutions of yesterday. There's also the fact that recall is very poor when people have only ever been told what to do. How many managers have you heard yelling, "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times!", or "Just exactly how many times am I going to have to tell you?"

Coaching presents a way of dealing with these problems as it is concerned with drawing our rather than putting in and thus enables people to learn in their own way and at their own speed. In this way we get learning and development that sticks in the same way as learning to swim or to ride a bicycle.

Let me quote a well known Chinese proverb:

"Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand"

Coaching is the best way to involve people in their own learning.

Article Source: http://www.bigfreearticles.com

How does coaching fit with the standard, traditional styles of management communication?

About the Author:
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years' experience. He works with a host of clients in North East England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE at http://www.mattsomers.com

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