Organization of the workplace and management of the relationships at work are extremely important for the creation of an effective business environment. It helps achieve the best results and make progress in the business. Any workplace consists of multiple relationships between the employees and harmony in all of these relationships is crucial for the proper functioning company.
Besides, every employee may have individual issues considering their work; these issues can be powerful enough to make a negative impact on the work process of the whole company if they are not addressed in time. The best workplaces care about their employees’ wellbeing. This is why workplace coaching is required. Workplace coaching is a complicated occupation because the coaches have people as the subjects of their work. A good coach has to be prepared to face all kinds of challenges.
Every person or group of people a coach has to deal with is going to be different from the others; this is why the coach has to possess a flexible mind, be able to adjust easily, relate to the issues of the clients, quickly find understanding and react fast. A skilled and good coach has to be able to work out individual approach towards various kinds of people, listen to the problems that have to be solved and be capable of explaining the solution in the most accessible way.
I have viewed the list of qualities that are necessary for a successful workplace coach, and I think that some traits could be added to that list. To my mind, the three additional qualities that are needed for good work in coaching are eloquence, patience, and persistence.
One of the main functions of the coach is to build a relationship that is based not on advice, but on choices (Effective Coaching in the Workplace, 2011, para. 5). The coach is there not for relationship counseling, yet the coach has to study the issues and address them in depths (Connor & Pokora, 2012). A good coach has to be able to find the root of the problem and solve it on the level below the sphere where the issue occurs.
To follow the roots of the issue, the coach has to be able to trace the factors that are causing this issue logically. In some cases, the clients may not even be aware of the real reasons causing their problems. This is why I named eloquence as one of the very important qualities a good workplace coach must-have. Eloquence stands for the ability to find the issue and language it to the client, and then build the chain of questions that will help the client find the ways to deal with the problem.
A successful coach will not give instructions to the clients. Instead, they will generate a series of very carefully organized questions in order to direct the clients’ way of thinking and help them find the best and most appropriate solutions suitable for their own situations by themselves (Barnett, 2009).
Patience is required in any profession that involves working with people. A coach is an authority; it is extremely important for the coach to be able to win the trust of the clients – this is the only way to achieve the best results in coaching and mentoring.
A coach should keep the situation under control, remain calm and be ready to repeat the tasks again and again, and make corrections in case something does not work well. The coach should not be seen to lose their temper, as it is extremely unprofessional and is most likely to ruin the coach’s reputation.
Persistence is the quality needed, together with patience. Persistence stands for the coach’s ability to re-address the same issues if the previous session was not successful enough, work out more approaches towards the clients, be flexible and have the capacity to shift their own ideas and plans in order to create new and improved methods of working with certain clients and situations.
In my checklist responses, I have noticed that I gave myself the highest points for the qualities that are responsible for giving positive feedback, support, show kind attitude, and understanding. For me, it is easier to compliment people than to criticize them. Besides, at this stage, it is a little complicated for me to develop far-looking strategies and predict various situational patterns. I also do not feel confident about my ability to influence others.
I can say for sure that I am good at creating a positive influence and can become a strong authority for some types of people, but I expect that there would be the kinds of clients that are going to be not easy to get to. Visibility or being well known in the organization is also a question of time and experience for me – I think I have the kind of personality that will become visible over a certain period of time, yet I do not expect this to happen right away.
I gave myself three points for the ability to be challenging – I did this because I have noticed before that I tend to be too soft in my criticism and I do not feel comfortable to question or disagree with people’s approaches, I know this skill is of extreme importance for a workplace coach, this is why I am trying to look for the ways to learn this skill and adjust it to my own personality in order to be successful without creating discomfort for myself of people I would have to work with.
According to the patterns I have noticed in my evaluation of my own skills of a workplace coach, I can see I am ready to perform coaching. Of course, there will be difficulties in certain situations, but I am resilient and ready to face challenges and overcome my personal discomfort by creating milder ways of giving constructive criticism, for example.
Strategic skills are definitely going to improve with more practice, so will my visibility as a professional. The connection between the qualities of the good workplace coach and their motivation to do this kind of job is based on the coach’s passion for resolving conflicts, helping in difficult situations, assisting with the problems, creativity in various approaches to the clients and their situations.
This assignment has helped me realize my own weak and strong sides as a coach, my motivations to do coaching. It was very useful to critically evaluate my own readiness and think of how I personally could influence and address various people and issues happening at the workplace.
I am interested in methods of working with people, and I like the idea of developing different approaches for various types of people and situations, to me, it is a creative kind of occupation. I see it as an attractive opportunity to improve my own psychological skills and help others resolve their conflicts.
Reference List
Barnett, M. (2009). Coaching in the Workplace. Web.
Connor, M. & J. Pokora. (2012). Coaching and Mentoring at Work. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill International.
Effective Coaching in the Workplace. (2011). Prydale Partners. Web.