COACHING WITH OPEN EARS

Reprinted from People Management May 2003

Rob Nathan advises coaches to incorporate a number of counselling skills while recognising the boundaries between the two professions

The fledgling profession of coaching is the victim of its own success. A number of disparate qualifications have sprung up even in the past year, from short non-accredited programmes to a university accredited MA.

Less fledgling, but with years of experience in developing standards of practice, is the profession of counselling. In the current debate about the overlap between coaching and counselling, coaches and coach trainers could avoid reinventing the wheel by building some key lessons from the counselling profession into their programmes,

• adhere to a recognised code of practice for professionals using counselling skills in their work;

• be trained in and able to use the core skills of counselling;

• be careful to take on clients suited to their skills;

• be willing and able to make referrals where appropriate.

Professionals offering coaching need to adopt an ethical stance to their work, which includes the following principles:

• adhere to a recognised code of practice for professionals using counselling skills in their work;
• be trained in and able to use the core skills of counselling;
• be careful to take on clients suited to their skills;
• be willing and able to make referrals where appropriate.

These standards require both flexibility and clarity.

Consider Jim. In his 360-degree feedback session, he was clearly upset at one comment from his manager. His coach recognised that he needed to air his feelings before progressing to development goals.

The entry point for Jim was career satisfaction. He wanted to focus on development goals and performance improvement. But Jim's coach needed the flexibility and skill to work with him to acknowledge his feelings about his manager's comments.
Lisa went for career counselling but soon realised that a change in direction was not going to be the answer. The counselling meetings had made her understand that she had been avoiding the challenge of improving her ability to handle conflict at work. Now the time was right to help Lisa set some performance improvement goals.

The entry point for Lisa was one of career dissatisfaction. She chose counselling to address questions of change, direction and choice.

Lisa's counsellor needed to enable her to set realistic goals and coach her through these goals, or refer her to someone else who could.

The ethical coach is sufficiently trained to make a professional judgment, whether he or she is qualified, and capable of taking a client down a route different from the entry point. This requires knowledge of the boundaries between coaching and counselling, and the core counselling skills of rapport-building, active listening, probing and summarising. Crucial to the coach' s ability to move flexibly and appropriately between the two approaches is training in the "boundary management" skills of contracting and managing endings.

Contracting entails coming to a clear understanding about possible successful outcomes, ways of achieving them and evaluation. It involves establishing the degree to which confidentiality can be guaranteed, and what are appropriate areas that need to be addressed. If coaches are clear about their limitations, they are more likely to take on and refer people appropriately.
Managing endings is often challenging. Coaches need to acknowledge what has been achieved as well as consider how to maintain momentum and evaluate their own performance.

Coaching is an isolated role, and these demands are challenging to achieve, but crucial. Professional supervision from a qualified and experienced counsellor is an essential requirement to help attain the high standards necessary. An external supervisor can help to maintain perspective, performance and appropriate use of skill.

HR departments are often sought out to recommend coaches. They need to ensure that these standards are met by the coaches they introduce. This can be done at the points of entry and closure, by checking credentials and qualifications of coaches and gaining subsequent feedback on the effectiveness of coaching, without breaching confidentiality.

ROB NATHAN IS A CHARTERED PSYCHOLOGIST AND DIRECTOR OF CCSCOACHING

ROB NATHAN
IS A CHARTERED PSYCHOLOGIST AND DIRECTOR OF CCSCOACHING