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Coaching Skills

What is Coaching?

Coaching is one way in which one person can help another person to improve the way they do things. They help through questioning, observations and suggestions. Not through telling. Coaching is about helping the person to see things in a new way which will help them to develop.

A soccer coach asks the player to observe the centre of gravity of an opposition player in comparison to themselves when trying to get round them. Once the centre of gravity is on opposite sides then the player may move to pass them.

The business coach may ask, 'What did it feel like when you made that winning presentation? Run me through each step and tell me what you are feeling'. In this way a coach can encourage the person to fully remember the state and replay this state in future presentations.

A coach may or may not be any good at the actual skills or behaviours they are attempting to develop in the other person. How many coaches do you know of the world's best sprts people? Being a good coach is a completely different set of skills form being good at the skills being worked on.

Is Coaching relevant to lawyers?

One of  the basic premises of coachng, is that it is better to find your own way than be told how to do something. Coaching encourages a person to find their own way. In law firms often there is a set way and these need to be told. But there are still opportunities for a more junior lawyer to find their own way.

Lawyers tend to be independently minded and not always accepting of orders. A coaching style can be very useful to encourage a lawyer to see things in a new way.

Coaching Skills

Coaching skills include:

• Questioning
• Rewording questions
• Listening
• Creative approaches to get the person to see things in a different way
• Delivering observations
• Encouragement

For an initial discussion on Coaching Skills training at your firm please email us at info@itd.com or call 0870 777 6734