- Coaching Tools and Techniques - some important notes: 

 

To achieve successful change and/or learning, it is now evident that the mental/behavioural aspects which underlie a person's actions are the critically important elements which require assessing and management. 

 As professional coaches we well aware that only validated behavioural tools and techniques can achieve genuine, sustainable, measurable results. 

Changing behaviour with the right techniques and delivery mechanisms can have a dramatic, beneficial influence on human dynamics, the cultural and environmental context of an organization, and the output of the system - the organization's performance. However, changing behaviours is hard work and often frightening to those faced with changing a lifetime’s habits. Change of this type can strike at the core of personality and therefore identity. It is therefore imperative as responsible coaches that we understand how to professionally use the behavioural tools and techniques that relate to our specific niche area of practice or specialty. Our experience as coach educators has shown, time and again, that coaches require further training in their use. Indeed, our Master Coach workshops developed out of this demand. Our course is therefore founded on the science of applied behaviour analysis. 

As qualified coaches we not only have to be knowledgeable about the techniques we employ but also how to competently and responsibly use them. Understanding the psychological foundations of techniques and knowing how, when and why the technique works also allows us to give a clear rationale for its use to the coachee.

As practitioners we need to distinguish the differences in coaching which emphasizes operational mastery (hard/technical skills) and coaching which aims to develop and enhance personal mastery skills (soft skills). Yet the psychological foundations of the two types of coaching differ only in degrees. Certainly, coaching to enhance soft skills focuses on exploring and working with values, beliefs, emotions and resistance. However, even when the coaching focus is on hard skills such as strategic planning or developing appraisal systems, the same psychological processes are at play albeit to a lesser degree. Coaches, therefore, regardless of their specialty niche have to be skilled in recognizing and working with the psychological processes of the individual and the organization.

Ongoing training, learning and development is of course not restricted to coaches.  Professionals in other areas such as law, medicine and psychology are required to undergo a period of internship and supervision. Furthermore, given that the motto of coaching is ‘life long learning’, coaches themselves are expected to pursue continuous learning. Ongoing mentoring and supervision, especially in the use of psychological tools and techniques, should be a coach’s number one priority. Let’s face it. Coaches are in the behaviour-changing business. The reason why someone undertakes coaching is to change their behaviour, period.

Measuring the results of Coaching: 

"Bridgette Robinson, director of executive and organization development at Dell Computer Corporation of Austin, Texas, says; Dell has been measuring ROI for executive coaching in a formalized method for more than five years and more than half the company's 761 executives received coaching within a two-year time frame. So far, coaching has received more than a 90-percent satisfaction rate from company executives. Robinson reports that senior staff members who've received coaching also tend to be promoted more often than those who don't participate in one-on-one coaching conversations." 
- Human Resource Executive Magazine. 

Accenture's Alastair Robertson, manager of worldwide leadership development practice in Boston, says employers are shocked at how high their ROI numbers are for coaching. He recalls a large employer in the hospitality industry saved between $30 million and $60 million by coaching its top 200 executives.
 

There is an "accountability crisis" in coaching today. 

.-Coaching may be the wave that carries the future of corporate training and development. But if that wave is ever to crest, corporations must be able to determine a financial return on their investment. Only if early adopters can truly demonstrate an ROI in dollar figures will coaching wash over corporate culture and change its landscape.

Coaching clients want to see a numerical scorecard - the measurable results that coaching has brought to their organization. Business and executive coaches today are now required to prove the measurable value and return on their client's investment in coaching. Gone are the days when coaches could not cost-justify their work and could talk only of their work producing "success", "goal realization" and other vague descriptions of an amazing list of intangible benefits of coaching. By measuring carefully the results of coaching and tying coaching to the strategic metrics a company uses to measure its business success, a coach should be able to demonstrate the financial return on the coaching dollars spent. 

However, it's often difficult to demonstrate increased value of a company's human capital. The problem is, both coaches and clients have been frustrated by the lack of rigorous methods for measuring the impact ( the ROI - return on investment, the bottom-line increases in business activity, production and profitability) of the coach's work. Coaches also need to learn how to better present and communicate the value of their work to clients. 

The Behavioral Coaching Institute's courses are the only international coach training program that provides instruction in how-to-use the necessary validated tools for obtaining and measuring lasting behavioral coaching outcomes and producing a ROI scorecard.

Also note: Only validated, behavioral scientific models, accelerated behavioural change techniques, competencies and behaviours identified in robust studies by leading academics are ever mentioned or used in our courses. Other coach training courses may use other models or derivatives of: ‘NLP’, the GROW model, therapy (including SFT), counselling or other well-intentioned approaches -however, what verifiable evidence is their model, practice and philosophy of coaching based? - Read more..

 

 A coach's knowledge of quality, proven coaching processes and tools is critical to the success of any coaching outcome.

The Behavioral Coaching Institute is the first coaching educator to provide world standard, professional coaching tool packages. The cost of these instruments would be at least $3000 in total. These invaluable workplace tools are now included, at no extra cost, in our Master Coach Course. In the course you will also learn how to: 

  • use and select the right validated instruments in your coaching practice

  • understand the principles of validity and reliability

  • determine which instruments you will and won't add to your own tool kit, and be taught

  • the uses, benefits and timing of various instruments.

 

 - Some assessment tools/questionnaires included in the Coaching Programs include:
                      
                       A Structured Interview - a comprehensive assessment for executive coaching
                       Leadership profile: self-awareness, interpersonal skills, thinking skills
                       A personality profile
                       A vision/mission profile
                       A work/life balance profile
                       A learning profile
                       A biographical profile
                       A values profile
                       A mini-360-degree competence profile
                       A job analysis profile
                       A work performance profile
                       A team member's profile
                       Assessing for change                       
                        A business owner's profile - work/life balance
                       A life balance profile
                       A self-assessment profile for the coach


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The Coaching at Work Toolkit: A Complete Guide to Techniques and Practices.  McGraw-Hill
ISBN: 0074711032
"For aspiring, novice and experienced coaches alike. This vital companion resource book to the above title is a priceless toolkit of validated coaching tools and psychology-based techniques, theories, tools and practices that affect learning and change." -Amazon.com 5 Star Rating

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The Complete Guide to Coaching at Work: McGraw-Hill
"This is the ultimate how-to reference text book and without doubt the Coaching Book of the Year by far.... " - C.C. Review.

Note: For qualified individuals who simply wish to learn how to establish a successful coaching career and/or coaching practice see our: Coaching School -Tools.