What is coaching?
“Some people come into our lives and leave again. Some stay for a while and change our lives forever.”
What is coaching?
The most effective form of working with individuals and groups – directly aimed at changing thoughts and attitudes. Coaching develops the personality and therefore provides deep and lasting change in a clients’ overall professionalism.
It provides an aid, as simply acquiring knowledge and skills is insufficient when it is necessary to form new perspectives, attitudes, overcome personal inner barriers (fear, low self-esteem…), and generate new ideas and ways of doing things better, with greater efficiency and pride. If more people in a company work with a coach on a regular basis, it soon becomes apparent – not only in terms of performance, but also in terms of the change in corporate culture, towards greater accountability, entrepreneurial spirit and initiative.
What is the role of a coach?
Very simply, it involves dialogue – the coach asks questions and helps their client to think differently than before, to be aware of their needs and their mindset in order to figure out how to achieve challenging goals. The coach speaks with the client so they understand each other; learns how the client thinks, what are sensitive topics and what are motivational, where the client draws their energy from… and thus how to achieve the changes they need. The coach gets to work in the situations where the desired changes cannot be achieved by the client on their own, even with the help of their manager. Coaching is therefore suitable for achieving highly ambitious goals, solving challenging and chronic problems. The coach is able to identify the essence of the problem and the broader context, but most of all, help to solve the problem by taking a diametrically different approach to the one taken by the client so far. The coach’s work is based on a trusted relationship with the client, who can then openly and without fear work with the hidden aspects of their personality and begin to make most of their inner potential.
The coach is a relationship and communication expert. The coach develops self-reflection and works as a catalyst, supporting their client’s work – the client must accept that they are responsible for the results of the coaching.
Coaching in a business environment
The coach helps to reconcile the needs of the employer and the employees – coaching targets are negotiated with the supervisor and the needs and wishes of the client are identified during the assignment.
The goals might be anything related to the client’s professionalism and work performance. For example, a sales representative may be given the following target: By the end of 2009, expand the customer portfolio by a minimum of five new clients and increase XY product turnover by … CZK.
Who is suitable for coaching?
In general, coaching is for all people who are interested in improving themselves and developing as professionals and people.
We offer coaching to all employees at all levels, from business owners and company directors, board members and top management to specialists and blue collar employees.
How do you recognize a good coach?
Request information on the coach’s accreditation with some of the professional coaching associations – this will save time spent searching for proof of qualifications, testimonials, hours invoiced and a demonstration of the coach’s practical skills. The largest organization in the Czech Republic is the Czech Association of Coaches (www.cako.cz), where you can find the list of accredited coaches. However, accreditation may not be a sufficient criterion for selecting a coach, therefore we recommend to try pilot coaching free of charge. The selection process can be divided into formal criteria (qualifications, accreditation, length of experience in the field etc.) and your own feelings and intuition during a personal meeting.
How much does it cost?
1 hour for top management coaching: 7,000 CZK
1 hour for coaching of other employees: 4,000 – 6,000 CZK
We can also recommend a junior coach at a substantially lower price. Enquiries: info@systemicky-institut.cz.