What is coaching?

Coaching is described in many different ways and the main coaching bodies provide rather formal, academic definitions.

The International Coaching Federation describes coaching as ‘partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential’. This description resonates with us: coaching helps a person gain deeper awareness of where they are now, what they want to do and/or who they want to be, and what they need to do to get there.

The focus is on moving forward, rather than looking back. The coach may use a specific model and will offer certain tools and techniques to help gain this awareness and enabling change, although arguably their greatest tool is their presence, providing the client with a safe space to step back, reflect and think out loud, with someone who has the skills to listen to them intently, completely, and without judgement.

There are many kinds of 1:1 coaching, and the number of specialist coaching areas is growing rapidly. The following are the most common in our experience:

  • Career coaching—providing support for professionals looking to make a career choice or transition, whether short or long term, including guidance on their professional development and job search. Career coaches may also help with resume writing, job searches, online profiles, and job interviewing.
  • Life coaching— focusing on a variety of aspects of life, broader than (but not excluding) professional life and career. Typical topics are health and fitness, finances, relationships, life planning & goals, and spiritual growth.
  • Organisational or business coaching—offering business owners and entrepreneurs support in identifying goals, creating strategies to obtain those goals, and boosting the overall performance of the organisation.
  • Performance coaching—supporting those within organisations who need to improve their work performance, often due to performance appraisal results, regardless of level or job title.
  • Leadership coaching—providing coaching for those looking to grow and develop leadership skills, regardless of whether they are an individual contributor, manager, or senior manager.

Bloom Coaching & Consulting uses the term Executive Coaching as a reference to 1:1 coaching covering all areas and topics related to professional goals, career, leadership, performance and any kind of work-related transition.

What topics are typically covered by leadership coaching?

Leadership coaching covers a wide range of topics and themes, focusing both on the capabilities and performance of the leader and their wellbeing. The former generally fall within the categories of change leadership, strategic leadership and people leadership – and include topics such as performance management, how to lead transformations and help the organisation to thrive through change, and also ‘softer’ topics such as EQ (communicating, authenticity, presence and relating to others) and We Q (collaboration and partnering with others).

When it comes to the leader’s own performance and wellbeing, we focus on career development, professional growth, transitioning to a new role or getting a promotion, wanting to be more confident (addressing ‘imposter syndrome’ or dealing with an ‘inner saboteur’), creating better balance, managing stress, making difficult decisions, or just generally getting out of feeling ‘stuck’.

Although the focus is on leadership- and career-related topics, we do recognise that work and life are not always easy to separate (nor do they need to be for many people) and broader life topics often come up, especially when exploring with a client how they can find more fulfilment in their work or create better balance.

What does a coaching programme look like and how many coaching sessions do I need?

Our coaching programmes are tailored to our clients’ needs – the client being the person getting the coaching as well as the sponsoring organisation if that is applicable.

When working with a sponsoring organisation, usually the ‘employer’, we will review the scope of the coaching engagement (i.e. number of people to receive coaching and the overall objective of the programme) as well the approach to managing the sponsor-client-coach triangle – topics such as aligning goals, tracking progress and managing confidentiality become extremely important in this context.

Most of our coaching engagements involve 4-6 virtual sessions of 60 mins each with each client, although in-person meetings can also be arranged, as well as longer sessions, including one-off ‘immersive’ sessions of 3+ hours. An increasing number of clients request a longer-term coaching arrangement, with a meeting scheduled every 6-8 weeks over an extended period, and the coaching acting as a sounding board, a space for the client to take a step back, reflect and talk through the challenges and opportunities they are facing.

Psychometric testing, 360 feedback, stakeholder interviews and/or work observation can be incorporated in any coaching engagement. As an Insights Discovery licensed practitioner, we use Insights as a tool to help increase self-awareness and awareness of others. The Insights Discovery profile that is created on the back of simple 20-minute assessment provides incredible insights into a person’s style, strengths and the value they bring. It comes with pragmatic suggestions for development areas as well as ways to leverage strengths and preferences, which can be of great help in the goal setting part of the coaching programme.

What preparations are required for a coaching session?

In most cases, very little preparation is required.

There are, however, a few ‘conditions’ we highly recommend for you to get the most out of a coaching session: ensuring you are in a comfortable, private space where you can openly discuss private or confidential matters; taking a few moments before the start of your session to get in the coaching ‘zone’; thinking back on your last coaching session and what has changed or what you have done since then; and blocking some time in your calendar right after a session to let it sink in, reflect on what you have learned and how you are going to act on that – before you run off to your next meeting or move on to your next call.

Bringing a ‘coaching mindset’ will also help us: be prepared to be open, honest and committed – not to please your coach but to make sure you get the most out of your session.

In some cases, you will take on some ‘homework’ in between sessions – we will never dictate any homework to our clients, this will always be agreed in partnership (although we will call it out if there is anything we believe you could do in between sessions that will be of particular help to you!)

What is team coaching?

As with 1:1 coaching, there are many definitions of ‘team coaching’.

The International Coaching Federation describes it as ‘partnering in a co-creative and reflective process with a team and its dynamics and relationships, in a way that inspires them to maximize their abilities and potential in order to reach their common purpose and shared goals.’ In simpler terms, team coaching helps teams work out what they want to be, where they want to get to, and how they can get there. It is a collaborative and (mostly) structured process to help the team define and align on their goals, optimise team dynamics and ways of working, and focus on stakeholder relations.

In team coaching, the client is the team and the team coaching goals are those of the team (rather than the goals of the individuals in the team). The team coach uses coaching competencies along with an understanding of team dynamics to help a team further their collective potential and meet its stakeholders’ expectations. The coach helps the team reflect on what ‘really great’ looks like for them in terms of outcomes, team collaboration, stakeholder engagement, learning, and also from the perspective of the individual members in the team – before delving into where the team is at now, what they are already doing well, and what needs their attention to work towards their goals. Team learning is at the heart of the process and the team is held accountable for what they get out of their team coaching – it requires partnership, it is often hard work and also extremely rewarding, and can be great fun!

We take a Systemic Team Coaching ® approach, which means we do not only look at what is happening and needs to happen within the team but also take the wider system in which the team operates into account: the wider business function and organisation, external stakeholders, and the broader eco-system.

What is Insights and the Insights Discovery tool?

We use Insights Discovery as a tool to help increase self-awareness and awareness of others. We start with a psychometric assessment that is based on the psychology principles of Carl Jung, built to help people understand themselves, understand others, and make the most of the relationships that affect them in the workplace.

The Insights Discovery methodology uses a simple four-colour model, called the ‘colour energies’: Fiery Red, Sunshine Yellow, Earth Green and Cool Blue. These colour energies signify people’s preferences and help explain how and why people behave the way they do.

Through a simple 20-minute online questionnaire, an individual profile is created which brings truly incredible insights into a person’s style, strengths and the value they bring. It comes with pragmatic suggestions for development areas as well as ways to leverage strengths and preferences, which can be of great help in the goal setting part of the coaching programme.

In the team context, Insights Discovery provides a great foundation of awareness that will help the team reach its goals – the tool provides a common language that will help connect team members across geographical and cultural boundaries, it provides a safe platform for feedback conversations, and it will help the team identify their strengths and the pitfalls they need to be aware of to promote collaboration, psychological safety, success and wellbeing in the team.

Bloom’s founder Judith is an Insights Discovery licensed practitioner and works with other experienced Insights practitioners to support 1:1 coaching programmes, team coaching and team building engagements, and company-wide organisational effectiveness and transformation initiatives.

For more information about the Insights Discovery approach and its validity, please refer to the Insights website: Insights Discovery®.

Any unanswered questions, feedback or interested in having a conversation?