Custom research paper: Critical Analysis of the concept of performance coaching as a tool to improve individual performance.

Chapter 5. RESULTS
5.1 Introduction
The study has revealed a number of noteworthy issues related to coaching. The results of the study are very useful in terms of the further research studies of the problem of the impact of coaching on employees’ performance as well as on the organizational performance at large. At the same time, coaching has proved to be a very complex issue that affects consistently the development of organizations and their human resource management. In such a context, it is important to dwell upon key results of the study.
5.2 Sample Data
The interviews and questionnaires conducted in terms of the current study have revealed the fact that the impact of coaching depends on the environment in which coaching sessions take place and condition in which employees work. What is meant here is the fact that conflicts at the workplace and poor organisational culture were defined by specialists, including managers and coaches, as well as employees as major risk factors that influence the poor outcome of coaching. In contrast, favourable conditions at the workplace and the friendly ambiance within the organisation can increase the positive impact of coaching on the improvement of the individual performance of employees. Specialists (Reeves & Bednar, 1994) argue that coaching should take into consideration specificities of the organisational culture and structure to be successful because different organisations may have different problems and different needs. In such a situation, it is hardly possible to speak about the universal coaching model, which can be applicable in any organisation and which can bring a tremendous success, regardless of the context in which this model is applied. At the same time, as it has been already mentioned above, there are a lot of coaching models which can be used by modern organisation in terms of coaching. In such a situation, it is important to define factors that may influence the effectiveness and success of coaching. In this respect, specialists (Hawkins & Smith, 2006) distinguish several key factors that may determine the success of coaching in regard to the improvement of the individual performance of employees. Some specialists (Hawkins & Smith, 2006) define the following top five success factors:
5.3 Main Findings
First, the strength of the senior leadership team (Hawkins and Smith, 2006). In fact, the leadership is traditionally very important for the effectiveness of coaching because a coach should have not only the formal authority but he or she also needs to be a true leader, a person whose leader employees are ready to follow. The strength of the senior leadership team facilitates consistently the work of a coach with clients because the latter feel confident in the power of the coach and his or her ability to help them.
At the same time it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the effective coaching involves an effective team work. What is meant here is the fact that leaders heading a team should organize the work of a team in such a way that each team member could perform certain set of functions. In such a way, a coach can organize the coaching process properly helping coachees to learn to work in a team. The current study has revealed the fact that the team work is of the utmost importance in the contemporary business environment and coaching often aims at the development of skills of team work in coachees. On the other hand, some specialists () point out that the team work contributes to the development of the team spirit within the team and coachees become able to work in a team successfully. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the fact that coaching implies the close interaction between a coach and coachees. However, one of the major goals of the contemporary coaching is to enrol a possibly larger number of employees in coaching. As a result, the team work is an effective way to enrol a large number of employees in coaching because they can work together within a team and learn to cooperate and interact between each other effectively.
Furthermore, the current study reveals the fact that the role of the coach-leader is particularly important in the contemporary business environment and coaching. To put it more precisely, coaches, who have leadership skills or who are charismatic leaders, are more effective compared to coaches, who have poor leadership skills and abilities. In this regard, specialists () point out that coachees are more inclined to follow the lead of a coach, who has charisma and well-developed leadership skills. Instead, while working in teams, coachees can have informal leaders, who challenge the position of the coach that undermines the coaching process and decreases substantially its effectiveness and positive outcomes. Therefore, the strong and effective leadership of the coach unites coachees and allow the coach to lead the coachees and help them to realize their full potential.custom research paper
The second factor is the organisation’s ability to attract and retain quality people (Five Secrets of High Performing Organisations, 2010). At this point, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that quality people often perform the role of models for the majority of the personnel in organisations. At the same time, quality people are more successful in coaching because they perceive easily the message sent by a coach to them. Therefore, they get training easily, they acquire new knowledge, develop new skills and extend their professional experience easily that naturally leads to a consistent improvement of their individual performance (Neal & Tromley, 1995).
In actuality, the retention of quality employees is crucial for the effective organizational performance. In fact, any company or organization needs well-qualified professionals, who can keep progressing and bring considerable benefits to the organizations which they work in. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the fact that coaching contributes to the development and improvement of professionals skills of coachees. In such a context, the ability of organizations to attract and retain quality people is crucial. In the contemporary business environment, the qualification of employees and their ability to develop their professional skills define the potential and market value of the company because today human resources comprise important market value of companies. In addition, human resources play an important part in the development of companies because they can develop and introduce innovations, which are of the utmost importance in the contemporary highly technological world. Therefore, the retention of quality people defines the marketing position of an organization and its competitive position in the market.
In this regard, the role of coaching can hardly be underestimated. Coaching opens large opportunities for the development of professional skills and abilities and retention of the quality people. The latter is particularly noteworthy. The current study has revealed the fact that professionals, especially highly-qualified professionals, are willing to get involved in coaching because the coaching process helps them to develop their professional skills and abilities and opens better career opportunities. In such a situation, organizations need to provide their employees and managers with the possibility to have sufficient training to keep them progressing professionally and get better career opportunities.
Furthermore, the retention of quality employees can help organizations to develop their coaching programs. In this respect, many specialists () view coaching as a part of the knowledge sharing management, which may be applied in any organization, where well-qualified professionals can share their knowledge and experience with other employees. In such a way, organizations can save costs on the coaching process because they do not need to hire coaches from outside, instead, they can use coaches, i.e. highly qualified professionals working within these organizations. At the same time, professionals involved in the coaching process in terms of the knowledge sharing management develop the team spirit and learn to work within a team because they work together and they participate in the coaching process in their teams. Therefore, the coaching process is very effective and helps organizations to retain their employees, especially well-qualified professionals.
The third factor is the organisation’s ability to adopt a disciplined approach to the business including working “on” the business to create plans and align the employees to execute the business plans (Five Secrets of High Performing Organisations, 2010). In fact, coaches are more successful when an organisation has a clear business plan and strategy and employees are aware of this strategy. In such a situation, employees understand that coaching is important for them and they need to follow the lead of a coach to reach strategic and business goals of their organisation. They feel responsible because they understand the importance of the business plan and strategy for their career. In fact, the successful implementation of the business plan and strategy imply the improvement of their position in the organisation. Therefore, employees develop a positive attitude to coaching that facilitates coaching and leads to the improvement of the individual performance of employees.
In fact, the discipline is crucial for the effective organizational performance as well as for the effective performance of employees. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that coaching contributes consistently to the development of discipline in coachees. As a rule, coaches attempt to develop discipline among coachees because the discipline facilitates consistently the coaching process. Therefore, before starting to work with coachees, coaches attempt to establish clear and adequate rules and norms, which establish discipline within the team and allow coaches to conduct the coaching process properly and effectively. On the other hand, coachees learn discipline in the course of the coaching process. They extrapolate their experience on the regular work and they keep maintaining the discipline in the course of their regular work in their traditional workplace environment. In such a way, the coaching process contributes to the improvement of discipline of employees, whereas the discipline improves the employees’ performance.
However, some organizations face substantial problems with the development of effective approaches to maintain discipline in their employees and managers. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that some organizations fail to maintain discipline because they use liberal management style, which leads to the deterioration of discipline but specialists () and managers interviewed in the course of the current study argue that it is possible to improve discipline in organizations with the liberal management style through coaching. In such a situation, employees just need to understand the significance of discipline for their own performance as well as for the performance of the organization. Paradoxically, specialists () point out that organizations with the authoritarian management style may suffer from the poor discipline as well because employees respond to the authoritarian management or leadership methods by disobedience to rules and norms established within the organization. As a result, the organization suffers from the poor discipline.
In such a situation, the development and maintenance of discipline should be one of the major priorities of coaching. Many coaches are particularly concerned with the discipline because they consider the discipline a key to the overall success of the coaching process. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that the coaching process depends on the discipline of the coachees because they cannot acquire new knowledge, develop or improve their professional skills and abilities, if they have the poor discipline and cannot concentrate on coaching and tasks they have to fulfil in terms of coaching. In contrast, disciplined employees, i.e. coachees, a more successful and they can improve their performance on completing the coaching program. In such a context, coaching needs the discipline of coachees but, at the same time, it develops discipline in coachees.
The fourth factor refers to technologies (Five Secrets of High Performing Organisations, 2010). In actuality, high performing companies made strategic use of technology. Coaches should use the full benefit of technologies to reach goals of coaching. What is meant here is the fact that coaches can reach positive outcomes of their work if they used advanced technologies that facilitates coaching and perception of the message conveyed by a coach to individuals. For instance, the use of modern means of telecommunication facilitates coaching and increases its effectiveness. Moreover, the use of technologies in the course of coaching teaches employees to use technologies in their regular work. In this regard, specialists (Hawkins & Smith, 2006) argue that the use of technologies can improve consistently the individual performance of employees.
Today, technologies play a particularly important role in the life of the modern society and in the functioning of modern organizations in particular, especially if they operate in the field of ITs and knowledge based industries. At this point, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the functioning of modern organizations is practically unthinkable without the use of technologies. Moreover, technologies will play even more important role in the future than they do now. The development of modern organizations confronts the problem of the ongoing introduction of new technologies. In such a context, the introduction of new technologies is a serious challenge for organizations. Therefore, coaching becomes essential for modern organizations because through coaching it is possible to help coachees to adapt and use new technologies in their regular work. In other words, coaching provides employees with ample opportunities to use new technologies and adapt them in their work.
Many coaches attempt to use modern technologies to facilitate the coaching process and to increase its effectiveness. At the same time, it is important to stress the positive impact of the use of technologies on the performance of employees. In this respect, it is necessary to point out that technologies are developed to facilitate the work of professionals or to replace professionals in fulfilment of certain functions. Therefore, the more technologies employees can use in their work the better may be their performance because technologies facilitate the work and increase productivity of employees. Coaches are conscious of the potential of technologies and stimulate coachees to use technologies not only in the course of coaching but also in their regular work. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that coachees often need to get additional practice in the use of new technologies and, what is more, coachees just need to learn how to use new technologies. Moreover, often coachees may be unaware of the existence of new technologies that can facilitate their work consistently. In such a situation, coaches can help coachees to get acquainted with new technologies and help them to learn how to use new technologies in their work.
Anyway, the development of new technologies stimulate organizations to develop coaching because this is one of the most effective ways to implement new technologies and help employees to use new technologies effectively. In fact, often organizations suffer from the poor use of new technologies because employees and managers do not use the full potential of new technologies because they do not know how to use them properly. Therefore, organizations need coaches, who can help coachees to adapt new technologies and to reveal their full potential. Moreover, coaches help coachees to use the full potential of new technologies and look for options to introduce new technologies or use new technologies in their work even before the formal introduction of the technologies within their organizations. In such a way, coaches help coachees to think progressively that naturally increases the effectiveness of their work as well as it leads to the improvement of the organizational performance at large.
Finally, it is necessary to take into consideration such factor as external relationships of organisations. To put it more precisely, high performing companies developed relationships with trusted outside providers such as attorneys, finance and accounting professionals, and insurance professionals (Five Secrets of High Performing Organisations, 2010). The external relationships are very important for the successful work of a coach because the coach should use not only internal forces within the organisation but also external ones to help employees to tackle their problems, which prevent them from the consistent improvement of their individual performance. For instance, the existence of some external threats to the organisation can make employees feel uncertain about their future in the organisation. Therefore, their performance can deteriorate, whereas a coach can change the attitude of employees to their work and improve their individual performance by means of the coaching session.
Furthermore, the case study conducted in terms of the current research has revealed the fact that coaching can be effective and lead to the improvement of the individual performance. Moreover, under certain conditions, such as the enrolment of the overwhelming majority of the personnel in coaching, coaching can lead to the consistent improvement of not only the individual performance but also of the organisational performance at large. The case study proved that the organisation using coaching can increase the effectiveness of the performance of its employees. On the other hand, it is still important to create favourable conditions for the effective implementation of knowledge, skills and experience acquired by employees in the course of coaching.
On analyzing the impact of external relationships of organizations on employees’ performance and coaching, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that external relationships refers to three fields, including relationships with customers, representatives of rivals and business partners. In this respect, coaching should help employees to develop positive interpersonal relationships with their business partners and customers and avoid pitfalls, which may occur in the course of interaction with rivals. To put it more precisely, the development of positive interpersonal relationships with customers is particularly important and many coaches pay a particular attention to the development of communication skills in employees because the development of communication skills contributes to the improvement of communication of coachees with customers. In fact, the role of communication can hardly be underestimated in the contemporary business environment. Coachees have to develop their communication skills because they allow them to create positive interpersonal relationships with customers and form a positive image of the company they represent. On the other hand, coachees cannot succeed in developing communication skills in coachees, if they do not have some basic experience and skills in the field of communication. In addition, coachees should be willing to develop their communication skills.
The development of positive relationships with business partners or representatives of business partners is another challengeable task for coachees and coaches should assist them in this regard. Many coaches insist on the importance of the establishment positive interpersonal relationships with business partners because they increase the effectiveness of work of coachees. In fact, positive relationships between business partners often increase the effectiveness of their work because the risk of conflict decreases, whereas mutual understanding of business partners increases substantially. In such a way, the development of external relationships increases the effectiveness of employees’ performance, whereas coaching aims at the development of positive external relationships of coachees.
On the other hand, contemporary organizations often focus on the internal relationships and ignore external relationships. As a result, they encourage coaches to improve relationships of coachees within the organization, which they consider to be more significant compared to external ones. At first glance, organizations focusing on internal relationships and on the formation of the healthy organizational culture have their reasons but it is hardly possible to succeed if coachees fail to maintain positive relationships with customers, for instance. Therefore, effective coaching should include both the development of external and internal relationships. At the same time, it is worth mentioning the fact that coaches aim at the development of communication skills in coachees to improve their external relationships. Consequently, the improvement of communication skills of coachees will lead to the improvement of their interpersonal relationships with all people they work with. In other words, the improvement of communication skills in terms of coaching leads to the improvement of both internal and external relations.
5.4 Results of interviews
Interviews conducted in terms of the current study revealed a number of noteworthy facts. In this respect, it is possible to refer to interview questions to coaches:
1. What is your experience of coaching?
2. What are the main characteristics of a good coach?
3. What are the major problem coaches face in their work?
4. What is your favourite method or methods of coaching?
5. Do you feel the influence of the organization ordering coaching on your wok?
6. Do you consider your coaching is effective? Why?
7. Can coaching affect employees? performance?
8. How coaching can improve employees’ performance?
9. Do you need training or expansion your professional knowledge to coach effectively?
10. Do you consider essential for modern organizations?
11. What are goals of your coaching?
Basically, responses of coaches to the questions posed to them in the course of the interview varied substantially. To put it more precisely, the interviews with coaches proved that coaching has a positive impact on employees’ performance. At any rate coaches noticed that they observed consistent improvement in professional skills of coachees after the end of coaching. At the same time, they pointed out that many organizations attempt to employ coaches more and more frequently that proves the importance of coaching for modern organizations. On the other hand, some coaches remarked that many organizations do not understand to the full extent the significance and role of coaching, whereas goals organizations attempt to reach through coaching are sometimes quite shallow and oriented on a short-run perspective, whereas many coaches insisted on the importance of the development of coaching due to its long-run effects and steady improvement of employees performance and increase of their professional level.
Furthermore, managers were interviewed to reveal the standpoint of organizations in regard to coaching. In this respect, the following interview questions were posed to managers:
1. Does your organization order coaching services for your employees and managers?
2. What are principles of selection of a coach for your organization?
3. How you define employees, who need coaching?
4. What are the major goals of coaching for your organization?
5. How frequently you order coaching services for your employees?
6. Do you practice coaching within your organization without outsourcing coaching services?
7. Do you consider the sharing knowledge management being effective in the contemporary business environment?
8. What do you expect from coaching of your employees?
9. Have you noticed any significant improvements in the performance of your employees after coaching?
10. Do you consider coaching essential for your organization?
The answers obtained in the result of the interview revealed the fact that contemporary organizations are very concerned with the development of coaching. The frequency of coaching and the number of employees involved in coaching increase steadily and organizations attempt to organize more and more coaching for their employees. At the same time, many managers point out that the development of knowledge sharing management has become a good alternative to conventional coaching. Managers insist that the knowledge sharing management may involve coaching of employees by managers or experienced employees working within the organization. In such a way, organization will save costs and preserve cases of information breaches. In addition, the knowledge will be accumulated within the company and professionals involved in coaching will grow more and more experienced. As a result, many organizations are interested in the development of knowledge sharing management. On the other hand, modern organizations are still interested in the work of well-qualified coaches. Many managers stress the importance of the involvement of well-qualified coaches. Therefore, the qualification of coaches is one of the crucial factors for choices made by modern organization. However, what is more important in terms of the current study is the positive impact of coaching on employees’ performance revealed by managers. As the matter of fact, the majority of managers point out that coaching does have a positive impact on employees’ performance. To put it more precisely, some managers notice the increase of the productivity of employees due to coaching, while other managers notice that their employees are much more enthusiastic after coaching than they used to be before. The overall effectiveness of their work increases and managers are satisfied with positive effects of coaching on employees’ performance. However, some managers argue that some employees may have problems with adaptation to their routine job after coaching. Employees seem to be a bit bored by their job and managers argue that the different management and leadership style can provoke problems between managers and employees, who have just completed their coaching, where they learned a different management style in their team work. Basically, these facts are very important because they show that coaching may have not only positive but also some negative effects on employees’ performance. However, negative effects of coaching are quite few, whereas the majority of managers point out the positive impact of coaching on employees’ performance.
As for the interview of coahcees, this interview was also important for the current study. The following interview questions were posed to coachees:
1. Have you ever participated in coaching?
2. What is your impression of coaching?
3. Why do you participate in coaching? Or Why would you participate in coaching?
4. Do your managers push on you to participate in coaching?
5. How many of your colleagues have been involved in coaching?
6. Do you find any improvements in their performance?
7. Have you noticed any improvements in your performance after coaching?
8. Did you have any difficulties or challenges in the course of coaching?
9. Did coaching have any negative effects on your performance or on you in person?
10. Do you consider coaching being essential for you and your organization?
Basically, coachees were satisfied with their coaching experience. At the same time, they insisted on the importance of the development of effective programs which could allow them to participate in coaching when they feel the strong need in coaching or any external assistance. What is meant here is the fact that coachees need flexible coaching programs, while many contemporary organizations fail to offer their employees flexible programs, whereas in some cases coachees are simply forced by their employers to participate in coaching that is absolutely unacceptable for employees, who reject such efforts and oppose to the decisions being taken by their organizations. The risk increases consistently if opposing employees are informal leaders of their organizations. In such a situation, conflicts within organizations can emerge and provoke the deterioration of the situation within the organization undermining the organizational culture and structure.
5.5 Results of questionnaires
Questionnaires have proved to be also important. Similarly to interviews, questionnaires involved coaches, managers and coachees.
Questionnaire for coaches involved the following questions:
1. How long have you been working as a coach:
d. Less than a year – 20%
e. From one to three years – 50%
f. Over three years – 30%
2. Do you consider your coaching being effective:
c. Yes – 78%
d. No – 22%
3. How would you define the effectiveness of your coaching:
e. Very effective – 25%
f. Effective – 60%
g. Barely effective – 8%
h. Ineffective – 7%
4. Do you consider discipline is important for positive effects of coaching:
c. Yes – 55%
d. No – 45%
5. Do you consider communication to be important for effective coaching:
c. Yes – 65%
d. No – 35%
6. Do you develop communication skills in your coaches:
c. Yes – 60%
d. No – 40%
7. Do your coachees need the development of organizational skills:
c. Yes – 55%
d. No – 45%
8. How often do you participate in coaching:
d. One a week – 5%
e. Once a month – 70%
f. Once a year – 25%
9. How would you define your qualification level:
e. Superior – 15%
f. High – 60%
g. Middle – 15%
h. Low – 10%
10. What motivators do you prefer to use in your work:
c. Material – 35%
d. Non-material – 65%
Questionnaires for managers:
1. How often do you organize coaching for your employees?
d. Once a quarter – 10%
e. Once a year – 55%
f. One time in three years – 35%
2. Is coaching essential for your employees?
c. Yes – 80%
d. No – 20%
3. What is the goal of coaching for your organization?
d. To improve performance of employees – 40%
e. To improve performance of the organization – 40%
f. To improve both performance of employees and organization – 20%
4. How would you assess the effectiveness of coaching?
e. highly effective – 20%
f. effective – 65%
g. poor – 10%
h. ineffective – 5%
5. What impact does coaching have on your employees’ performance?
d. Positive – 70%
e. Negative – 15%
f. No effect – 15%
6. Are your employees motivated to participate in coaching?
c. Yes – 45%
d. No – 65%
7. What skills are primary to your coaches?
d. Leadership – 30%
e. Organizational – 30%
f. Communication – 40%
8. How much coaching do your competitors use?
d. More than our organization – 20%
e. As much as our organization – 40%
f. Less than our organization – 40%
9. Do you implement the knowledge sharing management in your organization?
c. Yes – 35%
d. No – 65%
10. Is coaching essential for your organization?
c. Yes – 75%
d. No – 25%
Thus, managers proved that coaching is extremely important for modern organizations and they need to develop coaching along with the knowledge sharing management to improve the performance of employees as well as organizational performance. At the same time, some managers point out that coaching has a positive impact on both employees and organizational performance.
The questionnaire for coachees was very important in terms of the qualitative assessment of the impact of coaching on employees’ performance and their attitude to coaching. The questionnaire for coachees included the following questions:
1. How often are you involved in coaching?
d. Once a quarter – 10%
e. Once a year – 55%
f. One time in three years – 35%
2. Do you enjoy coaching?
c. Yes – 60%
d. No – 40%
3. What skills of a coach you consider to be the most effective?
d. Leadership – 40%
e. Organizational – 20%
f. Communication – 40%
4. What are your goals in coaching?
d. Improvement of my professional skills and abilities – 65%
e. Career growth and promotion – 33%
f. I just have fun while coaching – 2%
5. Are you motivated by your coach?
c. Yes – 60%
d. No – 40%
6. What motivators are the most important for you?
c. Material – 40%
d. Non-material – 60%
7. Does your organization motivate you to participate in coaching?
c. Yes – 65%
d. No – 35%
8. Have you noticed any effects of coaching in regard to your performance in the workplace?
d. Positive effects – 55%
e. Negative effects – 15%
f. No effects – 30%
9. Are you eager to participate in coaching?
c. Yes – 60%
d. No – 40%
10. What qualities or skills do you suppose to develop with the help of coaching?
d. Communication – 15%
e. Organizational – 35%
f. Leadership – 50%
11. Is coaching useful for your career growth?
c. Yes – 60%
d. No – 40%
Obviously, the responses of coachees show that they are interested in coaching, although they do not always feel being motivated by coaches. Nevertheless, they are motivated by their organizations and prospects of professional development and career growth.
5.6 Conclusion
The organisational culture and the relationships within the organisation are not the only factors that have a significant impact on coaching and its consequences. The interviews and questionnaires conducted among manages, coaches and experts, have revealed the fact that organisations using coaching to improve the individual performance of their employees need to take into consideration the competencies of coaches. In such a context, it is quite noteworthy that the case study analysed in the current dissertation reveals the fact that the Standard Bank of South Africa also reached certain progress in coaching after the employment of new coaches. Therefore, it is important to dwell upon competencies coaches should possess to reach positive outcomes in their work. In fact, managers, coaches and experts distinguish several core coaching competencies.

First of all, it is important to emphasize knowledge as a key factor of coach’s success. Basically, coaches should have the knowledge about the essence of the coaching process involved. They should understand all the stages of coaching and the essence of the process. In addition, they should be acquainted with different models of coaching which can underpin their role as a coach. Each coach may have his or her favourite role and he or she should not change the role if he or she feels uncertain about outcomes of such change. At the same time, coaches should know which personal and professional skills and abilities to develop in the coachee. In fact, this information is essential for the definition of goals of coaching. Otherwise, coaches would never know where to direct coaching process to and what goals they have to achieve to improve the individual performance of employees. In the course of coaching, coaches should understand how to manage the coaching relationship effectively. The establishment of positive relationships with coaches is crucial for the overall success of coaching. On the other hand, coaches should be able to set boundaries, which they should not overcome because, in such a way, they can put under a threat the coaching session and its positive effects. At the same time, coaches should be good educators and psychologists and they need to know effective ways of learning and approaches to the development of effective learning styles. In such a way, coaches can maximize the effectiveness of coaching.
Along with extensive professional knowledge, coaches should develop specific professional skills, which should make coaches able to perform basic activities which are essential for the success of their job. In this regard, coaches should be able to listen to their clients. This skill is very important because, while listening to a client, the coach obtains the basic information about the client on the ground of which he or she can build up coaching program and strategy. At the same time, coaches should be able to communicate at different levels because employees can hide some information from coaches and coaches should be able to get that information using different levels of communication. To meet this goal, coaches should also be able to ask searching questions with the help of which they can get the full information about the client’s problem. On the other hand, coaches should remember about ethical issues and avoid offences of their clients by all means. In fact, they should give feedback without causing offence to their clients that will encourage clients to cooperate with the coach. In addition, coaches should be empathetic to make their clients trust and be confident in coaches. To meet this goal, coaches should also demonstrate the high level of self confidence and the confidence of coaches in their forces should extrapolate on the coachee.
At the same time, coaching is a two-side process that involves the interaction between coaches and the coachee. In this regard, coaches should facilitate goal setting for their clients. Clients need to set goals on their own because as they realize the problem they should set goals to achieve and coaches just help them to set and to meet these goals. Furthermore, coaches should be challenging to keep clients being willing to prove that they can work better. On the other hand, coaches should be compassionate, if they feel their clients need their support and compassion. Anyway, coaches should always focus on needs and interests of the coachee. In such a way, they can maximize the positive impact of coaching on the individual performance of employees.
Finally, coaches should pay a lot of attention to their behaviour to reach positive outcomes of coaching. In this regard, coaches should encourage self-discovery because they need to improve their own qualification and keep progressing to be able to coach other people. At the same time, coaches should act as a role model. Clients need positive models of behaviour and coaches should grant them with such models. On the other hand, coaches should stay neutral and be non-judgemental in relation to their clients. They should not evaluate them as good or bad, they just perceive clients as they are. If possible, coaches should use humour appropriately to facilitate coaching and to make clients feeling at ease. While working in a diverse environment, coaches should illustrate that they value diversity to show that they are free of biases and absolutely objective. In addition, coaches should show tact and diplomacy to avoid offences of their clients. At the same time, they should always maintain confidentiality that is one of the key issues of professional ethics of coaches. In the course of coaching, coaches should seek to build client’s confidence and self esteem to help them to develop a positive attitude to their job. In fact, coaches should show other sources of support to client and critically evaluate their own effectiveness. In such a way, they will increase the positive effect of coaching on the individual performance of employees.