What is Coaching?
Coaching is a term that is used frequently but can often be misunderstood or confused with other "learning" terms such as training, mentoring or counselling.
The table below outline the differences between each of the learning terms.
The key part of coaching which a lot of people don't realise is that when you are coaching someone you do not need to be an expert on a subject area or even know anything about that subject area.
It is all about getting the individual to come up with their own answers and solutions. So you shouldn't be concerned if you don't know what they should do.
The difference between coaching and a normal conversation is that in coaching, the coach is working deliberately to develop the individual performance by asking questions which helps the individual access what they know.
A Coaching Example
A member of the team asks how you would want the offers displayed in the shop window. You can easily answer the question and just tell the person how you want it displayed. However, assuming you know they have some competence in this area, you could ask them what they think would be a good way to display the information. In this way you are using coaching to encourage the individual to think for themselves which will enable the individual to grow and develop.