What is Coaching?

There is no shared held definition of coaching. The commonly used definition of coaching is: Coaching is the art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of another.

At Inchkey, we believe coaching is a dance, involving a relationship between people, and the conversation that takes place within that relationship. This conversation is coachee driven and can take a number of forms depending on the situation and the needs of the coachee. The role of the coach is to enable the coachee to explore, to gain a better understanding, to become more aware and from that place to make a better decision than they would have made anyway!

The spectrum of coaching Skills: Directive and non-directive coaching

Directive coaching means: to direct, to tell, to instruct coachees. Here it is seen as the coach is solving someone’s problem for them.

Non-directive coaching: the coach does not direct, instruct or tell instead they ask powerful questions that raises awareness, summarises, paraphrases, reflects and listens to understand. Here the coach is assisting someone to solve their own problem.

Can these different approaches work together? 

At Inchkey, we believe the coaching relationship is coachee driven thus depending on the needs of the coachee, it may be necessary to use a combination of skills that would serve the individual.

What actually happens?

Coaching can sometimes be a one off session. It can also involve regular agreed meetings. These may take place every two weeks, once a month or every quarter. A coaching session can last between an hour to 2 hours. This is agreed with the client at the initial consultation. At the initial meeting, an explicit agreement is made between coach and coachee regarding responsibilities, confidentiality, boundaries etc. The coachee’s outcome is then discussed and agreed upon.