Category: Coaching

Significance Of Feedback in Communication

Communication has been defined as the exchange of ideas, thoughts and feelings, that result in an understanding response. What this means is that communication is a two-way process that requires a message to be sent from one party and requires the other party to respond or act in an appropriate way, based on the communication. The response given by the receiver as a result of the communication determines whether the communication process was successful or not, and this response is termed as “feedback”.

Since communication is a two-way process, it goes without saying that feedback becomes an integral part of the communication process. No communication is complete without feedback.

Feedback can be provided by the receiver in a number of ways:

  • Verbal Feedback – Verbal feedback in the form of phrases like “yes” or “I understand what you are saying” show that the message has been transmitted clearly and the process of communication is complete.
  • Non-verbal Feedback – Feedback can also be non-verbal. Just a nod or an expression on the face of the receiver is sometimes enough to indicate whether the communication has been successful or not.
  • Action – Another way of giving feedback is taking action in accordance with the message sent by the sender. Once the appropriate action is taken based on the message, it automatically indicates that the process of communication was successful.

Feedback completes the process of communication and ensures that there has been no miscommunication. If appropriate feedback is not given or if the feedback clearly indicates that the message has not been understood, then the process of communication has failed. In this scenario, the entire process of communication will have to be repeated, eliminating all barriers, to ensure effective communication.

Thus we see that feedback plays a critical role in the process of communication.

However, there are times when the recipient of a message does not voluntarily provide feedback. In such a situation, it becomes imperative to elicit the feedback. Asking questions or asking the receiver directly to provide are effective strategies of eliciting a response or feedback. Without feedback we will not know whether the communication was successful or not. Leaving the success of communication to chance is never a prudent idea. Also the cost of miscommunication may be too high.

Hence, it is safe to say that communication process cannot and should not be complete without feedback.

To learn more about effective communication techniques, see the BizComm Model of Strengthscape.

Filed under: Coaching

5 Tips For Overcoming Stage Fright

Stage Fright or fear of public speaking can take a lot away from your professional life! It can make day to day tasks daunting and sometimes even impossible. Imagine seizing up every time you have to make a presentation or even speak at a meeting. Surprisingly even some seasoned speakers suffer from stage fright!

Stage fear can be overcome or controlled following some simple tips.

So here are 5 tips and tricks to overcome stage fright:

1. Breathe – It is important to carry out breathing exercises before any event where you are expected to speak. This becomes even more critical when you suffer from stage fright. Breathing properly relaxes your body and calms your mind. Most people who suffer from stage fright will tell you their throat feels constricted and they are unable to breathe properly. Practicing proper breathing can help you overcome this.

2. Arrive Early – If you are a speaker at an event or meeting, arrive early. This will give you time to calm your nerves and freshen up if required. Relax and have a glass of water. It is good for your nerves to be in an empty room and see it slowly fill up rather than come to a packed room.

3. Mingle with the Audience – Arriving early will also give you the opportunity to mingle with the audience. Some speakers like to sit with them and talk before they take the stage. This provides a personal connect with the people and they are no more just an audience but people whom you know by name!

4. Think on Your Feet – Most human interactions are unpredictable since you don’t know how someone will react. It is this uncertainty that also frightens some people. The best advice is to be prepared for any uncertainty. Always have a Plan B! Be quick and think on your feet to tackle difficult people. Remember the best strategy is to not offend anyone and respond quickly. This is easier said than done. The more you go on stage the more experience you will have and you will become better at handling people and situations. This brings me to the last tip.

5. Practice, Practice, Practice – The more you practice the more confident you will be with what you have to say. Each practice session will also help you visualize different questions and situations and you will be better prepared for that. Even the most seasoned actors need to rehearse before they deliver their best performance. Remember Rome wasn’t built in one day!

Keep these tips in mind next time you go on stage and see the magic!

For more on Soft Skills look up the BizComm Program of Strengthscape.

Filed under: Coaching

Value Of Goal Setting in Coaching

In behavioural coaching, the goal is the central point around which strategies are formulated to move forward. They provide a reference point, an inspiration and a sense of direction to the whole coaching journey.  Goals have a mental representation and therefore they tend to present an automatic environment response.

People with high level of self-efficacy tend to set tougher / bigger goals and they perform well to achieve these goals. This must be seen both in terms of long term and short-term goals. While long term goals provide a sense of direction and pertain to self-actualization, short term goals provide a sense of achievement and progress necessary to build confidence to move towards long term goals.

Voluntary goals engender higher commitment and are therefore preferred in the coaching context. From the organizational perspective, it may be important for the organization to set the overall direction and define higher level outcomes. Detailing of the goals, prioritization and hierarchy may be left to the coachee to engender higher interest and commitment. It is important to get the coachee’ s buy in into the goals irrespective of how autocratic the goal setting process is in the organization. Structuring messages, providing reasons and creating a dialogue around the goals is important part of aligning a coachee to a goal. Anyone assisting the process of goal setting must have the right authority, must inspire the coachee and should also be able to provide ownership and accountability to the coachee. It’s necessary to follow up the process of goals setting with timely feedback.

Employing a combination of goal setting and mind mapping techniques assists the brain to be in evolved in wholesome (right and left). Such a combination accelerates learning and enhances self-efficacy in the coachee.

Steps to goals in behavioral coaching

  1. Identify gaps: Coach and the coachee in partnership analyse and identify gaps in performance. This may be done in collaboration with other stakeholders in the organization. Special attention is paid to tasks where certain behaviours of the coachee act as derailers frequently.
  2. Identify areas where goals have been achieved: It is important to provide positive reinforcement during setting goals. Enhancing self-knowledge is pertinent to the process of goal setting.
  3. Identify objective measures: Goals must have objective measures. In case the goals cascade down from larger goals in an organization, these must co-relate and sum up to provide a sense of objectivity not just at the subject level but also at the organization level.
  4. Nominate all possible goals: All goals related to the higher objective musty be enlisted to ensure that there is a sense of completion. Mind mapping techniques help in ensuring this. Prioritization and rating these goals is also important.
  5. Set SMART Goals: The list so derived must be expanded and detailed using the SMART goals. Specific, measurable, achievable, recordable and time bound – goals perform best when stretched. Goals also must be prioritized based on their importance for the organization and the individual.
  6. Coping Strategies: The selected goals are then articulated in terms of behavioural goals and indicators. Coach must explore possible obstacles and document them to pre-empt them by creating coping strategies.
Filed under: Coaching

Role Of An Executive Coach

Coaches wear multiple hats – trainer, therapist, manager, facilitator and mentors!

Although each of these roles demands specific skills, knowledge and experience, executive coaches are expected to value add in the following areas:

Enhancing self-awareness: Irrespective of the objectives of the coaching journey, personal, business, sports and relationship, almost all coaching journeys should have enhancing “self-awareness” at its core. Self-awareness essentially relates to one’s knowledge of own strengths, limitations, scholastic aptitude, goals and aspirations. Coach must himself seek to know how much self-knowledge the subject already has, how easily they are able to enhance the level of self-knowledge and how much self-knowledge is really required given the coaching objectives. Many times, coaching involves reframing the existing situation a coachee finds herself in. And it is essentially that the genesis of the change happens in the level of self-awareness.

Modelling the outcome: Coaches must be able to demonstrate clear thinking, a strong internal locus of control, effective communication skills and high trust behaviours to enable the coachee to find motivation in the journey. As a role model, coaches must demonstrate a high value system, a professional demeanour and sincerity and openness to assist the coachee to demonstrate the same.

Address the root of the problem: It’s not an easy task to quickly arrive at the core of an issue effectively. Experienced coaches get to the core of the issue swiftly and can broach upon sensitive issues with easy and in an environment of high trust and openness. Because coaching is a partnership, and should not typically, create a performance pressure for the coach, the coach must invoke a coachee’ s assistance in arriving at the core issue. The method of questioning and appreciate enquiry can quickly lead the partners in the conversation to the core issue.

Sharing expertise / information: While theoretically, coaching is not about sharing experiences, some situations demand that coachee share their own experience. Experienced coaches do that with simplicity and without creating an emotional obligation on the coachee to follow suite.

Giving feedback: Most of us do not like receiving negative or constructive feedback! And therefore, it is upon the coach to find a way to give m=both positive and negative feedback that can enhance self-awareness and set us on a path of development. Coaches must learn to give feedback in a safe and constructive manner no matter how sensitive the issue. This is a core skill for coaches.

Building accountability: Keeping the coachee on track, with a sense of self accountability is pertinent part of a coaches’ job role! Whether the coaching conversation is about the vision, goals, strategic planning, creating action or exchanging perspectives, coaches drive a sense of self accountability in the coachee. Coaches need to learn to be persuasive and when the coachee hits a roadblock, coaches know that while some of these blocks could be genuine, it is essential not to leave the coachee off the hook easily.

Filed under: Executive Coaching

Executive Coaching Outline

Do you ever feel a gap in your employee’s existing performance and what the individual is actually capable of doing?

Most often when an organization hires people they take into account the existing performance of the candidate with a hope to nurture them for organization’s goal specific behaviors. Yet when the employees actually get on board, organizations realize that to bridge the gap between existing performance and the expected performance they need to get an expert on board.

Here an expert refers to a coach. Now who is a coach? It is someone, who has the ability to bridge the gap between performance gaps. Moreover, what we need today is an executive coach. An executive coach is someone who has the potential to enhance employee performance, to achieve specific goals for the organization they serve.

Executive Coaching can help in unleashing the true potential of employees.

Another question that may arise in the minds of organizations would be why they should hire an executive coach for the purpose of training their employees. The answer lies in the following benefits of having an executive coach-

  • An executive coach can identify the high performing and high potential individuals who are capable of leading teams
  • Helps in the smooth development of leadership and managerial skills among different class of employees
  • Helps improve the basic interpersonal and intrapersonal skills of individuals like conflict resolution, necessary to survive at every level of job

Although it may seems like the organization can look after these needs themselves, why spend extra on hiring executive coach, yet what they miss is the fact that an executive coach is trained in coaching which would rather be a plus for the organization.

Moving further why should organizations look for executive coaching as a solution? A simple answer, executive coaching is a mutual understanding and a trusting relationship shared by the coach and his coachee to bring out the best underlying potential, enabling the coachee to deliver the desired results expected of him as well as opening avenues to where he aspires to see himself in the future.

Let’s now dive into the process of executive coaching i.e. how executive coaching works-

Coaching is a confidential affair that an organization and its employees engage in.

Therefore, the aspect of mutual trust is critical.

The process is simple –

  • The terms of coaching relationship need to be defined
  • Consider the timing and logistics required to conduct the coaching
  • The coach and the coachee need to understand why both are here and what can the coachee expect from the coaching session
  • The coach has to address the specific needs of the coachee and push him to move beyond his current position to the desired position
  • Arrive at a measure of success for the coaching journey i.e. what will the feedback mechanism be like

So that’s how executive coaching works and how an executive coach be a rescuer for the individuals and the organizations as a whole.

Filed under: Coaching