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Training and coaching are siblings in the performance improvement and skill-development world — related but quite unique when compared to each other. By understanding them more thoroughly, we can harness resources to maximize the impact of each.
Training typically involves imparting knowledge and specific skills through structured programs. It follows a predefined curriculum, often focusing on standardized content and techniques. It is instructor-driven, aiming for mastery through repetition and practice.
Coaching, on the other hand, is a more personalized and collaborative process. It revolves around unlocking an individual’s potential, guiding them to find solutions, and fostering self-discovery. Coaches facilitate goal-setting, reflection, and continuous improvement. Unlike training, coaching is learner-centric, emphasizing individual growth, problem-solving, and adapting to unique circumstances. While training provides a foundation, coaching focuses on personalized development, addressing specific challenges and goals.
Training, effective for disseminating information and ensuring a consistent understanding across a group, is best suited for situations with a defined set of skills or knowledge that needs to be acquired by individuals. Many trainers consider coaching to be an important next step, picking up after the skill transfer. As a follow-up to basic training, coaching requires guidance, support, and feedback specially tailored to the recipient.
Coaching often involves:
While coaches don’t need deep expertise in the area in which they are coaching another, a handful of skills and resources are necessary for success. Whether you’re considering coaching others yourself or choosing colleagues to coach one another, be sure they’re equipped to be effective. They’ll need:
Develop and enhance your coaches efforts by supplying them with professional tools and resources.
HRDQ has created a series of What’s My Style? assessments. Through the What’s My Coaching Style Assessment, you can understand an individual’s coaching style by measuring their tendency to be Direct, Spirited, Considerate, or Systematic.
Asking great questions is core to effective coaching. The G.R.O.W. Model, focusing on questions organized around these four categories, continues to grow in popularity:
Several Card Decks utilizing this methodology are worth exploring, including Q-Cards and UNZIP-it Coaching Questions.
By recording what you hear in a way that the speaker can see what you’ve heard, or by repeating what you heard, coaches can check their understanding. Moreover, when those who have expressed themselves see or hear their ideas reframed, they have an opportunity to rephrase, revise, clarify, or reflect on what they said. Lending to both greater self-understanding and mutual understanding. The Tabletop Whiteboard makes it easy (and kind of fun) to do this!
Many of these resources are available at Trainers Warehouse. For more life-coaching resources, try the Coaching Tools Company.
Neither coaching nor agreeing to be coached is easy. Dr. Atul Gawande expresses it well in his insanely popular TED Talk. However the payoff for excellent coaching is well worth the investment. If you have a few extra minutes, have a listen!
In his TED Talk, Want to Get Great at Something? Get a Coach, Dr. Atul Gawande explains that many professional situations assume that once you’ve become an expert in your field, you no longer require training or learning. This model, he says, is very different from the professional sports model, where players assume they always need someone to watch what they’re doing and give them feedback. Following the pro-athlete model, Gawande, a successful surgeon, retains a coach to watch him do surgery and give feedback. As uncomfortable as the exercise felt, he tells the story of how invaluable it was.