Author: Joanna Sujecka¸ PKF Malta
Nowadays coaching is a pretty hot topic. Every respectable corporation which gathers big amount of employees uses coaching techniques to improve results and make work more effective. It is of course natural for company to make maximum profits and minimalize costs¸ but let us wonder that maybe there are any costs caused by using those techniques? It is all about the humans but does it really considers workers welfare indeed? This article is a discourse between the influences of coaching on business with small second thoughts on the role of the employee in the system.
While searching information for this article I came up with many¸ many others written by coaching guides trying to prove facts and myths about services themselves. However¸ I couldn’t resist the impression¸ that none of them wanted to show the other side of the coin. All are trying to convince that the criticism addressed to ‘coaching world’ is unjustified and inappropriate. Shouldn’t it be the exact opposite? In the end the idea of couching is to stimulate creative thinking and build own opinions…
As in every profession¸ there are professionals as pretenders¸ specialists and sloppy workers¸ but in this area it is especially important to not being drugged into working with the second ones. As always on psychological field working with minds is very sensitive¸ so it is necessary to choose help and technique as much consciously as we can. Maybe before taking some courses and workshops¸ recommended would be to make at least small research in this sphere to have the ability to form an own opinion.
Let’s start from the very beginning. The idea itself has positive and sincere motives. The goals are individually fitted to each personality¸ nothing is imposed from the top¸ and a client is stimulated to his own creative thinking. Perfect coach is a person who never suggests any solutions¸ does not urge to do things which are contrary to the person’s beliefs and values. The role of coach is to provoke wondering¸ to stop client in his life and force to think about it for a while. He often asks: ‘And how you see it?’¸ ‘What are your options?’¸ ‘What is most important for you¸ why?’¸ ‘What will be your first step¸ when?’ By asking the right questions he try to help the client realise the possibilities¸ and answers but without giving any by himself. Good trainer is also able to separate from his views¸ life experience¸ ‘cognitive maps’ and simply helps to see more as well as the priority for coach should be to recognise and realise what the customer sees and what he wants for himself.
As it is shown¸ the idea is upright and noble¸ however everything has two ends. Before hiring a coach it is worth to stop and look further how it works in practise. Let’s go a bit dipper with sliding questions. Is it really possible for coach to keep with complete objectivity? Who actually is a client¸ isn’t it maybe nowadays alternative synonym for a patient? How the sessions really affect us? What are the results and impact on our way of thinking in the future? And the final question: is it just contemporary aid or a new path of global manipulation?
The inquiry I have started with some lingual research. Nomenclature which is used in coaching world seems to be psychologically very interesting. As was mentioned above people who use couching services are c