The Importance of Business Coaching in Organizations

According to Comett (2012), coaching is an exercise where a coach assists a learner in achieving a particular personal or professional goal via training and development (192). Normally, the coach has more expertise and experience than the student does thereby placing him or her at a vantage point of offering advice and guidance as the latter learns. He also notes that it differs from mentoring due to its focus on specific tasks and objectives contrary to general goals and overall development that mentoring centers.

Over the past few decades, business coaching has become a major human resource development tool in successful organizations (Cushion et al.

, 2009, p.201). In management environments, others refer it to as executive coaching, leadership coaching, or corporate coaching. Business coaching is imperative in human resource development as it provides positive feedback, support, and advice to an employee or a group of personnel to help them improve their personal effectiveness in the business arena (Cushion et al., 2009, p.211). Coaches help employees enhance their personal effectiveness by offering them guidance on career transition, organizational effectiveness, developing executive presence, interpersonal communication, and enhancing strategic thinking (Cushion et al., 2009, p.203).

Most organizations hire coaching experts such as an industrial-organizational psychologist to coach their employees. However, corporate coaching is no limited to external providers or experts. Majorities of organizations require senior leaders and middle-level managers to coach their respective teams on how to achieve exemplary performance, career development, personal growth, and increased job satisfaction. Consequently, the overall workplace performance increases leading to better services for clients.

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Accordingly, the paper deliberates the appropriateness of coaching for clients, how SC can help to develop customers and recommendations for integrating positive psychology in coaching as well as evaluating the coaching interventions on five levels. Businesses coaching and other forms of helping such as mentoring and counseling is appropriate to customers due to four main reasons as De Meuse (2009) notes (117).

First, a business may require coaching and mentoring to improve accountability. De Meuse (2009) indicates most business leaders always break their promises mainly due to their busy schedules (119). While alone, it is possible to make promises and break them with relative ease, but when someone else is involved, we are less likely to break our pledges. Therefore, a business coach will serve as an accountability partner who will challenge clients to strategize and develop their goals. Moreover, the coach assists clients to align their efforts towards achieving their established goals. Arun Apte, CEO of two biotech firms in India, best exemplifies the need for a coach to boost accountability (Biswas-Diener, 2010). He noted that he hired a coach since he needed accountability in his business. Therefore, the coach provided the outside perspective that assisted him to learn from others who had run dozens of companies. His business coach hand dealt with hundreds of entrepreneurs in his 15 years of practice. Consequently, he knew where to look for problems, where Arun was slacking, and what he was avoiding.

Therefore, the coach helped him to be accountable (Biswas-Diener, 2010). Secondly, a business may require coaching to brainstorm brilliance. Ely at al. (2012) notes that the collective power of many experts is far better to the power of a single entrepreneur (586). Therefore, a coach will bring new ideas to the business and bring new dimensions to thinking. Jeannette Bitz, managing principal and chief strategist at Engage, best exemplifies the case (Ely et al., 2010, p. 590). He notes that despite his motivation and focus in his business, he has not the time for strategic thinking. Strategic thinking helps bring new ideas and dimensions in business that improves brilliance. Therefore, his coach helped him to think more strategically about his business. Therefore, he could determine how his employees and clients could address the company vision. After one week with his coach, he notes that the outcome was evident all over due to significant progress in solving issues affecting his business and the new strategies that had a substantial impact on his business. Moreover, business coaching may be appropriate for an enterprise to receive guidance. A business coach challenges managers thinking, willingness to grow, and goals (Ely et al., 2010, p.589).

Most coaches will have dealt with numerous clients. As such, they have experience that he or she shares. The experience offers guidance to the customer to reevaluate their business goals, management approach, and forms of strategy. Moreover, the coach’s offers unique insight that guides customers on ways to broaden their business awareness. For example, a toy manufacturer may design a beautiful toy that is exciting to play with. However, the toy may have too many tiny pieces to assemble thereby putting off some customers. Therefore, the business needs directions on how to make a more compact toy. A business coach who has dealt with numerous manufacturers of the same will offer able guidance (Ely et al., 2010, p.598). Lastly, business coaching and other forms of helping are appropriate for clients in need of bouncing ideas. Most coaches primary dedication is to act as their client sounding board. An excellent coach will put all his or her thoughts rampant in the brain to be present and listen to the client (Ely et al., 2010, p.586).

Therefore, the coach can ask compelling questions that help unearth deeply rooted values otherwise planted firmly. A coach does not offer any judgment to the client’s ideas. As such, how they hit him, or her is how they bounce back to the customer. The neutrality of the coach that bars him from opining their client’s position help guide the business towards achieving its goals and objectives. SC may help a client develop new ways of looking at problems and solving them while applying Appreciative Inquiry (Glasgow, 2008, p. 490). Al is currently gaining traction in the business world though initially developed for the medical field. Leaders who adapt to Al are likely to produce significant impacts. Solution-focused coaching employing Al help improve clients in numerous ways. First, SC contributes to making the customer feel resourceful in tackling their problems (Glasgow, 2008, p. 499). AI helps the coach see his or her clients as resourceful and capable. In SC, the coach encourages the client to focus on positive stories relating to their past and learn from their past success.

Consequently, the approach helps the customers’ change how they connect with others. Therefore, the client will eventually pull out of the problem state into a new physiology that encourages multidimensional thinking (Glasgow, 2008, p. 499). Secondly, SC helps clients develop a futuristic view. Human beings have the weakness of dwelling too much on the past (Glasgow, 2008, p. 501). Business managers and other employees also face similar challenges while executing their mandate. Therefore, solution focused coaching aids them to forget their failed past and learn from their past mistakes. Such is the leading principle in Appreciative Inquiry. Questioned asked in Al-based approach helps the client develop a positive frame of mind. The positive frame of mind helps the clients to conceptualize their future and come up with ways to safeguard it (Glasgow, 2008, p. 503). Moreover, solution focused coaching uses a language that changes the client’s reality view. Most people tend to be in the unresourceful frame of mind (Glasgow, 2008, p. 504).

Therefore, they are less likely to see the possibilities and opportunities available to them. SC and other helping uses tools such as different postures, storytelling, and visualizations that helps the client to see their situation in a favorable and open them to a new world of possibilities (Glasgow, 2008, p. 506). Lastly, SC helps clients to develop cognitive behaviors that are invaluable in establishing successful ventures. Solution-focused coaching draws on what evidence says about human behavior rather than on grounds of guesswork as other inspirational models. According to Glasgow (2008), SC cultivates cognitive behaviors that help clients give more focus on the solution rather than the problem (507). The concept seems so basic but the paradigm shift for time spent discussing the problem is much significant. Consequently, clients will give more focus on the future outcome rather than spend much of their time discussing the cause of the problem (Glasgow, 2008, p. 507). However, solution focused coaching have several limitations.

First, the coach to listen to what the client says without taking any positions or judging them (Cornett, 2009, p. 192). As such, if a customer had the wrong goals, the coach has no option but to follow those false objectives. For example, if the client has grown in a professional culture with underlying causation, he or she might be unwilling to change. Consequently, the coach might be feeling that his or her work is superficial as is failing to terrace the root of the problem (Cornett, 2009, p.199). Secondly, the coach takes no credit for anything that goes well with his or her client. Coaches desire to be heroic workers always occupying the bottom pit (Cornett, 2009, p.193). The moment the client realizes their dream, they vanish. Failure to get recognition may make some coaches exhibit resentment therefore not giving out their best. Lastly, SFC the coach cannot offer suggestions on how to improve the client’s situation even if anything went wrong. ‘The coach has no platform to inform the customer they lack insight (Cornett, 2009, p. 199). Therefore, the instructor has to live with the fact that there is no room for change. The situation tends to be much limiting for both the client and the coach. Positive psychology coaching employs strengths and virtues that enable customers to increase their wellbeing, enhance and apply strengths, achieve valued goals, and improve performance (Liu, 2010, p.265).

A business coach can integrate positive psychology techniques into his or her business practice in numerous ways. Personally, I would recommend five main ways to incorporate positive psychology into coaching practice. First, coaches should work to enhance the strengths and virtues of their clients that will help accomplish effective prevention (Liu, 2010, p.266. Giving much consideration on the customer’s strengths increases their chance of managing any significant difficulties that they may encounter when the coach is unavailable (Liu, 2010, p.267). Therefore, business coaches should focus on the strengths of the client, as it will help foster the development of the healthier relationship between the instructor and the client leading to favorable outcomes. Moreover, the coach targets to amplify the client’s strengths rather than repairing their weaknesses. The coach should nurture human strengths such as optimism, honesty, and perseverance (Liu, 2010, p.267).

Consequently, the positive psychology intervention will help long-term effects on children. Secondly, coaches should apply flow and positive affectivity during coaching. Flow and positive affectivity are core terms in positive psychology. According Stacey et al. (2010), complete absorption on what one does is a primary characteristic of a real life in the concept of flow (25). Coaches should create an atmosphere that fosters flow by allowing the clients to choose the activities to undertake during coaching. Therefore, the client would engage in serious play as they feel they were a part of the coaching process and activities (Stacey et al., 2008, p.26). On the other hand, Stacey et al. (2010) define positive affectivity as stable individual differences in the experience of positive emotions (30). He also notes that life conditions rarely affects positive affectivity levels. However, the positive affectivity is readily achievable through action. Therefore, physical activity is most appropriate for raising the level of positive affectivity (Stacey et al., 2008, p.31). As such, the business coach should incorporate physical activities such as group play, mere athletic competitions, and retreats to help the clients develop positive emotions needed to achieve growth and better functionality (Stacey et al., 2008, p.33). Furthermore, embracing consultations is another positive psychology technique that a business coach can employ (Stacey et al., 2008, p.33).

Discussions help individuals feel appreciated, and their view is put into consideration. As such, they are more likely to exhibit a sense of well-being. Consequently, the coach should cultivate a culture of often consultation with the clients that will in turn reinforce positivity in them (Stacey et al., 2008, p.33). Moreover, they should come up with activities that require constant consultations with the client to help enhance and nurture the customer’s lives (Stacey et al., 2008, p.34). Lastly, the coach should incorporate coaching assessment and planning. Assessment of the client’s personality will help the instructor understand the problems that the customer may face (Stacey et al., 2008, 35). Assessment practices provide an ideal place for positive psychology as the coach can identify the client’s strengths (Stacey et al., 2008, 35).

The data could then help the instructor building these metiers, therefore, helping the client to improve their wellbeing. Moreover, developing an Individual Coaching Plan would also help him apply positive psychology. Yu et al. (2008) suggests that more clear goals that the client could achieve are likely to improve their sense of importance (122). Passmore (2010) notes that positive psychology coaching has five levels that need close evaluation if the whole exercise is to be successful (51). The first level assesses the client’s responses to professional coaching activities. Liu (2010) notes that the coach needs to keep track of the customer’s response to coaching activities is imperative in detecting areas of weakness and take necessary corrections (266). As such, the chances of losing focus and arriving at unintended outcomes reduces significantly. Secondly, level two should assess the client’s knowledge of the intervention activities (Passmore, 2010, p.55.

Assessing the knowledge helps the coach keep track of the customer’s mastery of content. Moreover, the coach will get to know what their client may need to boost better understanding of coaching activities. The level should assess whether the coach has the necessary equipment and tools required to provide the capacity for the professional development that necessitated coaching (Passmore, 2010, p.59). The coach should ensure that they have the necessary capacity to execute their professional mandate. Consequently, there would be no delays during the coaching exercises. Moreover, having the necessary capacity will help motivate the client not to lose interest or hope in the quality of coaching they are receiving (Passmore, 2010, p.66). In the level four of the assessment, the coach should undertake a personal evaluation of whether they are implementing their coaching practices (Passmore, 2010, p.68).

Such a move would require the coach to hire an external coach to give guidance a review of the strategies that the coach is using to train his or her client. As such, it would be possible to make any adjustments that would lead to better outcomes. Lastly, level five should assess the impact that coaching had on the client’s achievement. The primary goal of positive psychology coaching is to raise client’s happiness and a sense of wellbeing (Passmore, 2010, p.69. After completion of the exercise, the coach could ask clients how they felt about themselves and what they feel they have become better at after the training. Business coaching has risen to become a competitive management strategy in numerous organizations. Most companies require a senior manager and middle-level managers to coach their juniors on how to improve performance and improve workplace satisfaction. Coaching may also involve an external expert when a firm’s to managers requires coaching. Coaching helps a firm to brainstorm ideas, improve accountability, and improve results.

Also, solution focused coaching is also beneficial for business in helping them become futuristic and positive minded. Therefore, application of positive psychology techniques such as consultation, flow and assessment will help improve coaching. However, coaching requires evaluation to help maintain focus and discipline in the whole process. As such, it is the role of business to align its strategy with the type of coaching that will help deliver results.

References

1. Biswas-Diener, R., & Dean, B. (2010). Positive Psychology Coaching: Putting the Science of Happiness to Work for Your Clients. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.