what is coaching?

There are numerous definitions as to what coaching is, but the following two are ones which we at Righttrack strongly align with:

• "A goal directed, results orientated, systematic process in which one person facilitates sustained change in another individual or group through fostering the self-directed learning and personal growth of the coachee". (Cavanagh and Grant 2005)
• "Unlocking a person's potential to maximise their own performance". (Whitmore 1996)

Coaching is a comparatively new intervention within the learning and development environment although it has rapidly gained wide acceptance and recognition as one of the most invaluable and essential interventions of leadership development.

Its success in part relies on the acceptance that the individual already has within them the solution to their issues. However, over the years we at Righttrack have seen first-hand that accessing these solutions is not always straightforward. The 'noise' and 'interferences' of increasingly fast paced, demanding and pressured organisational environments can get in the way.

Coaching differs from some of the other solutions we offer in that it helps the individual to learn for themselves by raising their self awareness and emotional intelligence, rather than focusing exclusively on transferring and embedding knowledge. It complements and is different to training, mentoring and consulting.

Although we tailor tools and techniques to each intervention and each client, in essence, coaching involves the skilled use of a robust methodology and framework, goal setting and action planning. Our aim is to enable the coachee and our client to achieve significant improvements in performance and business results as agreed in the contracting phase of coaching.