Being a good coach is it the same as being a non-directive coach?

In my mentoring sessions I some time feel that giving advice or almost instructive, is the right way to go, but other feels that is wrong. And for coaching is also the same, when you are talking about directive and non-directive coaching.

Coach training programmes usually focus strongly on teaching the skills of non-directive coaching. This is a sensible approach, since people new to coaching and the helping professions typically see helping others as consisting of telling them what to do differently (or suggesting or advising, etc). Breaking this habit is difficult and so a relentless focus on helping the novice coach shift their attention away from telling the coachee what to do, to helping the coach learn how to surface and explore the coachee’s resources and resourcefulness is vital. The moment of breakthrough to non-directive coaching is a delight to observe and is signalled by the coach’s realisation that it is the coachee, not the coach, who has to do the hard work of discovering how to change! Indeed, one of the most reliable signs that a coach has «lost it» in a session is the feeling of trying hard!

Mike the mentor had a post on the subject some time back, here is the article, read it and make up your own mind.

Mike The Mentor

Here at Mentorguru.info we are looking for “The Best Mentoring Blog 2011″ and this is a good candidate. At http://mikethementor.co.uk/index.php you can see why.

Mike is the Senior Partner with Jericho Partners and a recognised authority on leadership coaching.

 

He has been coaching individuals and teams for nearly 20 years – helping them develop their capacity for leadership and achieve increased levels of performance, effectiveness and fulfillment. He works with coaches and mentors as a supervisor to help them ensure the quality of their work and to support them in their professional development.

For many years Mike was on the faculty of The School of Coaching where he trained coaches and managers in coaching skills, and was an associate with The Centre for Creative Leadership where he worked on their leadership development programmes. He has also been an academic, a software developer, a management consultant with the PA Consulting Group, and a psychotherapist.

Some Current/Recent Clients
Mike has coached and mentored board directors, executives and professional staff across a range of industry sectors, nationalities

and cultures. His clients have included Lloyds TSB, the NHS, PwC, HSBC, Siemens, Oxfam, RBS, Cisco, BT, M&S Money, Roche Products, Octavia Housing Trust, Symbian, Serco, Oracle, Royal Town Planning Institute, Department of Health, and Deutsche Bank.

And you can also find a lot of good information at their website. So look it up, and find out more about Mike The Mentor.

So this was one of the candidates for “The Best Mentoring Blog 2011″