Essay on "Coaching and Development Plan"

Essay 5 pages (1708 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Coaching and Development Plan

My coaching and developmental plan generally consists of utilizing my strengths as a coach and as a supervisor to balance out my opportunities for development in this position, so that I can improve the efficacy and production of those whom I coach. In this respect my plan consists of identifying what I do well as a coach and relating that to my competencies as a leader. Similarly, I will denote what facets of my coaching provide opportunities for improvement, and align those with areas in which I have potential to improve as a leader. By analyzing both of these aspects of my coaching, the goal is to perceive both the ways I can utilize my strengths and close my perceptual gaps to result in action that improves the performance of those whom I supervise. I believe I can best utilize my strengths by conducting individual and weekly meetings with subordinates while utilizing the positive principle and other hallmarks of effective leadership to promote their business and career growth.

The past several weeks in which I have been enrolled in this class have allowed me to gain a fair amount of insight into some of my more commendable points as an executive coach. Entries in my personal journal and self-assessments have provided opportunities for me to objectively view my strengths in these areas. I have learned that my empathetic nature is a valuable asset that allows me to build a rapport with those I supervise, which is augmented by my cultivation of active listening skills, which requires effort to extract meaning from verbal and non-verbal cues (Jalongo, 1995, p. 14). These traits, along with a degree of mutability in my personality that enables me to quickly find points in common with most people I encounter, are directly related to my leadership competencies. An analysis of my Coaching Process Questionnaire reveals that I am an excellent verbal communicator who generally has positive interactions with his subordinates.

Ironically, many of my superlatives also influence my opportunities for development as an executive coach. Due in part to my empathetic nature, I have traditionally sought to avoid conflict. This tendency can become an occupational hazard when it conflict with organizational objectives, as well as those related to my coaching. Additionally, I have learned that I am not always as patient as I could be. I am somewhat of a perfectionist, and oftentimes do not wait for others to fully adapt in their role as my subordinates by working through their problems. A true leader teaches others how to do for themselves. In much the same way, a good coach should teach his followers how to function in his absence, so that they fully learn the various roles in which they have been hired by an organization to fulfill.

A rational analysis of both my competencies and my areas for potential as a coach reveals that I have sufficient strengths to offset my areas for improvement with the proper coaching developmental plan. The opportunities I have for improvement as an executive coach correlate to my beneficial attributes. The most significant perceptual gap I have is my proclivity for avoiding conflict, due to the fact that I generally like to please those I work for and who I coach. The fundamental tenet of my development plan for closing this gap and that involving my traditional dearth of patience for allowing my subordinates to solve their own problem is to utilize the positive principle, which states that positive, supportive interactions and attitudes can produce beneficial results to all parties involved (Orem et al., 2007. p. 14). By internalizing this principle and aligning it with my coaching objectives -- which are to improve the aptitude and proficiency of those I coach to assist both our company and their overall careers -- the first step in my plan is to view these potential shortcomings of mine as opportunities to leverage my strengths.

Therefore, the next component in my plan is to anticipate and identify various ways in which I can utilize my strong verbal communication, affable rapport and active listening skills in positive interactions with my subordinates. A formal way in which I can actively go about doing so is to set up times for both group and individual meetings with those employees. Such meetings will allow me to utilize virtually all of my strengths and provide opportunities for me to gauge areas of challenge for those I supervise, as well as see in what areas of their jobs they can use improvement. Furthermore, once those areas are identified, I can implement a positive approach while actually coaching (as opposed to problem-solving for them) them through a variety of options that can help.

There are a couple of key principles involved in this step of the developmental plan, which will ideally be handled during individual meetings with employees. One is that such meetings will allow me to determine the overall career objectives of my subordinates, or to help them view a range of possible career objectives in the frequent case in which employees do not have career objectives. It is essential to tailor my coaching towards the aligning of both business and career objectives as much as possible. Additionally, it is important that I coach with the aim of problem solving my asking appreciative questions that emphasizes what strategies work (Cram, 2010, p. 1). My posing such questions, my subordinates will be forced to find answers to their own challenges -- which will provide less opportunity for me to simply solve their problems for them and stunt their growth as an employee and as a professional. Moreover, by asking incisive, appreciative questions, I will certainly keep the interaction with my subordinates positive by fostering hope and encouraging innovation for them. The utilization of appreciative questions is an integral part of my developmental coaching plan, because it allows for employees to grow by coming up with their own solutions, which are guided by the proper phrasing of my questions. and, in situations in which employees cannot determine appropriate answers, I can always render my own solutions, which may still aid in their development as employees.

The positive approach that essentially functions as the backbone of my coaching and development plan will also play an integral role in my fostering a means of overcoming my tendency to avoid conflict. I believe that I will have less of a need to desire to avoid conflict, if I can frame conflict in ways that are viewed as beneficial (Kahneman & Tversky, 1981, p. 453) to company objectives. For instance, if a pair of employees are competing over who has the authority to compete a task, instead of viewing such a situation as one in which I have to disappoint one of the employees, a proper framing of the positivist principle for such a situation will enable me to view it as the privilege of working with motivated, employees who are each attempting to improve our collective employer as much as possible. This type of framing will not only aid me in overcoming my propensity for avoiding conflict, but will also prove beneficial in mediating such a conflict since I can frame it to the competing employees in this same way.

I can also address the issue of avoiding conflict by invoking the notion of emotional intelligence, which is essentially dedicating cognizance and awareness to one's feelings for the successful management of those emotions in a corporate environment (Ashkanasy et al., 2000, p.231). On a personal level, utilizing principles of emotional intelligence will enable me to recognize the sort of scenarios that involve conflict and helping me to frame them in a positive mind frame. More importantly, perhaps, is that I can employ emotional intelligence externally to help actively reduce or mitigate any potential conflicts. I can discuss the definition and application of emotional intelligence during my collective meetings with those I coach and emphasize how this idea can be influential in lessening conflict in the workplace. Additionally, whenever conflict does arise, I can also remind employees of the need to implement emotional intelligence for any applicable situations, while still mediating such a conflict by framing it with the positive principle.

Conclusion

An analysis of my self-assessments and my coaching journal has revealed that my strengths are my empathy, active listening skills, and mutable nature which enables me to have a good report with my coaching subjects that is exemplified by commendable ability to communicate verbally. The areas of improvement I have as an executive coach are my propensity to avoid conflict and to solve the problems for others without first attempting to allow them to do so. My coaching development plan requires me to utilize the aforementioned leadership competencies to balance out those identified gaps. The most important tenet of my developmental coaching plan is the positive principle, which enables me to view the areas in which I can improve my coaching as opportunities to apply my strengths. Therefore, it… READ MORE

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