8600-339 Understanding Good Practice in Workplace Coaching

Introduction

The unit 8600-339 Understanding Good Practice in Workplace Coaching within the Workplace is designed to enhance learners’ ability to positively influence the performance of individuals by refining coaching processes. Coaching, a distinctive approach to performance management, is crucial for leaders to embrace within the organizational framework to enhance the skills and capabilities of employees and team members. It involves providing support to individuals in developing personal goals and objectives and assisting them in achieving these goals.

This comprehensive process integrates various elements such as training, motivation, advising, direction, and a focus on employees’ potential. Through the amalgamation of these techniques, leaders can implement effective coaching strategies fostering employees capable of handling diverse tasks and responsibilities within the organization. The primary objective of this unit is to equip learners with the knowledge and understanding necessary to practice effective coaching within an organizational context. Learners gain insights into relevant leadership skills and capacities that facilitate efficient coaching procedures.

Delivered over 9 hours of guided learning, this unit contributes 3 credit values towards the completion of the ILM Level 3 module.

Who is this unit suitable for?

Leaders in organizations bear the responsibility of implementing performance management techniques within their respective areas of leadership. Various approaches exist for enhancing employee abilities, and among them, coaching emerges as an effective method. Coaching triggers employee-centered learning mechanisms, allowing individuals to set personal goals while leaders play a supportive role in achieving these objectives. This unit finds application across diverse organizational areas.

Leaders in different capacities must demonstrate the skills to coach their subordinates, ensuring performance improvement aligned with organizational standards and expectations. Consequently, the unit holds significant importance for stakeholders within the organization. Tailored to the learning needs of first-line managers and junior managers, the unit addresses their daily leadership interactions with employees and team members.

Given that these leaders wield influence over employees in varied contexts, the unit becomes a valuable tool for skill enhancement. While primarily designed for first-line and junior managers, the applicability of coaching extends to other stakeholders as well. Middle and executive-level managers can leverage the unit’s concepts and principles to formulate effective policies and strategies within their areas of responsibility. Senior employees, too, can utilize these concepts to share their skills and expertise, contributing to the improvement of junior employees’ performance. Consequently, the unit is well-suited for all stakeholders involved.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the unit, learners will acquire a comprehensive set of skills and knowledge that empowers them to:

• Describe the Purpose of Effective Coaching:
• Understand and articulate the purpose of effective coaching within the organizational context, recognizing its significance in enhancing individual and team performance.
• Understand Coach Roles, Responsibilities, Skills, and Behaviors:
• Gain insights into the diverse roles, responsibilities, essential skills, and behaviors required for individuals to function as effective coaches within the organizational setting.
• Identify Barriers and Overcome Them:
• Recognize potential barriers to effective coaching and develop the ability to identify and implement approaches to overcome these barriers, ensuring a smooth coaching process.
• Build Effective Relationships:
• Identify methods for establishing and nurturing effective relationships with individuals, fostering an environment conducive to successful coaching outcomes.
• Contracting in Coaching:
• Understand the process of contracting in coaching, including safe and ethical practices associated with coaching engagements, ensuring a professional and responsible approach to the coaching relationship.
• Recognize Coaching Models:
• Demonstrate an understanding of recognized coaching models, providing a structured framework for the coaching process and enhancing its effectiveness.
• Utilize Tools and Techniques for Goal Setting:
• Exhibit proficiency in utilizing various tools and techniques for setting goals and determining outcomes, facilitating the coaching practice and ensuring alignment with organizational objectives.
• Explain the Role of Records and Reflective Practices:
• Articulate the importance of maintaining records and engaging in reflective practices within a coaching context, recognizing these as integral components for continuous improvement and professional development.

Key Learning Areas

The unit 8600-339 Understanding Good Practice in Coaching within the Workplace focuses on building knowledge and skills in relation to coaching. Some of the main areas of learning within the unit include:

Understanding Principles of Coaching

This area of learning focuses on building the knowledge of the leader on different approaches, such as the importance of coaching within the organisational context as well as helping them to understand the different skills, behaviours and roles of the coach. A coach should be able to have unique characteristics that focus on building their ability to accomplish the coaching process. As such, the learner in this area is helped to identify the specific skills that they can develop to achieve these roles and responsibilities. Learners are also taught ion the barriers that could affect the coaching process and the interventions they can put in place to overcome the barriers.

Coaching Process

This area of learning helps the learner to identify the process of contracting for coaching. The learners are guided to understand the ethical principles that should guide the process of coaching and interaction with the individuals being coached. The learners are also introduced to the different models of coaching, such as OSCAR, ACHIEVE and TGROW, that they can use to effectively establish coaching approaches. They are also guided to understand coaching tools and resources that are sued within the coaching process, such as learning style assessment tools, self-assessment tools, visuals, role play, personality profiles and competencies that create the pointing of focus in the process of coaching. The last element in this area of learning is the understanding of the assessment technique, monitoring and review techniques that can be used to conduct an evaluation of the coaching process in relation to the goals and objectives that have been established.

Record Keeping

This area of learning creates awareness of the significance of record-keeping in the coaching context. Learners are introduced to approaches of effectively maintaining records on the process of coaching as well as setting up reflective practices that help to improve the performance of the coaching practice.

An Assessment

The assessment process for this unit is conducted internally and involves the completion of an assignment brief provided to the learners. In this context, learners are tasked with showcasing their proficiency in attaining both theoretical knowledge and practical skills outlined within the unit. The assignment brief serves as a guideline or set of instructions, detailing the specific criteria and expectations that learners need to fulfill to meet the required standards for successful assessment.

The emphasis of the assessment is on the learners’ ability to not only grasp the theoretical concepts presented in the unit but also to apply this knowledge in practical scenarios. This dual focus ensures a comprehensive evaluation of their understanding and competence. By successfully completing the assignment, learners demonstrate their capability to integrate theoretical insights with practical applications, showcasing a well-rounded grasp of the unit’s content.

The internal assessment approach allows for a tailored evaluation process that aligns with the unit’s objectives and the overall learning outcomes. It enables educators to gauge the learners’ depth of understanding, analytical skills, and practical proficiency. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that learners meet the stipulated standards, validating their readiness to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in real-world situations.

References

• Grant, A. (2018). Coaching for Performance: How to Build a Coaching Culture and Drive Results. Harvard Business Review Press.
• Downey, M. (2020). The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever. Atria Books.
• Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2020). The Skilled Facilitator: Practical Techniques for Mastering Group Dynamics. John Wiley & Sons.
• Whitmore, J. (2018). Coaching for Performance: GROWing People, Performance and Purpose. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
• Passmore, J., & Peterson, D. (2019). The Coaching Handbook: A Practical Guide to Coaching and Mentoring at Work (7th ed.). Kogan Page Publishers.
• Clutterbuck, D., & Megginson, D. (2017). The Complete Handbook of Coaching (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
• Stober, D. R., & Grant, A. M. (2015). Building a Coaching Culture: A Leader’s Guide to Developing Talent and Achieving Results. Jossey-Bass.
• Kimsey-House, K., Scoular, J., & Kimsey-House, H. (2016). The COACH Model: A Proven System for Sustainable Coaching Relationships. John Wiley & Sons.
• Palmer, S., & Whybrow, A. (2019). Coaching Skills: A Practical Guide (7th ed.). Kogan Page Publishers.

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