Coaching

Origins: The first use of the term “coach” in connection with an instructor or trainer arose around 1830 in Oxford University slang for a tutor who “carried” a student through an exam. The word “coaching” thus identified a process used to transport people from where they are to where they want to be.

Thomas Leonard, now deceased, is considered the ‘father of coaching’. The purpose of coaching is to unlock people’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching or telling them. Take learning to walk as an example – most people don’t learn how to walk by instruction.

The personal benefits of coaching are as wide-ranging as the individuals involved. Numerous clients report that coaching positively impacted their careers as well as their lives by helping them to:

• Establish and take action towards achieving goals
• Become more self-reliant
• Gain more job and life satisfaction
• Contribute more effectively to the team and the organization
• Take greater responsibility and accountability for actions and commitments
• Work more easily and productively with others (boss, direct reports, peers)
• Communicate more effectively

(source: Ken Blanchard Companies)