Some thoughts on how to develop skills (including coaching!!) that are very nuanced…

This comes up often for me – particularly when the coaching focus is to develop the skills experienced people need to allow them to feel they are still progressing and to allow leaders to take a step back in the knowledge that the organisation is in good hands.

Context is crucial in developing nuanced skills but in general it can be helpful to ask…

• How nuanced is the skill you need to help them develop? Unpicking how to develop some skills is complex (particularly skills around how you interact with others…) and there are important questions around whose role it is to work this out – you or the person you’re coaching? – and if what they decide to do is in their comfort zone and works OK rather than something that really stretches them but has a much better potential outcome.
• What are some of the factors that influence how strongly you are attached to how you developed this skill? The stronger the influence, the more likely you might be to (inadvertently!?!) steer someone towards this approach – this is particularly relevant if you feel your success is based on long hours and hard work.
• How much is riding on your ability to develop key skills in colleagues? How you experience this motivation (as pressure from colleagues or the desire for you to have time for other things in your life for example…) and how it changes over time will impact your coaching.
• In terms of your coaching style, how comfortable are you in the role of helping them focus on what they need to work on and leaving how they do it up to them?
• … and when you do leave the how up to them, how effective are you at coaching the consequences of their approach not working?

As I’m sure you’ll notice, each of the above demands an understanding of what you bring to the coaching interaction… which is great news as you’re in control what to do about it!!

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