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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Coaching for Performance summary
Sir John Whitmore
The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership
18 mins
Table of Contents
Coaching for Performance
Summary of 6 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 6
Principles of performance coaching
Coaching is, at its core, the process of building a relationship with a coachee, and guiding them in their performance development journey. Together, you’re looking to remove the internal blocks that limit a person’s potential.
This can be a bit tough to visualize, so let’s compare coaching to a different learning strategy, mentorships. In a mentorship, the mentor is passing knowledge to their mentee. The focus is on the mentor’s experience. Learning comes from telling.
Coaching is different. The aim of coaching is to focus on the experience of the coachee, whilst the coach guides them in overcoming internal obstacles. You’re helping them to work past things like self-doubt, lack of fulfillment, or low motivation. It’s based off the core principles of awareness and responsibility.
This means being self-aware and responsible for your own actions and development. It also means being socially aware, and responsible for your relationships with others. Performance coaching gives the coachee autonomy over their development and builds personal motivation.
But before you can coach others, you need to coach yourself. Your own personal responsibility and awareness are essential to leading and coaching a high performance team. The hardest habit to kick is to listen, not tell.
When the Financial Times began to implement a coaching method, team leader Oliver Duplain admitted that it felt a bit like losing power. But when he saw that his team was putting out 10 times as much effort, he understood that the trade-off was worth it.
As we work through the GROW model, keep these core principles in mind. Whitmore emphasizes that the model is only powerful when it’s used in the context of emotional intelligence. Coaches have to ensure they’re asking powerful questions, and actively listening to the responses they receive. You want the coachee to mentally engage, and not feel judged in the process.
We’ll look at specific powerful questions at each stage of GROW, but for now, remember that your focus should always be on the coachee.
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What is Coaching for Performance about?
Coaching for Performance (2009) is the foundational text which launched the multimillion-dollar business coaching industry. The 25th anniversary edition brings new life to the hallmark GROW model, and revisits the methods after a quarter-century of learning in performance coaching. It’s essential for leaders and coaches globally.
Who should read Coaching for Performance?
- Leaders looking for inspiration
- Coaches who want to understand the performance coaching method
- Anyone looking to improve the performance of their team
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