01. Myth 1 and 2: Debunking Common Coaching Myths – I

Read MoreCoaching offers myriad benefits for employees across all levels of an organisation. However, companies can – at times – be hesitant to incorporate coaching because of the perceived costs, time and effort involved.

In this lesson, we break down some of the most…

Common Myths About Coaching

Let us start by looking at two scenarios:

A. Before initiating work on her deliverables, a manager spends an hour with each one of her team members – individually – discussing issues, ideas, and the way forward. The discussions normally overshoot the assigned timeline, as a result of which the manager often ends up working beyond regular working hours every day to finish her own tasks.

B. Before starting work, your manager meets with one team member every day and spends about 10-15 mins discussing goals and also takes the time to discuss the way forward, when required.

Which of these two scenarios sounds more like coaching to you?

If your answer is A, you’ve bought into myth…

1. Not Having Enough Time for Coaching

This misconception stems from the belief that coaching has to be formal, occasional and a very time-intensive process. But done right, a regular coaching discussion can be just a daily 10-minute conversation!

In today’s fast-paced work environment, where time is money, keeping it short and specific is a necessity. Consequently short, regular coaching sessions can be more productive as compared to sporadic hour-long discussions.

Besides, regular individual meet-ups with team members is also a great way to keep track of your employees progress and growth.

You just learned about the first coaching myth. Let us now move on to myth…

2. Coaching is Only for Fixing Performance Issues

Before getting into the details, let us look at two scenarios:

A. Rajesh is dealing with a lot of stress with regard to internal conflicts in his team. His team members just don’t seem to agree on anything, which has slowed down work considerably.

B. Riya’s team, on the other hand, gets along well and performs averagely with respect to hitting its monthly targets.

Whose team do you think needs coaching? Rajesh or Ria’s?

If your answer is A, you’re partially correct! Both teams could benefit from coaching regardless of their current performance.

People tend to view coaching as being remedial in its orientation – mostly as a last-ditch effort reserved for the worst performers who need some extra help to improve their performance.

Now, the problem with this belief is that it treats coaching as a retroactive fix, meaning your focus is on solving problems after they get out of control.

Conversely, incorporating a coaching mindset gets you to focus on improving and getting better than you were the day before. With coaching, employees can see that managers are genuinely invested in constantly developing their skills instead of just pointing out mistakes.

In Conclusion:

‘Not Having Enough Time for Coaching’ and the belief that ‘Coaching is Only for Fixing Performance Issues’ are two of the four myths about coaching.

We will look at two more myths in the next lesson.

For now, please take the accompanying quiz.

Happy Quizzing!