5 Responses

1. If I were you…

   Hi Michele

   If I were you I would forget this bit "By the time I have covered my introduction / benefits of coaching"

   I would use a 6 thinking hats / different perspectives approach.

   Devise 6 characters who are typical to your organisation. A bit like Mr men Characters http://www.mrmen.com/

   Take each one through a scenario of how they will improve and progress by using Coaching and/or mentoring

   The participants could be put in small groups and each has a "Mr Man" with a series of questions and they have 1 minute each at the end to summarise how each of their "Misters" will benefit from Coaching.

   Good luck

    

   Steve

2. Welcome back!

   Hi Michelle

   Welcome back to the wonderful world of paid work!

   If you want to leave the delegates "wanting more" then you have to get them to see and accept the benefits of coaching (regardless of whether they are the potential coaches or the potential coachees).

   Telling them the benefits, in an introduction for instance, is teaching not coaching, so you need to give them an experience from which they can identify the benefits themselves….this way they will want more!

   Since you are dealing with a group, you will be using facilitation skills which are the group version of coaching, which is more often seen as a 1:1 activity.

   You could try utilising the Churchill quote…

   "I am always ready to learn, I do not, however, always like to be taught"

   …and ask the group to analyse situations where different people might use this phrase….they may see the time issue, the embarrassment of being thought inadequate/needing to learn, oppositional reflex, hierarchical/age /seniority issues.  You could then ask them to identify the downsides of trying to teach in any of these circumstances.  Which leaves coaching as the only active alternative.

    

   Alternatively if the group is sufficiently small you could try giving them an experience whereby they actually develop a useful skill…what that skill might actually be will depend on the business that the delegates are in.

    

   I hope this helps

   Rus Slater

    

3. Thanks

   Many thanks for your responses. This has provided me with a couple of ideas I can use and am now starting to develop. Your comments are most appreciated and have really helped to kick-start my thinking.  

   Kind regards,

   Michelle

4. Coaching in 30 minutes – key skills

   Hi Michelle, please contact me at nick.hindley@ppdi.com and I will send you a skills session which will have a big impact and start to develop two of the key skills for coaching:

   Active listening

   Good questioning

   I am an employed L&D manager and am very keen on open source / sharing best practice and I am not not selling anything.

   Cheers.

   Nick

5. Coaching Game

   Hi Michelle

   I would be pushed to suggest anything that fits into just 30 minutes. I have used the coaching game in the past, as a taster for a full blown training event on coaching however this takes 60-90 minutes with debriefing. Have a look at http://www.abctrainingsolutions.biz/coaching_game_tools.html . If anybody is interested I would be happy to supply a free copy. Just email me at info@abctrainingsolutions.biz

   Hope that helps.

   Happy days!

   Bryan