discussion

In the past, leadership focused more on telling individuals what to do than guiding them or teaching them the skills necessary to thrive in their respective positions. Do you agree with how adults learn essential to the coaching process? What advice can you give coaches and executive leaders that are able to empower and engage others with the purpose of facilitating change and increasing the capacity of people within an organization to succeed.

Myszkowski (2010) defines a “safe haven” as a place where the coachee feels their perspective is at the center of attention and that it would not be judged or ridiculed. In essence, the safe haven is the mutual understanding that the coach is present for the benefit of the coachee. This so-called safe haven is necessary since the coach’s challenge is to get to know the person they are working with (Peterson, 2007), and the safe haven provides a client-centered environment that is poised to develop a personal relationship between coach and coachee where trust and honesty are the foundation of the relationship.

The main difference that is pointed out between mentors and executive coaches is the way that they provide development, where mentors try to develop people by presenting knowledge from the mentor’s experience and understanding of a system, while coaches try to influence development by letting coachees use their competence to gain knowledge (Myszkowski, 2010). Coaches ask questions to coachees with the purpose of understanding what is it that the coachee wants to achieve and then present viewpoints for the coachee to expand their perspective but where there is almost no right or wrong form of action since the coachee chooses how to act based on his or her identity. Since coaches effectively support the coachee’s intentions in some level, it is important for coaches to accept that coachees choose what and when to learn (Ting & Scisco, 2006), which is what Myzkowski (2010) refers to as the learning cycle that can be entered at any one point, since the individual uses his or her motivators and strengths to find out what professional or personal gaps are there that could use improvement or what new skills need development. Such understanding of the learning cycle can motivate coaches when they feel they have not made much progress with their coachees, and can guide coaches to find the type of words that would connect more deeply with the coachee because they could use observation to understand where in the cycle the coachee is and what type of feedback they are more receptive to.