Coaching Reflections

                           Written Reflection on My Development as a Coach/Mentor:

Introduction

The privilege of watching others make significant personal progress represents the main source of satisfaction that comes from mentoring or coaching.  Despite the complexity of challenges, mentors guide clients toward self-discovery while sharing achievement moments which brings unmatched satisfaction (Guccione & Hutchinson, 2021).  Every encounter with my mentees develops into an enriching learning opportunity that deepens my mentoring techniques while helping me provide better support to their individual needs. I maintain a solid dedication to construct a care-focused environment where participants can discover their capabilities and can release their maximum potential.  A privilege exists to accompany individuals on their personal journeys toward achieving their objectives and I actively boost personal development which eventually generates positive social impacts across the community. The mutually beneficial relationship deepens my enthusiasm for mentoring because it demonstrates the real power behind focused mentoring practice.

My experience

This analysis provides detailed observations about my coach/mentor growth that stems from a recorded coaching interaction with project manager Sarah who handles team motivational challenges as well as other coaching interactions. This particular coaching session with Sarah serves as a base to incorporate knowledge acquired from other mentoring experiences which creates a complete understanding of my practice growth. This reflection bases on showing conscious competence through technique experimentation along with identifying weaknesses proactively followed by creating specific focused steps to maintain professional development. This research incorporates coaching literature as its foundation to observe and develop strategies which study coaching skills acquisition along with questioning techniques and framework utilization along with body language effects and feedback that act as key factors for self-awareness advancement. This systematic investigation will use structured reflection elements while peer and mentor feedback serves to validate my self-reflection findings.

Coaching effectiveness develops through an endless learning cycle in which practitioners maintain a constant practice of skill development adaptation and skill refinement. Coaching requires lifelong dedication together with full understanding of oneself because mastery in this field remains hard to achieve (Clutterbuck, 2023). The critical assessment establishes a vital point for personal growth by evaluating my existing capacities and identifying development potential and planning future advancement. The video recording of my work with Sarah allows teachers to examine coaching techniques as well as the effects of my coaching practice in a concrete way. My ability to apply knowledge gained from multiple coaching interactions allows me to see common behaviors within my methods.

Applying Coaching Skills and Techniques

I dedicated the first part of my coaching session with Sarah which lasted for ten minutes to gain a comprehensive understanding of her present challenge. The fundamental role of this stage led me to use open-ended questions that Whitmore et al., (2016) has identified as an essential coaching tool within GROW model guidelines. The challenge centers on what factors from the situation makes one apprehensive. The question served to understand Sarah’s perspective and determine the real conditions she faced before any solution development process could begin. Whitmore’s model supports the “R” stage through “Reality” since both advocate establishing clear understanding of existing circumstances.

During her situation description, I detected that she maintained an objective stance by focusing only on objective facts instead of expressing either personal experience or emotional responses. While following Egan’s Skilled Helper Model (2018) I recognized the need to balance my approach because the model requires understanding of client feelings and their problem awareness. I subconsciously preferred evaluating mental understanding over emotional intensity of the situation.

I intentionally modified my questioning methods to investigate the emotional responses which Sarah experienced. I wanted to know the thoughts and feelings that existed concerning the matter. The question targets personal effects of the situation. The questioning process transitioned abruptly according to Egan’s framework which resulted in Sarah holding back before answering. According to Stoltzfus (2005), pacing plays an essential function in coaching which matches my observations. A secure environment coupled with developed client-coach trust must exist before delving into individuals’ emotional contents. The desire to examine emotional content forced me to skip essential trust-building steps which create comfort in the client.

Reflecting on this incident, I understood theoretically the value of exploring emotions but yet failed to demonstrate practical sensitivity from my initial encounter with my patient’s emotions. Alternative language that invites conversation could have been more effective such as the question “How do you experience this situation?”  or “The situation appears challenging for you Sarah according to your words”. “As you summarize this situation which feelings do you currently experience?” The implementation of a softer approach toward emotional inquiry would respect Sarah’s comfort range and establish stronger psychological security.

The process of acquiring questioning abilities needs constant enhancement over time.

The situation with Sarah strongly demonstrated how complicated effective coaching questions can be. Downey (2003) defines insightful questions as instruments that lead people to see things differently while helping them find themselves. The success of these tools depends entirely on when to use them along with how they are delivered within the framework of the coaching relationship. The experience revealed the significance of developing my competence for moving between factual questioning and emotional and value-oriented investigations.

Obtaining information from a peer who watched part of my video made it possible to confirm my personal evaluation through external input. Their perception of the questions changing too quickly mirrored my conclusion about this stage. This guidance provided an applicable strategy to approach feelings indirectly prior to straight-in examinations. A liking about workplace or team-based consequences from the situation could have offered an approachable way for the counselor to learn about Sarah’s emotional experience.

Research on questioning techniques from coaching literature (such as Berger, 2017 and Socratic questioning principles) combined with feedback led me to focus on developing these two particular areas:

1. Scaling questions function as indirect tools to determine how strongly coachees feel about something or believe in something because they do not demand specific verbal expressions. The coachee needs to rate their frustration on a scale from 1 to 10 regarding this situation. The emotional assessment of Sarah’s situation would have become possible without obliging her to speak openly about uncomfortable emotional states. The method enables users to create initial entry points when exploring a particular subject furthermore.
2. The practice of reflection in listening enhances the transition when introducing feeling-related questions. I could have started emotional exploration by assessing her non-verbal communication signals after providing factual summaries to Sarah. Your concern about team deadlines makes itself evident through your tone of voice. Your emotional state concerning this subject seems to need clarification. What emotional challenges do you feel? The technique recognizes her opening statements then provides space for her to proceed in whatever way feels comfortable.

I deliberately implemented these techniques during my subsequent coaching meetings. During our coaching meeting we utilized a scale to check the coachee’s confidence levels about their new project. The session became less pressured and provided better insight into what actually worried them. My practice included reflective listening when I reflected back the coachee’s frustration before exploring their emotional state. The technique helped establish a deeper sense of connection between us which allowed the coachee to reveal their feelings without restraint. Focused practice in questioning techniques produces substantial improvements to the effectiveness and consequences of coaching dialogues.

Applying coaching frameworks

I primarily selected the GROW model as our structural framework for the entire duration of my work with Sarah. The initial examination of the situation fit into the “Reality” stage which led to exploration in the following “Options” and “Will” phases. Whitmore (2017) decisively supports the GROW method because it creates efficient coaching dialogues through an uncomplicated framework.

During our conversation, Sarah occasionally followed a natural sequence that broke away from the standardized flow of the GROW model. During our sessions she would advance from clarifying the reality toward solution generation before fully exploring her primary objectives. My observation made me evaluate the drawbacks that develop when coaches strictly follow standardized coaching frameworks.

The authors Parsloe and Wray (2015) support coaching framework adaptability because coaches must adjust their methods according to their clients’ diverse needs while using frameworks as a useful planning structure. Obstreperous adherence to any framework often results in preventing natural spontaneous exploration as well as robust goal excavation.

The realization led me to adopt a more adaptable approach during the last part of the session. I maintained awareness of the GROW framework as guidance yet I let Sarah determine which options to pursue even if these goals had not been formally established. After Sarah developed several solutions, I returned to explain the goals using the generated information. Stepwise progress is discarded in favor of an organic plan which enabled Sarah to be more creative.

When I think back on this experiment, I realize that although coaching models are great tools, a really good coach learns to negotiate them fluidly and give the coachee’s process top priority above strict adherence. This calls both a thorough awareness of the ideas of the framework and the confidence to change and stray as needed, motivated by the needs of the coachee and the developing dynamics of the conversation.

Body Language and Nonverbal Communication: Revealing a Possible Blind Spot

Examining the video footage of my session with Sarah was mostly important for me in terms of raising awareness of my own body language and nonverbal clues. Although I knew I should keep eye contact and nod to show active listening, I observed times—especially when Sarah was talking about difficult parts of the situation—where my posture was somewhat more tight.

Huelsman & Jarvis (1988) groundbreaking studies on communication emphasise the important part nonverbal signals play in determining how communications are received and understood. Even if it is inadvertent, a stiff posture can express judgement, discomfort, or lack of empathy, therefore impeding the coachee’s openness and vulnerability.

This insight made a possible blind spot in my coaching approach clear. Although I had deliberately worked on improving my vocal communication abilities, I had given somewhat less thought to the subtle but significant influence of my nonverbal signals. Esterhuizen (2023) underlines the critical need of congruence between verbal and nonverbal communication in building trust and supporting a good coaching relationship.

I intend to include intentional body language self-monitoring into my coaching practice to help with this found area for development. This will call for:

1. Reviewing recordings of my coaching sessions on a regular basis—especially with an eye towards my posture, facial expressions, hand gestures, and general body language will provide an objective view of my nonverbal behaviours.
2. Using body scans and other mindfulness practices to improve my awareness of physical sensations and how they could show up in my body language during coaching will help me to deliberately change my posture and approach.
3. Asking for direct comments on nonverbal cues. Involves asking potential future coachees for comments on their experience of my nonverbal communication and presence during sessions. Important insights can come from open-ended questions like “How did you experience my presence during the session?” or “Did you notice anything about my body language that stood out to you?”

Objective Validation and Comments: The Power of Other Views
            One very important tool for this kind of introspection was the comments I got from a peer who watched a portion of the video. Their observations confirmed some of my own conclusions and added still another level of knowledge. Their remark on the tempo of my enquiries confirmed my own awareness of the requirement of more sensitivity in the negotiation process.
Moreover, my friend gave me compliments on my active listening techniques and pointed out how well I paraphrased and summarised, so enabling Sarah to feel heard and understood. Emphasis on empathy and active listening acts as a basis to developing trust and enabling client growth which corresponds with Rogers’s (1957) basic conditions for building a good rapport relationship.
However, my friend also pointed out a situation in which I might have acted prematurely towards correcting problems. When Sarah brought up a particular dispute inside her team, I asked right away about possible fixes. Before diving into solution development, my peer advised me to spend more time investigating how the dispute affected Sarah and her team. This resonates to the idea of person-centred coaching, which gives the coachee’s experience first priority and helps them to arrive at their own answers at their own speed.
This input was especially perceptive since it highlighted a possible inclination I have to lean towards action-oriented solutions, therefore avoiding a closer examination of the coachee’s experience and so restricting their chances for self-discovery. It underlined the need of deliberately juggling the directive and non-directive elements of coaching so that the coachee stays at the centre of the process.

Reflecting on organising Personal Research for Development
To ensure a good approach to this reflection, I used the combination of Gibbs’s Reflective Cycle (1988) with Driscoll’s “What?” “So what?” “Now what?” model (2007) These systems gave me a disciplined prism through which to review my coaching technique and pinpoint areas needing work.

• Description (Gibbs & Driscoll): This phase consisted of thorough explanation of the particular coaching events, including the observation on my body language and the questioning engagement with Sarah.
  • Feelings (Gibbs): Here I investigated my own emotions during and following the noted events. This included my initial confidence in using questioning skills, my surprise at Sarah’s discomfort, and my awareness of my maybe stiff posture later on.
  • Evaluation (Gibbs): This stage comprised of a careful analysis of both successful and unsuccessful outcomes. I appreciated the efficient use of open questions at first but also noted the less successful shift to emotional exploration and the possible detrimental influence of my body language.
  • Analysis (Gibbs & Driscoll): This involved closer examination of the events using coaching materials and peer input to spot underlying problems and trends. For instance, I examined the questioning episode in view of Stoltzfus’s work on pacing and the body language observation through the prism of Mehrabian’s nonverbal communication study.
  • Conclusion (Gibson & Driscoll): At this point, I was synthesising my knowledge and coming to decisions about how I might grow as a coach. I came to see that I had to improve my awareness of nonverbal communication, hone my questioning techniques, and grow to have a more complex view of juggling directive and non-directive approaches.
  • Action Plan (Gibbs & Driscoll): To handle the found areas for development, I finally created a set of particular, quantifiable, reasonable, pertinent, and time-bound (SMART) activities. This involved deliberately soliciting comments on my nonverbal signals, including mindfulness into my practice, and working on scaling questions.

Particular Coaching Strategies for Action Plans and Development Plotting a Path for Development
The findings from this introspection approach have helped me to pinpoint the following particular coaching abilities that call for more work:
1. Subtle questioning methods: Above all, I need to improve my capacity to move fluidly between several kinds of questions, especially when going from factual inquiry to examining emotions, values, and beliefs. This covers learning the craft of using reflecting statements, scaling enquiries, and strong open-ended questions meant to encourage more thought.
 Action Plan: Review coaching materials on advanced questioning strategies—including Socratic questioning, clean language, and strong questions—with an eye towards precision.

2. Balancing directive and non-directive approaches

     In forthcoming coaching sessions, I should deliberately observe and record the coachee’s answers and the effects on the conversation as I actively practise using scaling questions and reflecting statements. I should ask mentors and peers specifically for comments on my questioning techniques; maybe use transcripts of coaching sessions or audio recordings.
Building trust, rapport, and a secure coaching environment depends on my raising of awareness of my own body language and making sure it complements my spoken communication.
o Action Plan: Set up a schedule of routinely going over video recordings of my coaching sessions, focussing especially on examining my posture, facial expressions, hand gestures, and general nonverbal presence.

Daily mindfulness activities include body scans and conscious breathing will help me to improve my general body awareness and sensitivity to physical sensations.
Using open-ended questions and attentive listening to their points of view, aggressively asking coachees about their experience of my presence and nonverbal communication. Empowering coachees and promoting self-reliance depend on a more sophisticated knowledge of when to offer suggestions or advice and when to remain simply facilitative, so enabling the coachee to drive the process of exploration and solution generating.

After every coaching session, I will engage in critical self-reflection particularly assessing my balance between directive and non-directive interventions and weighing the effects on the coachee’s process. I will also ask seasoned mentors for direction and comments on my capacity to keep a non-directive posture and fight the need to provide answers too soon.
I will also research on several coaching approaches including transformational, directive, and facilitative coaching to help me to better grasp their various effects and suitable uses.

Conclusion

This in-depth reflection combined with the videoed session with Sarah and enhanced by insights from past coaching experiences has been a great tool for helping me to better grasp my coaching practice and highlight particular areas for focused growth. Although I have shown competency in some fundamental coaching skills, such the effective use of open-ended questions and the application of the GROW model, the process has underlined the continuous need of improvement in areas such nuanced questioning techniques, non-verbal communication awareness, and the delicate balance between directed and non-directive coaching approaches. The valuable comments from peers have confirmed my self-evaluations and given me vital outside viewpoints. The described action plan, which is based on constant interaction with coaching literature, frequent self-reflection, and a proactive search of feedback, reflects my will to always improve. My ultimate aim is to develop a coaching practice that is progressively powerful, transforming, and very sensitive to the particular requirements and goals of every coachee I assist. This path of growth is never-ending and calls for constant self-awareness, a dedication to lifelong learning, and a strong love of enabling others to realise their best potential.

References

Clutterbuck, D. (2023). Coaching and mentoring : a journey through the models, theories,             frameworks and             narratives of David Clutterbuck. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003323990

Downey, M. (2003). Effective coaching : lessons from the coaches’ coach (2nd ed). TEXERE.

Esterhuizen, P. (2023). Reflective practice in nursing (5e ed.). Learning Matters.

Egan, G. (2018). The skilled helper : a client-centred approach (Second edition, EMEA edition). Cengage             Learning EMEA.

Guccione, K., & Hutchinson, S. (2021). Coaching and mentoring for academic development (First            edition).             Emerald Publishing Limited.

Huelsman, S. B., & Jarvis, G. A. (1988). An exploratory study of the relationship of teacher         nonverbal cues             of warmth to student anxiety level and verbal responsiveness during           an oral proficiency             examination of French [Dissertation, Ohio State University].

Husebø, S. E., O’Regan, S., & Nestel, D. (n.d.). Reflective Practice and Its Role in           Simulation. Clinical             Simulation in Nursing, 11(8), 368–375.          https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2015.04.005

Stoltzfus, T. (2005). Leadership coaching : the disciplines, skills and heart of a coach. T. Stoltzfus.

Whitmore, W. T., Kaufman, J. A., Fors, B. D., Berry, T., Panahon, A. M., & Minnesota State       University,             Mankato. (2016). Student Perceptions of Academic Advising at Two-Year    Colleges

My reflections as a coach