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In our article 'Coaching: Do I need it?' we explained coaching as a helping relationship engaged between a coach and individual to assist in both professional and personal development. Today we would like to zoom in on the benefits of coaching. There is a reason why many companies, from small organisations to corporates like Google, utilise coaching. They experience significant benefits in employee happiness, business optimisation, productivity, and consequently, investment returns. Coaching is not only for companies to use but also for individuals who desire to achieve something more extensive in life as well, whether it’s personal development or a work promotion. Are you eager to know the benefits of coaching yet? Let's dive into it.

Why organisations utilise coaching

First things first, allow me to explain why organisations employ coaching. For around 37 years now, there has been a development where employees are viewed as the organisations' most valuable assets, the so-called 'human resource thinking'. People, and their skills and abilities, play an essential part in realising the business' objectives. If they do their work well with enthusiasm, the organisation performs well and fulfils its right to exist. Therefore, we need to take care of our employees and ourselves.

The world is constantly changing, so is our society and the organisations we work in. New challenges arise that call for new answers and services. Knowledge quickly becomes obsolete; thus, we need to keep up by being proactive and anticipate developments in our environment to stay ahead. The new challenges are often complex and in need of customised solutions. Organisations and people live in an intricate and dynamic context, hence why it's so crucial for employees to develop themselves. Take, for example, the fact that organisations progressively implement self-organising teams when adopting an agile way of working. It can get quite challenging to get more responsibility for the work you do. That's where coaching comes in. There are different types of coaching, but we won't discuss that in this article. If you missed our last blog post, I encourage you to give it a read as the various types of coaching are explained there.

Employee well-being

Coaching can have a significant impact on employee well-being. Institute for Employment Studies found that coachees felt better equipped to overcome obstacles, and coaching made them realise they can find solutions for problems when they put their mind to it. The coachees also experienced higher job satisfaction as the coaching helped them develop new work skills to deal with unexpected events more efficiently.

Personal development

Coaching helps many people to experience some degree of personal growth. That should not be surprising: when a relationship between coach and coachee fits, the coachee opens up about his or her underlying challenges. From that moment on, the coach questions the coachee's reasoning and attitude for the perceived obstacles they're facing. Coaches seek to understand the person in front of them by listening emphatically, meaning they attempt to view the world from the coachee's frame of reference, seeing the world the way they do.

Overcoming fear

Brandon Burchard wrote in his book 'The motivation manifesto' two types of fear: fear of loss and fear of anticipated hardship. A coach urges coachees to think logically about what will happen if they, for example, lose something, to explore the possible outcomes, the impact of those outcomes, and the alternatives. This helps the coachee to gain different perspectives of their obstacles.

Unlock potential

Finding what motivates you to elevate yourself to higher goals and unlock your full potential is another benefit of coaching. Brandon Burchard says that motivation is a choice. "Our mind chose a reason for action, and it either committed to that choice, or it did not, and thus we experience a high level of motivation or low one". The trick is to take over our impulses and direct our minds to opportunities and commitments that will serve us. Some of Brendan's questions to ask yourself are:

What am I really after in life?
What do I truly want to create or contribute?
What kind of person do I want to show the world each day?

As you may notice, these questions question one's purpose. Posing them to yourself or have a coach ask them helps you to take a moment to reflect about yourself as a person, and how you wish to develop yourself. A coach can objectively help you in your journey to unlock your hidden potential.

People are in control

People get coaching to accelerate reaching their goals or set new ones. Coaches often don't tell you what to do or how to do something. Instead, they let coachees act autonomously, meaning coachees are in control of making decisions. The coach objectively challenges coachees to evaluate their choices and actions to gain perspective and ultimately get a step closer in reaching their goals. Being in charge of decision-making increases a person's intrinsic motivation to embrace his decisions and make them work. Furthermore, the multiple sessions of coaching stimulate coachees to work on the things discussed in the last session to have something to talk about in the next coaching session, which helps keep the momentum.

So why coaching?

Coaching really could help people level up and experience a greater purpose in work, personal life, or other areas, regardless of the type of coaching. It depends on what people want to achieve from getting coached. They may sometimes not even know exactly what, other than there is a little spark inside them with the potential to become a flame. Coaching could be that one nudge to light up that flame. And when that happens, great benefits follow.

DecodeHR offers you experienced coaches to guide you in your work and personal life. Sign up for coaching with our coaching vouchers today!

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