There are innumerable definitions of coaching, perhaps every practitioner develops their own. Coaching and mentoring have now become established, and perhaps even requirements in the support and development of skills in many professions and roles. It is not surprising that there are so many definitions. But they cannot all be appropriate to every application. 

This is a working definition for our style of coaching:

Big Blue Box Executive Coaching is a confidential, catalytic conversation that creates the conditions for an individual to change.

It is a very simple definition, shaped by our extensive experience working with many different clients since 2002. In that timeframe, coaching has become established in the corporate toolkit, changes within society and technology have been profound, but this working definition continues to capture the essence of what we do.

To refine this definition let’s break that down and explore the interpretation:

Executive Coaching

a)                  Context

Our coaching client (or coachee) is an individual senior executive in a leadership role, within an organisation that sponsors their development and support. The coachee is the client.

The majority of our coachees are found within C-suite, senior leadership, emerging talent, and high-potential cohorts.

They are capable and ambitious, professionally highly skilled, seeking improved performance and further innovation, they are keen to learn. These individuals are typically in mid-life and mid-career, where the greatest pressures, challenges and highest expectations coincide.

b)                  Intention

Our coaching intention is to create the conditions for positive individual change to improve performance and behaviour so that clients can successfully navigate their life, career, and role.

The coaching is holistic, diagnostic, positive, awareness-raising and enabling, resolving issues to unlock potential and ‘to leave it better’ and is thus transformational in its intent.

Confidential

The one-to-one coaching conversation between the coach and the coachee requires confidentiality. Trust between the coachee and the coach is fundamental.

These requirements will be clarified in the contracting and engagement process.

Catalytic

A catalyst is an agent of change but is not itself changed by the process.

The coach is the ‘catalyst’ whose independent presence facilitates insights that lead to enhanced self-awareness for the coachee. Self- awareness is a requirement for sustainable personal change.

Coaching further influences the pace and direction of the change but is not part of the ‘outcome’.

Conversation

Our coaching conversation is a 2-way discussion process - an informal, open and non-judgemental, ‘adult’ exchange of thoughts, feelings, plans and experiences, ideas and information, that is flexible and dynamic, responsive and proactive.

Whilst a coaching conversation will have purpose and outcomes, being diagnostic and catalytic, these items will evolve as the conversation progresses. The conversation should be as unboundaried as appropriate.

a)                  The coach’s contribution

The qualities that the coach brings to the conversation include confidentiality and trustworthiness, empathy, genuine curiosity, listening skills, reflecting and summarising in the search for shared understanding.

Further skills will include enabling feedback, facilitation of insights, creating awareness, identification and exploration of options, testing, challenging and even directing, and holding the coachee to account.

b)                  The coachee’s contribution

Trust having been established, the coachee brings their preparedness to engage, their openness to reflect and share their awareness and insights, thoughts and feelings, with honesty and accountability.

They also hold the responsibility for communication with the organisational sponsor, on the outcomes and potentially for a re-contracting with the sponsor as the coaching process’ outcomes are realised.

Creates

Coaching is a creative process – it brings ‘things’ into existence, presence and awareness. The creation process is not predictable, and outcomes can occur in unexpected areas.

Conditions

Effective coaching creates the conditions for individual change, through awareness, acceptance, intent, purpose and motivation, within the coachee, leading to action taken by the individual.

Individual

Our focus is upon the individual, especially when working with groups, or teams within an organisation.

Change

Our coaching creates the conditions for individual change, then influences the pace and direction of the change.

Facilitating change within the individual coachee creates impact for those connected with the coachee, including colleagues, groups and teams and even the wider organisational culture.

Evaluation of outcomes should be considered across broad-based dimensions including timing, duration, location, direction, scope and scale.