Coaching Styles in Organisations
Coaching Styles in Organisations: Everything You Need To Know
In this article, we’ll give you a comprehensive overview of the different coaching styles you might encounter in your company. Below we’ll show you the differences between each style and how they can affect your employees.
The most important facts
- Leadership coaching can be broken down into different coaching styles, each of which contributes to employee development in slightly different ways.
- While coaching can help employees work more effectively, it can take a long time to see results.
- To find the coaching that’s best for you, you need to figure out how your team members best learn new information.
What are Coaching Styles?
A coaching style is a method that aims to inspire employees and teach them how to better overcome challenges and succeed in their roles. Coaching is primarily used to help high-potential employees improve and increase the overall efficiency of the organization.
In general, every leader who uses a coaching style will use a specific teaching method. Each method has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Each coaching style is formally recognized as an official coaching method. Others can invent their own style.
The 6 best coaching styles
Below are the six officially recognized coaching styles that many leaders use in the workplace…
1.Democratic coaching
With democratic coaching, employees can decide how and what they want to learn, giving them more freedom to control how the team pursues its goals. As a manager, you remain a central part of the coaching process, but only intervene to keep the learning process going. Your team can improve their ability to collaborate while encouraging independent decision-making.
In practice, democratic coaching means that the team steers the ship while the leader stays in the background, ready to adjust course as needed.
2.Holistic coaching
Holistic coaching is one of the most popular coaching styles because it takes an employee’s entire life into account. Leaders who follow this teaching approach assume that each worker is the sum of their parts and that each of these parts must be in balance to achieve optimal results in the workplace. Helping employees understand their own components can also make it clear how they contribute to the team and how important they are to achieving overall goals.
A holistic coach will not only provide recommendations to improve work performance, but also suggest other methods to remove obstacles for the team. For example, he will look for relaxation techniques for team members who are struggling with stress.
3.Autocratic coaching
Autocratic coaching is a more rigorous teaching method in which the leader sets the direction of the team. The employees themselves have no say in the decisions made. This leadership style tends to have a negative impact on team cohesion and communication, but it is not without benefits. Taking control can be the difference between the success and failure of a business when it is in the hands of a competent person.
Still, it’s better to use an autocratic approach sparingly so as not to harm your team’s overall performance. Many leaders who use this style tend to take control after a project suffers a major setback, for example.
4.Laissez-faire coaching
Laissez-faire coaching is a “hands-off” approach, similar to democratic coaching but to a greater extent. Instead of staying in the background and correcting the team’s plans, the leader gives the team final decision-making authority. The manager usually takes on an advisory role; even then, it is up to the employee to seek advice.
The “zero leadership” approach is well suited to helping workers develop autonomy and confidence in their decision-making. However, it can also fail if the group is not independent enough to manage itself.
5.Mindful coaching
A mindful coaching approach to leadership focuses on developing the team’s self-awareness so that they can identify internal issues that are holding them back. Introspection allows employees to identify unproductive behavior patterns or challenges to the organization. The team leader’s role in this process is not to solve these problems personally, but to help his team learn techniques that will help them overcome these obstacles on their own.
In general, using mindful coaching techniques can result in a less stressed team that is better prepared to handle the challenges of everyday work.
6.Vision coaching
Vision coaching is about guiding the development of a team by giving them concrete goals. With this teaching method, the relationship between employees and managers becomes more of a partnership. Like a personal trainer, the leader builds a healthy dialogue with the team by providing constructive feedback and encouraging reflection to promote the team.
Vision coaching is often a temporary measure to achieve faster and higher quality results in a fast-paced work environment. It helps the team develop a plan for specific projects so that they don’t get stuck on difficult tasks.
Advantages and disadvantages of coaching
Coaching in the workplace has many benefits, but it can also present some difficulties. The table below illustrates what your team will get from each of the coaching leadership styles listed here.
| Benefits of coaching | Disadvantages of coaching |
| A good coaching leader can create a positive work environment in which employees can thrive. This supportive environment can make employees more engaged in their work. | The results of coaching are not immediately visible. While there are many benefits to the leadership style, change requires time and patience, which may not be suitable for a fast-paced company. |
| Coaching leaders strive to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their teams and build a development plan around them. Your support can help an employee’s skills grow and dramatically improve their performance in the workplace. | Coaching can help employees develop, but it is a process that requires full cooperation between the team and the leader. If the two parties are not in harmony with each other, neither of them will see the results of the process. |
| Typically, most coaches set employee expectations as early as possible to avoid misunderstandings further down the line. When the team gets on the same page, it contributes to better collaboration and communication between team members. | Coaching presents some difficulties as it requires the seamless use of several different skills to achieve maximum effectiveness. Without the ability to communicate, build relationships, give good feedback, or have sound judgment, attempting to coach can fail. |
How to choose your coaching style
Typically, you choose a particular coaching style based on your personality and leadership preferences. But sticking with the method you first chose could put you at a disadvantage in some situations. So here are some tips on how to choose a style that suits you and your team:
- Determine your team’s learning style. Every person learns differently. Figuring out how your team processes information best will help you find the best coaching style for them.
- Use a style that fits company values. Your team may have certain expectations about how they should be treated within the company based on the values you represent. Choosing a coaching style that directly aligns with the company’s ideals will help ensure there is no friction between the coach and their team.
- Think about what your team needs. There are probably people on your team who learn differently than others. If they’re not on the same page, knowing multiple styles will help you teach a larger group.
- Take a leadership development course. There are executive courses that provide more detailed information about each coaching style so you can make a more informed decision about which one to choose.
- Regularly review your team’s progress under your chosen coaching style. If you find that it has little impact on team development, it may be time to switch to a different teaching method.
Frequently asked questions about coaching style
What are Coaching Styles?
Coaching styles are subtypes of coaching leadership that determine how you develop your team. Depending on which coaching style you use, different characteristics develop in an employee.
Does coaching also have disadvantages?
Coaching can offer several benefits, but it also has disadvantages that make it not suitable for every company. These disadvantages include:
- It takes a long time to see results
- The relative difficulty of the coaching method
- Requirement of comprehensive cooperation between both parties