Coaching for Consulting Success

In this discussion post, we’ll be discussing what coaching is and what makes it a valuable tool in the consultant toolbox. We hope to raise awareness around the role and skills of a coach, and to stimulate thinking around how it can be applied in the software consulting context.

The post is a conversation between three of Armakuni’s advocates for building a coaching culture:

• Sorrel Harriet (IC-ACC certified coach and Continuous Learning Lead)
• Hannah McEntire (IC-ACC certified coach and Product Coordinator)
• Alison Austin (AoEC qualified coach and Product Lead)

What is coaching?

H: I would start by saying that coaching can’t easily be pinned down to a single definition. Here are some equally valid definitions of professional coaching:

“…a process that enables learning and development to occur and thus performance to improve. To be successful a Coach requires a knowledge and understanding of process as well as the variety of styles, skills and techniques that are appropriate to the context in which the coaching takes place.” (Parsloe, 1995, p18)

“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.” Whitmore (1992, p8)

“The art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of another” (Downey, 2003)

“Coaching is about developing a person’s skills and knowledge so that their job performance improves, hopefully leading to the achievement of organisational objectives. It targets high performance and improvement at work, although it may also have an impact on an individual’s private life. It usually lasts for a short period and focuses on specific skills and goals.” (CIPD 2009)

A: I love some of these definitions, Hannah. I’d also add another, which is especially close to my heart:

“Partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment. Coaches honour the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole”. (International Coaching Federation)

S: It’s probably the case that every coach has a slightly different view of themselves and their role. I love the definition Dorothy Siminovitch (2018) uses of a coach as an ‘awareness agent’. As a coach, you are working to help the ‘client’, be it an individual, team or organisation, to become aware of what they have previously been unable to see. In doing so, you open them up to different perspectives, choices and pathways.

How does coaching differ from mentoring?

A: In my role as a consultant at Armakuni, I see 3 modalities in which we might potentially operate: consultant, mentor and coach. Each modality has its place and I believe it’s helpful to be aware of the differences, as well as have the ability to draw from all three.

It can be useful to think about these three modalities positioned along a spectrum with consulting (the most directive approach) at one end, and coaching (typically a non-directive approach) at the other.

Traditional consultancy typically positions the consultant as the ‘expert’ — someone who goes into a client organisation and tells them what they need to do in order to solve their problems. Whilst this offers value, in that it can help a client fix an immediate challenge, that value tends not to be long lasting because the client is not learning how to get to the answers themselves.

Mentoring is positioned somewhere more towards the middle. In adopting the role of mentor, I would typically teach, make suggestions and/or share from previous experience. In certain contexts — for example, when there is a knowledge gap — adopting this approach can provide value. When someone is really stuck, I’ve often found that providing a client with a broader perspective from which to think about their current situation can help to stimulate their own innate creative problem solving ability.

The third modality is that of a coach. This is typically the most non-directive approach and is our preferred way of operating at AK. When I adopt the role of coach with a client, the relationship is one of equals — I am working in a true partnership with them. I am not there to spoon feed them with answers to their challenges. Instead, my role is to be present, listen deeply, ask questions and work to facilitate a conversation that enables the client to expand their awareness of the issues they face and support them in discovering their own path through change/to growth. The key to this approach is to continuously look for what we call ‘coachable moments’. A coachable moment can be planned, or it may simply be an informal, unexpected opportunity to have a coaching conversation explicitly aimed at helping someone to think through whatever challenge they’re facing and identify their own way through.

Consultancy and mentoring both have their purpose but, at Armakuni, we believe that adopting a coaching approach is key to best serving our clients and delivering longer lasting value.

S: That’s a really interesting and insightful answer Alison, and I particularly like the phrase you’ve used there of ‘coachable moments’. I remember being advised in the ICA-ACC training not to ‘coach by stealth’. I now question the implications of that advice. I worry it places a coach in rather a narrow and rigid container, whereas a blended approach, whereby you might consciously move up and down that spectrum, offers a lot more flexibility and opportunity to apply the coaching skillset in different contexts.

I suppose another difference I find important is that, unlike mentoring, which is more directive and ‘problem oriented’, coaching stays focused on the client and avoids being drawn too far into the problem. Instead you’re asking, “What is making this a problem for them?” “What is it they are not seeing?” Coaching can lead to lasting changes in mindset and behaviour which can make it a transformative experience. There’s no reason why coaching in this sense needs to be restricted to a narrowly defined coaching relationship.

We talked about the overlap between mentoring and coaching, where would you say the overlap is between coaching and therapy?

S: While coaching can involve quite in depth introspection, that doesn’t make it the same as counselling or therapy.

H: Coaching works on the basis that the person you are coaching is mentally healthy. It doesn’t dive into past trauma and coaches aren’t qualified to do so. It focuses on the moment and is forward looking.

S: Absolutely, and in order to get to the root of a problem someone is facing in the present and expose different options and perspectives, it may be important to dig into what they are experiencing, their learned behaviours and patterns of thinking. That said, a skilled coach will seek to gauge the level of challenge and introspection an individual is comfortable with, and will adapt their approach accordingly.

A: A basic coaching training should help you to identify the boundaries and warning signs that someone is not in a ‘coachable’ state. The diagram below gives some sense of where the overlapping areas are.

What do you see as being the core attributes of a coach?

H: I believe anyone can coach as long as they have self awareness, a genuine interest in other people, an ability to take yourself out of a conversation and be there for others, good listening skills, empathy, being able to hold the space, being OK with discomfort, being OK with silence, being open-minded, asking intelligent questions, a curious mindset, not needing to “fix”, the ability to challenge, being able to forge an authentic connection, being non judgemental and having unconditional positive regard.

S: In addition to everything Hannah has already mentioned, I believe you have to have a genuine belief in the capacity of an individual for change.

How might coaching support the work of a software consultant?

S: There are two angles to look at this from: being coached, and coaching others. Being coached can help consultants to explore a problem from different angles, and it may help them to become more self-aware, which can, in turn, impact the team and system as a whole. It can also help them establish and progress toward their development goals.

Regarding coaching others, the coaching skill-set can be valuable outside of an explicit coaching contract. There is no escaping the fact that organisations and teams are social systems. A lot of the problems encountered in delivery teams can be traced back to people and interactions. Asking the right questions at the right time may be just what a team or individual needs to shine a light into a dark corner, and change the narrative.

Consulting is also a relationship-focused activity, and coaching skills may help a consultant to build trust and establish a positive relationship with a client. Ultimately, it’s this relationship that is going to allow them to influence change.

A: Indeed, and as consultants, it’s important to remember that we work with our clients to help bring about change at different levels (individual, team & organisational). Supporting our clients in understanding what they might do differently is one important step, but helping them to adopt any relevant behaviour/mindset changes to support broader/longer lasting change can often be a much bigger hurdle. When we choose to use coaching skills (such as rapport building, active listening, respectful challenge and questioning) we can potentially move to a much deeper sense of collective psychological safety, understand potential blockers to change and uncover the motivation for learning.

In terms of being coached in our professional capacity as consultants, I see I two broad benefits:

Firstly, as consultants, we mostly perform our services within the context of our client’s organisation. Because of this, our communication style and the behaviours we model can potentially have a profound impact on our clients. It is therefore crucial for us to operate with a high degree of self awareness. Being coached essentially holds up a mirror, through which we can understand ourselves more deeply. This self awareness can result in an increase in our motivation, our capacity for empathy, as well as our ability to self regulate. All important traits for a consultant.

Secondly, having a coach is like having a trusted thinking partner. Here at Armakuni we work at pace and, because everything we do depends on the quality of our thinking, being coached can help us to operate with greater confidence, clarity and self reliance.

What would you recommend as a starting point for someone interested in developing their coaching skill set?

S: I’d say doing a short introductory coaching course is a good starting point, as is joining a community of practice so you get the opportunity to observe coaching in action. A book I’d recommend for someone who is coaching curious would be The Coach’s Casebook: Mastering the 12 Traits that Trap Us (Watts and Morgan, 2016). This book also has some useful tools you can use to self-coach.

A: My top 3 tips would be to

• Be coached!
• Set up a community of practice
• Run peer coaching groups

H: Great ideas! I’d love to see it happening here at Armakuni.

A: My choice pick from the beginner coaching books would be The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier (2016). It’s a really practical primer with some universal wisdom that anyone can apply.

H: Mine would be Time to think by Nancy Klein (1999). I really like her emphasis on the power of attentive listening to support others to think better.

S: I will definitely be picking those two up!

Conclusion

As we’ve discussed, coaching is a valuable approach for both personal and professional growth. At Armakuni, we’ve seen how coaching can enhance self-awareness, build trust, and create lasting change. 

If you’re interested in incorporating coaching into your work, remember that it’s a process of continuous learning and adaptation. Start small, stay curious and enjoy the journey. I hope this discussion has inspired you to explore coaching further and see how it can make a difference in your work and beyond.