The amount of coaching information out there is overwhelming. The claims of coaches offering a wide variety of coaching specialties, styles, methods and outcomes is confusing to most people and makes it difficult for people to choose what kind of coach and what kind of coaching would be most beneficial to them, their situation and their goals.
Individuals and companies engage in coaching for a host of reasons that often seem disconnected and disjointed.
Anyone seeking to establish himself as a coach needs to get clear on three questions:
- What type of coaching do I offer?
- What method(s) do I use?
- What is the benefit to the client?
In the past 15 years, it has been a rare experience for me to find coaches who understand the type of coaching they offer. Most coaches struggle with clarifying exactly what method(s) they use, and more importantly what outcome can be achieved as a result of their coaching.
This article seeks to explain the two major categories of coaching and how an MBTI practitioner can take advantage of both.
2 major coaching categories
A review of the literature on coaching reveals a stunning array of coaching services that promise all kinds of methods and benefits to clients. How does an individual begin to choose a coach or a type of coaching when most of the information out there is confusing and overwhelming?
To help make sense of it all, a closer look at all the information revealed two categories that most (if not all) coaching activities fall under:
- development coaching
- performance coaching
A large percentage of the coaching information is development at about 90 percent of the information out there, and the remaining information is at about 10 percent, which is about performance. So what's the difference and how does it help you?
Performance coaching
Performance coaching focuses on performance improvement of an individual or team. It is a precise coaching method that is based on the scientific principles of B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning and the more modern science of behavioral analysis.
The focus of this coaching is to provide feedback about performance behavior(s) with an eye on future behavior that attains the outcome desired. The emphasis of the performance coach is on helping the performer improve rather than evaluating the performer's performance.
By setting clear expectations for targeted behaviors and frequently following up to reinforce the behavior when it occurs, the performance coach can help the performer develop necessary behaviors to habit strength and achieve discretionary effort. Performance coaching also encourages the performer to take accountability for his/her performance results.
This form of coaching requires some form of measurement, and several tools are included (e.g., balanced scorecards, the ABC model, reinforcement schedules, reinforcement frequency and a related performance metric). What's critical about performance coaching is that you focus on what you want the performer to do, not what you don't want the performer to do.
The premise is one of support as the performer makes effort to improve. The role of the coach is to work with the performer in identifying positive or negative reinforcements that are identified by the performer as positive or negative.
Using the MBTI with performance coaching
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a helpful tool with performance coaching. First, the focus of the coach is to identify strengths of the performer based on his/her letters. The focus of the performer is to achieve the desired outcome.
A certified MBTI practitioner can create a precise definition of the behavior desired and positively reinforce that behavior helping the performer achieve the desired outcome by developing a strength behavior to habit strength. The performer's behavior becomes sustainable through the habit development, which leads ultimately to discretionary effort and improved performance.
Another insight the MBTI provides is the dynamic interaction of an individual's functions. Coaches review an individual's functional stack and analyze the interplay between the Sensing (SE, SN) and iNtuition (NE, NI); Thinking (TE, TN) and Feeling (FE and FN).
There are complementary and conflicting opposites that once realized can help the performers improve their behavior in a specific situation or circumstance, and therefore improve how they perform. Other areas of consideration can include: change, emotional intelligence, leadership, conflict, stress, communication, decision making, coaching and more.
Development coaching
Most of the coaching information out there falls into the category of development coaching. This type of coaching is focused on improving a client's knowledge, attitude/ability, skills, and/or other characteristics (KASOCs), and this type of development grows into competencies.
Competencies are critical to the full functioning of any performer. However, this is a high level of coaching and requires coaching fluency and coaching competencies.
The role of the coach is to provide/share insights that reveal to the clients what may help them. At more advanced levels of development coaching, the coach will "draw out" of the clients what they need and help them arrive at their own KASOCs and solutions. Numbers of assessments are used in development coaching to help assess the progress, gaps and/or needs of the clients.
Development coaching is a wide-open field, and most coaches have the right intent to help people. However, the level of quality is a concern in the development coaching world. A development coach should seek education, but also needs to seek the proper certifications in coaching practices, assessments and/or other qualifications that protect a client from poor services or harm.
Using the MBTI with development coaching
The MBTI serves as an underpinning of support for development of key behaviors that turn into knowledge, attitudes and abilities, skills and other various characteristics. Coaching to specific behaviors that improve any of these key elements is a successful endeavor.
The ultimate outcome of development coaching is in the full development of an individual's competencies. A competency is the demonstration of insight, savvy and wisdom that comes with the experience of behaving in precise, defined ways shaped in critical situations that are demanding of one's knowledge, attitudes and abilities, skills and other characteristics.
Being clear on the type of coaching you do is important to you and your clients. It also helps to shape your coaching practice, methods and outcomes as well as your coaching fluency.
