What makes an outstanding coach?

These are the sorts of characteristics that outstanding coaches possess.

* The confidence but not arrogance to support and challenge another person effectively.
* The ability to be client centred, to set our ego to one side and thereby not to be thinking about ourselves or our own issues and to keep the coachee focused on their own reality, issues and opportunity options.
* To be able to ask good questions, even if some are not fruitful and the skills to probe and help the coachee to distill the essence of their issues and agenda - and to translate this into actionable areas.
* To use both their intuition as well as logic in talking through their situation and in considering their optionsd and actions.

* The ability to challenge a person to get real about their situation and to get really committed to doing something about. Empathy and rapport such that the coachee will trust themselves tell the coach everything relevant about their situation - even things that they may not have dared to share with anyone else.

* To possess and use their breadth and depth of understanding of people, of organisations, of relationships of groups and teams, to the full advantage of the coachee.

* The ability to take effective notes either during a session and whilst talking or listening to a coachee or shortly after the session has ended.

* To make the links between different aspects, pieces of information and themes within a session or sessions.

* To be non-judgemental of the coachee and to demonstrate flexibility of thinking to adjust and help the coachee to adjust to new information and feelings as they emerge

Which management training to do in-house and which to use external suppliers for?

Some elements of management training are better to be done using your own in-house resources. These centre around knowledge elements and company specific policies, procedures and systems. Induction training is another element which is much better passed on by using employees from the organisation who understand and inhabit the culture and who know their way personally around the organisation and who have direct experience of the business.

The sorts of management training best supplied by external suppliers relate to external technology or market place knowledge that is best understood by external experts. Also leadership development, personal career development and assessment activities which require external benchmarking comparisons and a high level of trainer/facilitator experience and credibility is usually more effectively delivered by external specialists than by internal management trainers.

External trainers often have a new and creative slant to apply to issues and situations and their thinking and approach are not constrained by the norms, experiences and culture of the employing organisation.

Coaching delivered by external coaches provides the benefit of independent and objective support and challenge that is not so easy to see if you are working inside the same organisation.

It puts a different slant on things and the external coach is not constrained by the objectives and direct demands of their employer.