Participant Guide
2
empowered by (SG)
Positive
Coaching
Objective: To focus on the
power of staying positive in
a coaching relationship. The
learner will be given an opportunity to practice the skill
of focusing on the positive
and looking for forward momentum when brainstorming
options with a coachee.
Video Clip: Mr. Holland’s Opus
Mr. Holland is a music teacher who is paid a visit by a young,
aspiring clarinet player who wants to quit. Pay particular attention
to the different ways that Mr. Holland tries to reach the student by
staying positive.
Question #1: What did you observe in the heart and mind of the young
student?
Question #2: What was going on in Mr. Holland?
Question #3: What did playing the sunset represent for the student?
Question #4: How did Mr. Holland stay focused on the positive?
Partner Sharing
In pairs, share about a time when someone stayed focused on the
positive in your life rather than focusing on problems or blockages.
What was the experience like for you personally?
©2006
Positive Coaching
The Art of Positive Coaching
Staying positive and creative as a coach can be one of the greatest gifts we
give to those that we coach. As coaches, we can get sucked into a subtle
trap over time; the trap of being too problem-focused in our coaching.
In their book, Enlightened Leadership, Oakley and Krugg argue that
focusing on the “negative side” can actually impede progress and stifle
momentum. In the Goal and Reality sections of the GROW model,
coaches that are guilty of targeting the “negative side” are pre-occupied
with problems, blockages, obstacles, and failures. By focusing on
these kinds of issues, a coach can unknowingly stifle creativity and
positive, opportunity oriented thinking. Valuable energy of a coaching
appointment can be spent on questions like:
• Where are you blowing it?
• Why aren’t you making progress?
• Who’s responsible for the setbacks?
• What are the blockages you are encountering?
There is a time and place to talk openly and constructively about
challenges your coachee may be experiencing. Often, tremendous insight
can be gained by identifying root causes to jugular issues. So, in that
sense, this is not an attempt to advocate denial. Rather, this is a reminder
that significant momentum and breakthrough are often found by staying
positive in our coaching orientation.
Clear and creative thinking are often associated with focusing on issues
and ideas related to what is already working, what is producing forward
progress, or that which supports and energizes the person you are
coaching. This kind of coaching can greatly enhance progress and boost
momentum because it is preoccupied with possibilities, opportunities,
effectiveness, and victories. Positive Coaching questions sound and feel
something like this:
• What aspect of the project are you most pleased with?
• Which option will deliver the most progress?
• What are you doing better with this last month?
• What has worked well for you in the past?
• How can you build on the momentum you’ve gained?
• What’s already working?
• What can you do more, better, or differently to create progress
towards your objective?
• What’s making this work so well?
Participant Guide
empowered by (SG)2
©2006
Positive Coaching
If you are naturally a “the glass is half-empty” kind of person, positive
coaching will be a bit of stretch for you as a coach. In other words, if you
readily see short-comings, problems and difficulties, it will be stretching
for you to coach with a positive orientation. Positive coaching takes
practice and discipline, but the benefits that it yields are well worth the
effort. Look for momentum in the past, present, or future and pour your
coaching energy into those places. The person you are coaching will be
grateful.
Framing Positive Coaching Questions
Take some time with a partner to turn these coaching questions into
Positive Coaching questions:
Reframed Positive Coaching
Why is the team unwilling
to follow you?
What is causing this
current setback?
If this plan were to fail,
how would it fail and why?
What’s the biggest
challenge you are being
faced with?
Where is the most
significant blockage?
Who is to blame for this
current conflict?
What is causing your
prayer time to be so flat?
Why have you put on so
much weight this year?
Participant Guide2
empowered by (SG)
©2006
Positive Coaching
Application Activity: Coaching Triads
Here’s an opportunity to practice the skill of positive coaching.
Assignment:
Coachee: Select a significant challenge that you are facing or an area of
your life that you would like to make progress in over the next couple of
months.
Coach: Your job is to practice positive coaching in the Reality and Option
portions of the GROW model. You are to ask as many positive questions
and to give as much positive feedback as possible in the allotted time
you’ve been given.
Observer: Make notes along the way. What did the coach do well and
what are some ways that the coach could improve? After the coaching
session you will have a few minutes to give feedback.
Wrap-Up
Question #1: What was it like for you to receive positive coaching?
Question #2: What was it like for you to give positive coaching?
Question #3: What’s one new insight for you today that you would like to
carry into your coaching relationships?
Participant Guide
empowered by (SG)2
©2006