Career Coaching:
what it is and how to do it
Julia Yates
City, University of London
Career
guidance
Career
counselling
Careers
advice
What are the key
differences?
Career coaching
Career
consultancy
Employability
advice
Job coaching
Career Coaching and Career Guidance
Which is more goal-orientated?
Which is more directive?
Which is more effective?
Which is more private-sector?
Which is more likely to one-off?
Which has the better image?
What I like about
Career Coaching
“Unlocking a person’s
potential to maximise
their own performance”
Sir John Whitmore
(Whitmore 2002)
“Collaborative conversations,
grounded in coaching and
career theories which lead to a
positive outcome regarding
career and/or personal
fulfillment”
Yates 2013
‘It’s unjumbled lots of things in my head’
Elements of coaching
van Nieuwerburgh 2012
Who’s in charge?
The Client
The Coach
The Content
The Process
Chooses topic
Selects goals
Decides timings
Keeps time
Maintains focus
Moves
conversation on
TGROW
Topic
Way
Forward
Options
Goal
Reality
John Whitmore
1992
TGROW
Topic
John Whitmore
1992
Topic
Overall objective
– Where do you want to get to?
TGROW
Topic
Goal
John Whitmore
1992
GOAL
Outcome for session
What do you want from this conversation?
TGROW
Topic
Goal
Reality
John Whitmore
1992
REALITY
• Tell me the story so far
•
•
•
•
•
What is happening now?
What skills and experiences do you have?
What do you mean by that?
What have you already tried?
How do you feel about the current situation?
TGROW
Topic
Goal
Options
Reality
John Whitmore
1992
OPTIONS
Identifying a number of options
• What are your options? What else?
• If you could do anything, what would you do?
Evaluating options
• What advice would your role model give you?
• What does your heart / head tell you?
TGROW
Topic
Way
Forward
Options
Goal
Reality
John Whitmore
1992
WAY FORWARD
“We’ve talked about a lot of things today. What
are you actually going to go away and do?”
What challenges might you face?
How will you overcome them?
Who will you get support from?
What’s different?
• In what ways is TGROW similar or different to
the guidance model you use?
• In what ways could it add to your practice
What I like
• It’s easy to communicate to my client
– Easier transition from one stage to the next
– A more collaborative partnership
– Clearer expectation of roles
Want to learn more?
Van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2013). An
introduction to coaching skills London:
Sage
Yates, J. (2013) The Career Coaching
Handbook Hove: Routledge
[email protected]