ADAPTING YOUR COACHING STYLE

TABLE 1 – WHAT PERSONALITY DRIVER DO YOU HAVE?

Director
‘Let’s get on with it!’

At their best:
Confident, decisive, pragmatic, organised, ambitious and efficient. Has an ability to see what needs to be done and takes action immediately. Likes to takes charge, sets direction and solve problems. Tendency to be action orientated rather than reflective. Likes to do first and learn from action. Tends to take charge in a crisis.

At their worst:
Impatient, demanding, aggressive & can be confrontational. They live in a world of ‘urgency’; so focused on getting the job done, they can forget about people’s feelings.

Communication style:
Direct, clear, confident, honest. Will face conflict head on. Will not suffer fools gladly.

Needs:
To feel in control. To have clarity. To get results.

The very essence of coaching is that the coachee does not acquire the facts or skills from the coach, but from within himself, stimulated by the coach. John Whitmore, author of the classic ‘Coaching for Performance’ defines coaching as “unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”

As such, it is essential that the coachee feels that their coach is ‘on the same wavelength’ and able to coach them in a way that works for their way of thinking / learning The best coach is able to adapt their natural style to what works best for each of their coachees, rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

Therefore, our Inspiring Ideas this month will focus on a technique to help you adapt your style to suit the personality of each of your coachees. There are many different aspects to tailoring your style (such as the person’s learning style, representational systems etc), but we have found that one of the most effective is to communicate in a way that matches their personality / communication style.

Research has shown that people tend to fall into one of four main personality drivers.

• Director, driven by results.
• Scientist, driven by the need to do things properly
• Carer, driven by the need for building relationships
• Entertainer, driven by the need for fun and excitement.

Your personality type depends whether you are more task or people focussed and whether you are more introverted or extraverted. Whilst we all tend to have traits of each type, there are normally one or two of the types that are more dominant in each of us.

Have a look at Table 1 ‘What Personality Driver Do You Have?’ and see if you can identify yourself and some of your coachees. Think also about the issues an entertainer might have building rapport with a scientist and how understanding their drivers could improve matters.

Think about the model in relation to some celebrities:

• Simon Cowell = Director, (direct)
• Kylie Minogue = Carer (warm, friendly, diplomatic)
• Paul O Grady = Entertainer (controversial, funny)
• Gordon Brown = Scientist (steady, introspective)

All personality types have positive traits and skills to bring, and they all have a darker side. Our personalities mean that we will be motivated in different ways. Telling a director to be ‘friendlier or a ‘team player’, won’t make sense to them!

When you have identified your dominant style, take a little time to consider:

• what it means when you coach others
• which of the types you find it more difficult to coach and why

Each personality type will communicate in a way that they think is best. Often people have good intentions, but they can offend/ annoy others because they have a different way of looking at the world!

We tend to find it easy to coach people who have similar personality styles to us, but find it less easy to relate to people of other types.

Instead of coaching them in the style we like to be coached in, we must consider our coachee - their personality and their motivations - and find a way for them to want to make changes in a way that makes sense to them.

Table 2 ‘Coaching Personality Types’ provides some tips on how best to coach each of the types.

Take some time to try out the different styles, consider the personality types of your coachees and adapt your style as appropriate. Then see how much you improve both the rapport and learning in your coaching sessions.

If you would like more information please contact Karen on 01753 624985.

We will be demonstrating coaching with different personality types at the World of Learning Conference and Exhibition in September, as well as demonstrating many other training techniques.

Entertainer
‘Let’s make this fun!’

At their best:
Expressive, friendly, jovial, enthusiastic, the energiser’s talent is to offer new perspectives & original ideas. Persuasive, charming and able to influence with their wit and sense of fun. Optimistic, flexible and memorable!

At their worst:
Inconsistent, sloppy, lacking attention to detail. They can come across as flippant or shallow. Can be demanding, sarcastic, domineering, overbearing and childish. Good at starting projects, not so good at completing.

Communication style:
Warm, informal and expressive. They tend to use humour to diffuse situations. Can play devil’s advocate.

Needs:
To have variety, fun, freedom, excitement and enjoy attention.

Carer
‘Let’s listen to each other!’

At their best:
Trusting, loyal, empathetic, and sensitive; the Relater’s talent is to understand others and to build rapport. Caring, helpful and modest. Interested in others and focus on ways to help. Tend to be aware of their own and others emotions.

At their worst:
Takes things personally, worry obsessively. Withdraw in conflict or revert to passive aggression. May store feelings which end up with angry outbursts. (But guilt will follow).

Communication style:
Diplomatic, sensitive, empathetic and friendly. They prefer to get to know people informally. Will avoid conflict if possible, because of a need to be liked and to avoid upsetting others.

Needs:
To feel liked and appreciated. To feel involved and to help others.

Scientist
‘Let’s think about this!’

At their best:
Analytical, methodical, calm, thorough. They often have a talent for spotting details for improvement and they focus on aiming for high standards. Orderly, fair and principled. Perseveres when others may give up. Enjoy learning and gathering facts.

At their worst:
Stubborn, critical and obsessive over minor details. Dull, indecisive, cold, and lacking in empathy, relying too much on logic rather than emotion. May withdraw under pressure.

Communication style:
Measured, detailed and logical. They pause before speaking and will often seek clarification. Uncomfortable with emotional outbursts. May avoid conflict, or treat things factually.

Needs:
To have time to do things properly. Needs to understand the point of things.

TABLE 2 – COACHING PERSONALITY TYPES

Director

At work:
Not keen on small talk, a preference for pragmatic, outcome focused
conversation
Respect others who show efficiency in getting the job done
Enjoy challenging others and debating
Dislike people who moan

Tips to coach controllers:
- Be business like in approach
- Be direct and straightforward
- Focus on the facts and the end result
- Praise their ability to achieve results
- Avoid telling them what to do, state the problem
and ask for their opinion or solution.
- Give good eye contact
- If they challenge your point of view, don’t perceive
it as criticism, explain in pragmatic terms or ask for
their solution
- Listen and acknowledge their point of view, even
if you don’t agree with it
- Preferred language: ‘How does work practically.
Let’s cut to the chase’...

Entertainer

At work:
Enjoy bantering
Use humour to build rapport or lighten serious situations
Motivated by team bonding & making work fun
Tend to be flexible and spontaneous

Tips to coach energisers:
- Join in the joke or simply be an appreciative audience
- Acknowledge and value their unique perspective
- Use a carrot rather than a stick, energisers respond
better
- Avoid telling, acknowledge their creativity and encourage
them to find solutions
- If you need them to be serious, state it lightly and promise to catch up properly later in the day
- Preferred language: ‘This is an exciting opportunity.
How can we make this fun?’

Scientist


At work:
Tend to be quiet, focused and absorbed in the task. Tend to take work seriously and find distractions very unhelpful. Not comfortable with public displays of emotion.

Tips to coach analysers:
- Plan sessions and keep to time agreed
- Give them the full detail when in conversation
- Praise them for their thorough and fair approach
- Need to know the why as well as the what. Give them background information
- Give them time to think things through
- Give reasons for any suggestions
- Preferred language: ‘Let’s think this through.
What’s the logical way of doing this?’.

Carer


At work:
Appreciate harmony and friendlinessEnjoying getting to know people on a personal basisEnjoy helping others and appreciate others doing the sameDislike being ignored or being the centre of attention

Tips to coach relaters
- Be friendly and acknowledge them by name
- Invest time in getting to know them. Ask them questions
about their home life, hobbies, background
- Give plenty of praise. Relaters respond really well and
feel valued when recognised
- Talk about how things from a people perspective. ‘The results will help us improve as a team’
- Listen empathically, use language of feelings and
emotions
- Preferred language: ‘Let’s work together on this. Let’s be
supportive.’