This document outlines the objectives and conceptual framework of a module on mastering professional skills through executive coaching. The objectives are to understand executive coaching practice, familiarize with the coaching process steps and techniques, and identify the skills of an effective coach. The conceptual framework shows that coaching draws from psychology, philosophy and other disciplines. It also outlines the typical steps of coaching: exploration of areas for improvement, defining goals, consolidating resources, and creating an action plan.

1. Master in professional
skills
Centro Internacional de Formación
Financiera (CIFF)
Idoia Gorroño Arregui
Instituto Franklin de investigación en estudios
americanos researcher
September 2012

2. OBJETIVES OF THE MODULE
 To understand the practice of the executive coaching and its
applications in the organizations.
 To get familiar with the coaching process steps and main
techniques used.
 To identify the professional skills of the coach.
 Identification of the milestones key and learning moments of the
coaching process.
Idoia Gorroño Arregui
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3. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
6. Evaluation 1. What is it?
and results
Coaching y 2.
5. Learning Mentoring Conceptual
gaps basis
4. Skills
3. Steps of the
process
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4. 1. What is coaching and mentoring?
 According to the Oxford Dictionary, “to coach” is defined as trained
and commucate facts.
 Coaching is a tool used in the professional and personal area.
 Executive coaching helps to develop professional competences
and capabilities through different techniques.
 It is applied in organizations and by professionals with high
potential.
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5. 1. What is coaching and mentoring?
 In the coaching process participates the coach (an expert on
organizative area that is able to interpret organizative phenomena),
and the customer (company professional).
 An intelligent and structured dialogue is established between coach
and client in order to get the client’s goals. (Vega, 2009)
 The customer becomes aware of an area to be improved and the
coach helps him/her to develop that area. For this, the customer
gets out from the “comfort zone”, working with reachable goals, and
always taking into account his/her professional development within
the organization.
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6. 1. What is coaching and mentoring?
 Mentoring is a learning tool applied in organisations, where
professionals with extensive experience guide younger
colleagues in a systematic and structured way.
 The mentor is therefore a senior manager/leader who helps
younger colleagues that have less experience but a high
potential.
 Very successful organisations often use mentoring because it is
an effective and economically efficient tool.
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7. 1. What is coaching and mentoring?
 Coaching and mentoring are useful learning tools because:
- Generate a continuous learning process for professionals so that
the organisations can get the best of them.
- Develop essential management skills such as communication,
conflict resolution, negotiation, and leadership.
- Develop people’s potential and performance.
- If applied properly, they can be effective and cost-efficient in the
medium and long run.
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8. 2. Conceptual basis of coaching
 Coaching was developed from psychology, philosophy and other
related disciplines that study organisations, specially in the
context of human resources.
 Even though, it has only recently being applied in Spain, it is
an extensively used discipline in other countries like USA. Its
applications are spreading with great impact in other fields, from
sports to management organizations.
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9. 2. Conceptual basis of coaching
Communication Psychology
approaches: Positive approaches
Neuro- Linguistic
Philosophy
Programming
Ontological language
Coaching
Applications:
Sport / Organisations
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10. 2. Conceptual basis of coaching
Approaches Conceptual basis Field leaders
Rafael Echeverría
Ontological Philosophy of language
Julio Olalla
Neuro- Linguistic
American Robert Dills
Programming
Psychology
Psychology of the J. Whitmore
European
organizations E. Tavistook
Sociology
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11. 2. Conceptual basis of coaching
 The techniques chosen in the coaching process depend on the
theoretical framework applied by the coach. Many of these
techniques are based on positive psychology.
 In the organisations, Human Resource management techniques
are often applied, such as 360º feed back (evaluation by team
members, managers and collaborators), or also skill assessment,
among others.
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12. 3. Steps of coaching
4º Action 1º Exploration
Plan
Coaching
3º Resources 2º Goals
Consolidation definition
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13. 3. Steps of coaching: Exploration
 The aim of this step is to identify those areas of improvement of
the client/professional.
 For this, it is important to know the client motivations, the reasons
behind the development of this area of improvement and the
resources that he/she may have previously.
 A well-conducted initial exploration step guarantees more than the
50% of the success of the coaching process.
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14. 3. Steps of coaching: Goals Definition
 This step is essential, we need to establish the client’s goals in
order to assess the coaching work and know if this was being
efficient or not.
 In the companies the goals are generally negotiated among the
Human Resources Department (that guarantees the
professional development), the client/professional and the
coach.
 To the success of coaching process needs that the goals of
professional and the company are the same.
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15. 3. Steps of coaching: Goals Definition
The goals should be:
1.- Formulated in positive.
2.- Delimited in time and space.
3.- The client should be the subject of the action.
4.- Realistic and achievable.
5.- Motivating, attainable and challenging.
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16. 3. Steps of coaching: Resources Consolidation
 This step is implicit during the whole coaching process.
 The resources are the skills the client has already based on his/her
previous experiences: knowledge, abilities…
 During the coaching process all client’s resources have to be
“extracted” because the goals will be achieved using these
resources. Moreover, coaching allows to develop some other
resources that the client was not aware that he/she had.
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17. 3. Steps of coaching: Action Plan
 It is essential that the client acts and reflects on the action.
 The actions have to be challenging in the right level. They should
not be too challenging because they could generate anxiety, nor
too little that generate boredom.
 The coach must quickly detect the particular resistance to
customer action if they exist.
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18. 3. Steps of coaching: Action Plan
ANXIETY
ACTION CHALLENGE: AT THE
RIGHT LEVEL
BOREDOM
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19. 3. Steps of coaching: summary
METODOLOGY
Phases HIGHLIGHTS
TECHNIQUES
Diagnostic techniques
Improvement area definition
1.-Exploration Open questions
Vision and client motivation
Misperceiving
Motivating, realistic, Formulation of objectives.
2.-Goals definition achievable, located space and Neuro Linguistic
time Programming
3.- Resource Test skills
Identification of key skills
Consolidation Feed-back coach
Motivating and challenging Identification of the brakes
4.-Action Plan Action to the action
Feed-back coach
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20. 4. Coach skills
The coach profile is characterized by:
 Knowledge of the organizational area: studies the organizations
or have had a career as a manager.
 Knowledge of human-development tools: human resource
professionals.
 Successful people in their professional careers.
 Experts in communication, people development, psychologists,
educators, and communicators.
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21. 4. Coach skills
ICF: International Coach Federation EMCC: European Association of
Coaching and Mentoring
Meeting ethical guidelines and Ability to understand himself
professional standards (Coach)
Establishing the coaching agreement Self-awareness
Establishing trust and intimacy with Be committed to personal
the client development
Coaching presence Promote the development and
Active listening improvement of client
Powerful questioning Evaluate the process
Direct communication Generate client knowledge
Creating awareness
Designing actions
Planning and goal setting
Managing progress and accountability
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22. 4. Customer competences/skills
In the coaching process the client are asked to engange in:
 Self-reflection
 Proactive behaviour
 Commited to self action plan
 Involvement
 Assertiveness
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23. 6. Learning
 Coaching is a rational and emotional process.
 It is a learning process for professionals (customer) and the
organizations in the medium-long run.
 Professionals learn to know bether themselves, and companies
get a better performance of their professionals.
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24. 5. Learning
EXPERIENTIAL
AND EMOTIONAL
PROFESIONAL
ORGANIZATIVE VISION
VISION
Self-knowledge
Learning: Self-awareness
Professional and
Consolidation of
skills Organizative Goal definition
Value to the firm Competences/skills
development
RATIONAL AND
COMPREHENSIVE
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25. 6. Evaluation and results
 The evaluation provides an ongoing feedback to improve the
process.
 Consolidates an alignment between professional and
organizational goals.
 Techniques: skills assessment, feedback
 The results are seen in the medium term and can be measured
with the same diagnostic tools.
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26. Many thanks
info@arreguicoach.com
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