Leaders receiving traditional one-to-one coaching typically experience just 3.6% improvement in their performance, according to research.
Despite improving confidence, traditional coaching, which often focuses on problems, rather than solutions, is falling short of delivering the behaviour change leaders need.
A coaching approach with a consistent, scientific methodology is necessary, and a ‘solution-based approach’ is a vital part of that.
Scientific studies suggest solution-focused coaching is more effective than traditional problem-focused coaching at helping people develop action plans, demonstrate greater cognitive flexibility, achieve major goals, and more.
Discover what solutions-focused coaching is, and how it helps to build better leaders.
When faced with new challenges at work, problem-focused coaching encourages leaders to thoroughly examine them. What is the problem? Why has it occurred? Where did it originate? This helps people find the minimum change required to resolve their problem and identify ways they can avoid it in future.
But it sometimes struggles to equip leaders with the behaviours needed to solve problems. What happens if the problem is recurring, urgent and out of their control?
In a fast-paced, competitive working environment, this is likely. And endlessly analysing the problem does not help leaders to overcome it.
Also, brooding over problems can demotivate people, and prevent them from taking decisive action.
Solutions focused coaching empowers leaders to act and find their own resolution to their problems.
Based on Solutions Focused Therapy [SFT] and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy [CBT], the approach quickly identifies what the desired end solution is, creates an appropriately sized goal out of it, and thinks about what the next steps are towards it.
This helps people to achieve their goals, reach them faster, be more creative and take positive, decisive action.[1]
A 2021 meta-analysis found that coaching interventions that included practices from CBT and SFT had more impact than commonly used traditional coaching approaches, including:
Participants thrive from solutions-focused coaching partly because it builds their self-efficacy.
In addition to learning and applying new behaviours, their belief in their ability to succeed in a particular situation is improved.[2]
Some of the coaching techniques that are commonly used to achieve this include:
The solutions focus is one-third of the Precision Coaching methodology’s framework alongside mastery orientation and behavioural enablement.
Precision Coaching uses the solutions focus approach to help leaders achieve their goals, rather than just set them.
Using the science-based methodology, coaches help leaders to:
Precision coaches collaborate with leaders to pinpoint the exact behaviours that help hit their goals and change any behaviours that will stop them.
As a result, participants of Precision Coaching have improved their performance in just four, forty-five-minute sessions.
Check out our webinar showing how your organisation can reap the rewards of Precision Coaching immediately.
Wang, Qing, Yi-Ling Lai, Xiaobo Xu, and Almuth McDowall. 2021. "The Effectiveness Of Workplace Coaching: A Meta-Analysis Of Contemporary Psychologically Informed Coaching Approaches". Journal Of Work-Applied Management 14 (1): 77-101. doi:10.1108/jwam-04-2021-0030.
Grant, Anthony M., and Sean A. O’Connor. 2018. "Broadening And Building Solution-Focused Coaching: Feeling Good Is Not Enough". Coaching: An International Journal Of Theory, Research And Practice 11 (2): 165-185. doi:10.1080/17521882.2018.1489868.