What is coaching?

Listening deliberately, with fascination, and asking great questions is the basis of fantastic care. This is coaching – it helps us to see things differently, find purpose and success in our roles, and look after our wellbeing. By asking people what helps them grow, be more well, and be their best, we can help them to feel supported to be and do their best. Coaching can give us healthier communities and healthier colleagues, and it’s also how we will work better together across health and social care.

Coaching can help you to build resilience, new perspectives, and awareness, and develop clarity and purpose. It can enable you to make positive choices and confidently manage your interactions.

Coaching can be useful to you…

Through a change in role or return to work after absence
Through health and wellbeing challenges
To discover how you measure success
To support you in your development as a leader
Following an appraisal or alongside line management sessions
Whilst working towards your career goals

Coaching is…

Support to consider and make decisions for yourself
A mix of questions, challenges, reflection, and support
Goal and growth focused
For everyone – no matter your role, seniority, or aspirations

Coaching is not…

Giving answers or telling you what to do
Purely listening
Therapy, counselling, or mentoring
Only for Executives or people in a position of seniority

What is the difference between coaching, mentoring, and counselling?

It can be helpful to show how coaching is different to these separate, but similar activities:

Mentoring tends to describe a relationship in which a more experienced colleague uses their greater knowledge and understanding of the work or workplace to support the development of another member of staff.
Counselling and therapy is where a trained professional provides a listening ear and helps someone to cope more effectively with a mental health problem, such as anxiety or depression.
Training helps to teach a new skill or impart knowledge, usually by a subject matter expert.

Where can I find a coach?

You can find a coach within your organisation or from across the Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire health and social care system by registering as a coachee on the Leadership Academy Coaching and Mentoring Hub. Once registered, you can look through the list of available coaches and state your preferences.

Download our guidance on how to register

Download here

Find a coach

Register here