I’ve been reading some material on Coaching and it strikes me that this will be a difficult method for developing personal style and technical skills due to the British reserve in taking personal and direct criticism.
The expectation of an individual approaching coaching may be that getting involved with someone more knowledgeable than oneself can only lead to the individual “showing themself up”.
In reality coaching will work best where a relationship built on safety has already been built and in a context where mutual respect (rather than avuncular leadership) is likely to be present. This means that a “balance of trust” needs to be struck before introducing the individual and coach otherwise issues of trust will damage the relationship before it has formed and will either require a lot of remedial work or the lost opportunity that is more likely.
One element of technology supported CoPs is the “online reputation building” element where the prospective Coach’s contributions can be reviewed by the Coachee(!) to dispel concerns about the personal style of the Coach.
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