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X E-mail: info@www.thesmartschool.co.uk Info: Nick Bolton is founder of the Smart School and now heads up the unique Rapid Results Business Coaching programme.Posts by the author (17)

Is transformational coaching just a trendy buzzword?

We talk a lot about a transformational approach to coaching here at the Smart School.

But is it just a meaningless buzzword or does it have substance?  Does it actually mean something tangible?

In fact, this was a question I was asked by email just the other day.  The writer was asking me whether we actually teach a different style of coaching or whether we just attach a meaningless word to coaching.

Here’s what i wrote back and I hope you find it help ful too:

“Thanks for your email – I’ll do my best to answer your question.

Firstly, by the way, it’s a great question.

Many people use the word transformational in a meaningless way and I guess it’s this that you’re questioning.

However, there is also no set concept of what transformational coaching is and so what I say here is just our interpretation.

In summary, yes we teach transformational coaching. In other words we focus on teaching coaching which isn’t just about changing behaviours or improving performance or coaching through development but rather about creating paradigm shifts.

How we do that is uniquely our approach and consists of integrating a number of key approaches to create shifts in perception AND behaviour for clients.

So we blend a strong person-centred foundation with cognitive behavioural coaching, transactional analysis coaching and NLP.

But this isn’t about using each approach discreetly.  It’s about understanding the needs of the client in front of you and having a range of approaches to create change from within.

I appreciate that on the face of it, what I have written is quite sketchy but the main issue here is that we approach coaching from a point of view of helping people see themselves differently within a situation rather than simply dealing with the situation differently. And in that sense it’s transformational.”

That was my email response but afterwards I wondered if it was sufficient.

So the question is, “What does all that means in practice?”

Well, it means that instead of coaching on short term performance improvement or to overcome a specific challenge, as a transformational coach you are also coaching on how the person “shows up” in that situation in the first place.  That way, if they face a similar challenge they will have new resources, new perspectives and a new sense of self to bring to the issue.

One of the key questions a transformational coach is asking is, what is it about you that makes this situation/challenge/problem an issue.  And that’s not about blame – it’s about empowerment, it’s about holding yourself as responsible for the issue and its resolution.

It shifts the perception from one of a cause-and-effect problem you’ve been made to face to a problem on one’s own perception and handling.  And whilst that might at first be more uncomfortable, in the end, it’s where true transformation comes from.

Filed Under Transformational Coaching