Coaching

Coaching is an essential part of growing your organisation. Coaching can be an effective methodology to help grow your staff in maturity and understanding. Most of the coaching we do is either in support of our training programs, or in response to clients' request to assist a member of staff in meeting the challenges of their position.

Some of the coaching we do is ‘Interventional’ – meaning that there is a problem (often creating friction in the workplace) and we are asked to coach the person towards a resolution.

Both Kellie & Gary are highly effective Leadership Coaches. Our role in these cases becomes a combination of trainer, coach and mentor applying our coaching styles and skills to assist the person we are working with.

Our clients choose to use the style that they (and us) believe will be most effective.

Our two coaches ​and their different styles. Between them, Kellie and Gary have delivered over 4000 hours of coaching!


​Kellie Mills' style of coaching is called 'Reflective"
Why Reflective Coaching? Reflective Coaching was developed by Kellie Mills in response to requests by client organisations for a different approach to coaching. Kellie works with managers and staff on their people and leadership skills. She is more than just a sounding board or knowledgeable guide for the coachee. Instead, she holds a mirror up to their behaviour, attitudes, leadership and communication styles in a safe environment - this new perspective highlights the areas for development and helps create positive change. Words that clients use to describe Kellie’s style include:
  • Reality check 
  • Practical 
  • Unique approach 
  • Unpretentious

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​Gary Eaton's style is called 'Strategic'
When working with staff and managers at all levels, we are looking for a way to help them change perspective as well as understand the best way to achieve positive results (often in difficult situations). By taking a Strategic view, Gary works to assist the person he is working with to understand how to respond to the challenges (current and future) and to build their skills in order to provide the best response. Additionally, Gary has had the experience of many cultures including Asia, Ethiopia, United States and other western cultures. He is often tasked to coach individuals not from Australia, to help them fit in to their Australian roles from a cultural perspective i.e. understanding how to work with Australian staff - whose culture is strange to those from elsewhere in the world.


Coaching
 If members of your staff require a Coach, we can and do provide that service.
For information on Kellie Mills Reflective Coaching contact us.
Likewise, if your organisation is wishing to develop an internal coaching or mentoring program, we can assist this process by providing staff training, program templates and related services.
Coaching is similar to Mentoring, but is much more hands on. Coaching is called for when a person (often a supervisor) is struggling with the people management aspects of their job. In this case the coach is there to determine the areas requiring skills and then provides that skills training.
 
The Coaching Relationship
A coach is usually retained by management in an organisation for the specific purpose of assisting a member of staff in the performance of the people managment part of their role. In addition to the services provided to a mentoree, the coach will provide specific tools* for use in dealing with the specific day to day issues raised in the initial discussion with the client (and their manager).
The coach’s goal is to provide a forum for continued self-assessment by the client, identifying strengths and areas for improvement.
The Coach will provide the following services:
  • Act as a sounding board for ideas and concerns from the client
  • Help provide guidance and direction to the client
  • Help provide advice on appropriate persons or groups to further assist the client in their job
  • Provide specific work related tools to assist the client in dealing with the issues that were described in the first meeting (and subsequent meetings) within the allocated time frames.
  • General work related advice encompassing the use of the provided tools.
 
The Coach’s service will not include:
  • Providing specific work related technical (out of the expertise range of the coach) advice
  • Involvement with the day to day activities of the client except as the client reports positive or negative results.
 
The Tools We Use in Coaching
In most engagements we find one or the other of these tools beneficial in assisting the person we are coaching.
  • Belbin Team Role Theory® 
    This tool assists the individual in gaining a greater understanding of themselves, the roles they take in a team and how they are perceived by others - thereby enhancing their overall effectiveness
  • ​A personalised Belbin Individual Report will identify which combination of the nine Team Roles you exhibit, as well as pinpointing your strengths and possible weak points.
  •  After many years of research into behaviour and performance in the workplace, Belbin identified nine key types of behaviour. We call these the nine Team Roles. The most successful teams had all of the Team Role behaviours present.
  • There are benefits to knowing your Team Roles so that you can ensure that you are working in ways that play to your key strengths. Knowing your Team Roles can help to build stronger working relationships with your colleagues. If you are looking to move to a new job, either externally or within your current organisation, then a Belbin Report can help both you and your recruiter immediately understand how you can benefit the team, and will make you stand out from the other candidates.
  • Your Team Roles may change over time, owing to changes in your working environment, your experience, or the teams that you are working with. We recommend that you update your Belbin Report every 2-3 years.
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  • Strengths Profile®
  • A world-leading strengths tool, Strengths Profile (formally known as Realise2) is changing the way we assess, develop and leverage talent in people. Strengths Profile is built from a decade of theoretical and empirical research in positive psychology and has been taken by 70,000+ people around the world. Designed by Alex Linley and his team at Capp, Strengths Profile is used by leading organisations including Avery Dennison, Aviva, Oracle and Ernst & Young.
  • Unique and distinct from traditional one-dimensional strengths tests, Strengths Profile assesses 60 strengths across three dimensions of energy, performance and use. This pinpoints a dynamic set of realised strengths, weaknesses, learned (or de-energising) behaviours and unrealised strengths.
  • This provides a positive platform for development, enabling people to design strategies to maximise growth potential, minimise weaknesses and optimise performance and wellbeing.

Practical applications for organisations
  • Realising strengths is a clear and natural route to enhancing employee contribution, performance and engagement.  Strengths Profile is a powerful, versatile and ideal tool to use across the employee life-cycle and organisation. Applications include leadership and talent development, team building, coaching and career planning, organisational development, performance management, talent selection and recruitment, resilience and wellbeing.
  • Integrating Strengths Profile assessment into performance management and talent development initiatives yields exceptionally high returns. In a major global study, when people focussed on their strengths during appraisals, their performance rose a massive 36%. When they focussed on weaknesses, performance dropped by 27%. Consider the tangible impact of realising strengths in individuals and your organisation and using positive, strengths-based performance tools and frameworks to get the best from people.

For more information on Coaching and our tools, please contact us.

Do you require Mentoring Training? We have assisted many organisations to set up their in-house mentoring programs.

​If you would like more information on the Mentoring or Coaching services provided by Mills-Eaton, please contact us.