Coaching Business, Case Study Example

Introduction

This case study presents a piece of engagement with a client whose occupation is an IT administrator in Sotair company. He is a qualified computer engineer and his duties involve, monitoring the company’s servers and networks, updating hardware and software to meet the company’s needs and creation of user accounts for the company. As well, he updates the security protocols of the company’s IT infrastructure to combat potential cyber threats that may face the company. His work also requires some aspects of management of key stakeholders in the company who include contractors, employees, and works collaboratively with the management of the company.

Initial contracting

The contract involved 5 sessions of 40 minutes with the client. All the sessions were held within the company in his office at the agreed dates and times.

Assessment

What my initial assessment reveals is that the client is self-driven and has a vast ambition towards the company’s progress. He is self-confident and is independently driven to deliver his responsibilities at the highest quality independently. His principle of working independently has played a conflicting role between him and his immediate supervisor. His supervisor regards him as a valuable talent and drives him to undertake new steps. Due to the conflicting priorities between him and the supervisor, there has been minimal progress in his career for a long time.

Initial impressions

First, I noticed that the client is willing to participate in the caching session to build himself career-wise. I as well noticed that he is not certain of the areas that he requires coaching. More so, observing the client revealed that he needs clarification of his priorities, goals, and the aspects of individual development. He is also genuine in his interest to make time for the coaching engagement to improve his skills and professionalism.

Issues presentation

The beginning session exhibited several points whose concepts interconnected to demonstrate two main areas of concern. One of the issues is related to influence where he is not able to show sufficient flexibility in blending his working style with his supervisor’s operational style. The next issue is about task prioritization and time management. This is related to the case where the client is not able to limit himself from multiple responsibilities. He is unable to avoid additional tasks that lead him to work extra hours during the day.

Process of coaching

We agreed to undertake a GAPs grid analysis in the first session to understand his goals, values, abilities, and perceptions, as well as success factors in the organization. During the discussion, we were unable to cover his objectives, values, and abilities. We agreed that she needed to get feedback on her strengths and weaknesses from her coworkers, line supervisor, and customers. We completed the remaining gaps grid based on the information gained during the second coaching session, and we started linking different sections to come up with the coaching emphasis areas, which were: influencing upwards and sideward and contracting successfully with his line manager on the required tasks. The client reported strong progress in three agreed-upon actions at the third session, but one action, in particular, did not produce the desired results. We spent the entire session trying to think of ways to help the client overcome the obstacles she was facing, and we came up with new actions to take.

The client reported good progress at the fourth session, which took place two months later. The client brought up some concerns about adjusting to his peers’ styles, and he wanted to look into specific activities to make improvements in this area. He was dealing with a variety of anxiety and clarity concerns, which we discussed and agreed on practical solutions for. One month later, during the fifth session, the client reported even more excellent progress. We agreed that the best way to corroborate his assessment of her progress was to ask his peers and line supervisor for input on the observed improvements to assess his development.

There was agreement on the positive developments that had been witnessed, and we agreed to keep doing what we were doing to improve the skill. The client was faced with hesitations to take some of the actions that we agreed during the coaching sessions. However, she was able to undertake these actions after a collaborative discussion of the consequences of ignoring taking the actions. We also discussed the benefits of these actions despite their results. His supervisor was not impressed at the beginning but later arranged a meeting with him to discuss how to collaborate their styles for a better and productive working environment.

Observations and conclusion

From close observation of the coaching sessions, I noticed that formulation of GAP grip analysis was essential throughout the exercise. It provided a starting point as well as a clear point of reference that facilitated the success of my coaching activity. I prioritized helping the client to develop principles without considering his emotional changes in-between which affected the session by slowing down the course of action from the client.

In conclusion, GAP grip analysis is an important tool in the coaching process. Considering the client’s emotional and mental impact from the coaching process is also critically essential for successful and effective coaching.