An academic in Canada interpreted the work of a leading self-insight psychologist to provide guidance to coaches when analysing themselves.
As well as providing this guidance the study provided some learning for coaches to consider when you are providing feedback to your participants.
Firstly, when analysing your own coaching performance:
- Is your analysis of the situation based on incomplete information?
- Have you considered what the outcomes might have been if you had made different decisions or chosen different actions?
- When asking people for feedback, are you considering how truthful they might be, or if any bias is in play?
And when you are giving feedback to participants:
- Does your approach to giving feedback include an awareness of how people receive it? For example, if you are giving negative feedback to a participant with high self-esteem, are you bearing in mind the possibility that they will skew it more positively than it is intended?
- Are you taking extra care when giving feedback to participants with low self-esteem, as they may skew positive feedback more negatively than it was intended?
- Bearing both these points in mind when giving feedback will ensure your participants receive it in the way it is intended.