Coaching Apprentice

Coaching is a buzzword and profession that has grown in popularity over recent years. There is an abundance of research that evidences the benefits of coaching in work and people’s personal life. The author, having researched coaching, was keen to become an effective coach and was given the opportunity to complete a coaching qualification as an apprentice. The blog recognises that coaching may not always be carried out as effectively as it could be and aims to explore misconceptions and myths. In addition, it discusses the importance of recognising when coaching is appropriate and the need to learn the necessary skills before coaching someone.

Coaching Apprentice is a blog website that discusses the experiences of being a coaching apprentice. The blog is designed to provide insight to others who are considering coaching or are learning to become a coach. The blog is both informative with references to literature and is written from a personal experience of someone who is new to coaching and learning the required skills.

The coaching apprentice discusses a variety of topics including what coaching is, self-awareness and why it is important, how to improve self-awareness, fundamental skills of coaching and more. Fundamental skills that will be explored within the blog include active listening, good questioning, building rapport and more. Furthermore, the blog explores the benefits of coaching both for the coach and coachee (the person being coached).

The blog is used to review coaching books and includes a coaches essential reading list. The reading list includes coaching specific books and books that focus on some of the fundamental skills. The reading list is books that the coaching apprentice has read and used to learn about coaching and improve their skills. The books have further developed the authors knowledge and helped them to begin to learn what it means to be an effective coach. Some of the books are written by various authors with a wide range of experiences. The experiences of these authors really bring coaching to life and have driven the authors’ passion to learn more.

One area of focus within the blog is self-awareness and the reading list includes a self-awareness book. The author of the website as a coaching apprentice recognises self-awareness as a fundamental skill that needs to be honed. The blog recognises that self-awareness is like a muscle and must be trained to be maintained. The blog includes activities that the author has found helpful in improving both types of self-awareness. In addition, the blog discusses the many benefits of self-awareness and how a coach needs to work on themselves to be an effective coach.

A key feature of the blog is sharing resources that the author finds useful with the aim of bringing resources together for other coaches and coaching apprentices. In addition to the reading recommendations the blog includes other websites that have helped including how to gain feedback from others to increase your self-awareness.

This blog is of particular interest to those who want to gain awareness of coaching and the fundamental skills required. It discusses how the author plans on developing these skills as they learn to be an effective coach. Follow the author on their journey as they strive to become an effective coach