The benefits of coaching for project delivery professionals

Working in project management can be prone to constant change. One minute you’re leading a years-long transformation, the next a decision has been made to close the project early and you’re facing a career question of ‘what next?’. Such changes can challenge us as individuals and test our resilience. As someone who has gone through such a change, I have been experimenting with coaching to increase my resilience.

Being open to new experiences

As a natural introvert, I didn’t think coaching would interest me. There was an underlying discomfort in being so open and vulnerable. However, I knew I had to take some risks in the way I approached problem solving. As an APM Chartered Project Professional, I was confident in my knowledge and skills. Despite this, the situation I was facing was far more presurised than a simple change. Having had mentors previously, I was aware that this time I needed a different approach. As there were so many possibilities about the future, I wanted to understand more about my own motivations. It was valuable to have someone asking me the right questions so I could come to my own solutions about the next step in my project delivery career, rather than telling me what to do.

Differences between coaching and mentoring

According to Coachhub the difference between coaching and mentoring ( Breaking Down the Difference Between Coaching and Mentoring (coachhub.com) ) is that ‘mentorship is more about guidance and advice giving to aid growth and development, whereas coaching is about asking powerful, provoking questions to enable a person to come up with their own solutions.’ Being a time-limited performance aiding activity, coaching relies on a client putting in effort and refining their goals as their coaching sessions progress.

The great thing about coaching is that it’s suitable for all stages of your project delivery career and adaptable to your unique situation whether that’s improving your performance at work, building confidence or to figure out your next career move.

Top 3 tips to finding the right coach:

Have more than one ‘matching’ conversation: finding the right coach will be a trial-and-error process. As coaching can come with high financial costs to you or your organisation, don’t settle for the first person you arrange a conversation with. Try and speak to a few different coaches and learn more about them before settling on the one for you.

Be clear on the attributes you are looking for in a coach: you should come with a broad idea of what you’re looking for from the process e.g career development. In your matching conversations, look for someone who understands your needs and try and learn about their coaching style. Coaching will require your commitment; it won’t work if the person coaching you doesn’t help to bring out the best version of yourself.

Get advice from others who have gone through the process: the coaching environment can be difficult to navigate with the number of companies and organisations offering their services. The best help I received before starting this process was to speak to people who had undergone coaching and ask what they had learned throughout the process. This helped me to become clearer on what I needed before starting. It also helped as I was able to avoid mistakes e.g., choosing someone who would not be right for me.

When starting this process, I had underestimated how difficult being a coaching client was. The process has challenged me in various ways whilst ultimately building resilience by challenging my perceptions. Whilst this is only one tool in improving performance and skills development, it’s something I would highly recommend to all within the project profession.