4 Coaching Styles: What You Need to Know

Those interested in pursuing a coaching career should understand different types of training styles such as authoritarian training styles or democratic training styles.

4 Coaching Styles: What You Need to Know

Those interested in pursuing a coaching career should understand the strengths and weaknesses of each style. Throughout the training process, you'll learn that the best training style can be situational. It's common for a coach to use different training styles at different times, depending on specific objectives. The best coaching styles may also depend on your client.Some clients respond very well to authoritarian training styles, while others like to feel more involved and prefer a democratic training style.

The four training styles are reflected in the four different DISC styles. They are dominant, influential, stable and conscientious. When determining which style is most suitable for your athlete, there are two key factors you should consider.Compared to other training styles, democratic coaching places more control in the hands of the clients, while the coach provides the momentum and support needed to achieve the tangible objectives. Often regarded as the most empowering style of training, democratic coaching is the best option for clients who are prepared to take responsibility and require less labor.

It is ideal for financial advice, professional training and personal growth training. Unlike the democratic style, the autocratic training style places authority in the hands of the coach. You steadfastly direct your client to the desired results and success. Autocratic coaching puts control in the hands of the coach.

And it's important that you use this style when you have the experience and knowledge needed to dictate the conditions. Very close to the autocratic training style is bureaucratic training.It follows a more old school approach and is more driven by processes and systems. For example, in a law firm or hospital, where deviating from a process could cost a lot of money or even lives. Most of the time, bureaucratic coaching is adopted for organizational training in disciplined and regulated environments that require a non-negotiable approach to compliance and processes, such as government and public sector bodies.The holistic coaching style basically focuses on the overall growth of the person, giving equal importance to all aspects of the client's life.

The coach's job is to ask the right questions and provide support and encouragement. Holistic coaching is the best option in situations where the client seeks to create lasting results in their life in general: mind, body, spirit and community.Development coaching involves understanding your client's “what”, “why” and “how”. The coach uses 360-degree feedback and questions to understand the client's past experiences and assess where they are in their development journey. This style takes into account the client's age, mental age and thought processes.Let's say you have a client, Rachel, who is in her early 20s.

He is at an important stage in his life; he needs to apply to universities and select his careers that will decide his professional life for years to come. She is a brilliant student; however, she is unable to specify what she wants to do. Get different opinions from friends and family, your teachers, peers, and online communities. And that mix of conflicting opinions confuses her.

She's moving from one option to another, and the deadlines for college applications are getting closer.Now she has reached out to you, as a coach, to help her in this phase. Now list a different style (or a combination of 2 styles) that you think might work better and why. A practical 100-page manual with the most powerful questions that world-class coaches use to catalyze profound and lasting moments and transformations in their clients. No matter what type of training style you have, one of the things that makes a good coach is to create a judgement-free environment.The coaching leadership style is about inspiring your team, building their confidence and teaching them the skills they need to successfully develop and work together, while ensuring that they feel supported by the training leader along the way.

Whatever your experience, it's very possible that your training style (the way you work with your clients) is what you're comfortable with and that it will change over time, as you evolve as a human being and as a coach. Knowing what your training style is and being able to change it is essential to attract the different types of athletes you train and the different situations you face.As your athletes are constantly developing and growing, it's also important not to pigeonhole them and decide to use only one training style with them during the time you train them. Reflecting on how your athlete has developed from month to month, from year to year, and then adapting your training style to their new situation is the best way to ensure that your athlete receives the most effective training for him.While any of the training styles can be effective and there isn't necessarily a style that works best for everyone, holistic training is the most commonly used. At that point, the coach immediately adapted to the “me” training style, encouraging and praising the player for trying.

To learn more about your style and how it can help others, What's My Coaching Style by HRDQ is a practical evaluation of coaching for management development that measures personality style and explores its relationship with training and interpersonal relationships. Now that you know what a training style is, let's find out what are the different training styles that exist.

Kent Gardiner
Kent Gardiner

Hipster-friendly bacon fan. Professional travel advocate. Wannabe social media aficionado. Infuriatingly humble music guru. General twitter fan.