Almost any training process aims at creating knowledge that will ultimately lead to meaningful changes in behaviour. Personal coaching enables executives to modify their behaviour and plan their personal and professional development.

Through the process of personal coaching the employees will:

• Clarify their personal and professional goals.
• Realize what kinds of changes in their behavior are required in order to achieve their goals.
• Set priorities and short-term objectives that will lead them to the desired outcomes.
• Learn how to control the process of change and make adjustments, when necessary.

PROCESS
A personal coaching program consists of four stages:

• The executive meets his/her personal coach. (Goals: to get to know and trust each other, discuss the process they will follow).
• Assessment of the behavior of the executive (self-assessment, psychometric tests, 360 degrees assessment). (Goals: identification of strong and weak areas, feedback from colleagues)
• Personal coaching: 3 meetings. Goals: discussion of results, goals setting, determination of the action plan, arrangement of next meeting.
• Monitoring of progress: duration 6 months to 1 year. (Goals: feedback on achievements, discussion of possible barriers and ways of overcoming them, identification of alternative actions and behaviors. At this stage a second behavior assessment might be required).

The role of the personal coach is to:

• Encourage the executive to take the responsibility for his/her own development.
• Give constructive feedback about the progress of the change.
• Stand as a behavior model and indicate other people that could be taken as an example.

IMPLEMENTATION EXAMPLE
Personal coaching for the development of Emotional Intelligence

Introduction
Emotional Intelligence can be defined as the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships. Emotional Intelligence can be distinguished in five determinants:

• • Self-awareness
  • Self-management
  • Self-motivation
  •  Social awareness
  • Social skills

Researches on people with excellent performance at work reveal that 2 out of 3 competencies that make them excel are emotional competencies (Goleman, 1999).

Steps of action
1st meeting

• Introduction to the concept of Emotional Intelligence
• Guidelines for answering the Emotional Competencies Inventory (ECI)

2nd meeting

• Analysis and discussion of the results
• Identification of strong and weak emotional competencies

3nd meeting

• Identification of goals and priorities
• Design of a development action plan
• Agreement on the way and frequency of contact with each other (e.g. meetings, e-mail, telephone).

Follow-up

• Long-term coaching