Stretching the Coaching Model

• Date: 01 July 2014
• Published date: 01 July 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21097

C R Q, vol. 31, no. 4, Summer 2014 435

Published 2014.  is article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/crq.21097

Stretching the Coaching Model

Samantha Levine-Finley

 is article provides an orientation to a general coaching model

employed within the NIH Offi ce of the Ombudsman, Center for Coop-

erative Resolution (OO/CCR), and explains how it fi ts within the

framework of our interpretation of the ombudsman role and compares

to other approaches in the coaching fi eld.  e article describes steps that

ombudsmen may employ as the coaching relationship becomes more

established and as trust develops between the ombudsman and visitor.

It also describes indicators of potential problems in coaching and how

an ombudsman might respond to them.

The concept of coaching has broadened over the past several decades

far beyond the conventional image of the sports coach who, armed

with a whistle, clipboard, and booming voice, helps his or her athletes

win the big game. Today there are life coaches, birthing coaches, execu-

tive coaches, fi nancial coaches, and coaches in any number of other areas

where people fi nd they need help. For decades, internal organizational

ombudsmen have served as coaches for the people with whom they work.

Most ombudsmen describe coaching as one-on-one conversations in

which they provide a range of assistance, such as helping parties in confl ict

prepare for a diffi cult conversation or negotiation, helping leaders weigh

how to manage a politically complex organizational change or guiding a

person through a process of self-refl ection about a pattern of interpersonal

confl ict (Brinkert 2006). Indeed, ombudsmen coach to some degree in

almost all cases.  e coaching role can result in dual benefi ts. For the

employee, the ombudsman-as-coach can off er meaningful, organization-

ally savvy assistance. For the ombudsman, a coaching relationship pro-

vides another avenue to gain considerable insight into the employee’s