Coaching styles are methods for preparing teams for success. It involves motivating employees, increasing their self-esteem, teaching new collaboration techniques, and providing ongoing encouragement and support. There are five main types of coaching styles: Democratic, Autocratic, Holistic, Bureaucratic, and Conscious. Each of these styles has its own pros and cons, and it is important to understand the characteristics of each and how they are suitable for different teams, players, and contexts.
Democratic training gives the team freedom and responsibility, while the coach only intervenes when necessary to keep the process going. This style is well-suited to individual sports such as tennis or athletics events, where individual athletes have to control their training a lot. Studies indicate that democratic training helps young and young adolescents develop a sense of control over their own training and that it prepares them for more autocratic training later in life. Autocratic training can best be summarized with the phrase: “My way or the highway”.
Autocratic coaches make decisions with little or no participation from the player or players. The autocratic coach articulates a vision of what players should achieve and the players are expected to perform. Holistic training is based on the theory that a happy team naturally becomes a successful team. By employing holistic training methods, trainers offer very little in terms of structured training or positive feedback.
Instead, the holistic coach works to create an environment in which players feel comfortable exploring and pursuing skill development in their spare time and in their own way. The holistic training style is best suited to mature players who have already developed the creativity and self-awareness necessary to guide themselves. Bureaucratic coaching is very close to the autocratic training style. It follows more of an old school approach and is more driven by processes and systems.
For example, at a law firm or hospital, where stepping away from a process could cost a lot of money or even lives. Most of the time, bureaucratic training 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 agencies. Conscious coaching takes a spiritual approach to improving the way professional clients relate to others while also helping their overall well-being. By teaching clients about self-awareness and empathy, they can become better at understanding themselves and others around them. This style takes into account the client's age, mental age, and thought processes. For most trainers, it's not possible to simply choose a training style.
Few leaders are inclined solely to one training style, and personal experience and philosophy also shape approaches to training. Whether autocratic training, democratic training, or holistic training is used, training skills are the same skills that inform leadership in professional, academic, or military environments; they can be organized around a few key principles. A team must finish a season as better players and better people than they were at the beginning of the season. A good coach constantly models impartiality and good sportsmanship and maintains clear lines of communication, even if that communication is one-sided. Compared to other training styles, democratic training puts control more in the hands of clients while the coach provides the necessary impetus and support to achieve tangible goals. Often considered the most powerful training style, democratic coaching is the best option for clients who are prepared to take responsibility and who require less support. Autocratic training puts control in the hands of the coach.
You steer your customer firmly towards the desired results and success. And it's important to use this style when you have the experience and knowledge necessary to dictate terms. Understanding each type of coaching style is essential for achieving success in any team environment. It is one of the keys to a good workout. By being able to adapt its use to certain contexts known as situational leadership can help managers achieve incredible results by emphasizing personal and group development.
