Coaching Toolkit for Child Welfare

140 The Coaching Toolkit for Child Welfare Practice

How to Use Coaching Models

Coaching can be thought of as a continuum of “hands-on” to
“hands-off” (Parsloe, 1999). Coaching inexperienced staff may
require a more “hands-on” style whereas experienced staff will
benefit from a more “hands-off” style. As Parsloe notes, in the world
of modern coaching and mentoring, “the context absolutely defines
what needs to happen” (1999, p. 3), see Table 6.2 for examples.

Table 6.2. Continuum of Coaching, from Hands-On to Hands-Off.

Hands on

Hands off

 Early goal setting may be led
by the coach or agency

 Learner develops goals

 Coach assigns observation
and demonstration
assignments.

 Learning is learner-led

 Reflection is led by coach  Reflection is key learning
strategy, and is often learner
led.
 Coach may need to spend
time on motivation

 Learner is self-motivated

 More trust building  Learner and coach have trust
in the coaching process

Experience shows that the more rapidly a

coach can move from a ‘hands-on’ to a

‘hands-off’ style, the faster improvement

in performance will be achieved...as you