Difference Between Coaching and Feedback

Coaching vs Feedback
 

On the face of it, the two words coaching and feedback feel so very different when you hear them. It is because of perceived differences between the two concepts as we have known them since our childhood. After all, isn’t coaching all about giving instructions to someone and feedback concerned with providing information about someone’s performance to him? In a workplace, both coaching and feedback are important for a manager and he has to make judicious use of the two concepts. However, it is better to understand the nuances of the two terms before applying these principles.

Coaching

To increase the potential of the employees, coaching as a tool is effectively employed by leaders in a workplace. This is a skill that is sought in managers and considered to be important for the development of core competencies in workforce. Coaching is difficult to visualize in a workplace if all one has seen in the name of coaching is teaching classes organized to impart knowledge in a few subjects to clear competitive exams. In a workplace, coaching is all about bringing positive changes in the behavior of the workforce. It becomes clear to even an outsider that coaching without feedback is incomplete, and one cannot expect a change in the behavior of a person until he is provided with the feedback by his coach.

Feedback

Feedback is an important part of the training of an individual and is considered an informal method of trying to effect changes in the behavior of employees in the workplace. Feedback is perceived more as a positive advice or evaluation. Feedback is an instrument in the hands of a coach to improve the performance of the workforce. Feedback, if it is in the form of constructive criticism, can achieve wonders as people like to know how they are faring and what they should do to improve.

What is the difference between Coaching and Feedback?

• Feedback is an integral part of coaching endeavor though the converse of this is not true, and feedback does not require coaching

• Feedback focuses on the past while coaching focuses on future

• Feedback makes one self-aware, and he realizes his strengths and weaknesses

• However, without further assistance in the form of coaching, feedback is ineffective

• Feedback is just one of the tools in the hands of a coach to bring changes in the behavior of the employees and to develop leadership skills

• Feedback is information about the past given now to have an effect on the future

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