Coaching
Are you in a challenging phase of your professional or personal life? Or are you looking for orientation and clarity regarding your career opportunities within and outside the university? These kinds of questions can be addressed as part of a structured coaching process with an external coach.
If you would like to take advantage of coaching and discuss the next steps in a confidential setting, please contact us!
Further information on coaching topics and the process
What is coaching?
Coaching at the University of Cologne is a targeted HR-development measure in the format of an interactive, person-centred advising and support process with an external coach. The focus is on the professional role or the related current concerns of a person. The coach does not present suggested solutions and instead offers a space for targeted (self-)reflection and provides support using different methods for the development of one’s own work and solution approaches and options for action.
Coaching is suitable as an ad-hoc form of assistance with specific questions (‘How do I deal with a specific situation?’, ‘What are my next steps?’), but also over a longer period of time in response to transitional situations. Typical occasions for coaching include topics such as leadership, role, self-management, team or even the first 100 days in a new position.
We will suggest either internal Coaches from the Employee and Manager Counselling or external coaches. For this purpose, a pool of qualified people with experience in the field of higher education and academia was established and can be requested if required.
Topics and occasions for Coaching
- Reflection on individual career planning
- Preparation for personally challenging situations in research and teaching
- Dealing with complex leadership and management tasks
- Managing the work-life balance
- Optimizing stress and self-management
- Dealing with personal disappointments
Who is entitled to coaching?
In general, postdocs employed at the UoC are entitled to coaching. However, coaching is an individual measure and its duration and approach depend on the issue at hand. We therefore reserve the right to decide on the basis of the obligatory preliminary discussion whether we consider coaching to be a supportive measure and suggest a coach accordingly or recommend alternative offers and, if necessary, contact persons.
Process description
- Please contact us personally and explain your concern.
- We talk about suitable PE measures for you and suggest a coach if necessary.
- If the coach's profile assures you, we will clarify the availability and ask you to contact him or her.
- You will arrange a first meeting with the coach.
- Afterwards, you will decide, in cooperation with the coach, when, where and at what intervals you will meet.
- After completing the coaching process, we ask for your feedback on the coach selection and process organization (not on the content of the coaching itself). This is how you can assist us with ongoing quality control.
Both the preliminary talk with one of our employees and the coaching sessions themselves are treated confidentially.
What are the costs?
We consider ourselves first and foremost as an advisory organization and recommend suitable measures and/or suitable coaches according to your request. In individual cases, we can cover the costs for a predetermined coaching contingent (on a pro rata basis), provided that the content and timeframe of your request is within the scope of our support measures.
If your personal needs exceed this quota or if you explicitly wish to work with a coach from outside our pool, you will be responsible for the costs.
In any case, please check in advance whether funding can be provided by your place of work.
