This thing called Coaching!
It’s amazing what people can manage to achieve in businesses today, and much of that is down to their level of motivation. In the difficult and competitive climate of business there is a need to maintain that sense of motivation and to build trust and commitment so that even when ‘the going gets tough’, our key employees don’t ‘get going’.
Coaching can be one way to do this and can be used for a number of reasons, perhaps in achieving the goals of a particular project, developing personal skills or enhancing performance across the business.
Coaching focusses more on how something is done, rather than what is done and one of the key benefits is that employees start to become more self-aware and take ownership of their actions and their personal development. This happens because the manager doing the coaching supports the employee to find their own solutions. The manager also benefits from developing his or her own listening and reflecting skills as they do this.
Because coaching breaks down a problem to a level where the employee explores their beliefs, values and behaviours, when done well, it is capable of addressing issues before they have even risen to the surface as a problem by changing mind-set, thinking patterns, behaviours and actions. To achieve this depth of reflection, realisation and openness, the environment needs to be comfortable and calm.
When used effectively, coaching develops performance across the organisation. For middle managers and their teams, coaching can support the often complex situation we find in organisations where the values espoused about the way people work, for example work-life balance, customer care and encouragement of risk are undermined by conflicting behaviours and values demonstrated by the senior team. A coaching approach can help these teams to explore what is happening and how they can move forward together and take responsibility for problem solving the situation.
On a more individual level, coaching can help an individual to manage stress, caused say by lack of support or recognition, the impact of change in the workplace or workload pressure. By working with an individual, the coach can support the individual in changing their perceptions of a situation, shifting their mind-set or changing behaviour.
It’s not just specific teams or individuals either who can benefit from coaching in the workplace. A coach who is familiar with the organisation, how it works and where the sticking points are can provide support across the business to unlock these behavioural bottle-necks and enable the organisation as a whole to learn and change.
Key considerations when planning the move to a coaching programme and culture are:
- Ensuring that the coaching strategy is linked to wider organisational strategy and practices.
- Aligning the development of a coaching culture with learning and development across the organisation, including modules on coaching in leadership programmes for example.
- Ensuring that the infrastructure is in place to support a coaching culture. Think about how it will be managed and integrated, identify a sponsor or a steering group to drive it forward, determine how success will be measured and evaluated.
Setting up a coaching programme and establishing a coaching culture is a challenging undertaking but is well worth the time, effort and resources needed to see such change on all levels of the organisation and positive outcomes in terms of performance, retention and growth.
cHRysos HR can support organisations wishing to commit to moving to a coaching approach. Talk to us about your needs and how we can work with you to take this commitment forward.
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cHRysos HR Solutions are a UK wide HR training and consultancy company offering CIPD accredited qualifications, Apprenticeships, Training and HR Services to SMEs. For more information about how cHRysos HR can help you or your teams successfully achieve further qualifications, contact us on info@chrysos.org.uk or call 03300 562443.