How can coaching add value to your organisation..?

This is the fourth in a series of articles about present day coaching. In the previous three articles (click on links below) we have covered:

1. The nature of coaching
2. How coaching is different to other interventions
3. The roots of coaching
4. The myriad benefits of coaching
5. How to design an alliance and structure an intake session

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I propose in this article to focus on how coaching is being positioned in business in 2002, and the specific areas in which hr TEAM specialise, which will illustrate the effectiveness of coaching in a number of contexts. My main purpose for this is that you, the reader, will understand where in particular hr TEAM might help your business, your team, your skills and your expertise.

Scour the training and development press, network with new age coaches or observe how organisations and individuals market themselves and you will soon notice that there are a plethora of identities all connected with the new passion for coaching. Outlined below is (I think!) a fairly comprehensive list of the type of coaching available:

1. Executive coaching

This has had a lot of press recently and is typically aimed at senior management. A CEO may use a coach as a sounding board or as an objective witness to specific issues in business. This coaching interaction can be done face to face but will often now happen on the telephone for logistical reasons.

2. Life coaching

Articles about life coaching in the media have become very common - I even noticed a double page spread in the Daily Mail recently. Life coaching is aimed at anyone, with the emphasis on balance, results, goals, accountability, increased self-awareness, goals setting, and improved work/life balance. Change is at the heart of any coaching situation - people come to coaching because they want things to be different. They may be motivated to achieve specific goals - be healthier, write a book, complete a marathon, start a business. Increasingly, for employees, life coaching has become another employee benefit to go alongside healthcare, a pension and on-site massage!

3. Niche coaching

Some coaches position themselves as experts in one particular field. I once worked with 'The Diet coach', to help her in the initial marketing of her proposition! So you may come across the presentation skills coach, the motivation coach, the sales coach or perhaps the consultant coach!

4. Coaching as part of a development solution

An article published in Public Personnel Management in the winter of 1997 revealed a study carried out by the International Personnel Management Association in which training alone was compared with coaching combined with training. The study showed that training alone increased productivity by 22.4% while training plus coaching increased productivity by 88%. So coaching can often be used as part of the evaluation process as well as ensuring than an action plan determined at the training stage by an individual actually transpires!

5. On the job coaching

This harks back to the days of the apprentice system used for hundreds of years in industry. This is typically a formal process in which an individual learns by being with an expert, who helps coach the learner to understand a method or process. The typical frame for this type of coaching is: Tell-Show-Do.

6. Coaching coaches in business

There are plenty of Train the Trainer courses available, but still relatively few coach the coach courses, either available as a bespoke solution or available as an open course. These courses can help raise awareness and identify the core skills to be a successful coach in business. They are becoming increasingly popular for the line manager who now has coaching responsibilities. Organisations are increasingly moving towards an internal coaching culture to ensure effective knowledge management and to improve accountability and communication.

Here at hr TEAM we have identified the specific areas in which we feel we can offer the most value:

• Coaching as part of a development solution
• On the job coaching
• Coaching coaches in business

(a) Coaching as part of a development solution

Our typical model for training and development involves the key stages of: Consultancy - Design - Delivery - Evaluation.

Good coaching from the consultant can be used at all stages with a client. For example at the consultancy stage one can use coaching skills to identify a model of best practice, which can help formulate the right training solution. However, coaching can be used very effectively at the evaluation stage. Imagine if you had attended a presentation skills course. After 2 days you are fired up and ready to use your new skills. So often that enthusiasm can wane, or be replaced by the reality of day to day work. Coaching can help ensure this does not happen.

An effective coaching model might include face to face coaching, telephone coaching or email support. A group review after 3 months can also be conducted as a coaching exercise. Whatever arrangement suits best, a good coach will:

• Challenge the learner
• Hold him/her accountable
• Offer another perspective
• Share success
• Ensure that any 'failure' is positioned as feedback
• Notice how effective the training has been
• Be able to report back on the behavioural changes that have been accomplished

Post course coaching offers demonstrable benefits to the individual and the organisation. It will improve the competence and confidence of both, and ensure that change happens at a number of different levels.

(b) On the job coaching

If your business has a specific methodology or a number of strict processes to follow then your people need to become excellent on the job coaches. At hr TEAM we offer a programme that can be tailored to meet your specific requirements and have a direct impact on how your people are coached internally. The course for example might include the following:

• Characteristics of a successful coach
• How to plan a coaching session
• How to create well formed outcomes
• How to structure a coaching session
• Following up each session
• Building rapport
• Listening
• Giving feedback
• How people learn
• Action Plan

(c ) Coaching coaches in business

We offer this as an in-house programme, which can deployed at a number of levels within an organisation. It will improve the skills of managers and, applied well, will have a direct impact on the culture of an organisation.

I will be concentrating on the specifics of what this programme can offer in a future article. So, I hope that you now feel that you have a better sense of what is available from the explosion in coaching that has happened over the last 10 years. In addition you now know that here at hr TEAM we concentrate on:

1. Coaching as part of a development solution
2. On the job coaching and
3. Coach the coach courses

If you are interested in any of these applications for your own organisation then please contact us today on 01435 865 711 or by e-mail info@hrteam.co.uk

In my next article I will be concentrating on how we have applied coaching and walk you through several case studies so you can see the power of coaching in its diverse forms.