Why it's important to build a coaching-focused organisation
It takes time and effort to set up effective coaching, so why do it? A huge amount of coaching happens on an informal basis in many organisations, so why worry? Ensuring that you choose the right people and equip them in the right way to build their coaching expertise potentially has enormous benefits for your organisation.
It’s a great way of spreading the right message throughout your organisation.
It can take place “on the job”, minimising time spent away from the office
It develops both the coach and the coachee.
It provides development opportunities.
It shows progression for individuals within your organisation
You can make really effective use of your in-house expertise
Choosing the right Coach
When it comes to choosing your coaches, you can take a number of different approaches in the same organisation, for example, training up some in house coaches to work in specific areas of expertise, but perhaps using external coaching experts to develop your top talent and future leaders.
If you’re choosing in-house coaches, getting the role of the coach right is absolutely key. A coach does not necessarily have to be a manager, or a person in a position of responsibility, what’s more important is that the coach has the right skills and attitude to really make the coaching relationship work.
Coaching could sound daunting, but if you prepare yourself well and use some simple tools and techniques, you will find that you are able to really enhance the performance of others.The role of the coach is one that requires great listening skills, the ability to ask plenty of questions, and patience. Coaching is a process of helping others to find answers and solve problems for themselves – it isn’t a process where you need to be equipped with all of the answers. In fact, the most effective coaches are those that know when to hold back and encourage people to find their own way through a problem.
Top Coaching Tips
Think carefully about where your coaching conversation should take place
Be receptive to the coachee’s point of view – this is essential in building a collaborative relationship with them, and it’s important that they develop confidence in using their own ideas to solve problems
Listen, listen and then listen some more!
Try not to push your own ideas onto the coachee – encourage them to come up with their own
Try to avoid the trap of overpowering the conversation with your own experiences
Make sure that the coachee’s chosen goal is clear, that you will easily be able to see when they have achieved it
Make sure that the coachee commits to some key actions at the end of the conversation, so that they know where to start
Get the coachee to summarise the conversation, so that you can be sure that they know what the steps towards their goal will be
Arrange a meeting to follow up on progress and actionsMake clear what level of support you can offer, or ask them who they can go to for guidance