Coaching in Organisations

PART 5: COACHING CULTURE SERIES Now that we’ve covered multiple approaches and strategies for how to introduce coaching skills and coaching related activities into your organisation, it’s time to consider measurement. How do you know that coaching is making a positive difference? Several years ago, while working as a continuous process improvement consultant, our mantra was to measure what’s important, not just what’s measurable. This principle most certainly applies to measuring the progress of your investment when building a coaching culture. There are many, many things that an organisation can measure, but how useful are they and what do the ...

PART 4: COACHING CULTURE SERIES In this series so far, we have looked at how to define a coaching culture, some of the key principles that underpin strong coaching cultures and three initial key steps to get started. Now, we will look at some practical approaches and strategies you can use to introduce, and begin benefiting from, coaching within your organisation. Before that, a brief word of advice on how to make the best use out of this information: firstly, note that this is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all possible options, and secondly, remember that one ...

PART 3: COACHING CULTURE SERIES Now that you have had time to consider the three key principles to coaching culture, let’s look at the first steps to put this into action. Step One: Be clear about your vision of success. What are your criteria, goals and aspirations for a high-performance coaching culture in your organisation? What does that mean for you? What might be some characteristics of such a culture? For this, you could draw upon some of the work undertaken by the International Coach Federation (ICF) and the Human Capital Institute (HCI) in their research into coaching culture. Since ...

PART 2: COACHING CULTURE SERIES The term “coaching culture” is being heard more and more within organisations, especially those that want to move from using coaching as a development resource for 1-1 and 1-team interventions to leverage coaching as a strategic resource at an organisational or systemic level. While this might be an appealing idea, some organisations don’t always know exactly what is meant by coaching culture or what benefits such an idea might bring. For now we are focussing on three important principles that are important to understand before taking any steps forward. Principle 1: High performance is the ...

PART 1: COACHING CULTURE SERIES First of all, this is not the Ministry of Coaching, and I am not an evangelist. However, I do know that coaching as a resource is pivotal to the success of your organisation. It doesn’t matter how big or small, what sector or industry you are in or where you are located — coaching is something that will help advance the performance of your people and your organisation. So, what is meant by coaching “culture”? Well, I will tell you (and provide some resources along the way). It’s also helpful recognize that one size does ...

Earlier, I shared these five important pitfalls to avoid when building a coaching culture in your organisation: Anti-role modelling Let’s take it all in-house Keep it clean One size fits all Not every conversation needs to be a coaching conversation Now that you’re aware of the pitfalls, here is some insight on how to avoid them. A few years ago, a very successful businessman said, “Don’t be afraid to make intelligent change.” This advice stuck with me and has served me well since. It is great advice when it comes to making maximum positive use of coaching and coaching principles ...

Coaching has seen exponential growth in recent years and has transitioned from being a 1-1 intervention, to a 1-many intervention and then to a systemic intervention. Organisations are rapidly becoming aware of the benefits of coaching as a highly effective vehicle for development, engagement, change management and enhanced performance. Several organisations are also now at the stage where they are successfully using coaching: its competencies, principles and philosophies to inform cultural development in terms of values, environment and even social conscience and impact. On the one hand, this is a fantastic development for the profession of coaching and it’s significant, ...

Organisations today who ignore the needs of Millennials and the next generation (known commonly as Gen Z) do so at their peril. Where does the Millennial generation fit in terms of age? Generation Z: Born 1997-99 Young Millennials: Born 1993-96 Core Millennials: Born 1987-92 Mature Millennials: Born 1982-86 Generation X: Born 1965-81 Baby Boomers: Born 1946-64 In 2011, PwC embarked on a two-year study looking at the future impact that Millennials would have in their business. They determined that by 2016 their workforce would be 80% comprised of Millennials. (Read the study here.) This study came about as they started ...

Coaching is still a relatively young profession and is certainly still evolving and developing with regards to its definition and how it is being used and leveraged to give rise to significant benefits at many levels. What is also certain is the speed at which coaching is growing. Coaching has very quickly transitioned from being a 1-1 intervention to a 1-many intervention and is being extensively deployed now to support individuals, groups and teams to grow, change, develop and ultimately tap into their fullest potential. The International Coach Federation (ICF) has more than doubled its membership in the last 8 ...

Even though coaching is becoming so much more widespread, acknowledged, accepted and used as a way of achieving goals, addressing challenges and developing ourselves personally and professionally, I still notice some people not truly understanding when it can help them. In some of the research I read, one of the reasons people say they would not engage in coaching is because it is not relevant for them at this time in their life. So, I want to share some ways and times in your life when coaching can benefit you and I am calling them: The 9 C's of Coaching: ...