Creating a coaching culture
Creating a coaching cultureOK, so your company wants to create a coaching culture. Why?
Well, first of all, what is coaching and why do you need it? Coaching is a form of alliance between two people: the coach and the coachee. Its purpose is to discover, encourage, and motivate the coachee towards his / her goals through conversation. The power of coaching is in the push you give someone to enhance their strengths by acknowledging and understanding of one’s goals, values, and the steps needed to achieve them.
Coaching can be many things and can take many different forms, but one thing coaching is not, is counselling or psychotherapy. Coaching does not go looking into a person’s past for answers. It does not deal with psychological problems. In such a case, the coachee would be referred to an appropriate expert.
OK, so this is coaching. But what is a coaching culture?
A coaching culture is a culture of openness, learning, continuous development, and performance enhancement. An organisation that can be said to have a coaching culture is one which embraces change, opens up communication channels for its entire staff, and encourages development.
Well, that’s all well and good, but how do I create such a culture, and why do I really need to?
Your employees are your company. They are the crew and you are the captain. Without them, you will most probably sink. A coaching culture fosters a sense of trust, understanding, and efficiency. Employees need to feel responsible for their actions and vision of the company, and they also need to identify and take ownership of the particular values the company holds.
There are many steps needed in order to create such a culture. The important thing to remember is that one step alone will not succeed in changing anything. An attack must be initiated on all fronts. Merely implementing one of the below suggestions will not have the desired effect. How can you create a coaching culture if you only sit and think about it and don’t actually take action.
The steps below represent the steps necessary for creating the “ideal” coaching culture. I stress the word ideal because many restraints, such as resources and budget, may prevent organisations from implementing all these steps. However, the aim is to put as many of them as possible into action in order to facilitate the type of coaching culture that you desire.
Gain commitment from top management.
This is crucial and it is the first real step towards achieving almost any kind of change within an organisation. If the top management does not believe in it, then why should the rest of the employees? If top management cannot see the benefits and advantages to creating such a culture, then why should the employee attempt to initiate change that will not reverberate across the organisation? Change needs to be a top-down process.
Embed and infuse this sense of a coaching culture into all HR practices and processes.
Now, this is a very bold statement, and its implications are not lost on this author. But, if you truly believe in changing your organisation’s culture then you must realise that a solid foundation needs to be implemented that takes into account this sense of change. HR processes that do not reflect the organisation’s values and “personality” are in trouble of becoming a mere “legal framework” that serves the purpose of a factory assembly line.
First of all, all HR processes need to be “transparent”. By transparent, I mean that employees need to be able to understand their use and implications for their own performance within the organisation.
Start with the HR manuals, your code of conduct, and your policies. Transform these to include a development-oriented approach to performance. Don’t use “HR speak”, but instead use language that every employee will understand and appreciate. This way you ensure that they will actually sit down and take the time to read them.
Build coaching into your competency frameworks, into your job descriptions, into you recruitment process, into your performance appraisals and performance management processes. All these functions need to reflect the type of culture you are striving towards. For example, if you are going to have coaching as a competency you assess employees on, then it is also necessary to appraise them on this and monitor performance.
Have a system in place that encourages coaching. Mentoring and buddy systems.
Mentoring system
When a new employee is recruited, they will automatically be assigned to a mentor. A mentor is someone who holds a managerial position in a company and has the experience and insight to be able to coach and assist the new employee with any issues they may be facing. This relationship should be built on trust, and depending on the match between the two individuals, the mentor could be perceived as a role model for the new employee. The benefits of having mentors in your organisation, apart from the apparent advantages to the employee, are: identification of training needs, advice on employee development, and simultaneously creating the basis for succession-planning.
Buddy system
Assign every new employee, during their induction, with a “buddy” who will be a friendly coach and point of contact for any issues the new employee may be experiencing. Switch buddies every now and then to allow for change and sharing of new knowledge and experiences. Train the buddies on their unofficial role.
This will facilitate a working environment of change, cooperation, innovation, and social responsibility. An added bonus is that it will increase job autonomy and skills development amongst employees, as well hone their leadership skills.
It is vital that all mentors and buddies are trained in basic coaching skills and in how to receive feedback. Mentors and buddies need to be objective and supportive, and not subjective and de-moralising. Another requirement, although it may sound obvious, is that the mentors and buddies are actually given the responsibility, the seriousness, and the resources they need in order to carry out their extra roles.
External Vs Internal Coach
Internal coaches need to be trained extensively in coaching skills, and need to be allocated with the resources they require, e.g. time, and budget. Having a team of internal coaches means that the process can be effectively monitored and fed back to HR. However, this requires the creation of new positions within the organisations and a high budget.
External coaches are consultants that are already trained in coaching and can be used to outsource this function as and when required. Using an external coach means liaising closely with employees to promote the use of coaching as a self-development tool. An immediate advantage of using an external coach lies in the “fresh” perspective that the coach will have on matters. It is sometimes easier to understand things when looking from the outside in. Another advantage is that the external coach is not any employee’s manager or superior, and as such, open communication can ensue. However, it is important that the external coach represents a match between the organisation’s “personality”.
Train all staff on how to receive feedback and on basic coaching skills.
Training should be given to all employees, managers and front-line staff, on how to receive constructive feedback and how to appropriately act upon it. The same also applies to basic coaching skills.
Encourage open channels of communication throughout the organisation.
If you are really serious about creating a coaching culture, make sure that voices from all levels can be heard and taken into account. The front-line employee needs to have access to the manager’s ear and vice versa. Allow the sharing of opinions and ideas between all employees. Make your employees feel appreciated that they are heard and respected throughout the organisation. How can you do this?
One example is to organise weekly or monthly group discussions, where employees of all levels get together to discuss issues such as current performance, issues various departments may be experiencing, new ideas, and new ways of conducting service. Allow them to express themselves in a non-threatening environment. It is often the case that the front-line employee has the best idea regarding a product or service, since it is he / she who deals with it on a daily basis. In these discussions / meetings it is important that all in attendance forget about rank and use conversation as a medium to share and explore.
Conclusion
Organisations are not simple, easy-to-understand, emotionless bureaucracies. They are organic, living and breathing, and ever adapting to change and the environment around them. They are made up of people, and as such, they reflect their “personalities”, their values, and culture. If we decide to embrace change and recognise openness, learning, and cooperation throughout our organisations, then we are truly on the right track towards creating a culture that has coaching at its heart.