COACHING

Coaching Supports Positive Change

“Change is hard. And yet for most people change will at some point be necessary - a critical step toward fulfilling their potential and achieving their goals. They will need support with this process. They’ll need a coach”
Harvard Business Revue

Coaching is about change. It is the most immediate and thorough means of effecting change in both individuals and teams.

It works by putting the emphasis where it needs to be, on the actions of the individual.

This change may be the result of a different thought process, a deeper understanding, the ability to make more conscious choices, a greater awareness of their impact or the development of a skill, but at the end of the day, all change is the result of doing something differently.

How does it work?

In its simplest sense coaching helps you answer the question “How can I be better?” It does this by:

Showing you the road that you are currently on

Pointing out your choices and helping you to choose a new road

Helping you persist in that choice and change

The reason it works so effectively is because it works on two levels - externally and internally.

Externally

At the external level are the issues and challenges people face every day in their working life and the skills and knowledge they need to develop to handle them.

Internally

At the inner level, the coach is working to help people understand their own belief systems and behavioural drivers and how they influence performance.

Coaching works by helping people clarify what are real and what are self-imposed blockers to performance and then supports them to make changes in the light of this new knowledge.

Individuals are able to actively intervene in and target their own progress, resulting in often radically improved outcomes.

These May Help Clarify Whether Or Not Coaching Is Applicable For You

If you answer ‘yes’ to two or more of these questions, then leadership coaching is almost certainly relevant and potentially valuable to you.

Do your direct reports come to you to solve their issues rather than sharing their own solutions to resolve their issues?

Do you work very long hours and find it hard to switch off from work and have “you time”?

Do you find it challenging to make yourself heard upline and to challenge upline perspectives if you think strategic plans are incorrect?

Do you often find it quicker/easier just to do the job/task yourself rather than go to the trouble of trying to delegate?

Do you find it easier to manage and motivate some of your team than others?

Do you find it difficult when faced with having to correct ineffective and or inappropriate behaviour in colleagues and missed deadlines?

Do you often feel exasperated by the methods and or speed at which other people around you carry out important projects or tasks?

Do you sometimes feel like you are one of the few people who care about standards and effectiveness in your business?

Are you spending most of your time dealing with immediate issues and problems rather than spending 25% of the time (that’s 1.5 days + per week) on planning/working for 6 months plus business success?

YOUR TEAM

Self-Assess The Effectiveness of Your Team

Look at the following and honestly assess if any apply to your team. If you score more than three, then it may be timely to take some action.

Team members work as individuals, often in competition, and they blame each other for team failure

Dialogue between team members is infrequent and even frustrating, with accusations, blame and repetitive issues and/or slow decision-making

Team members are clear about their functional targets, but have no clear view of what the team is supposed to deliver, apart from an overall amalgamated set of figures

Failure or non-performance are rarely discussed as a team - gossip/moaning takes place around the ‘water cooler’ and the Team Leader is left to address issues (or not) in 1-2-1’s

Trust levels are low, as evidenced by ‘difficult’ meetings and conversations; team members work on their own and rarely own up to problems/issues or ask for help

The issue of team stakeholders is never addressed as a specific topic with a planned approach; if stakeholder management occurs, it typically takes place on an ad-hoc basis.

The team only addresses what they are doing, not the effectiveness of the way they are working/relating to each other; poor trust issues are never addressed directly

Team Effectiveness Indicators

These elements can be seen in all high-functioning teams who exhibit true synergy.

Everyone has a team mind-set: ‘all for one and one for all’; all team members take responsibility for positive team outcomes

Dialogue between team members is positive and aimed at achieving effective and timely decisions; when issues arise, the focus is how do we sort this out

Team members share a collective understanding of the team purpose and values - over and above hard business measures and they organise their priorities and time to deliver these

Team members hold themselves collectively and individually accountable for delivering on the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ targets and objectives

There is a high level of trust between all team members - evidenced by frequent requests for assistance/collaboration; each team member supports the others to succeed

The team know who their stakeholders are, what they expect from the team, and they proactively manage the team’s impact and reputation

They know the value of being connected and regularly discuss the nature of their team relationships; they invest time and money to maintain and build team effectiveness

YOUR ORGANISATION

Self-Assess Your Organisation

Look at the following and honestly assess if any apply to your organisation. If you score more than three, then you’re in good company - very few companies are free of them completely. However, you also have a problem that almost certainly needs addressing.

Signs Of Poor Practice

Company values are just theory and are often breached or paid lip-service to

Too many ineffective meetings and conference calls

Directors/managers are over-stretched, with over-full diaries

Heavy focus on short-term figures rather than strategic growth opportunities

Director/management roles and responsibilities are unclear or overlapped

Lack of clear management targets and few, if any, useable plans

Non-achievement is both common and rarely challenged

Directors/senior managers too involved in day-to-day ‘doing’

E-mail and cc-ing are used as political tools

Appraisal and staff development are largely ‘box-ticking’ processes

Busy-ness and activity rather than creativity and achievement

Coaching is a ‘nice to have’ rather than embedded and underpinning performance

Signs Of Good Practice

A thriving organisation and culture will normally exhibit the following:-

Company values are role modelled throughout, from the board to the front line

Leaders and managers devote delineated and significant time and resources on building long-term business success

Leadership as well as functional management roles and responsibilities are clear, monitored and rewarded

Non-achievement is addressed as soon as it occurs; success is recognised and praised

Directors/Senior Managers spend 50%+ of their time overseeing, coaching and delegating to others, to build capability down-line

All meetings have a clear purpose, an agenda, stick to time and result in decisions and meaningful actions

People talk rather than use email; few, if any, cc emails

A clearly-understood company strategy and yearly plan drives accountability at every level in the business

Insights