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Chapter 9: A Summary of Key Coaching Stages

Overview

At the start of this resource it was stated that coaching for change is about creating a process of learning that supports each individual's capacity to grow and that personal growth should equate with organizational growth. The corporate effect of individual transformation of performance should be enhanced organization performance, but this will only occur if the individual identifies with the overall goals of the organization.

If you find yourself with an opportunity to become a business partner in a transformation process there are some key steps that you can undertake to make a successful contribution:

1. Embrace the opportunity.

2. Recognize that the going will get tough.

3. Develop a strong network to support you both in and out of work.

4. Work in partnership with the business and any external partners involved in the process.

5. Use the experience as a learning opportunity; keep a log of the progress; identify the issues and solutions.

6. If you are involved in designing the people development, map it as a journey; clearly identify the start point; the end point and the stages in between.

7. Use tools and techniques to identify the overall objectives, the current strengths and development opportunities.

8. Where appropriate, network with other organizations experiencing the same issues to identify best practice.

9. Internally, encourage the learning and sharing as different parts of the business go through the process.

10. Use it as a real opportunity to transform the learning and development products and services.

11. Be creative; think laterally; do not think 'What have we done before?' but instead 'What could we do differently?'

12. Involve the CEO, the board, line managers in the opportunity to create a coaching culture.

13. Identify the stars, the sponsors, the people who will make it happen.

14. As different parts of the process are completed, review the learning, learn from mistakes and celebrate the successes.

Introducing coaching is an important step for any organization. However it is not simply the introduction that is important. What is much more critical is sustaining it, nourishing it and taking the commitment seriously.

Coaching in itself is just a word, but behind that word lies the very real opportunity for leaders to share wisdom and knowledge and create a culture that values the contribution of each and every employee.

Managers who coach have the opportunity to inspire, excite and develop teams of motivated employees.

Individuals who are coached and who coach their colleagues have the opportunity to embark on a voyage of self-discovery where they are able to fulfil their real potential.

The organizations of the future need to recognize the importance of retaining talent, of helping people to create a work/life balance and of tailoring learning to the needs of the individual.

Chapter Summaries

Here is a summary of the key points raised in each chapter.

Chapter 1: Creating a Mechanism for Change

So how do you support transforming performance? The answer to this can be highly complex, or surprisingly simple, depending on your approach. I have tried to adopt a simple but thorough model of Five Principles to transform performance:

1. Accurately assess the readiness to change.

2. Clearly state the overall strategic direction.

3. Identify the key stages on the journey.

4. Gain commitment to the common goal.

5. Establish a process to learn and grow.

Chapter 2: Shaping a Coaching Landscape

There are key areas to focus on:

1. Identify organizational readiness for coaching.

2. Identify potential coaches.

3. The role of the coach.

4. Develop the right attitudes and behaviours.

5. Equipping the coaches with the right skills and knowledge.

6. Encourage coaching to support the change process.

7. Learn from the experience; share the wisdom.

Chapter 3: Motivation to Change

1. What is stopping me?

2. What would I do differently?

3. What could I do today to help me take the first step towards achieving my vision?

4. What help will I need?

5. Who do I know that I trust to talk to about what I want to achieve?

6. What will happen to me if I don't get started?

7. If I decide to wait what are my reasons?

8. If I am going to wait when will it be the right time?

9. What have been the best successes in my life?

10. What can I learn from these successes to help me achieve my current vision and goals?

Chapter 4: Organizational Transformation

How to become great - key characteristics:

1. Know where you are going; understand the big picture; develop an over-arching plan.

2. Temper this with compassion - recognize your position in the community and address your corporate social responsibility.

3. Be entrepreneurial - seize opportunities to do business and make money.

4. Have a desire and drive to succeed - be energized, committed.

5. Recognize and respect your employees' strengths, talents and emotional intelligence; look to identify the great leaders.

6. Be positive, optimistic; overcome setbacks.

7. Be imaginative, inventive, curious; what shall we do next?

8. Be able to learn from the past, reinvent, regenerate, draw from what is good and discard what doesn't work.

9. Benchmark, measure and celebrate success.

10. Network and partner with others.

Chapter 5: The Coaching Role

Coaches do the following:

• They build a positive environment.

• They ask questions to analyse needs.

• They use open questions to probe.

• They focus on the needs of the individual.

• They offer suggestions to build on the views expressed by learners.

• They listen actively.

• They seek ideas and build on them.

• They give feedback.

• They agree action plans for development.

• They monitor performance.

• They give ongoing support.

• They focus on improving performance in the current job.

• They assist in raising performance to the required standards.

• They emphasize the present.

Chapter 6: The Coaching Discourse

• Where am I now?

  • What skills, competencies have I achieved?

  • What job role?

  • What about development on the job, off job?

  • Who offers me support currently?

• What would I like to do differently in the future?

  • What style and pattern of working?

  • What new responsibilities?

  • What job change?

  • Do I want to transfer to another part of the business?

  • What about location?

  • What skills, competencies, training or new learning do I need?

• What are my work-related goals?

  • In three months' time I would like to have...

  • In six months' time I would like to have...

  • In 12 months' time I would like to have...

  • How would I break these goals down into SMART objectives?

  • How could I push myself further?

• What would I like to achieve outside work?

  • What are my hopes and aspirations?

  • What is realistic to achieve in the short term?

  • How could I break these down into bite-sized achievable goals?

  • Who will offer me support?

  • How will I measure my success?

Chapter 7: Coaching Knowledge Transfer

1. Identify the core learning need.

2. Establish the level of demand/timescales.

3. Recognize the different learning styles.

4. Look creatively at the potential of using different forms of learning, e.g. matching the learning need to different delivery methods and identifying the best fit.

5. Work with the current providers, internal and external, to identify the learning objectives and to ensure that the provision meets the current need.

6. Undertake an education process to illustrate the potential of different types of learning.

7. Be prepared to offer follow-up coaching support.

8. Set up a monitoring process to evaluate the effectiveness of the delivery.

What Are The Implications For Organizations?

Here are some recommendations:

• Be committed to and respect all your human capital.

• Encourage and develop diversity within your workforce.

• Don't just pay lip-service to the concept of talent management. Focus on it and demonstrate your commitment from the very top of your organization.

• Recognize the importance of your employer brand. Demonstrate your values and brand in the way that you conduct your business and develop your people.

• Create an honest, positive and thinking environment.

• Develop your emotional intelligence.

• Be committed to identifying and recognizing talent at all levels in your organization.

• Give individuals freedom to innovate, generate ideas and receive feedback.

• Develop coaching and feedback processes throughout your organization.

• Create an environment that attracts potential employees to want to come and work for you.

• Create internal forums that allow for healthy debate and discussion.

• Encourage flexible and imaginative patterns of employment.

• Ensure that your management structure is developing new talent and creating a coaching and learning culture.

• Encourage all employees to be committed to developing your talent pool.

• Make an ongoing commitment to your community in deeds as well as donations.

The Implications For Individuals

Focus on becoming a person with influence. If you are looking to develop others, to build a coaching culture, it is important that you build your own inner resilience, that you are confident, that you develop self-belief and, most importantly, that you become the person you always aspired to be.

There are a number of references within this resource to becoming a business partner. If you want to become an effective business partner think about the following:

• Build your own inner resilience.

• Have the confidence to manage your own career.

• Develop self-belief.

• Become a person of influence.

• Seek to become a business partner.

• Take responsibility for your own development.

• Be curious.

• Develop the courage and wisdom to push against the corporate boundaries.

• Want to make a difference in your organization and in the wider community.

• Set yourself stretching personal targets and goals.

• Regularly research new areas of development.

• Build an extensive network of colleagues and business acquaintances.

The Implications For Managers

Managers have a major role to play in the development of a coaching culture. They can sponsor individuals; they can free up channels of communication; they can foster an environment of trust and integrity.

• Set yourself stretching personal targets and goals.

• Give open and honest feedback.

• Set clear goals and targets with your team.

• Lead by example.

• Create open lines of communication.

• Sponsor individual development.

• Be prepared to listen.

• Encourage people to take responsibilities and give them freedom to operate.

• Seek to build relationships.

• Create a coaching environment.

• Take responsibility for developing new talent.

• Encourage innovation and creativity.

• Recognize the contribution of people who are different.

• Foster an environment in which individuals are valued and nurtured.

Summary Of Key Points In The Process Of Transformation

1. Recognize the reality of what you're trying to do.

2. Be brave but not foolish.

3. Carefully research how others have achieved it. Build on their findings but create your own plan.

4. Always keep your overall route map close by, ready to show others and to reinforce your own beliefs.

5. Don't try to do it alone; identify key members of a support team and keep in close communication.

6. Break the journey up into bite-size chunks and set key deliverables.

7. Review each stage and learn the lessons from what has worked and what hasn't.

8. Don't be afraid to amend the plan in the light of the lessons learnt.

9. Don't let apparent difficulties or failure overwhelm you; have contingency plans.

10. People often give up when they are closest to achieving their goals. Take regular breaks, do something different and return with new energy.

11. Listen to feedback but make sure it is balanced.

12. Recognize that not everyone is able to make the journey. Support people as they make the difficult choices.

13. Use your own support network, personal coach and mentor.

14. Do not over-analyse failure; learn from it and move on.

15. Celebrate success and prepare for the next stage of the journey.

To conclude, there follows an extract from Walking in This World by Julia Cameron

Chekhov advised actors, 'If you want to work on your career work on yourself.' It might equally be advised, if you want to work on yourself, work to make your career of service to something larger than yourself. Dedicate yourself to something, or someone other than yourself. This expansion will make you larger both as a person, and as an artist.

She adds this quotation,

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic to it.

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

References

Further Reading

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