How do you make coaching stick? This is a question I get asked a lot and whilst there’s a lot I would need to know about your particular organisation before I could give specific advice, I thought the following pointers might be helpful:
Follow up initial training
Whilst a typical one or two day coaching skills training course will equip managers with the basic tools and techniques it will only address a change in behaviour. Where behavioural change is not accompanied by a similar change in thinking and attitude it will not stick. A series of follow ups to any initial training is useful particularly where the participants are required to be coached on an ongoing work issue and to regularly report back on their progress.
Include a coaching module on all ‘people skills’ training
In order to move away from coaching as ‘task’ to coaching as ‘style’ it must be seen as part of the overall approach to managing people. It is therefore useful to reflect this need on all people skills training and not just specific coaching workshops.
Get the support of the most senior person you can
Where coaching is seen as merely a skill to learn the involvement of the training department is all that is required. However where coaching is seen – as it should be – as part of organisational and cultural change, it becomes a policy decision that requires the full support of the senior team. However, it is not necessary to get the whole team on board from the start, target the most obvious champion and work from there.
Coach the senior team so that they get the benefits
Many of my coaching skills training projects had their seed in a senior executive being bowled over by the benefits of being coached and wanting that experience to permeate throughout the organisation.
Make sure high performers are coached too
Too often coaching is seen as remedial and people understandably shy away from being seen as needing “special lessons”. We can overcome this through coaching by stealth, i.e. by not labelling it as such – but this seems counter-productive if we are really trying to increase the take up of coaching. An alternative is to very deliberately coach already high-performers. They are highly likely to welcome the initiative and become strong advocates for the approach.
Share coaching success stories loudly and visibly
As above, the positive aspects of coaching should be shouted from the rooftops as much as possible.
Publish the results so that the Executive’s greed outweighs their conservatism
We can tie ourselves in knots in trying to evaluate coaching with a degree of precision an academic would admire. However, simpler means are available which nevertheless highlight the sheer irrefutable logic and power of the coaching approach. Some raw statistical evidence backed up with stories and anecdotes of meaningful performance will often be enough to convince even the hardened skeptics.
Include a coaching related KPI in managers’ performance reviews
“What gets measured gets done” so the saying goes so if we really want managers to give as much energy and attention to people and well as task matters we should measure their results with equal seriousness
Deal with excuses:
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I don’t have time… |
..yes you do, just differing priorities |
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The culture works against coaching… |
…which is exactly why you need to adopt coaching |
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My boss doesn’t coach me… |
…but that is no reason not to coach your people. You may wait a long time for your boss to change but you can change today |
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I already manage my people this way… |
…not according to them you don’t |
Matt Somers trains managers helping them to become ‘coaches’. He is the author of several books, and his title Successful Coaching in a Week, £6.99 is published by Hodder Education: www.hoddereducation.co.uk
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