AmazinglyBusiness Coaching
Coaching is increasingly being recognised as a methodology, not only for creating more effective conversations in the workplace, but for assessing and reformulating values and goals, and obtaining solutions to work based issues. Coaching is also evolving as a natural form of leadership.A 1999 survey of HR professionals found that 90% of companies in the US offer some form of coaching to their key executives. Some of the areas in which coaching has been successfully deployed include:
- Leadership development
- Retention of key staff
- Management succession planning
- Ensuring success after promotions or new recruitment
Source: The Coaching at Work Toolkit: A complete guide to techniques and practices, Perry Zeus & Suzanne Skiffington.
Coaching as a methodology is now used within successful organisations of all shapes and sizes as a means to develop and drive business goals and objectives. Coaching techniques can be used to develop staff at any level within organisations, right up to the department head or chief executive.
Executive coaching is commonly arranged for senior people: to keep up with change, to reinvigorate a business or to support executives when they have been promoted, especially when this is a more strategic role, perhaps with people management or strategic responsibilities for the first time.
One Approach
Generally a business coach will encourage the ‘client’ to discuss the ‘real’ issues and/or problems and work with them to discover workable solutions for themselves.Coaching can be used to support internal training programmes within an organisation. Research studies indicate that only as few as 8 - 12% of those who attend traditional training courses actually translate new skills into measurable performance improvement (Source: "What is Executive Coaching?" Management Today)
The primary cause of skill transference lies in the lack of follow-up, reinforcement or support. In these circumstances, the trainee goes ‘off-site’, learns and then returns to the day-to-day pressures of their role, where they often find it hard to apply what they have learnt. It has been shown that the effectiveness of training is significantly enhanced when it is followed up by coaching support that works with individuals in applying their learning in a workplace context.