Coaching means many things to many people. Many times a technique that is referred to as “coaching,” isn’t really coaching at all; it’s actually counselling or feedback.
In a real coaching conversation, employees are empowered to act while being supported by their manager. Employees gain confidence knowing that they own the outcome while feeling acknowledged and supported by their manager.
Integrating coaching into your talent management strategy increases employee engagement and helps develop competencies like problem-solving and strategic thinking.
To initiate that integration, these five steps should be taken.
1. Educate your leaders.
Start at the top and educate your executives on the differences and benefits of coaching versus counselling. Interview them on their perspectives on coaching and assess their willingness to participate and support a coaching initiative. Explain the benefits of coaching and ask them where they see applications for coaching inside their organizations.
2. Identify coaches, participants and executive sponsors.
Look for individuals and managers who can be trained to be internal coaches inside your company. These individuals may be inside your talent management and organizational development areas or could be in the business itself. Consider having talent management or human resources executives trained and credentialed by the International Coach Federation as professional coaches.
Simultaneously, you will want to identify candidates to participate in the coaching program.
Therefore, review your succession planning and consider top talent managers, directors and executives. Participants should be excited to be part of the program and willing to make a commitment. Just as important as identifying the coaches and participants is to make certain that you have executive sponsorship. Determine which executives would like to sponsor the program and be a participant.
3. Manage expectations.
Clearly set expectations with your internal coaches, individuals being coached, the executive sponsors and, of course, your managers and colleagues. It’s best to run the initial program as a pilot and build upon its success. Make certain everyone is clear on the goals of the program, time commitment and their roles and responsibilities.
4. Train.
Enrol your internal coach candidates in a program that trains individuals who work inside companies as coaches. If you enrol internal employees to become coaches, ensure they’re being trained by a coach with experience coaching internal coaches. In addition, be sure to train the individuals who are to be coached on the role and responsibilities of participants. While training your coaches, be sure to establish a clear and consistent process for enrolling clients, coaching time and exiting clients. The key here is to ensure that everyone participating has a similar experience.
5. Measure success.
Prior to starting the program, determine how you will measure its success. If your program is embraced and used (coaching clients show up and participate in the coaching), then that’s a great sign. Interviewing them or surveying them on the benefits they received is also an excellent idea. In addition, be sure to ask the managers of the program’s participants about the changes they might have noticed in their employees’ behaviours after being coached. •
Renée Robertson is the CEO of Trilogy Development (www.trilogydevelopment.com) and the author of The Coaching Solution: How to Drive Talent Development, Organizational Change and Business Results.
