The BBC is well on the way to developing a coaching culture, according to a survey of internal coaches.
“Nearly no one thinks the BBC has a coaching culture, but many believe it is developing one. This tells us our supervision is working,” said Christopher Winek, coaching consultant.
In April , Pulse Check surveyed 45 coaches with between three months and 10 years’ experience on perceptions of their employer’s coaching culture, supervision and CPD, coaching skill development, impact, balancing coaching with a day job, and challenges for internal coaches.
Some 35 per cent “tended to disagree” or were unsure whether the BBC has a coaching culture, while around 13 per cent disagreed. Only 2 per cent agreed.
However, more than 50 per cent believe their coaching skills are developing, another 40 per cent “tend to believe” they are and 5 per cent do not because they can’t take on clients.
The biggest challenges were pressure on time, management support and commitment, organisational perspective and understanding, validation, feedback and development, client commitment, and recognition.
In spite of these challenges, more than 65 per cent agree or tend to agree they can carry on their coaching alongside their “day” job. Almost 90 per cent agree or tend to agree that maintaining their coaching practice is important to them.
Apart from Pulse Check, data is gathered from three-way meetings with managers, and evaluation.
Winek stressed how committed the BBC’s internal coaches are: “We are careful about how many communications we send, because over 90 per cent say they have a high commitment to coaching despite the strain of a day job.”
Coaching at Work, Volume 5, Issue 4