Coaching is a vital part of business development. Just make sure it is tied to your organisation’s strategic intent Jane Turner

‘Coaching’ and ‘culture’ are words that sit well together. We hear and read a lot about ‘coaching culture’ in practitioner literature – indeed, implementing a coaching culture among management is the aim of many an organisation – but breathing life into these words is a challenging journey. 

The extent to which that challenge is met will determine and demonstrate how coaching can support the strategic intent of an organisation.

As the effects of the recession continue to be felt by businesses, regardless of their sector or discipline, the importance of linking development activities such as coaching to overall strategy has never been more pressing. Yet coaching can become a victim of its own success. 

Many organisations have dipped their toe into the water, experienced the impact at micro level and felt compelled to create their own coaching culture. It often follows a powerful coaching experience had by the CEO. The result is coaching as a directive from above – well-intentioned, but a directive nonetheless.

This puts learning and development (L&D) practitioners in a difficult position, at risk of leading what appears to be just the latest fad. The CEO may be keen, but the rest of the senior team won’t necessarily be engaged or clear about their responsibilities. There may be pockets of good practice but failure to show how coaching can support the future strategic intent of the organisation means the endeavour will have a distinct lack of longevity. It will never be a genuine coaching culture. 

 An overarching process should be adopted to create a level of disciplined thinking underpinned by consideration of the following:

  • Discussions that will determine the organisational interpretation of a coaching culture. If there is a lack of alignment to the destination, the likelihood of arriving at it will be fundamentally challenged.
  • Answers to these basic questions: How does this link to the business strategy? Where are we heading as an organisation? What do we require of our people to help us get there? How can coaching help? If a demonstrable link can be found it will likely achieve buy-in.
  • Role models that demonstrate coaching behaviour. To facilitate this, the senior team should engage in development that supports role models in creating culture change. For example, do we want to develop internal coaching to focus on operational elements, so that line managers focus on the achievement of individual performance objectives in line with organisational ones? Your vision of a coaching culture needs to be painted in vivid Technicolor and role modelled constantly.
  • Check that it is working. Determine measures upfront so that impact can be assessed – and the attention of senior leaders maintained.

At a more basic level, practitioners attempting to embed a coaching culture could try the following simple, yet powerful, exercise: 

Consider and describe what those two words – ‘coaching’ and ‘culture’ – mean to you. Next, do the same with the actual coaching culture in your own organisation.

In workshops I’ve run with L&D practitioners, such as those at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development annual conference in April, I ask people to use images to describe their thoughts and ideas, but even a few minutes’ focused thinking would help stimulate debate in your organisation.

My hunch is that the gap between the vision of a coaching culture and its reality on the ground may be cause for action.

Jane Turner is an associate dean of the Executive Development Centre at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University

Coaching at Work, Volume 5, Issue 4