When is corporate culture ready for coaching?

Coaching it appears, is this month's up to the minute training topic as training companies besiege the press with articles and course programmes devoted to the assistance of the budding coach and coachee.

I even attended a forum where a company gave a demonstration of their particular technique and exhibited a near psycho-analysis of the unfortunate guinea-pig. It was all very progressive stuff, if a little excruciating for those of us not familiar with witnessing a person having their schemata pealed away until they were left with the two opposing forces in their life - and a dilemma, and how many coaching sessions should be open to observation? But I digress, after witnessing the role-play it occurred to me how involved coaching is and a world away from normal MT fare such as time management, organization and even change management. No other topic/relationship method has the potential ability to give such effective and conversely disastrous results as outcome, apart, perhaps from mentoring. Coaching should be one of the last skills a company should be hoping to endow their employees with, after making sure their whole HR operation is up to speed. How can businesses expect to tinker with their employees' raison d'etre if the company hasn't got a handle on the basics such as objectivity, open communication, motivation and performance management? Sadly, many don't. Case in point, a well known local company, underpays its employees, encourages internal competition, has a blame culture, holds inductees responsible for minor mistakes during their induction and docks half a day's pay for being ten minutes late! Until companies get rid of attitudes like that by updating their approach, the coaching course should stay firmly on the shelf.

'But my company isn't like that.' You may retort, those progressive companies will follow the guidelines, the popular process of opening a management training brochure, throwing a dart at the page and sending all the staff on the chosen course does not apply here.

1. Short list possible coaching staff

2. Evaluate staff: look at life experience, management experience, intra-personal skills and inter-personal skills. Is the person an approachable, open and cheerful type? Are they a successful employee? What is their management style? Authoritarian task-masters need not apply.

3. Ask for volunteers: Coaches must have intrinsic motivation

4. Choose a reputable training company, preferably one your associates can confirm provided effective and practical coaching training.

5. Make staff ready for coaching

6. Give staff coachee guidelines/training

7. Put coach and coachee together

Be prepared for change, coaching is about helping the coachee find answers to problems themselves, with new solutions comes change and a company must have the integrity to
accept the change the newly coached will bring.