What is Coaching in Business?
Executive and Leadership Coaching
What is Coaching:-
The concept of coaching has entered the business world (where it has been the preserve of the ‘executive’) from its origins in sport. Coaching (as distinct from ‘training’) is a process where an individual or team works to achieve a previously impossible level of performance. In essence coaching is the modelling of excellence, made relevant to a specific situation.
How is it Different From Training:-
Training is the activity of acquiring skills & competences, often in groups. It is basically the repetition of expertly validated behaviour. This is useful if you want to be as good as others are already, and if you believe the past is a reliable guide to the future. Training helps you operate on ‘terra firma’, the known world.
For the many unforeseen, and unpredictable situations that a manager faces daily, this is not sufficient. Coaching equips you for ‘terra incognita’, where there is no map or expert guide.
What is the Purpose of Coaching
The main purpose is to develop a leadership mindset ('leadership' being the ability to take others willingly to places they wouldn’t go on their own, and 'mindset' being a set of values and beliefs). Mindset determines behaviour more than skill or knowledge. In an increasingly complex and fast moving world, being an ‘expert’ is almost a liability. The risk of built in obsolescence of thinking is high.
What does Sterling Provide:-
Sterling provides a structured development process, holding the clients outcomes as the benchmark against which to measure success. The coach is an expert in process design and delivery. The client needs only to know what it is they want to achieve, and to be committed to that end. The client brings the ‘why’; the coach brings the ‘how-to’.
A by-product of the coaching process is a toolkit for ‘leadership’, which is transferable to other employees in the organisation. Some of the components of good leadership coaching are ‘trust of self and others’, ‘clarity of purpose’, ‘effective communication’, ‘behavioural flexibility’, ‘risk-taking’, ‘continuous learning’ and ‘creative thinking’.
Unlike training, coaching impacts the values and beliefs which drive behaviour. It therefore provides a sustainable and systemic result and can become part of a broader culture change process if undertaken at the most senior management levels.
When might coaching be useful ?
1) When a manager is promoted and asked to 'step up' to a new level of responsibility, and performance.
2) When a team needs to become more effective in a changing environment.
3) When a CEO/director needs to inspire major performance improvement, and accompanying culture change.
4) When people need an impartial and focussed source of encouragement.
5) When a manager needs to develop their own skill as a coach.
Coaching is NOT best used as a remedial process for underperformers. In sport it is those who are already competent who benefit most from coaching.
The value of coaching ?
The return on investment in coaching is determined by the value to the business of the outcomes set by the client, compared with the cost of the coaching.
Clients are encouraged to set outcomes worth several times their investment.