Building a coaching culture

I first trained as a coach in 2012 and am currently training to be a coach supervisor. I am passionate about the power of coaching to accelerate individual development and transform the systems in which the individual participates.

This article describes the best of the books and articles I've read on the topic of building a coaching culture. It formed the basis of a confidential 6 months organisational change project I recently completed and the supporting paper I submitted for the Global Masters in Learning & Development at Nyenrode University.

A super short introduction to culture

McKinsey defines culture as, "the common set of behaviours and underlying mindsets and beliefs that shape how people work and interact day to day" (Dewar & Doucette, 2018, para. 5). Simply put, it is the way things are done around here.

And culture matters. Based on McKinsey's research with more than a thousand organisations, culture clearly correlates with business performance. In an environment where change is constant and innovation is vital to stay in the game, a healthy culture is the ultimate competitive advantage (Dewar & Doucette, 2018).

What exactly is a coaching culture and what are the benefits?

There are many definitions of a coaching culture but one of my favourites is, "…where the principles, beliefs and mindsets driving people's behaviour in the workplace are deeply rooted in the discipline of coaching" (Clutterbuck, 2016, p. 9). This goes beyond coaching skills or behaviours and takes it to the heart of culture: beliefs and mindsets.

We know coaching is an invaluable tool for developing people. A meta-analysis of 18 studies of coaching in organisations demonstrated coaching has a significant positive effect on the performance and skills, well-being, coping abilities, work attitudes and goal-directed behaviour of coachees (Theeboom et al., 2013). But why would an organisation aspire to develop a coaching culture, a place where a coaching mindset influences interactions at every level of the organisation, as well as with the company's external stakeholders?

I think the answer comes down to the quality of thinking generated. When operating in an environment where the underlying principles of coaching (such as curiosity, respect, equality and learning) have been internalised and the behaviours of coaching are practiced, the quality of people's thinking improves, leading to better decisions and higher performance. Perhaps not the holy grail for all companies, but in professional services and law firms, where we literally sell the quality of our thinking, I think a coaching culture can make a real difference to the performance of the organisation.

It is no surprise to me that Garr et al. (2017) found "those organisations with mature performance and development coaching programmes are 3.8 times more likely to have better business and financial outcomes than organisations that lack such programmes" (p. 4). Equally, when Josh Bersin (2007) conducted the largest-ever study of corporate talent management ten years before this, he also found that "the #1 process organizations should focus on is coaching… Organizations with strong coaching cultures, programs, and support structures develop much higher levels of engagement, leadership, flexibility, and performance" (para. 7). Coaching in organisations is no passing fad.

The stages in developing a coaching culture

???????????At first read, the academic research might have you believing there is a step-by-step journey to building a coaching culture. For example, see Hawkins & Smith's (2013, pp. 129-134) seven steps for establishing a full coaching culture (though they do say this is more descriptive of the common stages rather than prescribing that all organisations must go through all seven stages).

For anyone who has been working in organisations for more than five minutes will know transforming culture is complex and there is no easy step-by-step process to follow. I've completed an Executive MSc in Organisational Change and I still don't have the answers! However, I did find Clutterbuck et al.'s (2016) four stage model helpful as a diagnostic tool to describe the current stage of development and to identify specific behaviours to cultivate (pp. 73-76). The four stages are:

• Nascent: Little or no commitment to developing a coaching culture and very little coaching taking place.
• Tactical: The value of a coaching culture is recognised but there is little systematic effort taking place to create it. Coaching takes place on a mostly ad hoc basis.
• Strategic: Coaching is considered an important enabler to achieving business goals. Formal coaching takes place regularly.
• Embedded: People at all levels in the organisation are engaged in coaching - both formal and informal.

The organisation I have in mind sits somewhere around the tactical development stage: "the value of a coaching culture is recognised but there is little systematic effort taking place to create it. Some coaching takes place, mostly on an ad hoc basis" (p. 13). For example, "coaching is referred to in strategy documents… used by bosses in one-to-ones to improve performance… [and] senior groups endorse the move to coaching" (pp. 73-75). Unlike the strategic development stage though, coaching did not seem to be used to develop an enquiring stance towards organisation agendas, nor did I hear the top team talking about challenges in their coaching, and nor was coaching widely used as a way of working in teams and projects (pp. 74-75).

Developing a coaching vision and strategy: a key task in the process

Hawkins (Hawkins & Smith, 2013, pp. 126-127) describes three foundational pillars which together form a strong base for development of a company's approach to coaching activities. These are:

1. A clear unifying coaching strategy, linked to the mission and business strategy
2. Alignment with organisational culture change
3. A coaching infrastructure which gives clear direction from the top and centre while being informed by what is happening throughout the organisation

Most organisations take time to create the organisation's mission and strategy, but not so much time is spent on defining the desired culture. And a coaching culture is not an end in itself. It is important to develop a clear and energising picture of what the future will look like when the embedded stage of a coaching culture is reached. What will be different? How will the organisation better achieve its objectives? How will the end clients benefits? How will employees experience their roles? etc. This is the time to involve a large and diverse group of people in the conversation as it is a key part of the culture change process itself.

Once there is some consensus around the vision, you can develop a coaching strategy. Clutterbuck et al. (2016, p. 82) identify four main areas of a coaching culture strategy:

• Accountability and relevance: Creating or increasing access to a broad range of coaching options
• Support and reinforcement: Building and sustaining the momentum for coaching through skill building, organisational sponsors, supporting infrastructure, reward and recognition processes etc.
• Integration: Making coaching part of the way 'we do business around here' by integrating with core business and HR systems and processes
• Measurement: Evaluating the effectiveness of coaching

Many organisations will skip the work and thinking required to develop a coaching strategy and will often dive straight into increasing access to coaching by developing internal coaching pools, training line managers to coach or professionalising the executive coaching offering. I have been guilty of this, too!

In reality, working in organisations can be a messy affair and as much as the theory I have discussed here is helpful to shape our thinking, sometimes we need to just get started somewhere. Setting up pilot projects can provide data to help demonstrate the impact of coaching and build the business case for a more strategic approach to developing a coaching culture. In this case, give careful thought to how you will evaluate impact before you get started as this is no walk in the park, either!

Conclusion

There are benefits to building a coaching culture but it requires time and a clear vision and strategy. If you are in an organisation where there is no interest in developing a coaching strategy, here's some things to do:

• Identify the specific behaviours you are looking to cultivate
• Look for opportunities to run pilot projects to build those behaviours
• Plan how you will measure the impact of those projects
• Find a group of senior sponsors and employee champions who are interested in what coaching can achieve and share what you're doing with this group.
• Write up the results from your pilot projects and share with senior sponsors and other decision-makers.

And as with any culture change, do your best to role model the behaviours you're looking to develop in the organisation. In this case, work from a place of curiosity, keep an open mind, ask good questions and don't be afraid of not knowing the answer!

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References

Bersin, J. (2007, July 17). High impact talent management: Top 22 high-impact processes. https://joshbersin.com/2007/07/high-impact-talent-management-the-top-22/

Clutterbuck, D., Megginson, D., & Bajer, A. (2016). Building and sustaining a coaching culture. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Dewar, C. & Doucette, R. (2018, March 27). Culture: 4 keys to why it matters. McKinsey. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/culture-4-keys-to-why-it-matters

Garr, S. S., Gantcheva, I., Yoshida, R. & Wu, M. (2017). Talent matters: How a well-designed talent experience can drive growth in emerging markets. Deloitte University Press. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/3422-Talent-matters/ER_3422_Talent%20matters_vFINAL.pdf

Hawkins, P. & Smith, N. (2013) Coaching, mentoring and organizational consultancy: Supervision, skills and development (2nd ed.). Open University Press.

Theeboom, T., Beersma, B., & van Vianen, A. E. M. (2013). Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organizational context. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2013.837499