3 ways to start creating a Coaching Culture at work

You’ve probably heard of the work that business coaches do to help people within organisations. But have you thought about how YOU can use a coaching style at work?

As I write this, it’s nearly the end of another week and more specifically, International Coaching Week, organised by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) to celebrate the power and impact of working with a professional coach. I've been working as a coach now for 3 years and I know how much of a positive change a professionally trained coach can make to people. Myself and my co-director Tristan both coach and we love to see people reach goals and overcome hurdles. But this article is for non-coaches, whether you're a leader, a manager or a junior team member. This is about the benefits of using a coaching style in your role at work, which you can start implementing easily from today.

It might surprise you that a lot of people don’t actually know what coaching is, even some managers and leaders. So let’s start with a definition by the ICF:

Partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential

It's a great definition, however let's keep it simple and explore what a coaching style could mean for you in real life, with a workplace example:

Imagine that you're highly skilled in a specific area and one of your colleagues or team members approaches you, asking for some help. It doesn't matter what skill it is, it could be anything, just imagine this is happening for a moment. Let's take an example of sales:

“I want to become better at selling. How do I become more skilled like you?” they say.

What do you do? What would you say? I want you to think about that for a moment. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind?

Maybe you’d say

• “What you need to do is some training. There’s a great course that I went on and look at me now”
•  “You have to pick up the phone and make some calls”
•  “Get off you seat and go and meet some people”
• “Go to as many networking events as you can”

That’s all good advice but it’s not coaching and that’s just it, it’s advice. It’s teaching, it’s consulting, it’s telling.

Number 1 rule: Coaching isn’t about giving advice.

Of course giving advice works in certain situations. There are thousands of consultants worldwide helping organisations daily. It's great if there is specific information that needs to be shared - health and safety, standard operating procedures, systems and processes that need to be followed. But, giving advice doesn't always work. It doesn't always 'stick' with people. What works for one person, doesn't always work for another. We're complex beings after all.

It's the same as if someone came to you asking for advice on getting fitter. You might love running and eating your greens, so you say forcefully: "Go running everyday and eat more broccoli". The problem is that they hate running and can't stand the taste of broccoli. They might try it, but it probably won't work and they might fail and get demotivated.

So think back to the selling example. If you weren’t to give advice, what would you say?

How about:

• “What does better mean to you?”
• “How do you want to see your skills change in this area in a years time?”
• “What would success look like to you?”

Can you see the difference? You're asking, rather than telling. You're getting the person to think about what they want, to think for themselves and come up with their own solutions. It takes longer, but the person develops their own goals that motivate them. Once a goal is crafted, you can help them to design a way of reaching it and when they do, they feel more rewarded. I think we all feel better when we plan and do something for ourselves.

Using a coaching approach at work helps people:

• Take action towards achieving goals that they want
• Become more self-reliant and able to problem solve more effectively
• Gain more job and life satisfaction
• Take greater responsibility and accountability for their own actions and commitments

Professional coaching takes time and a lot of practice to do well, but you can start using some simple coaching skills and begin to make a real difference. Here are 3 things that you can start doing today.

1) ASK MORE, TELL LESS

When you have knowledge and someone comes to you for advice, it’s easy to just jump in and tell them what to do without giving them a chance to think. Sometimes this is needed, perhaps it’s an essential policy or you're mentoring or training a junior member of the team. What we are trying to do is help people think and come up with their own solutions. So, if it’s possible, stop and think of an open question, where the answer can’t be a yes or no. (What?..Where?..When?.. Which?..Who?..How?....you know them well)

The trouble is that we live in a world where information gathering is now almost instant. We have a question, what we do? We search the web. So don’t be surprised if people look surprised themselves when you ask, rather than tell. They might be expecting a quick answer. But give it time, let them go and explore and come back to you. Give them developmental feedback for the steps that they take and you’ll start to see a difference.

2) LISTEN ACTIVELY

Listening is probably the weakest skills for many of us. As my Mum once said to me as a child, you have two ears and one mouth for a reason, so listen twice as much. Good advice Mum....if only I'd listened more back then!

Remember that active listening requires you to pay full attention, put everything down, focus and engage. Use positive body language, lean in, nod, those kind of things, but you also have to actually listen too. Not just to what is being said, but also, to what isn’t being said. Listen for understanding, observe their body language, trust your gut feeling. Don’t just listen for the next space, so you can start talking again. And don’t start thinking about what you’re going to say next. Listen only!

3) LOOK TO THE FUTURE, NOT THE PAST

Coaching is all about looking to the future, never at what happened in the past. So when you ask your questions, try to help the person focus on what they want to achieve, what their future goal is, what the next specific action will be. Make it specific, vivid, real. Help bring it to life.

There are many more subtle skills to professional coaching, but start with these three at work and you can help contribute to someone's real growth. It’s about creating a coaching culture, where we all help everyone around us to explore, to discover and to develop. It takes time, you have to listen, you have to think of powerful questions, but if you weave it into your style, you’ll help people to develop their thinking skills and feel more rewarded when they reach their goals.

So give it a go, from today. What are you waiting for?

If you’re interested in exploring a coaching programme for yourself or your team or to help develop core coaching skills for your managers, please get in touch with us at [email protected]

Ian Davies is the co-founder and Director of Sinzar Consulting, focusing on the learning and development side of the business through the Team Thinking Asia brand.

Ian has over 20 years of international experience in learning and development, focusing on management and organisational development programmes. Ian holds a Bachelor's Degree in Education, is a NeuroLeadership Institute Brain-Based Coach, an Accredited Associate Coach (ACC) with the International Coaching Federation, a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a Certified Trainer of PRISM Brain Mapping? and a Management 3.0 Facilitator.

Ian’s main interests include taking behavioural and neuroscience-based approaches and making them accessible to individuals and teams to support improved communication and performance.

Tristan Burton is the co-founder and Director of Sinzar Consulting, focusing on the consultancy support to international development partners.

Tristan has over 15 years of international experience, having first started working on learning projects in Myanmar from 2008. Tristan holds degrees in Experimental Psychology and Development Studies, is a Brain-Based Coach and Certified Trainer of PRISM Brain Mapping?.

Tristan’s interests include issues of diversity and inclusion within organisations as well as the importance of cultural intelligence to support improved communication and performance.