Hey HR, Can You Really Be Effective Internal Coaches?

Can internal HR professionals do an effective job of coaching leaders? Definitely.

Will most internal HR coaches be effective in coaching leaders? Maybe.

My friend, Linda Sharkey, did some outstanding research on internal HR coaching when she was at GE Capital a few years ago. The findings were very clear: Not only could internal coaches do as good a job as external coaches, internal coaches often did a better job than external coaches!

There are four unique challenges facing internal HR coaches:

1. Confidentiality: If leaders believe that the internal HR coach will use disclosure against them in future personnel decisions, the coaching process will probably not work.
2. Credibility: In some cases, internal HR coaches are not given the credibility of external coaches. If this is true, the internal coach can deliver the same message as the external coach, but the message will be discounted and possibly ignored.
3. Training: Many external coaches are specialists. (For example, in my work as an external coach, I only help already successful leaders achieve positive change in behavior. That is all I do.) HR professionals often have to know about many topic areas and may lack training or experience for coaching in some specific client needs.
4. Time: From my experience, this is the biggest challenge. Many of the great HR professionals I know can manage confidentiality, have great credibility, and are well-trained as coaches. The challenge is that they are so over-committed that they don't have the time to take on this type of assignment.

Four reasons why the GE case study was a success:

1. In the GE case study, HR professionals were coaches to high-potential leaders. This was a critical success factor. If internal coaches are working to "document for dismissal," they won't be welcomed by their clients. If HR coaches are working to help successful leaders get even better, they will be very welcomed by their clients.
2. GE gave leaders a choice in HR coaches. This helped ensure that the coaches were seen as credible, gave the clients more ownership in the process, and helped ensure a good fit between coach and client.
3. Coaches were trained to reinforce the specific goals of GE and deal with the specific issues faced by their clients.
4. Coaches were given the time they needed to devote to their coaching clients. This was seen as part of their job not an add-on.

As this research showed, when the coaching process is designed to ensure success, internal HR coaches can do a fantastic job. For more information about this research, see Linda Sharkey’s article “Leveraging HR: How to Develop Leaders in ‘Real Time’” in the book Human Resources in the 21st Century.

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