Your tribe, my tribe, our tribe. My musings on coaching culture.
I wanted to thank my followers, readers, supporters and the curious commuters who just happened upon them, my sincere thanks for the kind messages, comments and support received from the articles I have been writing.
I often ask the question when responding if there are any topics people would like me to write about. One that has come up regularly has been the subject of 'Coaching Culture'.
There have been a few specific areas people have asked me about and I will focus on these briefly here. If you want more information or you are looking for professional support then simply get in touch.
As always every like and share is massively appreciated but what I hope for most is that my articles are a catalyst for thought and add value.
What defines a Coaching Culture?
Rather than trying to offer you a mechanism where you can measure if a coaching culture exists it is easier to lay out what the building blocks of a coaching culture are. And from this you can work out if you have one or what you need to do to build one.
Coaching cultures are built around two key concepts. These two concepts are forged in the crucible of 'will' and 'belief' perhaps the two strongest drivers we can know. The two foundation concepts are:
- Belief in coaching as a driver for positive change and positive performance.
- Top down commitment to coaching.
These two concepts are the primordial soup that allows the birth of the coaching culture to happen and from them spring the 5 key factors that need to be in place for the coaching culture to exist and develop. In short this can be summarised as 'it's a great idea' and 'lets get it done'
The 5 key factors.
Here then we see the two elemental forces of 'Will' and 'Belief' represented. As we add ingredients it is wise to remember that at the core of it all we are trying to create an environment where the two foundation concepts can solidify and survive. To get things really started we introduce the 'delivery' ingredient, the measures (the processes and protocols) around it as well as adding a healthy pinch of purpose by aligning to desired outcomes. Perhaps I am being subconsciously influenced by the smell of baking coming from the kitchen as I am writing this.
Adopting a coaching culture will typically require investment. Be it in developing coaching skills, buying in expertise or creating new divisions within the organisation. These are often the most visible with new hires, training courses and external consultants often being employed.
Can you give me an easy way to describe coaching culture?
This came up fairly often in conversations I have had with connections here. Allow me to help...
In ‘Making coaching work’ by Clutterbuck and Megginson (2005)' they describe a coaching culture as follows:
‘Coaching is the predominant style of managing and working together and where commitment to improving the organisation is embedded in a parallel commitment to improving the people’.
While this is an elegant way of describing coaching culture, it could be simplified by saying;
'Coaching culture is a phrase used to describe the culture of organisations where coaching is their primary force for positive change'.
Of course neither of these explanations allow for a detailed view of the organisational context in respect to its moving parts such as perceived need, employee engagement with coaching, the political appetite at a senior level for the changes needed to move toward a coaching culture, the personal development and investment required to facilitate the skills in the individuals etc. But it is a nice bite size sentence, and might work for speed dating (expect to continue seeking a date if you are using this).
Why do organisations build coaching cultures?
having a skim over my LinkedIn feed recently there seems to be a growing volume in respect to coaching cultures, their benefits and the number of apparent experts in the field. So perhaps its deemed on trend as a business topic. Although I would hope that no organisation would attempt to grow a coaching culture due to a perceived fashion or trend.
Every organisation will have its own ideas on the 'why' of coaching culture. Here though are some avenues of consideration for both the concept fashionistas and the performance pragmatist that should be viewed as the formative drivers toward desire for a coaching culture.
- Address change; where the organisation enlists coaching to support individuals or indeed groups in moving from a storming phase of activity to a norming or performing phase.
- Strategic benefit; where the organisation enlists coaching to increase, create, consolidate or drive competitive advantage.
You can read 'Coaching and Competitive Advantage' for more detail.
Of course there is a great deal of information to share on this subject that I haven't covered but I have answered the questions and queries that have come up the most.
If you want to know more or you feel your organisation is ready to engage with a coaching culture please get in touch, I can help you.
I hope this article added value in some way.
www.thewaytosuccess.co.uk