When most people think of a coach their mind
probably wanders to sports. They think about an old t-ball coach, high school
basketball coach, high school football coach, or maybe even Vince Lombardi.
When you think about a sports coach, what do you think is their number one
priority? I believe that the job of a coach is to help an individual (player) increase
their skills while defining and reaching their goals as they guide the team to
victory. Why isn’t coaching used more often to help organizations succeed? The
same concept could be used in an organization. The coach is there to help
individuals reach their goals while they guide the organizations to success.
I recently came across the following idea about
coaching and began to wonder how coaches can bring value to an organization,
how coaching can affect strategy, and what this means to my organization.
To be
an executive coach, it is necessary to know that clients are the first and best
expert capable of solving their own problems and achieving their own ambitions,
that is precisely the main reason why clients are motivated to call on a coach.
When clients bring important issues to a coach, they already made a complete
inventory of their personal or professional issues and of all possible options.
Clients have already tried working out their issues alone, and have not
succeeded.
So, what is it that coaches do to provide value to
their clients? According to von Hoffman (1999), coaching assists clients in
developing clear goals and set a time frame as to when the goals are reached. The
purpose of a coach is not to tell the individual what to do but ask the right
questions to learn what they are trying to accomplish. They are able to help
the client understand what actions need to be altered to be successful and
accomplish set goals. According to Frankovelgia (2010) the purpose of coaching
“is to increase effectiveness, broaden thinking,
identify strengths and development needs and set and achieve challenging goals”
(para. 5). A client that has a broadened sense of thinking, increased effectiveness,
and a clear path to reach their goals has a value that has dramatically
increased. The client should feel a renewed sense of confidence, morale, and
accomplishment.
Coaching can become a pivotal part of
leadership because if done correctly, it should lead to stronger follower and
leaders. As a client is coached they begin to learn more about themselves. They
begin to see that they can accomplish that goal, make the sell, or learn the
new computer system. As they learn more about themselves their confidence and
joy for their work can start to grow. According to von Hoffman (1999) employees
usually have many resources that have yet to be tapped and as a coach is able
to open up the resources the employee begins to understand how they can apply
the resources to the job. If coaching is successful it could create a culture
of followers coaching other followers leading to higher-level followers that
could become leaders.
From a leadership standpoint, the same
rules of coaching could apply to leaders. Leaders could also be a client that
needs to call on a coach. The leader may not understand why the company is
losing revenue or why sales are down. As a coach guides them to reach their
goals their confidence increases and leadership capabilities increase.
Coaching can also be useful in the development of an
organizational strategy. Effective coaching increases an individual’s
confidence, morale, productivity, and performance. Obolensky (2014) stated that
approximately sixty percent of strategic ideas should come from the bottom of
an organization. Followers who are more confident and understand their work in
a new light may bring up stronger ideas that can be implemented into strategy.
Buytendijk (2010) stated that strategy should be looked at as a group of
options instead of choices and commitments. It is insane to think a coach will
be able to predict the future, which is the idea a strategy is based upon. But
an effective coach can help leadership better understand their options to put
together a successful strategy.
Coaching can make a huge difference in the
organization. As mentioned previously, coaching can increase confidence and
productivity. The increased morale and skills can lead to stronger employees.
As employees are the main focus of any organization (at least in my opinion)
more efficient employees can only benefit the organization. According to von
Hoffman, “Coaching produces more consistent, replicable results than a lot of
other management approaches. It encourages them to be more flexible and
adaptable. That kind of response from employees can have a substantial effect
on the bottom line” (para. 24).
As I learned more about what coaching could mean to
an organization, I began to contemplate what it could mean to not only myself
but my organization as well. Looking at myself as a leader, I think coaching
could be very beneficial. I personally tend to care more about the people than
the goals in all aspects of business. I always chose a strategy that involves
other people. But according to Obolensky (2014), coaching is a mix of selling
and involving. I could use coaching to be more balanced in my methods. As a
follower, I believe that coaching could help me tap some of the hidden
resources that could impact my work in a positive way.
My organization could benefit from coaching as well.
Though there is a mixture of leadership methods in my department, the majority
rely on telling or pushing strategies. According to Frankvelgia (2010),
coaching relies on asking rather than telling and promotes thought rather than
ordering directions. I believe if the leaders relied more on coaching than
telling or demanding, the trust and morale in the department would increase
which would be a benefit.
References
Buytenddijk, F. (2010). Dealing with dilemmas:
Redefining strategies. Retrieved from http://www.frankbuytendijk.com/Balanced_Scorecard_Report_B1009A.pdf
Frankovelgia,
C. (2010). The key To effective coaching. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/28/coaching-talent-development-leadership-managing-ccl.html
Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex adaptive leadership: Embracing paradox and uncertainty (2nd ed.). Gower.
von Hoffman, C. (1999). Coaching: The ten killer myths (Links to
an external site.). Harvard Management Update, 4(1),
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