So, you have investing in coach development training. You have some leaders trained up and the beginnings of a pool of coaches. You have promoted coaching opportunities and have some interest. 6-9 months later you have a catch up with these leaders and coaches. It transpires that theses coaches arenât spending as much time in the coaching space as you had hoped or expectedâŠ
The above scenario is not uncommon and not new, and sadly, it is increasing as wellâŠ
Having spoken to hundreds of leaders over the years and exploring their coaching activity with them has been enlightening. Over time I have captured their thinking as to why large numbers are not coaching as much as we think. Their thoughts are interesting individually, and also present fascinating themes which organisations need to pay attention to. Only by doing so will they change the status quo around their internal coaching, and coaching âsuccess ratesâ within employee performance.
Below is a sample of their comments around the reasons they donât coach. You, I am sure, will have examples of your own as well.
Leaderâs OWN reasons for not coaching
âI see it as an addition to my leadership role rather than an integral core part of it, so I donât do itâŠâ
âIt as a HR led activity, so not really applicable to me. Itâs for them to lead onâ
âI have been âputâ on coaching training and then expected by the organisation to coach, but I am not given the support or encouragement to coachâ
âI really am too busy to coach, the organisation doesnât give me time to do itâ.
âI donât believe I can coach well enough and I wonât make a difference to those I work withâ.
âIt as a remedial activity only for under-performing employees, my guys are just fine.â
âMy present leadership style is too strong a driver to embrace a new alternate oneâ.
âI havenât got into the habit of coaching.â
âCoaching will cost me a lot of time to coach everyoneâ.
âI canât see the leadership and coaching connection.â
âThe style I have works well enough for meâ.
âIt is easier and quicker for me to tell someone what to do rather than try to coach them.â
âMy leader never coached me, so why should I do it?â
âWe donât see senior leaders doing this, why just us?â
âCoaching wonât add to my bottom line!â
âI am not measured on my coaching so why should I do it?â
âI am used to being the expert and telling, so I see coaching as a reduction in, or challenge to my control.â
âI actually donât need to coachâ.
âMy perception is that the team donât want/need to be coached.â
Analysis of these comments
Considering these reasons is fascinating. They should raise significant questions and concerns around our leaders, leadership and coaching. These comments can be put into themes for us to examine:
- âReasons to excusesâ
- Perceptions
- Organisationâs relationship with coaching
- How we develop our internal coaches
These themes do not exist in isolation, they are interdependent. Mutually influencing. We will explore the first two themes briefly here, the second two, in subsequent blogs.
‘Reasons to excuses’ and perceptions
Where leaders give the same reason over a longer period of time for not coaching this actually is more of an excuse, than a reason. Individual perceptions whether well founded or not, influence a leaderâs beliefs and therefore their actions, or lack thereof. So we need to pay attention to them.
Examining these leaderâs comments is interesting because they speak to us at many levels and in many ways. About the nature of people, perspectives on leadership, motivations, engagement levels, perspectives on roles, accountabilities, their focus, ignorance. Around coaching I hear in the comments about â attitudes, expectations, development, relationships, understanding of nature of coaching, priorities, the basics of coaching, even a selfishness around time, purpose and care.
Many comments reflect the fact that many leaders have a âleader centric mindsetâ. The implications around this is really interesting and worthy of an investigation in itâs own right.
The fact is that many coaching leaders in organisations have their own personal hurdles to overcome around coaching, even before we begin to look at organizational reasons why they donât coach. However, the organisation still has a key role.
What it does tell us is that we need to have a three-pronged approach to internal organisational coaching if we are to make it successful. One of these is around a âre-education around our leadersâ. This is both in relation to coaching and more fundamentally their leadership (roles)
Looking at our leaders
Extrapolating out from the leaderâs comments we can see that there are areas the to be addressed can include:
| Clarification of leadership standards for our leaders Increase the self-awareness of our leaders around their own leadership Challenging of laziness and attitudes Understand origins of âbusynessâ Address lack of leadership knowledge Understand the lack of care? | Re-education around roles and responsibilities Clear and continuous communication around leadership Individual and leadership accountability Setting and agreeing expectations of our leaders |
Within the context of internal coaching. Helping our leaders understand the people development, performance management expectations of their roles. And, how coaching is the approach to achieve this.
Next blog…
The next blog in this internal coach series, examines the organisationâs relationship with coaching and how that impacts on the ability of internal coaches to maximise their coachingâŠ
Abintus, what we can do for you…
- We can help diagnose your organisationâs readiness for coaching, as well as audit your current offerings around coaching to take them to the next level.
- Abintus can train your coaches to an exceptional standard, building in your localised needs and challenges. Making coaching tailored to your organisations needs
- We can provide coaching CPD and Supervision to your coaches. Offering support and a safe place for your coaches to discuss their coaching and experiences.
- We can âcoach your coachesâ to enhance their confidence and competence in their coaching activities.
Check out our coaching support and CPD activities we can offer you here
Nick Howell is a qualified coach, supervisor and leadership facilitator, working across sectors. He is also the author of best-selling book âGreat Coaching Questionsâ. Contact Nick today for an informal exploration of your organisations coaching needs â 07867 785314 nick@abintus.co.uk