The modern workplace presents some tough challenges.
Work is fast-paced, teams are typically hybrid, burnout is high, and retention rates are low.
Managers are on the frontline of these challenges.
And increasingly, more organisations are looking to create a coaching culture to ease the pressure they face.
I caught up with Dan Boniface, head of training and executive coach at The BCF Group, to learn more about the benefits of coaching and how your leaders can unlock its benefits.
"'Create a coaching culture' is a real buzz phrase at the moment," Dan said.
"We hear it from a lot of companies. And we have supported many organisations in making it happen.
"People understand coaching is a powerful way to motivate, positively influence, and allow people to be the best they can be. It also gives leaders and managers some of their time back.
"Often, middle and senior managers are time-poor because they spend a lot of time doing other people's jobs as well as their own.
"But coaching allows them to make others accountable and take ownership and responsibility."
Dan believes there are many wider benefits to creating a coaching culture.
He said: "Coaching empowers others, and that has multiple benefits. It gives those people greater job satisfaction and encourages them to make better decisions.
"It also improves self-awareness, meaning we become more effective at working with others.
"It leads to stronger leadership, better communication and an improved work culture where people are more open and honest and willing to work more collaboratively."
A good starting point for creating culture is to explore whether anyone can coach.
"I often get asked this during our ILM Level 5 and 7 coaching courses.
"Technically, the answer is ‘yes' because anyone can call themselves a coach.
"But realistically, there is much to learn about it, which is where our training comes in.
"There are some natural elements that can lead you into coaching. You must understand people and have high levels of emotional intelligence. You also need an understanding of personality types, psychology and things like that which can help you extract information from people.
"Ultimately, that is the premise behind coaching. We are not giving the answers. We believe the answers are in the person we are coaching, and we are trying to help them extract the information.
"If the answers are not there, we empower them to go and find the information."
Dan believes there are seven main attributes of a good coach:
1. Be curious: When you are curious, you stay present and in the moment. Being inquisitive helps unpack the answer.
2. Ask great questions: You need to ask questions that help the person you are coaching reflect, see their actions from a different perspective, elaborate on an issue and think more creatively. Our ILM coaching courses will help you build a bank of great questions. You also need to think about the intent behind a question. Are you asking it because you are being judgemental? Or do you genuinely want to find out the answer?
3. Empathic listening: Once you've asked a great question, you need to listen on a deeper level to ensure you understand what is being said – and what is not being said.
4. Emotional intelligence: Coaches need to display high levels of emotional intelligence and lead with empathy.
5. Non-judgemental: You must manage assumptions. When a client speaks, it can be easy to jump to the solution. You need to pretend you don't know the answer. You must empower them to come up with the answer.
6. Find the ‘aha moment': You want the person you are coaching to see something differently. You want to reach that moment where they say "Oh, I've got it" or "Oh, of course, that's what I need to do".
7. First next step: Subjects can often feel overwhelming. Effective coaching breaks it down. For example, if you are coaching someone who has a meeting coming up about making people redundant, the first next step might be establishing the date of the meeting, working out what you want to say, or ensuring you know the HR policy. Focus on the smaller tasks to make the bigger ones more manageable.
That all makes sense. But I wondered how hard it is for a coach not to jump in when they know the answer the other person seeks.
"We work on the 80/20 principle," Dan said. "80 per cent of the talking is done by the person you coach.
"That's a great mindset for a coach to help us stay out of the conversation."
Dan uses the WAIT acronym to remind him of this during his coaching. It stands for Why Am I Talking?
"It is a reminder that when we are coaching, it isn't our moment," he said.
But are there times when a coach should offer advice?
"When the person we are coaching can't get to the answer or can't see the wood from the trees, sometimes we do need to offer advice," Dan said.
"There are also times when the person we are coaching will ask for advice – and it is ok to offer it in that situation.
"I was working with a global company recently, and we had all the HR partners in the room. They found it quite tricky during the first day because they normally give advice.
"Shifting them from advice-giving to extracting information was quite a mindset change. But they got there."
Is it often difficult to change from a traditional leadership approach to a coaching one and help create a coaching culture?
"It is tough," Dan said. "But it is also doable with training.
"I feel experience is crucial. Looking at myself, I wonder If I could have been an effective coach earlier in my career. I probably had some of the skills, but not the experience.
"But don't confuse that with age. There are plenty of people in their twenties who have plenty to offer as a coach.
"Ultimately, coaching will continue to be closely aligned with leadership.
"We are training more and more leaders who want to develop coaching skills because they see the benefits."
Coaching is often confused with mentoring. People tend to believe they are the same and use the terms interchangeably.
But they are different. Coaching is typically a short-term commitment focusing on specific goals.
Whereas, mentoring is often a long-term relationship, sometimes lasting several years, with a broader focus on career development.
So, which one is better?
Dan said: "It depends on what the person is after.
"But it is vital you know your role – are you a coach or a mentor?
"One of the attractions of coaching is that I could coach in any sector.
"But I couldn't mentor in every sector, because mentoring is about giving advice. It is about passing on information and sharing knowledge and experience.
"Coaching is about extracting information, and I can do that with my skills.
"So, before you start working with someone, you must be clear whether they want to be empowered or advised.
"If you take the example of someone on a career trajectory, who wants to become the next managing director, they might have mentoring from someone currently in that role because they can pass on their knowledge and experience.
"I could coach them towards that. But I may not be able to pass on my experience of being a managing director in their industry.
"Typically, coaching is more empowering. Although it is shorter, it has more longer-term benefits."
The BCF Group has been helping organisations develop their talent, inspire their people and overcome obstacles and challenges for the past 25 years.
We deliver training that makes a difference. Find out more about our business coaching, management training and interpersonal skills options.
Please see below for some related courses and qualifications which you may be interested in:
The ILM Level 7 Qualifications for Senior Level Coaches and Mentors are designed for senior leaders/managers (or those working in a training and development role) who are regularly coaching or mentoring at a senior level.
It is for those executive coaches who wish to accredit, validate or enhance their skills with an internationally-recognised executive coaching qualification.
Based on our extensive work and experience with leaders, both in the private and public sectors, this ILM Level 5 Coaching and Mentoring programme has been designed to develop the capability of leaders to positively impact the performance of individuals and teams.
This programme has been created to sharpen a leader's skills - enabling them to balance control, commitment and empowerment through productive conversations with individuals and teams.
This two-day accredited management training programme brings together the key leadership skills you need to be an effective manager so you can return to the workplace, deliver tangible results and help your teams reach their full potential.
It covers problem-solving, decision making, workplace communication and leading, and motivating teams effectively, among much more.
This course has been designed for those who are new to management or who are about to take up a management position.
Run over a single day, the course covers a wide range of topics to give new and inexperienced managers a good understanding of the foundations needed to begin their journey as a manager.
It includes modules on communication, managing your team, managing yourself, delegating, setting objectives, planning and personal development.
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