BUSINESS COACHING - BE EFFECTIVE

At the BCF Group, all of our business coaching programmes are designed to bring truly effective results to our clients. We believe that there is no point even starting to design an L&D programme unless you know that you can meet all of the clients' objectives and bring an influential and positive change to an organisation.

Our ILM Level 5 Business Coaching Certificate programme has been recognised as being a hugely effective business coaching programme; so much so, it has been recognised and accredited by ILM up to a Level 5 Certificate standard.

In order to consistently achieve such a high level of dynamic and commercially aware in-house L&D programmes; certain universal standards have to be met in order to deliver an effective programme:-

1. The Research & Consultation Stage

The brief from the client needs to be as clear and as detailed as possible. The desired outcomes need to be discussed at length, and potentially challenged if required; taking into account culture, values and organisational goals. A cross-section of the participants attending the programme also needs to be consulted. This is to ensure that a broad picture of specific requirements can be taken into account when designing the programme.

Comprehensive research at the outset is essential in order to put together a course or package which is laser-focused on the client’s needs and wants. This ensures that highly relevant and effective training and/or coaching is provided which comprehensively deals with the issues that need to be covered.

Thorough consultation is imperative in order to provide you with exactly what you need. Only be getting a complete understanding of the issues within your organisation can we truly put together a bespoke programme which will enable your managers or employees to overcome them.

As you know your employees and the issues they face better than anyone, you will play a key part in this stage of the process.

2. The Design Stage

Every organisation is different. They have different priorities, different working methods, different functions and different goals and aspirations. We design every in-house programme from scratch, taking in the detailed research that we have previously conducted.

Not only this, but the right L&D consultant is chosen to both design and deliver your programme; hand-picked because of their background and expertise within both the learning field and the clients' industry sector.

Having an inexperienced person delivering the programme will provide very little value. Delegates would probably learn just as much by reading a textbook. A knowledgeable, experienced coach or tutor will be able to maintain the attention of attendees all day, as well as challenging their thinking and inspiring them to contribute to the session.

3. Buy-in

There needs to be a level of understanding and 'buy-in' from the participants on the programme (Related page: Health and Safety Relies Primarily on People. If programme participants don't want to learn or feel that they don't need to learn, then it is very hard to make any impact with that individual, team or organisation.

Sometimes barriers are erected in order to protect their function and purpose within an organisation; however, no organisation can succeed and grow without teamwork and internal communication. It is part of our job to break down these barriers. This can be done as part of the Consultation stage, or the use of a 'Foundation Programme' or indeed 'Ice Breakers' on the programme itself.

Along with being informative, we also strive to create an enjoyable session. Not only does this maintain the attention of attendees, but it also typically wins around those who arrived at the session under some duress and without much enthusiasm for it. It is always pleasing to watch someone who began the session a bit grumpy and resistant, but by the end is smiling and acknowledges that they have learnt a lot from the day.

4. The Delivery Stage

Every trainer is individually hand-picked to provide the right experience and background for the clients' industry sector; as well as being a Subject Matter Expert (SME) within the specific area of L&D focus.

Our programmes are designed with innovation, credibility, interaction, skills practice, business relevance and commercial returns in mind. Without this focus, the sessions would become little more than a day out from the workplace for everyone. But by concentrating on these factors, our programmes provide attendees with crucial skills to put into practice when they return back to the workplace.

5. The Evaluation Stage

This is a very important stage. Well, they all are, but this final evaluation stage gauges how successful an L&D programme has been. Evaluation results can be recorded by us in a number of formats; be it psychometric analysis, Return on Investment (ROI) analysis, productivity analysis, etc.

The evaluation stage is also a very important process in order to gauge what the next training steps might be; be it on a personal, team or organisational level.

Although useful, quite often a one-off programme only provides a fairly limited benefit. This is because a lot of information can be forgotten when just imparted once, and old working habits can resurface.

To make lasting changes and improvements usually requires continuous training, with a series of sessions including reviews or progress made or not made. Multiple sessions really drive home points and are far more likely to result in positive changes which last going forward. Not only that, but featuring reviews and evaluations of whether goals have been achieved or not – and if not, what can be done differently – can often provide just as much of a benefit as the original sessions themselves.

Next Steps

Find out more about business coaching and mentoring, including what it is and what are the benefits, by clicking here. Remember also that we can help you in becoming a business coach yourself.

For more information regarding how we can assist you and your organisation, or to get started on the research and consultation stage, please call us on 0844 800 3295 or send us an online contact form by clicking on the button below.

Between us we will be able to create a truly unique and bespoke programme that will improve the performance of your staff members or managers, and contribute towards the success of your business.

Introduction

Some issues which managers have with employees will have been going on for a long period of time; sometimes months or even years. Typically these will have been concerns which the manager should have dealt with and nipped in the bud as soon as they began, but for some reason or other did not. Instead of dealing with the problem when it was small, workarounds were probably deliberately or inadvertently put into practice in order to circumvent and overcome the issue.

Since then, whenever a similar situation occurred again in the future, the same workaround became the go-to action, and as subsequent occurrences took place it soon became the normal course of action.

Although this may get the job completed, if it is not as suitable as the way in which it should be done then it will have a cost associated with it. For instance if it takes longer or uses up more resources, then it will be causing damage to the business by lowering profits or even causing overall financial losses. Workarounds are more akin to sticking plasters in that they provide a temporary fix to a problem, but do not solve the underlying issues, which normally grow and become worse as time goes by.

One Problem Usually Leads to Another...

If this has happened for one issue, then it is highly likely that similar situations have occurred which the manager has not dealt with and are also causing inconveniences and excessive use of resources. This is why workarounds, even for one issue, do not work in the long term as not only does the original issue grow in size, but other problems follow suit. To help remedy this spiral, business coaching can be of tremendous assistance.

There can be numerous reasons for an individual not being as effective as they could be in their workplace role, and just as many issues which these reasons have caused such as inaccurate work, poor punctuality/attendance, lack or organisation, lack of leadership etc. All of these concerns could and should be dealt with as soon as they become apparent, but if they are not then this particular way of working will soon become the accepted standard, probably developing into larger and more disruptive issues.

How Does Business Coaching Help?

Although these problems are far easier to rectify if they are identified early on, business coaching can be used to tackle them no matter how far advanced they are.

The dedicated environment of a business coaching meeting gives an individual the opportunity to discuss the problems with an experienced business coach and identify why things are not done in an optimum way.

Usually this will be due to only one or two issues, but even so, these few issues can be having a major negative impact upon the organisation as a whole, not to mention the morale of the individual themselves if they feel that they are not contributing as much to the business as they ought to be.

So to find out more about how business coaching and mentoring can assist you or your employees overcome issues and obstacles which are negatively impacting effectiveness in the workplace, call us on 0844 800 3295 or send us an online contact form.

Use Business Coaching and Stop Avoiding Problems

In the article entitled "Understanding Employee Needs and Meeting Them" we saw that even talented employees who are vital for the success of the organisation may have certain issues which are causing disruption and possibly even damage to the operation of the company and its reputation. We even saw that business coaching is highly effective at dealing with these issues.

As with most problems, the sooner it is identified and dealt with the easier and quicker a successful reversal will be. If a problem such as a particular way of working is left unchecked for too long it becomes ingrained in the attitude and mental processes of employees and can be extremely difficult to change.

Why are Problems Left Unchecked?

There are a few reasons as to why certain problems are left unchecked and allowed to develop into major issues. It could be that a manager does not like conflict, particularly if they have been recently promoted and are new to the role, and instead of raising the issue with the employee they seek a temporary workaround. However as time goes on and the same workaround is used, it begins to become the norm and this temporary workaround is suddenly the go-to way of working, despite taking a little longer or costing slightly more money.

Even if the manager does say something, they may be so vague in their criticism or make out like it is a joke so that the employee doesn't think it is serious enough to need to change, and so carries on as before.

And of course there are the cases where the manager does say something, is clear in how they want things to change, but then does not follow through with making sure that attitudes and ways of working have permanently altered. Even if the employee does do things how the manager wants for the first one or two times, they may still slip back into their old ways.

Using Business Coaching

Business coaching is highly effective at altering working habits and attitudes towards a particular situation. Rather than simply being told what to do "or else", a one-to-one business coaching session will enable the individual to discuss and understand how their actions or inactions are negatively affecting the company. It will provide them with an opportunity to explain things from their own point of view, as it may be the case that there are certain factors which are causing the person to act the way they do, and tackling them will enable the individual to work in a more acceptable manner.

Failing to tackle problems when they are small has been the scourge of many businesses, even causing the eventual collapse of some. Making use of business coaching is a positive action which can have sizeable benefits for both individuals and the company alike.