When I work with organisations, one of the questions I frequently hear is, "How do we develop a coaching culture?"
A coaching culture doesn't develop overnight, but there are a few things that I have seen companies do that get them on the right trajectory:
photo by www.alexrickardphotography.com
Mind your language
How we name things often tells us about how we value them. Take the “annual appraisal” - what does this suggest to you? Two things I think. Firstly that we only look at performance once a year, and secondly that we are appraising or assessing the quality of someone’s work. The danger of these two assumptions is that performance is neglected for the rest of the year, and we are having a backwards-looking conversation where nothing ever improves.
To develop the performance of individuals and teams, we need to monitor it continuously. And it's more than just assessing performance and then ending the process there. Coaching conversations empower individuals to notice their strengths and development areas for themselves, rather than be told (subjectively) what they are. This turn, leads them to be more motivated and empowered to change. Coaching also helps diagnose underlying root causes of suboptimal behaviours and allows individuals to determine their best course for future action.
So why not try renaming your annual appraisal and clarifying the expectations of both managers and team members in the process?
Build strong foundations
Good coaching skills are based on three foundational skills: active listening, good questions, and suspending judgement and assumptions.
These foundational skills are also the building blocks for communicating well in many other areas - such as influencing, building better relationships and handling difficult conversations. When your teams can take part in richer conversations in other contexts, coaching will come more naturally to them.
Such skills do not come naturally to most people in western cultures. Training your team in them will reap the rewards in many areas of your organisation, including business development. Well-facilitated role-plays allow people to practice these skills in a safe environment and get feedback on their mastery of them.
““There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak” ”
Slow down
Managers must give coaching conversations the time and space they deserve.
This has two implications. Firstly, managers must offer their team members the air time to talk through their challenges and find the answers for themselves rather than jumping in and providing the solution straight away.
Secondly, organisations must recognise that developing a coaching culture will mean spending more time on these discussions. Headroom needs to be built into budgets, costings and chargeable hours targets to allow for this, otherwise, the incentive will be lost. Remember that over the longer term, time savings will be found elsewhere, in terms of less rework and junior staff members being able to take on more challenging tasks at an earlier phase of their career.
Photo by Christina Wocintechat on Unsplash
Start small
Focusing on one particular part of the organisation or in one specific context (e.g. career development coaching or with those on a graduate training scheme) can make a move to a coaching culture more manageable and serve as a testing ground for trying new ideas.
Whatever approach you choose, take time to gather feedback on what’s working well and what’s not. Your people will embrace a coaching culture if they feel they are given the skills to do it well, the time and space to practice it consistently and can understand the benefits for them in the short, medium and long term.
If you would like to find out more about what developing a coaching culture entails or would like to enhance the coaching skills of your teams, then get in touch, I’d love to help