Creating Coaching Cultures: Your Fellowship of the Ring

 

 

What does the Lord of the Rings movie have to do with Coaching Cultures?

As a huge fan of the LOTR book and movies, I recently started thinking about how Tolkien's book might relate to undergoing significant change in organisational culture.  The thought that came to mind was that had Frodo been left to complete his quest alone, he probably would have ended up in the fiery pits of Mount Doom, or perhaps in reality he wouldn't have even made it as far as Mordor.  There were certainly moments when he felt alone, and yet throughout the movie he had a team behind him helping every step of the way, even when he might not have been completely aware that they were there supporting him. In organisations where there is a goal to build a coaching culture, it came to mind that some of those same internal struggles that Frodo had to overcome to reach Mount Doom might also be there for the people who are responsible for building that capability.  So as we move towards action, how can we continue to stay on track, even when we feel like our destination is out of reach?

Common hurdles

In speaking to HR professionals across the region about building coaching cultures, it certainly felt that there was the most emotional intensity around some of the perceived challenges related to building a coaching culture. These are the most common barriers to creating a coaching culture that were communicated to us by those who completed our survey

• Cost or budget issues
• Not enough time
• Lack of understanding of the benefits and value of coaching
• Lack of willingness to put in the effort to change the culture of the organisation
• No buy-in at senior management level
• Coaching been seen as remedial

Overcoming the hurdles

Many of the hurdles mentioned above can be overcome by clearly communicating the value of coaching and yet how we do that is at the very core of what often gets in the way of embedding coaching within organisations. The advise from those who have overcome these barriers is that speaking the language that senior managers can relate to, in terms of the benefits of coaching and what specifically the organisation can gain from implementing a coaching culture, can help them to gain a clear picture of what coaching is really about and can break down resistance to coaching. The ideal picture, of course, is one where an organisation is using a variety of modalities of coaching: having a pool of both external and internal accredited coaches alongside managers who are trained in coaching skills and are having coaching conversations with their teams. In this coaching utopia, coaching is seen as an investment with a dedicated budget spend. Coaching is an integral part of the daily life and conversations within the organisation and coaching is provided to people at all levels of the company. However, this ideal is rarely seen. In our movie analogy, this is Frodo slipping unnoticed into Mordor in Chapter One of the first novel and simply chucking the ring into the fires of Mount Doom with no need for Samwise Gamgee and the other members of the fellowship. In reality, thing often move a lot slower than we hope. Sometimes it's about starting where we are.  For some organisations who are not ready for coaching, that might be helping managers to simply start having conversations that build responsiblity and trust in their teams. It could be a few individuals deciding to adopt a coaching approach within their own departments.  Perhaps it's about bringing external coaches into the organisation to coach senior managers so that they can experience the results of coaching.  As an individual, it could be about undertaking an accredited coach training programme.  Wherever you and your organisation is, the important thing is to just start. Dr Santhosh Koyadan who works as a Senior Specialist and Advisor Role in Coaching, Leadership and Development in the Oil and Gas industry told us that while building an internal capability is important to the company, long lasting results can be achieved by "using external help initially and then slowly building internal capability step-by-step."  

Who are your supporters?

Whether an organisation is using external providers or there is an internal team of coaches, one thing became clear in our discussions with those who are successfully working towards a coaching culture.  They have a team of people who are responsible for promoting and championing coaching within the workplace. So how can you identify who is in YOUR Fellowship of the Ring and how can you support each other to stay on track?  

Your Coaching Cultures Canvas

  Go to your Coaching Culture Canvas. In the Optimise section, consider the following questions and note down your thoughts.

• How will we stay on track?
• What hurdles will we need to overcome?

 

 

Competition for one HR professional to win a complimentary place on our October 2017 programme.

As part of this coaching cultures series, we will be giving away one seat on our October 2017 course completely free to one HR or Development professional.

The NPCA Certificate in Professional Coaching is a 16-week coach development programme, which is accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF).  In 2017, we have programmes starting in May and October.

To be in with a chance of winning, we are looking for the person who engages most with these articles over the next two months by commenting below in the comments box, sharing, liking and commenting on our social media pages. The winner will also be someone who has demonstrated the biggest shift in introducing a coaching culture within their organisation. Please read our competition rules. The winner will be announced on 31st May 2017. You can enter the competition by emailing [email protected]

Next week 

Next week, we will not be writing an article, however you will receive an email from us, reminding you to enter our competition to win a free space on our October programme. The final day to enter the competition is the 25th May 2017.  In two weeks from today, on 31st May 2017, Matt will complete our Creating Coaching Cultures series of articles, by helping us to reflect on the journey we have taken together and recognising how far we have come. We will also be announcing the winner of the Creating Coaching Cultures competition. If you want future articles delivered to your inbox sign up to the NPCA Community. How has this article impacted you? What thoughts come to mind when you consider what you read? How do you now feel? Take action and comment below or contact me at [email protected]. Enjoy, Sarah