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Welcome to our very first edition of “What’sUp coach?!”. This blog will focus on giving you a weekly pep from a coaching perspective, share developments in the world of coaching and introduce you to tools for self-improvement.

Why should I bother with coaching?

Gallup found that 86% of employees think their bosses are uninspiring. In a recent survey by The Chief Learning Officer magazine, coaching was found as the top desired skill for frontline managers. This is because coaching provides greater intrinsic motivation if delivered correctly. In other words, inspiring the self-directed willingness to try new things and make new discoveries. McKinsey found that when employees find greater intrinsic motivation, they are 32% more committed to their work and 46% more satisfied with their jobs. Thus, creating a more productive, creative and rewarding working environment.

What will coaching address?

Coaches partner clients in engaging opportunities and challenges such as:

• Feeling overwhelmed by COVID-19?;
• How do I manage my time?;
• How do I navigate complexity?;
• What to do when I need to make the difficult choices;
• How best to pull my team together at a time like this;
• What should I focus on first?;
• Building effective teams;
• Leading with vision;
• Motivation; Self-awareness; Happiness; Authenticity; Mindfulness; Purpose; Emotional Intelligence;
• Interpersonal relationships; Engagement; Empathy; Communication; Listening skills and many more.

Questions could focus on detailed matters such as:
Vision: What would you want to achieve from the process (Goals and objectives)?; What is holding you back from achieving this desired outcome?; How would you know that you have achieved your desired outcome?

Situation: What are you currently faced with that may present challenges and impede your optimal performance? (Current reality) What are you telling yourself about this? What is the impact of this story on how you see your world?

Planning: What options do you see for yourself? What alternatives are there to your immediate options? How could you rephrase or re-craft your story and how will that then impact how you see your world different?

Action: How can you live this story in reality? What goals can you craft now? What can you do to ensure that you attain these goals? How will you hold yourself accountable? What will it mean for you once you have achieved these goals? How will you think differently about yourself?

Is this for everyone?

As a manager, coaching will help develop one’s skill at engaging colleagues in a constructive, motivational manner that will not be threatening whilst assisting in unlocking the unique qualities of individuals and teams for the benefit of the organisation. You will hold a promise that is inspiring. Coaching is a collaborative and empowering approach, pointing team members towards their own resourcefulness and insight.

As an employee, coaching provides a safe space to be vulnerable without risking your future at work, to work with someone who has your best interests at heart to ensure success and to build confidence in an honest and non-threatening environment. Coaching enables the employee to self-identify and self-direct towards what’s missing.

No two coaching conversations are the same, there is no single recipe for success. The golden thread however will be undivided attention, focussed listening and incisive questioning that will facilitate your thinking whilst mentally stimulating you to develop your own best solution and future.

Come walk the journey with us and dare to experience life and opportunities at an innovative level. Stretch your reality and being. Optimise your potential. Shift into a new gear.

Author
Johan Raubenheimer
CEO CoachTribe
johan@coachtribe.co.za
(CoachTribe Logo)

Need assistance with coaching? You are welcome to contact us at: info@coachtribe.co.za

This is perhaps the question I get asked most often. Quite a simple question at face value. However, digging a bit deeper reveals rather a layered picture.

Being blessed with an extensive global network, including a virtual Who’s Who of leading coaches, I recently had an exchange with a South African business coach who asked me for a simple definition or “elevator pitch” for business coaching. This was prompted by the question as to what would motivate people to invest their or their organisation’s time and money in coaching.

Defining coaching

He posed the question against the backdrop of a number of definitions that cropped up during our exchange. He particularly referenced the ICF definition of coaching as quoted by the Coaches Training Blog:
“The ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”

This blog immediately continues to site the definition by The Institute for Life Coach Training as one of the best that they had come across:
“a professional relationship that helps people produce extraordinary results in their lives, careers, businesses or organizations, helping them to bridge the gap between where they are now and where they want to be.”

Both definitions are excellent. From experience I know however that coaching is always contextual. This realisation compelled me to visit the origins of coaching as we know it today. In the early 1970’s an ex-racing car driver who became a successful businessman, Sir John Whitmore, partnered a foremost tennis coach, Timothy Gallwey (of Inner Game fame) to formalise coaching for the personal, business and professional space. From this John Whitmore developed the GROW-model which is to this day recognised as a core foundation of coaching. Timothy Gallwey is clear on what coaching is for him, Inner Game coaching is “unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance; helping them to learn rather than teaching them”.

Additionally, Sir John Whitmore in “Coaching for Performance” states that:
“building awareness, responsibility and self-belief is the goal of a coach”

If we dig around a bit more, we come across variations of these definitions. The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches defines coaching as:
“Business coaching is the process of engaging in regular, structured conversation with a “client”: an individual or team who is within a business, profit or nonprofit organization, institution or government and who is the recipient of business coaching. The goal is to enhance the client’s awareness and behavior so as to achieve business objectives for both the client and their organization.”

While COMENSA defines coaching as
“a professional, collaborative and outcomes-driven method of learning that seeks to develop an individual and raise self-awareness so that he or she might achieve specific goals and perform at a more effective level”.

One of the leading reference books for coaching, “The Complete Handbook of Coaching” (Edited by Tatiana Bachkirova, Elaine Cox and David Clutterbuck), starts by saying that

“Coaching is a human development process that involves structured, focused interaction and the use of appropriate strategies, tools and techniques to promote desirable and sustainable change for the benefit of the coachee and potentially for other stakeholders.”, stating that coaching is an applied practice that has intellectual roots in a range of disciplines.

Manfred Kets De Vries of Insead Business School in Mont Blanc is one of the leading academics in the coaching training community. He notes in his 2014 book “Mindful Leadership Coaching: Journeys Into The Interior” that coaching invariably contains a transformational process which compels a person to change.

Great coaching vs Good coaching

I was fortunate to participate in a select global coaching programme in 2020 headed by Dr David Peterson (now ex Head Coach at Google). David has a particular interest in what distinguishes a “Great Coach” from a “Good Coach”. The implication here being that “Great” is measurably more advanced than “Good” and that “Good” signifies someone as being competent, and “Great” signifying mastery and deep expertise.

In a chapter that he wrote for “Advancing Executive Coaching” (Edited by Gina Hernez-Broome and Lisa Boyce, Published in 2010) he referenced research based on two questions. On asking people what makes a “Good Coach” they typically respond with: listening skills, empathy and a genuine interest in the person, the ability to deliver honest, direct feedback, having integrity and being trustworthy. When asked what the qualities of a “Great Coach” are the context is markedly different: someone who really gets the person to reflect, inspires people to want to change, takes people to higher levels, gets results and has passion for helping others. One immediately notices a significant change in tone. David himself regards the most important quality for a “Great Coach” as: having an understanding for how people learn and develop.

The EMCC defines coaching, as part of coaching and mentoring, as:
“Coaching and mentoring are activities within the area of professional and personal development with focus on individuals and teams and relying on the client’s own resources to help them to see and test alternative ways for improvement of competence, decision making and enhancement of quality of life.”

For the EMCC a coach therefore is:
“an expert in establishing a relationship with people in a series of conversations with the purpose of serving the clients to improve their performance or enhance their personal development or both, choosing their own goals and ways of doing it.”

Qualities of Great coaching

What then would be indicators of great coaching that is delivered in service of the client?
That the coach:

• constructs a relationship based upon trust and permission;
• observes the client and client context through a different lens/es to the client;
• leads the client to view problems and needs as valuable learning opportunities;
• is skilled and prepared to apply a range of coaching skills as may be relevant and contextually appropriate in service of the client needs;
• is fully present and committed to the client;
• supports the client emotionally;
• believes that the client has the answers to their own problems within them;
• always remains committed to organisational goals and outcomes as agreed to by the client and appropriately pushes the client to attain these; and
• adheres to ethical guidelines at all times.

So, in the end, how did I respond to my coaching colleague when he asked for my take on coaching?

I believe coaching is a process aimed at improving performance, focusing on the ‘here and now’ rather than on the distant past or future. In coaching, the coach helps the individual unlock their potential to improve their own performance, helping them learn, partnering the individual in gaining new insight, being more effective and contributing to organisational growth. My definition is informed by sound academic knowledge with an emphasis on ethics, deep compassion for people and the complexities that they are required to navigate. I take an integrally informed, systemic, and mindful approach to coaching.

My definition of coaching:
“Business and Executive Coaching is a professional partnership between a coach and a client where the coach mindfully partners the client on a personal journey of discovery and development, through structured conversations, aimed at optimising personal being and team performance in pursuit of business optimisation.”

^{– Johan Raubenheimer, 2020}
Author
Johan Raubenheimer
CEO CoachTribe
(CoachTribe Logo)

Need assistance with coaching? You are welcome to contact us at: info@coachtribe.co.za

Organisations often, and rightfully, interrogate the value that coaching brings to their staff in pursuit of the business objectives.

Coaching is a highly individualised process. It depends on both the nature of the client and the coach’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. Established and proficient coaches are trained in relevant techniques and tools to draw on in almost any coaching situation. Coaching is a commonly used method of employee development that has generated positive business outcomes.

From re-active to pro-active

As organizations have come to recognize the many purposes and benefits of coaching, the field has grown dramatically, and some organisations actively work to create a culture of coaching. We know that in the past coaches were often hired to “fix” toxic behaviour or address personality shortcomings.

The global workplace landscape has changed significantly over the last few years and organisations that embrace these changes are thriving. With the growth of technology and the advent of a new generation of workers, successful organisations are adjusting to the needs of stakeholders. Coaching has proven to significantly contribute to success in engaging these changes.

Coaching has matured over the last number of  years and we no longer consider it appropriate to use it to correct deviant behaviour. The notion is now strongly entrenched that clients are whole and turning to coaching to achieve the following positive outcomes is now more appropriate:

• Developing talent;
• Act as thinking partner;
• Achieve higher performance;
• Greater personal satisfaction at work;
• Guide change management interventions;
• Leadership skills development;
• Cultural integration/ coaching for alignment;
• Managing through complexity;
• Self-awareness;
• Communication skills;
• Developing resilience;
• Gaining a deeper understanding of your own behaviours;
• Strengthening relationships;
• Collaboration;
• Emotional agility; and
• more, much, much more.

What can companies do to ensure they derive the value they should from coaching?

First and foremost, companies need to ensure that employees they assign for coaching are willing and eager to be coached. Surely, the success of the engagement rests to a large degree on the skill of the coach as well as on the executive’s willingness to learn and grow. Coaches increasingly decline to coach clients who are not committed to the coaching process.

Secondly, the sponsor is key to the success of the coaching and ensuring that the desired outcomes are achieved. A recent article in Harvard Business Review (HBR) listed the following 5 ways in which the organisation can set up the client and the coach for success:

Provide access:

There could be various reasons such as discretion, confidential workspace, pandemic, etc., for limited access. This however doesn’t mean the coach should be left to make do with no information. Companies can assist through more briefing meetings, 360^o assessments and providing extensive background information to ensure effective feedback. Greater access helps the coach and client:

• Get the full story
• Build alliances
• Clarify communication

Reinforce credibility

• Treat the coach as a true partner.
• Introduce the coach with a specific reference to a trait or skill.

Set clear expectations

• Be clear in scope parameters/ what is being contracted; and
• If original scope is expanded communicate it clearly to stakeholders.

Keep stakeholders from meddling

• Sponsors can clearly define boundaries; and
• Request stakeholders from attempting undue influence on the coach.

Avoid power struggles

• Be mindful of overpromoting the coach – this can make people feel threatened

Coacing is unfortunately not embraced by everyone. Some individuals are not open to feedback while others are unwilling to change. This is not a deficiency of coaching but rather a problem with the person being coached.

However, coaches are well equipped to provide objective guidance and feedback making a significant difference in organisational Emotional Intelligence competencies in the long term. The benefits of being coached are well documented, with individuals reporting increased self-confidence, improved work performance, better relationships, and more effective communication skills. Let’s have a look at some of the most shared outcomes of successful coaching.

Specific benefits of coaching

Increased business performance and productivit

A strong coaching culture has been linked to increased business performance and employee engagement, according to a 2015 survey from the International Coach Federation (ICF) and the Human Capital Institute (HCI). The survey found that 51 percent of respondents from organizations with strong coaching cultures reported revenue above that of their industry peer group, and 62 percent of employees in those organizations rated themselves as highly engaged. The ICF/HCI survey showed that respondents reported business improvements in the following areas:

• Improved team functioning.
• Increased engagement.
• Increased productivity.
• Improved employee relations.
• Faster leadership development.

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Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar. The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.

Leadership development:

We know from research that even top performing employees can benefit from having personal coaches helping them solve problems, excelling even more. Those willing to make a commitment, experience the liberating impact of coaching that opens a whole new world in terms of greater candour, more respect from staff at all levels, professional alliances and relationships, and improved skills to achieve strategic goals.

By identifying the competencies requiring improvement and harnessing the energy of client passions and goals to guide those improvements, a coach can have an enduring influence on a leader. Long after formal coaching is complete, a leader will be able to access their own inner coach through the positive habits and competencies they’ve developed.

Through the coaching example, leaders acquire coaching skills, learning to also coach with compassion. This skill enables them to value their direct reports’ well-being and future aspirations which motivates them to be fully engaged. This continued learning and improving positively impacts retention and development of talent. Leaders who excel as a coach foster teams with a solid foundation of loyalty and trust. This elevates the career satisfaction and productivity of their team.

In addition to the personal rewards of coaching, high-performing leaders enhance their own status within their organization. Research by the Center for Creative Leadership found that leaders who support their teams with career-related coaching are consistently rated as higher performers by their bosses.
Whether it is leader-as-coachee, or leader-as-coach, both of these relationships help us to develop emotional and social Intelligence competencies, and to engage in lifelong learning regardless of formal professional role.

Increased psychological well-being

Often these benefits are felt much wider than just directly by the individuals involved in the process.  People who have been coached effectively report increased psychological well-being, are more productive and tend to adopt a similar approach when managing their own teams.  A workforce that feels valued and engaged and is encouraged to approach problems with a fresh perspective, is better able to cope with change in the Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world of today. Coaching has proven to be a significant positive force in achieving success in this area.

Increased Return on Investment:

Studies in larger organisations show that coaching top executives at large companies yields 5-7 times the company’s initial investment. Research from PricewaterhouseCoopers (commissioned by the ICF) shows that the vast majority of companies (86%) say they have at least made their money back on a coaching investment.

Most often the real value of coaching is not measured in monetary terms but in the “human” moments. When the leader has mastered the art of not blowing off the head of the subordinate not yet proficient at a specific task, or the customer service executive being mindful enough to engage the stressed client in a friendly and engaging manner, or the chair of the board taking a few seconds to craft the perfect response to a hostile question from a journalist following a difficult financial year. As the saying goes: The personal is the professional.

If you need some help in honing your leadership craft, you’re welcome to contact me at: johan@coachtribe.co.za

Johan Raubenheimer
CEO CoachTribe