Coaching
We offer coaching both as part of our programmes, and as a standalone intervention for individuals, teams and organisations.
Our Approach
As in all of our work, our coaching approach is underpinned by careful research into best practices. Coaching increases the chances that individuals will be able to understand and implement learning from a leadership programme and to change their behaviour. This in turn supports organisational impact from programmes.
Our approach to coaching incorporates the following aspects:
• creating space and time for reflection
• offering fresh viewpoints and external perspectives
• sharing specific tips, tools and models to expand the resources which participants can draw on in the future
• creating a safe and positive environment to take risks
• encouraging participants to examine their beliefs and perspectives critically
• offering opportunities for spaced practice and repetition, which are also key elements of adult learning.
Individual Coaching
Individual coaching starts with an organisational or individual need. There is an initial meeting to explore whether a particular coach is a good fit for a person. Research suggests that the key factor in successful coaching is the relationship between a coach and coachee. This relationship needs to allow for both trust and challenge. The decision as to whether a coaching relationship is right for a given person lies with that person. We suggest that as a minimum you should speak to 2-3 coaches before you decide who to work with. If we don’t have a coach that feels right for you, we will always happily recommend some other possibilities from our coaching networks.
We usually have a three-way contracting meeting between a coach, an individual and their organisation to agree what the goals for coaching will be. We then usually agree for around six meetings either face-to-face or in person, sometimes with a midpoint review or with an extension.
Each meeting lasts one to two hours. The coaching agenda is co-created by all parties involved, but accountability lies with the individual receiving coaching. This means that nobody will do it for you; the coach is there to support your development but change requires you to put things into practice and to experiment.
Team Coaching
The reality of most people’s working lives is that we work in teams. A further reality is that those teams will change, and on any given day you will be working with a variety of different people in different ways.
Team coaching involves a coach working with two or more people to improve the outcomes and the experience of working together. As with individual coaching, team coaching starts with an organisational or individual need. There may be a sense that the team isn’t working as cohesively as it could, or there might be a sense that there is potential in the team that hasn’t yet been unleashed.
Team coaching can support teams within which there have been rifts or challenges, perhaps as a result of high turnover or of conflict within the team. The aim is to consider the perspectives of all of the individuals within a team, and to find practical ways of improving team functioning and effectiveness.
In team coaching each individual is given the opportunity to express their ideas, concerns and expectations ahead of time. Based on the team’s needs and our assessments, we will suggest a framework to work together in defined groups over an agreed period of time. During sessions, we work together with teams to adapt the agenda for the session for issues that may arise as part of the team coaching process.
We frequently work with communication, different cultural understandings and expectations, perceived conflict within a team, integration of new members or new ideas, and developing cohesive team visions.