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IMPLEMENTING A GREAT
COACHING
AND MENTORING
PROGRAMME
Ideas, Hints & Tools Pack!
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Index
Topic Page
Background and Benefits 3
Difference between Coaching and Mentoring 4
Overcoming Resistance 5
Coaching Skills and Frameworks 6-8
Evaluation 9
Recommended Reading 10
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Implementing a Great Coaching and Mentoring
Programme
Background
Many organisations are choosing to introduce a coaching culture
through the implementation of coaching and mentoring initiatives.
Coaching has entered the business world as a result of the
phenomenal successes within the sports industry. To quote Zeus
and Skiffington “Coaching is second only to the IT industry in terms
of growth within the US”. Coaching is no longer seen as a trendy
product – but as a key component of any people strategy. Why?
Well, increasing competition has demanded organisations to
respond faster, more effectively and to provide employees with
greater accountability. These changes have demanded a new way
of working, one that creates more dynamic conversations, focused
teams and a hunger for learning.
"Just as a personal trainer helps build up your muscles, a business coach may
strengthen your performance on the job." Orlando Sentinel
Why introduce these programmes?
There have been many evaluations of the benefits of coaching. A
common thread for all schemes irrespective of size or sector is
identified below:
Key Benefits of Coaching and Mentoring
1. Increases productivity
2. Improves communication
3. Increases staff commitment and loyalty
4. Develops interpersonal skills
5. Much stronger focus on goal setting and achievement and
therefore results
6. Better decision making
7. Improved customer satisfaction (both internal and external)
One of the key success criteria is the readiness of the organisation to
introduce such a scheme – this is discussed under ‘resistance factors’.
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"A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are."
Ara Parasheghian
The difference between coaching and mentoring
The following definition of coaching and mentoring is one that reflects
my own views and is presented by the US Army Corps:
What is Coaching?
“Coaching is the process of inspiring, encouraging, motivating, and
instructing an employee to unlock his or her greatest potential so as to
achieve their ultimate goal. The coach becomes the employee’s
personal resource and advocate. This helps the employee to grow
professionally and personally.”
What is Mentoring?
“Mentoring is a collaborative partnership in which the mentor and the
protégé take shared responsibility for the success of the relationship.
Many times, mentoring occurs in a one-on-one situation in which a
novice (the protégé) chooses a respected, experienced person (the
mentor) to provide professional guidance over a period of years. A
mentor helps associate see meaning and vision in what they are doing
and serves as a role model who inspires, motivates, empowers, and
helps individuals or teams learn to learn”.
Typically a mentor provides more advice and is more directive than a
coach would choose to be. The relationship also involved continuous
and long-term learning.
So, how do you decide which type of scheme to implement? That really
depends on the current culture that exists within the organisation.
Mentoring works well where there is more of an old style culture – one
where decisions are generally passed upwards, individuals are
promoted based upon experience, dress code is more formal, etc. This
style of working suits a mentoring programme as the mentors are
typically the senior managers with many years of experience that they
are keen to share with others.
Coaching is more effective where an organisation is undergoing
significant change or striving to be learning centric. Assuming that the
skills can be transferred effectively and quickly to the coaching
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population, this approach can be a key enabler for the organisations’
future success.
Overcoming Resistance
This refers to the resistance that might be present when attempting to
introduce a coaching programme. The following indicators may be
helpful in identifying if you have resistant issues:
Resistance Indicators:
1. How is the organisation currently dealing with change initiatives?
How effective have previous efforts been?
2. Have you identified any underlying emotions within the
organisation? Is there anger, frustration, ambivalence or
motivation?
3. Do you perceive organisational inertia? High absenteeism?
Underperformance? Conflict issues?
4. Are senior managers resisting personal change?
5. Is there a mistrust of external coaches?
6. What is the standing of the team / department / individual in
introducing a new initiative?
So what can you do?
Initially it is recommended that an organisational assessment is carried
out to review current change status and cultural themes that are
prevailing. This would then be used to shape the recommended
approach in implementing a coaching / mentoring programme.
Any change initiative takes effort and resilience to achieve sustained
results. Often management teams are looking for a quick return on
their investment. This can be achieved, but only where the
organisation is in a clear state of readiness to receive such a
programme. Otherwise organisations that aren’t ready and try to
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implement too quickly without a clear set of guidelines and outcomes
will fail. Unfortunately this may be reflected on the person(s) who have
tried to introduce such an initiative.
The following table provides a guide as to some of the characteristics
and suggestions for overcoming potential resistance.
Change Weary and Apathy Change Responsive, Learning
Focused
• Invest more time than you
think you need
• Work with smaller numbers
of people and let others
know of your successes EUREKA!
• Involve key people in the
design and implementation
of the programme
• Deliver what you say you
well
Change Resistant and Anger Change Emergent, Curious
• Share cultural results with • Less time needed on
stakeholders organisational assessment
• Achieve commitment at and ROI
highest level and start at • Involve more people as
top coaches and encourage
• Clarify Return on cross functional coaching
Investment
• Ensure there is lots of
communication and
feedback
• Commit to a programme
Coaching Skills and Frameworks
So, what do you need to become a great coach? Let’s first have a look
at the coaching spectrum:
THE COACHING SPECTRUM
The Ask / Tell Repertoire
Tell Ask
what Give Demonstrat Make questions
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and advice e suggestions and
how paraphrase
Controlling Empowering
Coaching by asking is typically more effective than coaching by
telling
Taken from “The Tao of Coaching” by Max Landsberg
Core Skills:
There are three core skills a coach and mentor requires to be effective:
1. Great questioning and probing skills
2. An ability to really use both ears
3. Giving feedback that is structured and well-timed
Each of these skills can be developed and enhanced – here are a few
ideas and tips.
Great questioning:
Always consider what the underlying reasons are for asking the questions –
is it for you or for the coachee? Questions should be designed to gather
information, assess issues, and reframe understanding. Here are a few
potential questions:
• Who, what, why, where and when?
• Could you say a little more on that?
• Tell me what lead you to that conclusion
• Is that your perception or a fact?
• Can you help my understanding… you claim this.. but you do this….
Great listening:
• Be interested in what the coachee is saying
• Seek understanding
• Focus on both what is being said and how it is being said – is it
congruent?
• Try to withhold judgement until you have the full story
• Summarise what you think you have heard
Giving Feedback – The AID formula
A = Actions, the things that the coachee is doing well or poorly
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in the area under review
I = Impact, the effect these actions are having
D = Desired outcome – how could the coachee improve
The GROW Model
One of the most well known and core frameworks within any coaches
toolkit is the GROW model. The model helps structure coaching
interactions. The framework is simply broken down into the following:
WILL
OPTIONS
What else
could you do?
REALITY
What have you tried so
far?
Who is affected by this?
GOAL
What do you want to achieve?
How will you know when you get
there?
The model was developed by Sir John Whitmore and is used
extensively by coaches. (See reading list for further information).
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Evaluation Methods
A final note on the importance of evaluating coaching and mentoring
schemes. Here are just a few reasons as to why it should be
considered:
• To identify return on investment, e.g.
o Level of knowledge acquired
o Changes in attitudes and behaviour
o Employee retention
o Business goals achieved
• Provides objective evidence as to how and why coaching is
effective.
• To review how coaching has developed / changed an individual /
team / organisation
Consideration should also be give to how the evaluation will be
conducted. Some examples are:
Measurement Tools
1. 360 Feedback
2. Culture surveys
3. Interviews
4. Observation
5. Tailored questions
All forms of evaluation need to be planned from the outset of the
coaching initiative. The key stakeholders should be involved in
determining what the key measures will be and how they will be
evaluated.
"Once used to bolster troubled staffers, coaching now is part of the standard leadership
development training for elite executives and talented up-and-comers at IBM, Motorola, J.P.
Morgan, Chase, and Hewlett Packard. These companies are discreetly giving their best
prospects what star athletes have long had: a trusted adviser to help reach their goals."
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- CNN.
Recommended Reading
There are stacks of resources out there! Here are a few of my
favourites:
The Coaching at Work Toolkit – Zeus and Skiffington
The Tao of Coaching – Max Landsberg
Coaching for Performance – Sir John Whitmore
Co-Active Coaching – Whitworth, Kimsey-House, Sandahl
Everyone needs a Mentor – David Clutterbuck
Effective Coaching: Lessons from the Coaches Coach – Myles Downey
Sandra Green Consulting Ltd
Sandra Green is an experienced training professional, having worked in
the field for some 15 years. Her work extends across many sectors,
from blue chip companies to public sector organisations. Sandra is
passionate about helping individuals achieve their potential.
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Sandra Green Consulting Ltd
“Sandra helped us to facilitate the issues, established the root cause of the problems,
and helped us as a team find ways to address them. We all found her engaging,
helpful and very focused.” Head of HR, retail.
For more information then please contact Sandra:
[email protected]01829 261562
07725 324232
www.sandragreenconsulting.com
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