Coaching generates growth. It helps an individual thrive and reach their full potential. Simultaneously, it strengthens the organisation, improving resilience, innovation and employee engagement [1]. It is no surprise that more and more businesses are investing time and resources to research and provide the best coaching solutions to their employees. Apart from introducing coaching into the organisation from the outside, leaders and HR professionals are beginning to recognise the importance of coaching being at the core of their organisation’s philosophy. Individual coaching creates growth but making it part of the ethos of the whole organisation is what brings extraordinary results. This is why creating a coaching culture is essential.
What is a coaching culture?
A coaching culture promotes continuous learning and the ready exchange of knowledge and information within an organisation [2]. It fosters peer support and a drive for self-development, both of which are facilitated and encouraged at all levels. Hierarchy gives way to collaboration and criticising gives way to honest evaluation and learning. A coaching culture provides a framework for the types of interaction that take place within an organisation. It helps people to identify the types of communication and activities that promote development and empowers them to use them in their everyday work life.
Research [3] suggests that organisations that have introduced a coaching culture report a significant reduction in staff turnover, increased job satisfaction, and a greater sense of well-being among their staff. Coaching has also been found to increase communication within teams by 42% and productivity by 39% [4]. A study conducted by the ICF [5] also reports that 65% of individuals from organisations with a strong coaching culture rate themselves as being “highly engaged” with the business compared to 52% from organisations without a strong coaching culture.
How to create a coaching culture within your organisation?
One of the first steps to building a coaching culture is to embed it into current procedures. Employers need to develop a strong coaching strategy and align it to the business goals and the values, vision and purpose of the wider organisation. The strategy has to clearly outline the what, who, why and how of coaching and how these are reflected in the processes and procedures of the organisation.
To make the coaching strategy successful, it is essential for it to receive strong support at the highest levels of the organisation. Senior leaders explaining why it is important to implement coaching and sharing personal stories about their own development as well as taking the role of coaches can make a huge impact on perceptions of coaching and drives change.
Managers have the challenging task of finding a way to embed the coaching culture in their teams. For them to do that successfully, organisations must invest in training them, developing their leadership skills and helping them find ways to align the engagement of their teams to the new coaching practices.
To support managers in building a coaching culture, it is worthwhile to gain help from external coaches. Coaches will be able to share their knowledge and help close the gap between the desired and current state of the organisation’s culture. They will help the business drive the desired change by engaging, motivating, supporting and empowering managers, which will create a domino effect and spread to the wider organisation.
We know that coaching empowers. Therefore, when creating a coaching culture, the organisation encourages employees to adopt a coaching mindset and gives them the freedom to express themselves and practise it. Peer coaching is an important part of a coaching culture and helps employees develop together as a group and learn from one another. By working collectively on finding a solution to personal or professional challenges, peer coaching gives employees the courage to act and helps them develop essential leadership and emotional intelligence skills.
How can Impact help?
Building a coaching culture is an important step towards business success. We at Impact pride ourselves on the support we provide to our clients in achieving their goals and creating a work environment in which their employees can thrive. We offer workshops as well as development programmes aimed at meeting the client’s needs. We also offer one-to-one coaching to help individuals reach their full potential. If you want to find out how we can help you or your team, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Additional Resources
[1] Sherlock-Storey, M., Moss, M., & Timson, S. (2013). Brief coaching for resilience during organisational change—an exploratory study. The Coaching Psychologist.
[2] Passmore, J. (Ed.). (2015). Excellence in coaching: The industry guide. Kogan Page Publishers.
[3] De Vries, M. F. K. (2011). The hedgehog effect: The secrets of building high performance teams. John Wiley & Sons.
[4] Wales, S. (2002). Why coaching?. Journal of change management, 3(3), 275-282.
[5] Parrey, D. (2019). How the Best Companies Are Using Coaching to Accelerate Workforce Productivity. Link