Defining the Role
- the organizational coaching model, a holistic approach that provides both the structure and flexibility that coaching requires
- a detailed explanation of the eight steps that make up the organizational coaching model
- how the eight steps of the model look in an actual coaching situation
The Organizational Coaching Model
What is unique about this model is its holistic nature. The depiction of the yin and the yang of the coaching steps reflects the dualistic yet complementary nature of how coaching works. This model has both process and content steps that should be followed in all organizational coaching contexts, whether coaching an individual, a team, or an organization. The steps, flowing back and forth from process to content, create a harmony that is unique to each coaching partnership. Also, as shown in figure 2-1, the entire coaching process is designed to support a program that is carefully planned and managed. Although we portray each step building on the preceding one, the continuous and organic nature of coaching is more fluid than lockstep in practice. As you proceed in your coaching relationship, you will probably engage with the coaching model elements in an iterative fashion. For example, you may collect and feed back data at several points in the coaching relationship. Or, you may have reason to revisit your coaching agreements from time to time. It is also not uncommon to measure and track results regularly and in different ways throughout the coaching process, not just at the end of the relationship.
A narrative description of each component of the model follows. This includes an explanation of the component and the rationale for its placement in the content or process side of the model.
Defining the Role
Explanation: Coaches assess their coaching roles within the organization, who will be coached, possible coaching scenarios, and the coaching guidelines that need to be followed.
This content step is essential as a first activity to center yourself and focus the coaching you will be conducting (or want to conduct) within an organization. Are you full time or part time? Are you a manager who also functions as a coach, or are you an outside practitioner hired by the organization for coaching purposes? Will you be coaching executives or dealing only with problem employees? It is important to understand, communicate, and reach agreement on the expectations of your coaching role. Various organizations have developed different coaching guidelines that you will need to follow and uphold. It is also essential that you test the alignment of the organization’s coaching structure with your own sense of ethics, approach, skills, tools, and purpose.
Building the Foundation
Explanation: The coach and client develop agreements that will guide the coaching relationship.
At the onset of the coaching relationship, you should be focused on building the foundation for an effective partnership with your client. By creating an agreement regarding mutual roles and responsibilities during the coaching partnership, you build trust and avoid confusion and misunderstandings that can occur later on. This agreement covers topics such as confidentiality, scheduling, absences, and accountability and answers any other questions either of you have.
Building the foundation for a successful coaching relationship is an ideal example of an ongoing process. Coaches are constantly engaged in building trust, clarifying roles, encouraging accountability, and other aspects of the coaching partnership. This process ebbs and flows with the growth in the relationship and progress toward results.
Co-Creating the Partnership
Explanation: The coach establishes trust and uses language that leads to higher levels of understanding, insight, and action.
You will be communicating with your client in a very different way from normal workplace communication. In coaching conversations, the coach uses a combination of listening, advocacy (guiding), inquiry (meaningful questioning), and other powerful dialogue techniques that lead to higher levels of understanding, insight, and awareness.
Co-creating the partnership is a process step in the coaching model because communication is a process that cannot be precisely defined or predicted. The coaching dialogue is complex and dynamic. Depending on the coach’s skillfulness, the client’s readiness, and other variables, insights and results will vary.
Collecting and Analyzing Coaching Data
Explanation: The coach collects data regarding the client’s current effectiveness and analyzes the data for strengths and areas for improvement.
This step in the organizational coaching model is what distinguishes organizational coaching from life coaching and other coaching contexts. Data will inform your thinking in several areas and will allow you to best support your client. You will have access to behavioral information, information about your client’s intentions, others’ perceptions, and overall results. When you collect data and identify themes and patterns, you can shine a light on what your clients are creating for themselves and others within their organizations. Collecting data allows you to identify with greater certainty your clients’ areas of strength and what areas, if any, are causing them to be less effective than they would like. You may not be expected to conduct a large, sophisticated, organization-wide climate survey. However, you should know how to conduct interviews and smaller surveys for coaching data collection. You should also be able to do content analysis for themes to feed back data to your coaching client.
In organizations, each person’s actions have a far-reaching effect. When it comes to assessing how your clients are being perceived in the organization and how people are experiencing them, data allow you and your clients to take the guesswork out of the coaching process. Collecting and analyzing coaching data are presented as a content step because of its clear focus on data.
Feeding Back Coaching Data
Explanation: The coach communicates a summary of the collected data to the client in a way that motivates positive action.
This step in the organizational coaching model has the most direct effect on your clients’ abilities to make informed choices regarding their actions. Your objective is to help your clients understand the data you collected, consider the risks and rewards of action (or inaction), and move forward by setting objectives for development. Be prepared to deal with resistance in its many forms—from outright rejection to passivity to intellectualizing. Your job as coach is to help your client deal with resistance and get past it.
This step is represented as a process step because of the interaction between you and your client, including the choice points that are experienced during the coaching dialogue. While the coaching clients are ultimately responsible for the choices they make, as the coach, you are responsible for feeding back data in such a way that the clients hear the information, explore several perspectives, and are willing to consider and select from several courses of action.
Designing Goals and Tracking Progress
Explanation: The coach and client create an action plan built on objectives. They meet regularly to track progress and dialogue about learning and results.
Once your clients have considered their feedback, they will decide where they want to focus their energy. In this step of the organizational coaching model, you will help your clients identify specific goals and create action plans that will move them forward. The action plan document, in whatever format the client chooses, will enable you both to track progress toward identified goals and inform your coaching conversations. These conversations should focus on progress and learning whether the client is describing a success or a setback. Supports and strategies can be identified in either circumstance and are useful in helping the client plan for future efforts.
Tracking progress starts at the beginning of the coaching process when you and your clients identify what to accomplish through coaching and what will be different when they do so. Frequently, clients will define short- and long-term goals, and you may use a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures to assess progress throughout the coaching relationship. You might use the same 360-degree survey to measure both pre- and post-coaching behaviors. Or, you might have your client complete a self-evaluation to rate effectiveness in defined areas before, during, and after coaching. This step is presented as a content step because it is focused on identified goals, agreed-upon actions, and analysis of results.
Conducting Coaching Meetings
Explanation: Although the client sets the agenda for each coaching meeting, the coach provides structure and process.
Your initial agreement with your client will determine how often you will meet and how long your partnership will last. You should give your client the opportunity to set the agenda at each meeting and be sure to track progress toward the agreed-upon objectives. You will provide a structure and process for the meeting, ending with commitments for action. You should use a model to structure each meeting, such as the COACH model discussed in chapter 8. Since change is rarely smooth, you need to be prepared to deal with clients who get stuck along the way to achieving their coaching objectives.
Conducting coaching meetings, like co-creating the partnership, is considered a process step. The quality of the interaction between coach and client, the ebb and flow of the dialogue, the learning that occurs each time the coach and client are together, and the learning that occurs when the client is alone are rooted in process.
Managing the Coaching Program
Explanation: This step includes all of the upfront design and coordination with stakeholders, planning, implementation, and ongoing administration and maintenance.
Although creating a master plan is the first activity that must be done before even implementing a coaching program, we cover it last as a way to provide structure to the entire model. Managing the coaching program is a content step that holds all the pieces imbedded within the entire model—and it is ongoing because you must manage and track a coaching program from beginning to end on a regular basis. The master plan for a coaching program includes a clearly defined vision, guidelines, steps, protocols, contingencies, alignment, and agreements. All stakeholders must be involved to establish buy-in, support, open communication, and alignment with other related programs within the organization.
Managing the coaching program is represented as a content step because certain basic elements must be in place for an organizational coaching program to be successful. In chapter 9, we discuss these elements and how to take a systems approach in creating the master plan.
The following case is an example of a coaching partnership that depicts all of the steps in our holistic coaching model. As you read through this case, see if you can identify the elements of the organizational coaching model.
Mark’s Case
Two years ago, under the direction of the vice president of human resources at Future Life Inc. (FLI), an insurance company, the company formed a Coaching Task Force (CTF) as a way to plan, implement, and manage a coaching program and approach throughout all divisions at all locations.
The CTF spent six meetings designing an overall coaching program for the organization. It established a guidelines booklet that addressed essential topics such as program purpose; benefits for individuals, teams, and the entire organization; roles, expectations, and agreements; confidentiality; external and internal coaches; and protocol for tracking and measuring results. It conducted group introductory sessions, distributed the guidelines, sent out a newsletter, and posted pertinent information on the company intranet. Working through the CTF and Executive Committee, human resources proposed and received support to build coaching into performance development, career development, training, quality improvement, and other systems to create a coordinated approach toward personal and organizational success.
Each department within the company took the CTF guidelines and created its own task force to drive coaching all the way down the organization. In particular, the call centers created their own Call Center Coaching (CCC) Task Force to develop a coaching approach for customer care advisors and the call representatives. Already established within the call centers was a quality assessment and feedback mechanism for giving performance feedback to the call representatives. Managers and supervisors within the call centers saw the new coaching approach as a way to raise the effectiveness of this practice. Consequently, the CCC Task Force created a coaching vision and guidelines. It trained the customer care advisors in coaching techniques and then held information sessions with the call representatives to explain the process and gain buy-in and acceptance of the entire effort.
Two months ago, Mark (a customer care advisor) began coaching a new direct sales and service representative, Linda. Mark spent time building a foundation with Linda. They discussed schedules, meeting times, agreements for communicating, and expectations. Linda and Mark struck an immediate rapport. Although Linda was first concerned with confidentiality and how this would all be coordinated with her supervisor, Mark assured her that nothing personal would be shared with anyone else within the organization unless they decided together that certain information would be shared.
Mark collated data on Linda’s performance through direct observation, the monthly technical assessments, and a supervisory report. He fed the data to Linda by organizing all the information into themes and specific areas that Linda could understand and move toward action.
During two pivotal coaching meetings, Mark was able to co-create a strong partnership by asking Linda a series of probing questions to help her explore her strengths and development areas. Mark used a comfortable and supportive dialogue approach. This allowed Linda to feel safe and explore alternative actions.
Overall, Linda was performing well and had two major areas that required improvement. One, she didn’t ask enough questions. She would answer the immediate expressed needs of the caller but often failed to explore other areas of interest and potential sales. Two, she wasn’t up-to-speed on two popular products and, therefore, spent too much time researching and having to get back to the client.
Linda realized that her desire to complete each call in a timely fashion prevented her from asking more questions and surfacing other concerns. She realized that if she mastered the product information, she could cut down on her research time and would be able to concentrate more on each call. Mark helped Linda develop an action plan that outlined steps for improving her questioning techniques and learning the product material. Mark and Linda reviewed this action plan every week and tracked progress. Linda also developed a checklist of questions that she began to use for each call so she and Mark could note her progress. Mark advised Linda to keep a learning journal as she studied the product information booklets. She discussed this with Mark and her supervisor. Linda gained confidence, and Mark was able to support her, making sure her actions were being tracked and continually aligned with her goals and call center standards.
Soon Linda became proficient in product knowledge, and her questioning techniques improved greatly. At one of the call center staff meetings, Linda shared the key client question checklist she had developed. Her supervisor and other call representatives really liked the tool, and it soon became a standard job aid throughout the call centers. Mark realized that he helped not only Linda achieve her goals but also the entire department and organization reach their yearly goals.
Coaching and System Integration
A coaching program and a workplace learning and performance (WLP) coach must work with other programs in the organization. This kind of linking among programs, strategies, and activities is referred to as a “systems model.” With most systems, one component affects other components. You cannot plop a coaching program into an organization and expect it to work without linking it to other learning and program efforts within the organization.
Consequently, when working as a WLP coach, you need to link programs to maximize results and navigate organizational politics. Shelley Gaynes (2004) explains how certified coaches at IBM teach coaching skills and techniques to their American Sales Transformation Team. To simulate real-world scenarios, they use web conferences and case studies. The coaching approach is emphasized in the performance appraisal system, and specific training programs are offered on listening, open-ended questions, trust-building, and dialogue techniques. Another great linking example is offered by Anna Banks at the Canadian Centre for Management Development. Public service senior executives within the program acquire their knowledge from a multiprogram approach that includes mentors, executive advisors, personal coaches, small learning groups, and individuals who have varied job experiences (2007).
We’ll talk more at length about how to navigate these complex organizational systems when planning your coaching program in chapter 9. Some of the other programs that may make up your system are depicted in figure 2-2.
Another systems concept imbedded within the organizational coaching model is the value in using the model whether you are coaching an individual, a team, or an entire organization. Building a foundation, collecting data, feeding back data, designing goals, and tracking progress must be applied within all three coaching situations. Specific tools and approaches may vary, but the actual steps must take place. For example, you might use a 360-degree survey to gather data about an individual, yet choose to use a team self-assessment when coaching a group. For an organization, the choice might be a climate survey. In the case study, Mark begins by coaching an individual—Linda. Linda then uses her new skills to increase the effectiveness of her team, which leads to a new standard for call centers throughout the entire company. This demonstrates the power of coaching as an organization development tool.
The Coaching Role
Before delving into the more interactive steps of the coaching process, let’s look more closely as the first content step of the model—defining the role. WLP professionals are people working within organizations (as full-time employees or consultants) who are dedicated to advancing learning as part of their jobs. A WLP coach can be a full-time coaching professional or a manager or other work professional who has been trained to coach others within the organization. For example, a large organization may have several trained coaches on staff within the human resources department who coach individuals and teams full time. However, a smaller company may have several dedicated managers who serve as coaches when needed. A WLP coach is presented with myriad coaching roles and scenarios.
Coaching Roles
A list of coaching roles is below. See how closely any of these examples resemble your coaching role in your organization:
- a full-time trainer who acts as an internal coach when assigned
- an outside professional coach who has a contract with an organization to serve as a coach for leaders
- a manager who has studied the coaching process and decides to run his or her department using coaching principles
- a company president who believes that coaching is the key to high performance and decides to use a style of coaching leadership to enhance the company’s customer-service ratings
- a full-time, internal organizational coach
- a human resource employee who acts as an internal coach when assigned.
Coaching Scenarios
A list of coaching scenarios is below. See how closely any of these examples resemble your coaching scenarios in your organization:
- a mid-level manager who wants to develop leadership competencies to further his career
- an employee who feels stuck in her job and doesn’t know how to re-energize
- a mid-level manager who is identified as “high potential”
- a leader who is receiving feedback on being too authoritative in his approach
- a team that is undergoing a transition in terms of members and mission
- an employee who receives survey feedback and three follow-up coaching sessions as part of the company’s formal performance appraisal process
- an employee who wants to strengthen interpersonal skills
- a newly formed cross-functional team that wants to set itself up for success.
By now you’re probably getting the picture that coaching comes in many shapes and sizes. Variations of coaching tend to break out within the following four dimensions: external vs. internal coaches, types of training and certification, types of coaching performed, and types of clients. There is great overlap, but the distinctions matter as you reflect on your preferred area of work and skills and define your particular role as a WLP coach.
Types of Coaches
There are independent, external coaches who are hired by organizations to coach leaders and staff within the organization. External coaches are most commonly used for higher-level positions or for companies that don’t have the resources to support their own internal coaching programs. External coaches typically have backgrounds that include education and experience in business and organization development, as well as organizational coaching. There are also experienced and trained internal coaches who work within organizations. Internal coaches often reside in the human resources or training department of their organizations.
Although organizational size often dictates the availability of internal coaching resources, there are other factors to consider. Being external to the organization can be advantageous to the coach and the client by offering the real or perceived sense of safety. It is not unusual to hear organizational leaders say that their coaches are the only people they feel they can talk to. However, the internal coach better understands the complex organizational systems and politics affecting how people work and behave. Regardless of whether you are external or internal, organizational coaching is always a partnership among the client, the coach, and other key stakeholders in the organization. This requires astute understanding of organizational dynamics by the coach.
Training and Certification
Some practicing coaches have gone through extensive programs from which they emerge as certified coaches. Such programs are frequently recognized by the International Coach Federation (ICF, www.coachfederation.org), a membership organization that provides resources and accreditation in the field of coaching. These programs involve years of training and practice, include tests and exams, and require ongoing study over time. Other coaches may have an advanced degree in psychology, human resource development, or leadership and may have attended one of many training courses or workshops to hone their skills around the coaching process. These programs do not lead to a certified coach designation under ICF guidelines. Still other coaches have a master’s degree or certificate in coaching, often offered within a university setting. Lastly, there are individuals within organizations—managers, human resource professionals, leaders—who have excellent interpersonal skills, have natural coaching talent, and are educated by the organization to take on coaching.
Types of Coaching
Coaches tend to specialize in a particular kind of coaching or approach. In organizations, a good coach will be comfortable and skilled in integrating aspects from all three areas described below.
Leadership and executive coaching is dedicated to the needs, competencies, and concerns of executives leading an organization or large endeavor. The engagement may touch on the executive’s career, work/life balance, or some particular behavioral or communication opportunity. A partnership is formed among the executive, the coach, and the organization. The individual goals of an executive coaching engagement must always link back and be subordinated to strategic organizational objectives (Executive Coaching Forum, The Executive Coaching Handbook, 2007, 23).
Career coaching concentrates on the world of work; explores areas in which to achieve success along a particular career path; and focuses on providing support and guidance as an individual moves from one job, level, organization, or environment to another. Career coaching emphasizes a holistic alignment of work values with personal life values and interests.
Performance coaching emphasizes the coaching skills and behaviors that help create client learning and enjoyment necessary to close the gap between the present and the desired level of job performance. Coaches work with employees, bosses, and others in their workplace to help the employees identify these performance gaps and develop action plans for further professional development.
Types of Clients
Many new coaches make the mistake of focusing solely on who they want to coach (“I want to coach CEOs!”) or one particular type of coaching (“I want to do executive coaching!”). It’s important to realize that the type of client you may coach in your organization depends, to a certain extent, on the type of coaching performed. Table 2-1 is a chart matching potential coaching clients and possible coaching services. Keep in mind that certain types of clients may prefer internal or external coaches. You may want to think about the business opportunities and training implications that this chart presents. For example, if you are expected to coach managers, you will likely need to be proficient in all three types of coaching: leadership, career, and performance.
Two main topics are emphasized in this chapter: the organizational coaching model and your role as a coach. In other words, what you do and who you are! The organizational coaching model provides a holistic approach to both the process and the content of coaching in workplace settings. As a workplace coaching professional, you need to carefully consider your underlying experience and training, your role as external or internal, the types of coaching you prefer, and the clients you may encounter.
Table 2-1. Matching Coaching Clients and Services.
| Types of Clients | Leadership/ Executive Coaching | Career Coaching | Performance Coaching |
| Boards of Directors |  |
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| Leaders | |
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| Executive Teams | |
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| Teams, Groups, and Task Forces |
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| Managers | |
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| Staff Below Leadership Level |
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| Colleagues and Associates |
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| Subordinates | |
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| An Entire Organization | |
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Moving Ideas to Action
Let’s revisit Mark’s case, which depicts all the steps and concepts within the holistic organizational coaching model. In table 2-2, give examples from the case that support the designated model component. Then, in the last column, give examples from your own organization. If you cannot give an example, note the gap or missing element. In chapter 9, we will address how to build and implement a successful program, and you can use this initial analysis as a working document.
Table 2-2. Model Application Exercise.
| Model Components | Examples from Mark’s Case | Examples from Your Organization |
| 1. Defining the Role What is Mark’s role in the organization— How does he function as a coach? What are his skills? What kind of coaching does he conduct? |
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| 2. Building the Foundation How does Mark build rapport with Linda? |
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| 3. Co-Creating the Partnership What dialogue techniques does Mark use with Linda? What is his intention? |
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| 4. Collecting and Analyzing
Coaching Data What methods does Mark use to collect data in his coaching relationship with Linda? |
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| 5. Feeding Back Coaching Data What approach does Mark take in feeding back his data to Linda? What is the outcome of that meeting? |
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| 6. Designing Goals and Tracking
Progress What goals do Linda and Mark establish? How do they track progress toward those goals? |
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| 7. Conducting Coaching Meetings How does Linda benefit from her ongoing coaching meetings with Mark? What techniques encourage ongoing progress toward her objectives? |
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| 8. Managing the Coaching
Program What are some of the features of how FLI manages its coaching program? |
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| 9. Systems Approach How does Mark use a systems approach in coaching Linda?How does Mark use a systems approach in coaching Linda? |