Case Study
Coaching Skills for Leaders
OVERVIEW:
Creating a Coaching Culture
Their Situation
This national retailer had a goal of creating a coaching culture within their organization and wanted to begin by building an Internal Coach Community. Starting with a core group of 20 individuals, we steadily grew the community to over 50 with a cross-section of business leaders. As HR Business Partners were also seen as instrumental in influencing a coaching culture, initial participants were quick to recommend that they also become skilled in coaching.
The Methodology
The two day Coaching Skills for Leaders Program was initially delivered by The Coaching Edge to over 100 leaders, with the Internal Coach Community receiving an additional six-month practicum and personalized feedback to further advance their skills.
Based on the results of the program, Human Resources recommended we develop a Train-The-Trainer version of the program which could be deployed regionally by internal facilitators. Eighteen internal facilitators were certified and then trained over 600 business leaders in coaching skills.
The Results
The quantitative post-course feedback from the 80 HR Business Partners is summarized here along with highlights from the qualitative comments below.
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Question | Score | ||||
I understand and can explain the difference between coaching, mentoring and managing. | 4.8 | ||||
I understand and can use the coaching model. | 5.0 | ||||
I have increased my understanding of and advanced my skills in: | |||||
Active Listening | 4.1 | ||||
Various Ways of Responding | 4.2 | ||||
Powerful Questions | 4.2 | ||||
Exploring Assumptions and Beliefs | 4.1 | ||||
Giving Acknowledgements | 4.4 | ||||
This learning experience provided strategies and tools I can use when coaching | 4.7 | ||||
I understand how to coach colleagues in their development plan creation. | 4.5 | ||||
This was a good forum in which I could learn and participate. | 4.7 | ||||
I would recommend this training session to other colleagues. | 4.8 | ||||
The facilitator was knowledgeable on the subject matter. | 4.9 | ||||
The facilitator was effective. | 4.9 | ||||
Overall, this two-day program provided me with the foundational skills, process and tools to be able to coach others in the organization. | 4.7 | ||||
Before this training session, I estimate my knowledge of the content was ____%: | 49.4 | ||||
After this training session, I estimate my knowledge of the content is now ____%: | 88.8 |
“I walked in thinking this would be a “fluff” course. It was not. Incredibly informative, interactive and practical. It relates directly to my role.”
“It was fantastic, the best training I have attended in a long time. You created a safe place for us to learn, share and have light bulb moments! I’m impressed with the ease at which I can transfer this approach to the workplace. Will definitely recommend this program to our leaders.”
“As a leader it was great to know that I don’t have to have the solution all the time. I can coach my colleagues to create the way forward.”
“I now have a greater respect for leading with questions rather than coming to staff with my opinion on next steps. It is a great method to develop my staff and also drive accountability.”
“I learned a lot about myself and my leadership style through this experience.”
“I particularly liked how we got to try out the model numerous times and receive feedback in the moment from the facilitator.”
This organization embraced coaching as a method to engage, develop and empower their employees while driving accountability at the appropriate levels.