Why is Coaching THE answer?

Why is Coaching THE answer?

Did you know that Coaching is the second fastest growth industry?  Information Technology being the first!!  That might give you some indication of just how important Coaching is. What would it take to put Coaching as THE fastest growth industry?

You can find many articles on this subject on google which talk about this from a research perspective. I would prefer to answer it from my own personal experience of working with individuals and groups in industry and an unresourceful meeting with a UK High Street Bank HR Professional.

In the early days of my career, the organisations I worked for loved 'tick box' training and would send out lists of training courses for people to tick the coures they wanted to attend.  I could never understand this because the results were always the same.  A person would attend a training course, come back to their job and often, in the majority of cases, behave as they did before.  Nothing much changed.

Later in my career I worked on performance related issues.  By this I mean working to develop people's behaviour in line with what the organisation wanted of them.  Of course when we begin to talk about this we open up a can of worms because there is so much to consider including getting the right people into jobs that they are matched to and supporting them so they can be the best they can be!

Managing performance issues in organisations involves opening up a dialogue, exploring the issues, illuminating the situation, creating perspective, developing motivation and managing multi-way 'meaningful' communication. 

Here's a story about a Bank 

I was granted a very brief audience with a senior HR professional of a UK High Street Bank at the beginning of this year. I could read her instantly and knew that she was uninterested in exploring Coaching with me at that time.  She did what most people from the corporate world do, she saw the photos of our delegates and couldn't see beyond the relaxed and friendly image.  She didn't want to see that these were all individuals who held high level positions in every sector from the Police, to Private industry to Local Authority.  It's worth noting here that Simply Changing has an image that appeals to people who are making decisions about their own future careers. 

 

 

The HR Professional didn't want to discuss the problems she was experiencing with her senior management.  She was very stressed and unreceptive.  

She did not want to hear that we have a solution, she wasn't open to investing her hopes in an organisation that can make a difference.  She had stopped believing. 

Imagine what I thought when we heard a few months later of the difficulties this Bank was experiencing.  I have to say I was not surprised and the reason for the acute levels of stress the HR professional was exhibiting, at the time we met, where now answered.

So, why is this relevant to the question - Why is Coaching THE answer?

The following points are just some of what the Simply Changing approach to Coaching would have given the Bank:

  • A well managed Coaching solution based on the needs of the business
  • A clarity on the operational impact of the Company's policies and procedures
  • An opportunity for the Senior Managers to understand their own stresses and pressures
  • Perspective on priorities
  • A well facilitated communication process both vertically and horizontally within the organisation (with all levels able to talk, share, explore, problem solve, resolve issues)

People development is what we do here at Simply Changing.  We have brilliant solutions to the complexity of human relations.  We know how to communicate and affect change.  We know how to resolve conflict, we know how to open up the lines of communication.  The end result is that people can do their job effectively.  This is our skill.

It's no wonder that Coaching is the second fastest growth industry because Coaching gives us the skills to work effectively, communicate effectively and enable people to free themselves to get on with what's important, in the workplace that's doing our job effectively and in our home lives it's living to the full with a good worklife balance. 

Coaching is a technology and a philosophy, it's an art and a science - put simply, it's a way of working with groups and individuals which enable them to get the best out of any situation by managing themselves well.

If you run an organisation - don't allow your HR professional's lack of belief and lack of energy affect the performance of your organisation and the choice to engage with people who know how to Coach well

If you are an individual - develop great Coaching and NLP skills and apply them to yourself and to others in your life

So, what would it take for Coaching to be THE fastest growth industry in the world?  

It would take more HR professionals to be discerning about the people development solutions they engage with.  It would take experienced and skilled management of the Coaching process.  Mostly it would take real knowledge of what Coaching is and an understanding of Coaching as a philosophy, an art, a science and a set of high level communication processes.

Here's to more effective workforces and more successful companies leading to more prosperity for everyone.

Louise x