Benefits of Workplace Coaching

Here are just a few example research papers on business coaching published from the 1930's through to the 1980's...

Between the late 1930's and the late 1960’s -coaching literature focused on Internal coaching in organizations, with managers or
supervisors acting as coaches to their staff. A paper by Gorby (1937) detailed how older employees were trained to coach new employees.
Another publication in 1938 (Bigelow) discussed the benefits of sales coaching. In 1958 Mold reported on the benefits of the
manager-as-coach and Mahler (1964) observed the difficulty in getting managers to be effective coaches. In 1967 Gershman produced his
doctoral research thesis on how supervisors were trained to be successful coaches to improve employees' attitude and job performance.

1970’s

Frohman, A. L. and J. P. Kotter (1977). "Coaching and counseling: How you can improve the way it's done." Training & Development
Journal.

1980’s
Ponzo, Z. (1980). "Management development roles: Coach, sponsor and mentor." Personnel Journal
Tyson, L. and H. Birnbrauer (1983). "Coaching: A tool for success." Training & Development Journal
Duffy, E. M. (1984). "A feedback-coaching intervention and selected predictors in outplacement." Dissertation Abstracts
Sergio, J. P. (1987). "Behavioral coaching as an intervention to reduce production costs through a decrease in output."
Stowell, S. J. (1987). "Leadership and the coaching process in organizations."
Orth, C. D., H. E. Wilkinson, et al. (1987). "The manager's role as coach and mentor." Organizational Dynamics
Thompson, A. D., Jr (1987). "A formative evaluation of an individualized coaching program for business managers and professionals."

Today -Some Types of Organizational Coaching -and the benefits of:
Cultural Change Coaching
The culture of an organisation reflects the values and behaviours of its members. Coaches who specialize in cultural change conduct cultural audits through surveys, interviews and/or focus group methods etc. They can analyse results and propose and conduct interventions to better identify and articulate an organization's culture or they can help develop and introduce positive, sustainable corporate values and new behaviours or assist members to be in alignment with the organization's culture etc.

Coaching for Directors and Boards
When an organisation needs to change, leadership and inspiration must come from the top. When the Directors are under pressure to successfully change operational procedures, effective communication is critical. Management Coaches have extensive knowledge of organisational change and business strategy to the Director level. Using a combination of their own experience and proven coaching models, processes and tools they:

Provide a confidential and objective “space and time” enabling self-awareness and self-reflection.
Evaluate behavioural patterns affecting decision-making -ensuring that these are aligned to business goals and driving them forward.
Challenge thinking, problem-solving etc focusing on making the right strategic moves.
Further develop communication methods and style -ensuring clear, effective and constant communication.

Management / Leadership Coaching
The behavior of a company's leaders is crucial to the entire organization. The behavior of leaders sets examples that communicate more than anything else. A leader's greatest tool in leading others is the combination of their personality and behavior. A leader's greatest contribution is how well they communicate ideas, influence those around them, demonstrate the behavior they talk about, and inspire others to join together in accomplishing a common goal. It is a fact that, the further up the ladder a leader moves, the greater the risk of loss of constructive feedback. Giving constructive feedback to anyone is difficult at best for most people. Coaching helps to fill this gap. When done well, coaching accelerates the development of managers and leaders.

The attraction, retention and development of qualified staff are also key concerns as organisations adapt to an ever changing and challenging world around them. Executive Coaches work with leaders to develop leadership skills -encouraging them to lead by example and how to best support their teams to engage in ongoing professional and personal skill learning programs, be motivated and committed.

Types of Executive Coaching -and the benefits of:
As noted in the book, 'The Complete Guide to Coaching at Work', the authors (Skiffington and Zeus) have found Witherspoon’s typology of executive coaching to be useful:

Coaching for skills helps the executive learn specific skills, abilities and perspectives over a period of several weeks or months. The skills to be learned are usually clear at the outset and are typically related to skills associated with an executive assuming new or different responsibilities.

Coaching for performance focuses on the executive’s effectiveness in his or her current position. Frequently it involves coaching for one or more management or leadership competencies, such as communicating vision, team building or delegation.

Coaching for development refers to coaching interventions that explore and enhance the executive’s competencies and characteristics required for a future job or role. It can be associated with outplacements, restructuring and reengineering in the organization.

Coaching for the executive’s agenda generally entails working with an executive on any personal or organizational concerns he or she may have. It can focus on issues surrounding the executive, such as change and company downsizing. Personal issues are more likely to arise in this type of coaching.

Executive coaches can also work with training managers to formalize coaching in their leadership roles and become the "manager as coach"

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CASE STUDY 1. - EXECUTIVE COACHING
A Coaching program was developed to address a Senior Management Team's specific needs to: be more 'Transformational' in their leadership style, to improve their behavioral flexibility and improve their cross functional effectiveness. The program was delivered through team workshops addressing common workplace issues and one to one personal developmental coaching sessions focusing on under-performance issues. Results were benchmarked and linked to measurable changes in behavior.

The Assessment instruments provided information on the coachees: Leadership style, Problem-Solving style, Stress levels, and their Emotional Aspects - their strengths and developmental areas.

The program was over a twelve month period starting with a number of one-to-one sessions. The team workshops were followed by one-to-one coaching driven by the needs of the individual coachees.

CASE STUDY 2. - COMMUNICATIONS COACHING
A recent study concluded that high performing organizations all have strong communication practices based on well-defined communication development programs.

Communication Styles Coaching Program for a leading financial services organization: To prepare key personnel to communicate more effectively, the program was designed to help personnel develop strong, strategic presentational skills. The program's specific objectives were to significantly improve key, valued personnel's ability to express, present, persuade, negotiate and deliver messages with impact.

The program framework included three phases: assessment, coaching, and evaluation. The assessment phase helped personnel to clarify dominant communication styles. A variety of assessment tools including Social Styles, Competing Values, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was employed. In the coaching phase, personnel learnt the strengths and weaknesses of their dominant communication styles, as well as strategies for communicating effectively with others who have conflicting styles. Finally, the evaluation phase helped personnel to monitor the effectiveness of their communication styles and strategies and to develop action plans for continuous improvement. During this phase personnel had numerous opportunities to make presentations and receive detailed feedback from their coach and peers on the substance and delivery of their improved message/presentation skills.