Igniting the Spirit of Human Services through Coaching

By Katherine Carol, Tango Consulting

A recent study in the public sector shows that, while training alone increases employee productivity by 23%, coaching and training together increases it by 88%. Imagine a 65% gain in productivity—coaching is that good!

The Vision

Firing up the perfect blend of purpose, performance, passion, and profit is at the heart of coaching. It is a strong extension of current management and human resource efforts, moving from traditional personnel management to actually inspiring and developing individual employees. Coaching especially makes sense when shifting from the mindset of managing people with disabilities to one of encouraging growth. This happens through offering choices and ever-increasing opportunities for more personal responsibility. You see, when people working in the field of human services experience tremendous personal and professional growth, they are more capable of facilitating it.

The perfect organization has a team of professionals who live to make a positive difference in the lives of people with disabilities. They share a bond with the individual they support as they both fully participate in mutual growth. More than that, they strive to improve the organization’s reputation and participation in the community.

Having a team vividly “living” the mission everyday—standing shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, involved in one of the greatest social re-engineering efforts of our time—is the vision. We see a group of excited, passionate partners full of ideas and strategies. We hear the desire, as individuals requesting support for employment strive to improve their lives. The organization urgently wants to meet that request.

We sit in a team meeting with co-workers and artfully move through a powerful agenda to expand services. Or we see the sincere interaction between a manager and an employee solving a problem. In the out-stretched hand of understanding, we reach a frustrated parent one moment and, in the next moment, extend a warm welcome to a community that supports the mission of a proud organization.

In this vision, we continue to be touched by people who seek to make a difference.

The Problem

This describes the vision; the reality is often quite different. Creating success in today’s rock and roll world where nothing seems certain and resources keep fluctuating has become more challenging than ever. The rules keep changing—sometimes daily. What worked yesterday may still work today—the only difference is people want more from us—faster, better, cheaper. They want to feel the passion, hear the spirit, and see the results—NOW!

The Answer

Zeroing in on providing “died and gone to heaven” services happens through leadership development and best practices. This has been the main strategy in high performing organizations.

However, many organizations have trouble getting past basic survival and requirement training (examples include CPR and medication certification). So coaching can be used to improve skills for employees and managers in the following areas:

• Communication
• Career and personal growth
• Job satisfaction
• Relationship with co-workers and supervisors
• Leadership development
• Supervision
• Organizational and personal values
• Negotiation strategies
• Decision making skills
• Work/life balance

According to Business Week (January 10, 2000), coaching has become a legitimate industry. Corporations using coaching see not only improvements in individual performances and greater retention of talented employees, but increased profits and customer satisfaction. Employees themselves report more self-confidence, stronger skills, more goals achieved, and better relationships because of coaching. It works!

How Coaching Works

Coaching has a variety of approaches. Some are strictly performance-based—that is, they are skill specific and designed for quick improvement in a limited area. Others are more transformational and growth-oriented.

Performance-Based Coaching

This example comes from an executive who asked for my help to make a job change. His concerns were twofold: 1) How do I ensure the new job will suit my emotional and financial needs? and 2) Is the job a good fit for my talents?

His second concern revolved around how to position himself within the existing company so his exit from there would go relatively smoothly. A tough challenge, considering some tense relationships in certain positions there. Therefore, our coaching sessions centered on developing a management plan for the new job and carefully negotiating exiting from the current position.

What often emerges during a coaching relationship is a challenging and often ineffective pattern of decision making and actions needing examination. A coach can be particularly effective in bringing the pattern to people’s attention and helping them discover a new way to approach similar situations.

We established weekly goals in a mix of laser (quick five-to-ten-minute) sessions and longer sessions (two, two-hour sessions a month). This process resulted in a satisfied executive who was delighted to exceed his own expectations. Now confidently armed with new skills, he can eagerly dive into his new job.

Transformational Coaching

In another example, two co-workers coached each other. This coaching relationship used the proximity of working together to accomplish health-related goals that were personal. Both individuals needed to adopt a healthier lifestyle or risk some serious complications. They set goals around healthy eating and exercise, trusting one another to look at why they had not been pursuing living-better already. They used a well-known coaching technique called “questioning” to get to the root cause of the problems, not just deal with symptoms. The relationship was a strong one and, with the permission of both parties to ask why and how questions, they successfully pierced the heart of the issues.

The questioning technique also leads to strategies for moving past limitations. Often, typical management methods focus on quick fixes rather than listening for the “root causes” to help them find the best solution rather than just a solution. That’s why it’s important to question those being coached on how they see solutions. The questioning process also elicits a greater investment in following through.

Group Coaching

Coaching can be expanded beyond individuals to groups. I frequently coach work teams on project development and offer teleclasses and coaching sessions for groups of individuals seeking personal and professional growth. We use a conference call or telebridge, thus allowing people in a variety of locations to talk together. These calls are used to facilitate goal setting and decision-making, and to identify barriers and brainstorm solutions. The sessions allow the coach to see patterns of peak performance so he or she further develop those abilities—much like a coach works with great athletes. (Remember that even Tiger Woods has a coach!) And they let us look for patterns of breakdown, which we want to reframe and replace with productive actions.

In corporate coaching situations, a manager or supervisor may set an agenda for the group only. Ideally, the coaching session also focuses on individual agendas—often overlooked in the day-to-day operations. So having an objective third party can be quite effective. With an outside coach facilitating the agenda, it gives decision-makers a taste that leads to initiating a full coaching program. These programs influence “rising stars” in the organization as well as employees struggling with performance or work/life balance concerns.

Managers as Coaches

Companies have another option: using their own managers as coaches. Managers who have good people skills can be effective in coaching their staff or the staff of other company managers. What doesn’t work is this: managers who think they are coaching but are really just telling people to improve yet not taking the necessary time to develop weekly goals and reinforcing them. They often miss the key ingredients of listening, discovery, dealing with logistics, and providing solid tools for success.

Begin Coaching Today

If you want to provide first-rate services, start a coaching program in your organization. Take these steps to get started:

• Decide to invest in your organization and start a program.
• Start small.
• Recruit interested individuals who would like to be coached (or need to be coached).
• Decide if you want to hire an outside coach or develop an inside coaching program (or a combination of both).
• For inside coaching—select your coaches, define the coaching process, train them, and match with those seeking coaching.
• For hiring an outside coach—select criteria describing your coaching needs, send out a proposal, and interview and select coaches or a coaching organization.
• Review and evaluate your program and make adjustments.
• Enjoy the quantum leap in organizational productivity

For quantum leaps and more effective use of resources, add coaching to your management strategies. It will ignite the spirit of your people and encourage them toward its vision. Doing so translates into Purpose, Passion, Productivity, and Profit.

Contact Information

If you have further questions on coaching, call Katherine Carol at Tango Consulting (888) 706-0176. You can also visit the International Federation of Coaches web site (www.coachu.com) for information about Coach University.