Category: Technology

Coaching for all – not just for the higher-ups

jocando Leave a comment
A crowd of lego workers

Coaching is gaining in popularity, as more organisations recognise the benefits they can gain from improved employee performance through coaching.

However, it seems to me that there is still a perception that coaching is for ‘higher-ups’. The assumption is that coaching is expensive, both in terms of money and time.  So, the argument goes, investment in coaching to help develop people should be aimed at those where the results will have most impact, usually assumed to be those in senior positions.

I think we need to challenge some of those assumptions.  Let’s start with cost.

A ‘good’ coach is expensive

I talked to an HR person recently.  She gave me a lot of information about how her company worked with external coaches.  But without asking me any questions, she assumed that the company could not afford me as a coach for ‘ordinary’ employees.  She assumed that she’d have to pay £300 for an hour of coaching.  This fee was based on what her company was paying for the executive coaches, but also on other assumptions – that there were no coaches close by, that you’d have to hire someone from London, pay their expenses, bring them down to the company for half a day etc. 

It didn’t cross this HR person’s mind that they could invest in a whole course of coaching – say, 6 sessions, plus introductory session and evaluation session – for the same price.  Yet they had internal coaches who were doing just that for a similar cost.  And at that same company, they’d think nothing of signing off £300 to send someone to a training event or conference, regardless of level.  But although the employee might get a few hours of valuable ‘input’, it’s unlikely there’d be any follow-up to see if the investment in training had made any real difference to the employee or company. 

It has to be face-to-face

The assumption is that the coach or coachee has to travel to be at a coaching session in person.  But this takes time and has an opportunity cost – you could be working instead of travelling.  I’ve mentioned before that I do a lot of work online – training and coaching online via telephone and video calls.  This has significantly reduced the costs I need to charge to clients.  In addition, both parties can choose a comfortable environment for themselves.  Don’t get me wrong – coaching in person is the ideal solution for many. But many clients find a session can be just as effective online.

And not only does technology mean you don’t have to travel, it also opens up the range of coaches you have access to, meaning you can find one that suits your needs, rather than having one that’s conveniently close-by.

We have too many employees

Employees won’t need a coach all the time.  But it may be appropriate for specific times or challenges in their career, for example when:

  • you’ve been newly promoted
  • you are going through a transition or period of change
  • you are looking to develop skills and behaviours to get you to the next level or take you in a new direction

So let’s start challenging this idea that coaches are just for the C-suite and open it up to all.

Seeing the world of work from the comfort of home

jocando Leave a comment

About half of my work at the moment involves training and coaching in Business English.  My initial career was in teaching EFL, so this is something I’m familiar with and trained in, but technology has enabled me to do this now from the comfort of my own home and on a much wider scale.

The focus is on using English for business purposes.  Multinational companies are increasingly requiring their employees to work across borders and see that their employees need to communicate on a daily basis with colleagues and customers in other countries.  English is usually the common language, so companies are investing in raising the levels of English in their workforce. 

These employees are located around the world, and are working in a variety of companies, departments and specialisms.  I’ve got learners in sales, HR, IT, engineering, marketing, legal etc.  They are also at all levels in the hierarchy: directors, managers, and individual contributors.

man looking at computer and taking notes with pen and paper

The sessions are mainly one-to-one, with some in small groups. The classroom is ‘flipped’ and I’m not teaching the language as such – this means I get to use my facilitating, coaching and mentoring skills more.  Sessions often involve discussions and practise around current business topics, such as leadership and management skills, culture, engagement, AI, time management, stress and self-care, and so on, and learners get to discuss business issues while at the same time using and developing their English skills.

This makes for some fascinating conversations and a real insight into the current state of work around the world.  For example, one learner is a HR Director for a Chinese company that has been bought by an international company with headquarters in the Netherlands.  She now regularly visits the Netherlands and has weekly virtual meetings, in English, with the Senior Management team dotted around the world.

I have another learner in Germany, who not only has to manage his own team in Germany, but also has to coordinate a team in Pakistan and Taiwan.  We talk a lot about cross-cultural management!  It’s also interesting to see and contrast the Chinese employee in an American company (P&G) based in America, and the Chinese employee in an American firm (IBM) based in China.  I talked recently to an employee in the legal department of a Spanish company, which is in the process of setting up another company with colleagues in Ireland and the Netherlands, and the frustrations that was bringing her.

I’ve talked with a multitude of employees, some going through layoffs and cutbacks, one going into her first management role,  another who’s just decided to quit, another who’s got a side hustle and is about to go solo.  I’ve had learners taking sessions while in the car, in hotels on wi-fi, on mobile phones while walking, and today from an old folks’ home – basically anywhere and everywhere.

The world is shrinking.  Technology allows us to talk with people globally at little cost.  The only difficulty is the time-zone difference.  And despite the conversations about cultural differences, it’s surprising how similar and human the employee experiences are.