Coaching in the Corporate World

IN THE CORPORATE WORLD

What is Corporate Coaching?

As companies strive to become more innovative and proactive rather than reactive, the coaching model is becoming more common-place in the corporate world.

In-house executive and leadership coaching programs are being developed and implemented, executive coaching companies are called upon and companies are realizing the benefits of developing their managers to lead with a coaching approach.

If a true coaching approach is taken and developed throughout an organisation, three benefits are soon realised.

1

Employees feel empowered to put new ideas forward without fear of rejection or ridicule.

2

Employees travel a path of continuous improvement both for themselves and the organisation.

3

Employees feel valued and empowered.

It can truly create a workplace that has a feel-good factor to it.

Coaching in the corporate world empowers employees to think outside of the box, embrace new challenges, broaden their experience and grow personally and professionally.

The objective of coaching is to bring out the personal best in an individual, whether a mid-level executive or a senior leader.

It contributes towards an environment of continuous change and improvement and this is exactly what is needed in today’s fast evolving world.

One of the key elements of corporate coaching is the accountability it provides.

Goals are much more likely to be achieved if a well-defined vision is formed.

Goals are translated into actionable daily and weekly actions. Then accountability is used to ensure these actions are implemented. and to motivate, guide and challenge the individuals. This is where the coach can really add value.

Management diagnostic tools such as profiling and 360-degree feedback surveys, in addition to the coaching program, can be used to enhance the individual’s awareness.

Rewarding, encouraging and recognising the ‘ingredients’ of success such as effort, a positive mental attitude or strategic thinking can be an effective way of developing employees.

It encourages a repeat of these ‘ingredients’ the next time a project/challenge is approached. If you wait until the results are in to recognise and encourage, it may be too late!

At Vision Insight, we assist organisations/individuals for any number of reasons.

A company may decide to:

further develop their leaders

support executives dealing with organisational change

gain clarity of vision

develop executives in transition

support return to work employees

develop high achievers with potential

offer support to overly stressed executives

offer guidance and accountability to under-performing executives

We find that coaching the individual both personally AND professionally to be the most effective approach and we have yet to coach an individual where ‘mind-set coaching’ has not been a part of the process.

What are the benefits for the companies that embrace coaching?

The benefits to an organisation that embraces an effective coaching program are endless.

It can lead to:

an uplift in overall culture

an increase in performance and productivity conflict situations decrease,

a reduction in stress levels

a reduction in absenteeism

increased capabilities

an environment of innovation

faster momentum to projects

the vision of the company embodied throughout

improved relationships with customers/clients

a proactive rather than reactive workplace

Team Coaching

Team coaching can be an effective and fun way to create a cohesive team; all moving towards the same goal.

Facilitating this away from the workplace can bring out creative thinking.

We like to focus on team objectives, work out what success looks like individually and as a team, create a strategy and determine the mindset is required to achieve their goals.

We encourage team brainstorming, empowerment and getting the executives out of their comfort zones.

We reflect on what went right and what didn’t go so well since the last session.

What were the learnings, how can we apply those learning to the next month, how will we celebrate and recognize the wins and keep building on the momentum gained?

Sales-team coaching a sales team can focus on working with them to exceed their KPIs, be more objective focused and improve their relationship management and selling skills.

Team coaching can work for getting a project off the ground with a team that hasn’t worked together before.

Our goal is to bring the team together, help them establish their roles within a team, get clarity on the team vision, work with them to set the short and longer term goals and support and guide them in building momentum to the project.

A coach is really only needed in the early stages of the project and the team shouldn’t need a coach any more once regular momentum is achieved. We can just be called back in from time to time to challenge the team, ‘check-in’ on progress and help the team celebrate their wins!

We also coach teams in developing a growth mindset. We take them through how to embrace new challenges, white board and navigate setbacks effectively, learn and grow from mistakes, failure and criticism and be inspired by the success of others.

Coaching Workshops

Another form of coaching (and one that can be lower cost for organisations) is coaching delivered in the form of a workshop.

The aim of the workshop is still to provide the same outcome as coaching but just delivered to a much larger group.

It lacks the personal touch, but if facilitated well it can still affect positive change on a larger scale at the same time and we get great results from this approach.

The aim is not just for us to inspire change, but to encourage the group to learn from each other’s experiences.

Leadership is changing.

Leadership is becoming more authentic, or rather, organisations are starting to realize that the coaching leadership approach is the most effective.

This effective style of leadership is a collaborative, emotionally intelligent leader, who communicates effectively, is value driven, has a high level of integrity and is able to bring people along with them. They need to be able to be agile, lead through change and agility, and foster the environment of continuous growth and innovation.

In short, they need to be the type of leader that people would follow with or without the title.

Clarity of vision is essential. The ability to empathise, lead with a coaching approach and the provision of accountability is a strong element for effective team leadership.

To have this type of leadership mind-set, self-awareness is vitally important. The reflective leader will continually reflect on where they could have done better, then apply this learning to their next engagement.

It’s a style of leadership that encourages, motivates, supports, guides and most importantly, offers accountability.

It’s now a leader’s role to empower their team(s) to stretch themselves and embrace new challenges, put ideas forward for change, take (educated) risks and learn from any mistakes along the way.

A coaching style is always an open door style of leadership, (often with no door at all), so it’s key that the leader develops their emotional intelligence in order to be able to empathise, be adaptable to each individual and communicate effectively.

With the pace that technology and the workplace are evolving, leaders and their teams staying firmly entrenched in their comfort zones is a dangerous practice.

We coach leaders how to become coaches and bring out the best in their teams.

It all starts with mindset!

We are firm believers that mindset is the KEY element which determines whether an individual succeeds or misses achieving their goals.

If an individual has self-belief, a positive mental attitude, a growth mindset, resilience and emotional intelligence, they are well on the way to succeeding and moving their organisation in the right direction!

Sarah Young

Sarah is the founder and lead coach of Vision Insight, a corporate personal and professional company. She has personally negotiated over $700 billion in sales and trades and was the first executive female leader on the currency trading floors in London at the age of 21, leading teams in a completely male dominated environment that closed deals in excess of $1 billion per week.

She facilitates Success Mindset and Leadership workshops and coaching, group coaches corporate teams to provide accountability, motivation, guidance and support, delivers Success Mindset keynotes and contributes to leadership panels and roundtables and consults to leaders on organisational change.

She also writes and delivers leadership workshops at high profile national women in leadership summits.