A Case For Coaching by Life and Business Coach Carole Ann Rice

A Case for Coaching - Carole Ann Rice

Why in the world would anyone use a coach? It’s a good question. Still considered a “new” profession here, coaching has its devotees across the world along with a fair degree of cynics who see it as another unnecessary US export.


But just as personal trainers in the 90s were considered a luxury fad for the lucky few, now we all know someone who is using or has used a fitness guru to tone their bones and get them fit. In the near future you too will have used a coach or know someone who has.

Coaching is rapidly becoming the most essential training tool that leaders and individuals use to run successful organizations and to create extraordinary lives.

It is not surprising that many global organisations such as IBM and Dell employ legions of full time coaches to work with managers or teams to increase performance, productivity and profits.

Yet for many coaching still carries therapy/new age connotations despite the fact that coaching principles are based on sound theoretic and academic processes. Unlike mentoring, coaches don’t necessarily have to work within the same sector as the client or have had personal experience of the profession or role they are coaching around. Whether scientist or sales exec the coach seeks to unlock the individual’s potential and unhook them from whatever is preventing them from achieving the success they have within them.

We look at the limiting beliefs the individual may be holding “I’m not management material”/ “I feel like a fraud” and see what lies behind them.
We also analyse what is currently standing in their way whether it’s a communications or confidence issue or perhaps a past grievance that has them stuck. Taking a holistic view of how the person is leading their lives; diet, relationships, work/life balance and five year plan, we have found also has an impact on how they perform in the workplace.

Unlike therapy coaches don’t want to wallow in the painful past but focus on the here and now and set achievable goals to teleport them into a powerful future.
For organizations this means greater awareness and understanding, which creates cohesive and directional teams; where the talent is nurtured and the weak points exposed and managed.
Corporations are also beginning to believe that coaching helps retain employees and that the financial investment is far less than replacing a key player.

Just as some large city firms may offer “perk” coaching to valuable employees, who voice dissatisfaction despite hefty bonuses, to prevent them from leaving, similarly some find it equally beneficial if staff head happily for the door post coaching too.
Increasingly organizations are opting to develop in-house coaches out of their own teams where managers are taught coaching skills in order to effectively manage their workforce.

Tanya Clemons, Vice President of Global Executive and Organizational Development at IBM said: “We’ve done lots of research over the past three years and have found that those leaders who have the best coaching skills have better business results.”

We rest our case.


Carole Ann Rice of The Real Coaching Company www.realcoachingco.com

Away Day or No-Way Day Carole Ann Rice looks at the Pitfalls of Team Development.

For the singleton it’s an opportunity for romance or expense account booze up and for those with kids it’s a nightmare of childcare arrangements and disgruntled partners. The team away day or residential development event can build morale and create an inclusive, motivated workforces or it can simply divide, disengage or downright disillusion the reluctant team player.

From solving faux business dilemmas to psychometric testing, where individuals are divined as either Earth Mothers or Warriors, the away day can be a minefield of bruised egos and battered expense budgets. When a team is pulling in different directions, blame and scapegoating is the culture and there seems to be an issue around shared goals and outcomes, time out and training can solve the issue.
But how many times have you seen folk return from these events flying high and geared up for change to find it dissolves into the same old routine?

Donna from sales may have been the high wire heroine abseiling her way to team glory in the badlands of Shropshire last week, but is back to being as obstructive as ever as soon as her heels hit the office Axminster. Something appears to have been lost in translation from away day to work day.
To ensure that a team away day really does do more than bond a disparate group of people but have real and sustainable effects it might be worth considering these pointers.

• Be very clear from the outset what the desired intention of the event is. What exactly is it you want to achieve? How will that be done? What needs to be in place? What benchmark with you use to know you’ve got there?
• Make sure you will be able to measure results and take away accumulated data (contributed by the teams) that you can use effectively thereafter.
• Don’t assume everyone wants sporting terminology and Will Carling-esque motivation exercises; that people like to be physical, extrovert or do things that get them out of a comfort zone and straight into the psychiatrist’s chair.
• Inform the team what you would like them to get out of the event and invite them to make suggestions to as to what they would like to achieve, learn and contribute to the exercise.

• Use psychometric tests from the outset so that they can identify theirs own strengths and weaknesses and learn about the qualities of their colleagues too and how best to work and interact with them.

• Work, rest and play – make sure the event has its highs and lows and at the end there is a social time in the bar or restaurant to socialize, de-brief and consolidate what has been learned.

• Check in with the team a week later to see if what they have learned has been useful and put into practice.
• Avoid death by away day. Too many psychometric tests and physical challenges could lead to confusion and burn out. Remember, this is training and development not the Apprentice.


Find out more about Carole Ann Rice http://www.realcoachingco.com/