Here’s a blog to demonstrate how we’re embedding a ‘coaching approach’ across our organisation.
In the VCSE (Voluntary, Community & Social Enterprise) sector, supporting others is at the heart of everything we do. Whether it’s the people we serve, our staff teams, or our volunteers, we are constantly responding, solving, and stepping in where needed. For a long time, that was our default too- wanting to jump in to help. Pausing, asking a question, and sitting with silence doesn’t always come naturally, but over the last couple of years this is what we’ve been trying to do, exploring a different approach at Action Hampshire: Coaching. This involves facilitating thinking in others and helping people see their own strengths and ability to overcome challenges rather than jumping in with solutions.
This work has involved supporting line managers to use a coaching approach to support colleagues in their 1-1s. The importance of building a trusting relationship and safe space to enable deep thinking and exploration is something we have continually been working on. This led to us providing coaching skills sessions – to learn and practice coaching skills, and coaching forums, a safe space for reflection and growth. This has involved building awareness, confidence and having a go, trying an alternative approach to how we manage and lead at Action Hampshire.
What we’ve noticed
- People thinking things through more independently
- More reflective conversations across the team
- Less pressure on individuals to “have all the answers”
- A greater sense of shared ownership
Involving the whole team – what we missed
But we left something out.
We weren’t clear with the whole team at the start about our coaching approach. We had focused on line-managers and supporting them to be internal coaches. We had not taken enough time at the beginning, or when new people joined the team, to not only introduce them to our coaching approach, but support them in building their skills in coaching. As if we want coaching to be part of our culture, this involves everyone. Coaching is not only useful for 1-1s but for how we are as a team, how we tackle challenges and how we facilitate meetings and workshops and help others step up. Conversations happen everywhere, not just in 1-1s. It was a large oversight on our part. We’re learning from this.
So we’ve introduced:
- Introduction to Coaching workshop for all
- Coaching induction for all new staff including Being a coachee – what to expect workshop
- Encouraging people to try it in real conversations
- Normalising that it’s okay if it feels awkward at first and its all part of learning something new
- Continuing to build a psychologically safe space and admitting when we make mistakes
So we’ve learned as we’ve gone along. This wasn’t about getting it perfect. It was starting and building awareness and confidence within all of us and creating a culture where we feel safe to be ourselves, make mistakes and grow and learn as a team.
Want to explore this further?
If you’re curious about how a coaching approach could work in your VCSE organisation, come along to our 1-hour online workshop designed specifically for VCSE leaders, managers and teams on:
Wednesday 22 April 10:00 – 11:00
It’s practical, interactive, and focused on simple shifts you can start using straight away.
To book – register on the link below.
An Introduction to Coaching – Online Workshop Tickets
The session is free to Action Hampshire members. Not a member? Sign up for free Become a member – Action Hampshire
For further information about the session or our coaching approach, email claire.vincent@actionhampshire.org
We look forward to seeing you there and starting a conversation!
