Welcome to our new Coaching series where we will be sharing our insights of developing a coaching approach within a VCSE organisation. We will be sharing our learnings and highlighting how coaching can support you and your team.
In the first of the series, Claire, our Interim Head of People and Trainee Coaching Psychologist, shares an overview of our journey so far.
Developing a coaching culture in a VCSE organisation
At Action Hampshire we have been developing a coaching culture. But what exactly is this and how can it help support teams and create organisational sustainability?
What is coaching?
So firstly, coaching is an approach which views employees as adults with the skills and capabilities to achieve great things. It’s the opposite of micro-managing and directing staff. Instead, it uses trust and support to enable people to see their strengths and feel safe to take risks to develop themselves and explore new opportunities. It recognises that people often have the answers inside themselves and being truly listened to and being asked insightful questions, can enable people to gain clarity, and find confidence that they possess the resources to overcome a particular challenge.
What is a coaching culture?
So what is a coaching culture? There doesn’t appear to be one definition. At Action Hampshire, we see a coaching culture as providing a supportive and growth-minded environment that uses a coaching approach, as outlined above. We want this to run through everything we do and become part of our organisation so this now forms part of our structured employee support. Additionally, we want this to influence how we behave and relate to one another in meetings and the work environment. We are still at the beginning of embedding this approach and would love to hear from any of you who are also on this journey or who already have an established coaching culture within your organisation.
This is where we are so far…
We have been working on this for just over a year now. Initially led by our previous CEO, who provided the vision of introducing coaching into Action Hampshire. This has been continued by our current CEO and senior leadership team. We began with some external coach training to gain skills, understanding, awareness and knowledge of using a coaching approach. This then translated to further internal support and coaching to other colleagues. We have adopted this approach within our 1-1s and are continually trying to embed it into how we behave and support each other.
Developing internal coaching capabilities…
We really value our amazing team at Action Hampshire and want them to be the best they can be and continue to grow and develop. So we now use a coaching approach into our 1-1 meetings with line managers (who we now call coaches!). This means 1-1 meetings are based on listening to the coachee, being led by them, facilitating their thinking and supporting them in their problem solving. The key component here is providing encouragement and psychological safety to facilitate exploration of new ideas and opportunities. Our line managers/coaches have embraced this approach and are continually developing their own skills, strengths and experience. Coaching Forums and Coaching skills sessions provide opportunities for the coaches to share and learn together, building confidence and capabilities in their coaching and being supported in the uncomfortableness of learning a new skill!
The benefits of a coaching approach…
As well as the benefits of learning to facilitate a coaching approach, our coaches and colleagues are benefiting from receiving this facilitated thinking in their own 1-1s. Colleagues are building trusting relationships with their coach/line manager where they feel safe to explore new ideas, challenges and identify strengths and new possibilities. Anecdotally, this has meant that colleagues have grown in confidence, willing to try new things and been able to improve their problem solving and increase their own capabilities. We are working on improving how we measure this positive impact so more coming on this soon!
It’s not all plain sailing…
Things are going well but as with anything new, there are always challenges! It can be tricky to play the dual role of line manager and coach. While wanting to support the coachee and be led by them, sometime organizational priorities or time pressures can mean that work can be more directed than we would like. We want to role model coaching behaviour but sometimes stresses and strains and inexperience in coaching, can mean this is not always the case. Or the busyness of our roles may mean we are not always adequately prepared for our 1-1 meetings or struggle to find time for meaningful reflection afterwards, in order to facilitate our own growth and development. But we are continuing to learn from each other as we mature and develop in this approach and we won’t always get it right, but we will always continue learning.
New opportunities…
As well as opportunities to improve our 1-1 support for colleagues, we have also been able to utilise team coaching approaches to support our project teams. This is something we are continuing to develop in line with our innovative approach to organisational development as funded by the National Lottery. Look out for new opportunities in how we can support your teams with coaching.
If coaching is new to you and your VCSE organsiation and you are interested in learning more, please get in touch with us.
Email claire.vincent@actionhampshire.org
Look out for learning and training opportunities coming this Autumn to support you and your team.
