Making Coaching Work

Below is a short article written by my colleague Chris Leggett on what constitutes a great coaching culture- enjoy!  

"At The Beech Centre we are often involved in helping organisations to develop a sustainable ‘coaching culture’ – which is a very worthwhile ambition. Our diagnostic work typically starts with a discussion about what a ‘coaching culture’ actually is.

A great starting point for that dialogue is described by David Clutterbuck & David Megginson in their excellent CIPD book ‘Making Coaching Work’. I thought it might be interesting to share the bones of their ideas in this blog.

The Megginson & Clutterbuck model of what a coaching culture is.

“A coaching culture is one where coaching is the predominant style of managing and working together, and where a commitment to grow the organisation is embedded in a parallel commitment to grow the people in the organisation.”

They identify some of the impacts / benefits of a coaching culture being;

• Higher awareness of, delivery of and empathy with the needs of the ‘customer’.
• More robust strategies for achieving sustained high performance.
• Higher performing teams.
• Higher performing individuals.
• Improved communication
• Improved staff attitudes (great place to work)
• Greater sharing of knowledge.

They suggest a model of what a coaching culture should ‘look like’ and how progress towards it can be assessed.

“Sustaining coaching behaviours depends to a great extent on how well the leaders role model coaching behaviours – especially when they are dealing with crises. It is these moments of truth that define the pervading culture.

Another important factor is that people know they have a licence to remind their bosses how they are supposed to behave.”

A coaching culture will take time to establish and has the potential to really transform any organisation – have you got a strategy in place to establish one in your business yet?

Chris Leggett

Coach Facilitator

The Beech Centre for People, Performance and Organisational Development"

Myself, Chris and the rest of The Beech Centre team write weekly articles on all things OD as part The Beech Centre's commitment to getting the world talking about organisational development, the great performing organisations we are all a part of and the fantastic people within them that enable this performance to happen. We're always keen to hear your thoughts on the topics we talk about and what is important to you in the world of personal and organisational development. Please comment below or drop me an email at [email protected]  to let me know what you think or to ask me to add you to our weekly Friday Fix email list- I can arrange to have these articles sent directly to your inbox for you each Friday so get in touch!

Elen Benfield

Digital Engagement Co-Ordinator

The Beech Centre for People, Performance and Organisational Development