How To Develop In-House Coaches​
Suggested Video.
Webinar: Developing Coaching Skills for Leaders.
This video presents the connection between leadership and coaching.
  • Change is constant and rapid.
  • People look for training and development from their organisation.
  • Coaching is a constant and evolving commitment.
  • Coaching conversations result in actions.
  • Coaching is not the only answer to performance.
Health and Wellness.​
  • ​Focus on the things you can control:  The only thing the coach truly controls is the coaching methodology they rely on.
  • Be patient:  Deadlines and pressure are elements of business not coaching.  Make sure that you allow those you coach to experience any success or failure on their terms and in their time.
  • Don't harm:  If you don't know, don't say.  Allowing yourself to slip into giving advice is a road paved with potential conflict and problems.
  • Respect everyone:  No matter where someone is in an organisation they have a unique view and unique coaching requirements.  Treat everyone equally.
  • Avoid becoming cynical:  "Been-there-done-that" is never helpful.  People have to find their own way to overcome their issues.  Help them.
  • Be happy:  It's not all problems.  A lot of coaching is about helping very capable people to push their own 'limits'.  Sit back and enjoy the ride.
Suggested Videos.
How Coaching Works.- ​Stick with it.  It makes sense.
Bad Coach vs Good Coach - I love the first 1.16 of this video.
Top 10 Coaching Mistakes - The sort of mistakes all coaches make sometime.

What's Next?

The first thing to do is to get a very clear understanding of what coaching actually is.   Coaching's sole objective is to get things done. Coaching is not therapy, teaching, training, instructing, mentoring or managing.  All of these things are important but they are not directed by the simple truth that everyone, at some point, has to take action that successfully advances the aims and objectives of the person/organisation paying the bills. To be clear, all coaches (especially in sport) will, occasionally, act as agony aunt, teacher, mentor, etc. But these roles are not central to, or the main point, of coaching.

Developing in-house coaches needs a great deal of thought and planning.  This starts with selection.  In-house coaches must have the potential to -  
  1. Resist the urge to direct/manage.
  2. Facilitate without making judgements.
  3. Watch, listen and question in a supportive way.
  4. Enable others to see and reach their potential.
Buy this poster.
From this, in-house coaches need to learn how to - 
  1. Listen.
  2. Ask the right questions (open not closed).
  3. Find 'roadblocks' stopping the coachee from taking action.
  4. Help people visualise agreed outcomes/goals.
  5. Connect people to agreed outcomes/goals (ownership)
If you need help to identify and train business coaches from inside your organisation, email me today.
​Arrange a 'Workplace Coaching' online group workshop.
To give some context.  I see coaching as a set of 4 'attitudes' I can adopt for different situations to elicit different outcomes. I call these attitudes -
  1. Motivator - where I ask people to pursue my vision/aim/goal.
  2. Creator -  where I ask people to help me create a common goal.
  3. Regulator -  where I insist people pursue my vision/aim/goal.
  4. Futurist -  where I introduce a desirable vision of the future to the individual/team and get a commitment to pursue that vision.

These attitudes can be used for long-term aims or short-term objectives. They can also be 'mashed' together to create an almost infinite number of approaches to help with any situation. Think of them as the main ingredients in a dish that you experiment with until the taste suits your team.