Creating a coaching culture will be a game-changer for your organisation

Steve Jobs engaged his own business coach, Bill Campbell, to stay focused and pursue his passions and purpose. Coaching made Steve Jobs legendary.

Imagine coaching pervaded your entire organisation: Everyone is either a coach or a coachee. Can you envision how much your organisation would improve, let alone individual employees?

In the “State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report”, Gallup CEO Jon Clifton wrote, “What can leaders do today to potentially save the world? Gallup has found one clear answer: Change the way your people are managed.”

Creating a coaching culture (CC) in your organisation would not only change how your people are managed, it will change your organisation and, if enough companies do it, CC will change the world. That is the promise and potential of a CC.

What is a coaching culture?

In a workplace, a “coaching culture” is “one where every employee, regardless of their level, is empowered to learn, grow and develop to their fullest potential, and feels supported by their leaders” (Forbes). At the heart of a CC is the premise that every employee is resourceful enough to come up with answers and solutions to his or her own questions or problems, and has the power to hold him/herself accountable to get the job done. Therefore, a CC is a workplace where people welcome feedback from others, share feedback with others in good faith without fear of retribution or pushback, and trust and respect their colleagues at all levels of their organisation. A CC requires all these building blocks if it is to be robust and succeed over the long haul.

Why is a CC important for your organisation?

A CC is important for your organisation for many reasons, here are my top three.

First, a CC can increase your organisation’s performance by unlocking your employees’ potential. According to the Gallup report, there was a 20% to 28% higher likelihood of high performance by their teams after 14,000 managers were provided coaching training.

Second, a CC can increase employee engagement. There was an 8% to 18% higher employee engagement after Gallup’s coaching-training for managers. “Employees who feel trusted and supported by their manager are 3.4 times more engaged” (David Morel, Forbes). 

Third, a CC can build positive supervisor-subordinate relationships. British business consultant and author Marcus Buckingham said, “People leave managers, not companies.” 2019 research by DDI prove this claim: 57% quit their manager. With coaching-training for managers, Gallup recorded a 21% to 28% reduction in employee turnover.

Challenges to create a CC

As in any change initiative, creating a CC is not without its challenges.

The top challenge is lack of leadership support and buy-in. If the leader of the organisation does not understand the value of a CC and does not have the personal attributes that go with it, for example, humility, active listening skills, and vulnerability, then a CC is unlikely to take root. 

Another challenge is resistance from senior management and line managers due to a lack of knowledge about a CC and what it can do for them, their teams, and the organisation. A lack of time and resources can also hinder the roll out of a CC.

Another issue can be the organisational culture itself. Huge power-differentials, autocratic leadership, poor communication, and low trust and respect are huge barriers to the establishment of a CC.

How to instil a CC in your organisation

First, the leader herself must experience the power and possibilities of coaching, so that she can evangelise, cajole, and compel the adoption of a CC across her organisation. The leader must also walk the talk; she needs to demonstrate coaching qualities in her behaviour. For example, if she doesn’t listen actively to members of her own leadership team, it is unlikely that others in the organisation would embrace a CC.

Second, the leader must galvanise the early adopters, especially those in the leadership team, to push the CC envelope across the organisation.

Third, training must be provided to leadership team members and line managers, so that they have the tools as well as the personal qualities (aforementioned humility, active listening skills, and vulnerability) to coach their people.

Fourth, coaching must be integrated into every learning and development program of the organisation. For example, every leadership development program must have a mandatory, comprehensive, and effective coaching training module.

Fifth, bonuses, increments, and promotions must be tied to the completion of coaching training as well as the employee’s performance as a coach to his team.

If lack of time and resources is an issue, then a CC can be initiated as a pilot project in one of the departments or business units, and gradually spread to other areas of the organization.

If the organisation culture itself is a barrier to establish a CC, then the leader must first change himself and the culture of his organisation before attempting to institute a CC.

Way forward

Given the many benefits of having a CC in your organisation, you should now move swiftly, deliberately, and decisively to make a CC an integral part of your organisation’s identity, etched in its very DNA. The fruits of your labour will be a high-performing, agile, and resilient organisation. Which leader would not want to have that?

(The writer is a CEO Coach, and specialist in CEO communication, and runs his own corporate training firm YKG Associates Ltd. He studied law, and is Juris Doctor, University of Minnesota, United States. He holds a post-graduate diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and German from Berea College, Kentucky, USA. )