Employer Sponsored Coaching

Looking back on both my experience as an executive coach and my previous experience as a C-level executive sponsoring coaching, I realised it might be helpful writing something about that case when organisations decide to sponsor coaching of managers or of management teams, and bring in external coaches in this respect.

Why do I dedicate a separate blog article?

This situation is particular: if its intention is not well communicated by the sponsors to those internal leaders who are selected to receive it, it may lead to an opposite effect than desired.

Still, to make it transparent, why would companies make this kind of decision in the first place? 

Coaching is a significant investment in an individual leader or in teams of leaders. 

Aware about its positive impact in terms of organisational effectiveness, mature organisations with complex operations put in place adequate internal in-house coaching structures specially trained in acting as catalysis of organisational change.

Although coaching has become lately a more spread organisational personal development practice, there are many industries where coaching is less known on both sides: executives and managers. 

When organisations go through significant market or technological changes and need to implement strategic transitions, often find themselves in a situation where new ways of doing things need to be implemented fast across business units, organisational functions and even geographical borders, and managers - often at middle level - need to respond with accepting, integrating and operating in sync fast, convincing and moving their people along this organisational change, and responding their management peers with a constructive contribution.

While at senior (C)level things are more clear about the organisational change ahead (after all this is the level building the strategic organisational plans), middle and first line managers can see less of both the rationale behind certain organisational decisions, and the need for them to engage themselves and operate differently. At this point, not seeing the entire bigger picture, these managers are at risk of fighting against “the new” and for continuing to do the things the way these were previously done (and in their opinion: done well). 

Usually, the organisations know there will be some resistance as with any change. However, since coaching is a significant investment of time and resources, organisations will try to postpone the internal decision of bringing in external coaches, on one side believing they can set by themselves the implementation of the change, on the other hand, for the associated cost. 

Not to mention that, not having the knowledge of purchasing such services, it will take some good time from the moment senior management decides to bring in external coaches till the actual moment of starting the coaching process.

When finally all the purchase documents are signed-off, there might already be a certain level of distrust between the middle managers and the decision makers at senior management level, mainly produced by the frustration of the senior management with the dragging organisation change project and the perceived resistance they feel the middle management put, and the frustration of the middle or receiving managers who see their professional life under siege twice, once for the actual organisational change and second for “this” external coach being imposed onto them.

In the worst situations, senior managers want the middle managers to “be fixed or else …”, and pass the entire responsibility of the coaching program to the HR department without involving themselves as real sponsors, advocates for the organisational change they decided for, and of the benefits they expect from it. 

On the receiving side, the middle managers will see the coaching action as highly unnecessary, and will receive the coach without any trust or confidence that the process itself would bring any benefit to them or to the organisation, resisting the coaching (and their personal transformation process) from day 1.

For setting on the right track the coaching program, the management level acting as organisational sponsor of the coaching program, needs to communicate correctly and honestly to the managers on the receiving end with respect of what is the organisational goal and the benefits of the change needed, what they see to be the roadblock in front of the implementation, what is the purpose of the coaching program and what they expect to obtain while investing the development of individual managers or management teams in the organisation.

Senior managers can increase their effectiveness as sponsors of a coaching program by:

• Being clear and sharing at start their vision about what success would mean for each and individual middle manager being coached and/or the team coached.
• Looking for signs of change and offering encouragement every time they see progress.
• Asking periodically the managers receiving coaching, individually and/or at team level, about the progress of coaching, about the main take-aways they had, about the elements they are actively working on with the coach, about what else they might see standing in their way.
• Offering support to the coached managers, asking what else they might need and providing situations for these managers to exercise the new ways of working
• Offering feedback on the examples of success they have noticed and working with the managers receiving coaching to set next steps or objectives if needed.

For the manager on the receiving end of the coaching, it is important to believe that when offered a coaching program, this is done in good will, with the best intention for them to grow and choose a more effective way of operating their management and leadership in the organisation. 

They need to be aware that no organisation will build plans first to spend money on them, and afterwards to let them go. In fact there are very good chances that the organisation sees the potential in them and wants to offer the best support to speed up their transition process through this change. Being offered coaching in one organisation is actually a very good sign of career progress.

To benefit at most and to increase the effectiveness of the coaching program, the managers receiving coaching need to:

• Be proactive in the relationship with the sponsor and, even the sponsor is not clear about or does not have time, initiate your own communication with the sponsor and find out their perspective about the objective they set for the coaching program
• Ask questions to their sponsor and find out what is their vision of success for the coaching program they are sponsoring
• Clarify with the sponsor their expectations in terms of changes they want to see, asking for concrete examples on the specific situations the respective change should be noticeable, and the timeline expected of this change
• Read and know at least the part of the coaching services contract concerning your coaching program, including your responsibilities as a coachee, the coverage and limits of confidentiality, as well as other provisions in respect of the logistics of the coaching sessions, and fulfil them during the coaching program.
• Be open about the difficulties or challenges they currently see or have standing in front of them in taking this coaching program, and discuss resources they might need in order to be able to participate in the program (e.g. discuss for example their personal situation, or the need for more time or the need for exposure for experimenting situations with the desired change, or the access to other colleagues from whom they might need to learn, etc)
• Find out the limits of confidentiality of the discussion with their coach. They have the right to know from their sponsor what, if anything, will be communicated by the coach to the sponsor.
• Provide periodical feedback to the sponsor on how the coaching program is progressing
• Refuse or stop the coaching program if feeling it is not for them either before the program starts or during the coaching program. Being coachable is not for everyone and the company, through the sponsor, will really appreciate not having the resources wasted. 

However, the senior management will continue to enforce the implementation of the change they decided and middle and first line managers will have to find a way to follow anyhow, provided they still want to belong to the organisation.

Have you been the client of sponsored coaching from your employer? Have you been a sponsor of a coaching program for a manager in your company? 

I am eager to hear about your personal story. Write me at [email protected]